Religion

Episodes

• Ep.53-Religion: Popular Islam 2015-12-31
  This episode seeks to correct a major misconception concerning Islam and Muslim life. The Islam of the masses is not simply a reflection of the…
• EP.48--Religion: The Sufi Worldview 2015-02-03
  Today's episode seeks to present a general picture of the Sufi worldview. Some of the questions we briefly deal with include: How do Sufis interpret…
• EP.47--Religion: From Asceticism to Mysticism 2014-12-19
  This episode discusses a further step in the later rise of full-fledged Sufi orientations within the world of Islam. We encounter the concepts of…
• EP.46--Religion: Early Sufism and Asceticism 2014-11-15
  This episode introduces the tradition of Sufism that some also call Islamic mysticism. We are concerned today with the early period and the practice…
• EP.43--Religion: Jihad, War, and Peace 2014-09-06
  What exactly is Jihad? This episode discusses the traditional doctrine of Jihad that Muslim Jurists developed and takes a brief look at related…
• EP.42--Religion: Ijma' (Consensus) between the Legal and the Political in Islamic Discourses 2014-07-30
  What does Ijmā ʿ (consensus) mean? How does it function within traditional Islamic Law? In what way do the Sunni concept of “ ijmā ʿ ” and the Shīʿī…
• EP.41--Religion: Ijtihad and the Intellectual Struggle to Find God's Law in Islam 2014-07-23
  The episode discusses the concept of ijtihad that has been used by Muslim jurists to derive legal rulings. We particularly focus on what is known as…
• EP.40--Religion: Hadith Collections 2014-07-07
  The episode introduces some of the different types of Hadith collections that arose in the world of Islam over the centuries. We discuss the role of…
• EP.39--Religion: Hadith and Sunna 2014-06-06
  Hadith reports attributing sayings and actions to Muhammad came to play a major role in the shaping of the religion of Islam. This episode will…
• EP.38--Religion: The Solidification of Sunni Legal Schools 2014-05-20
  This episode deals with the institutionalization of the legal field in Sunni Islam and the rise of the four "orthodox" legal schools or madhabs…
• EP.37--Religion: The Compromise of al-Shafiʿi and the Slow Birth of Usul al-Fiqh 2014-05-08
  This episode further discusses the debate between the Ahl al-Ra'y and Ahl al-Hadith as well as the compromise initiated by al-Shafiʿi, who will make…
• EP.36--Religion: The Partisans of Reason and the Partisans of Prophetic Reports 2014-04-08
  This episode discusses the rise of legal study circles in early Islam. We encounter Ahl al-Ra'y (Partisans of reason), Ahl al-Hadith (Partisans of…
• EP.35--Religion: Law in Early Islam 2014-03-21
  This episode introduces the early frames of Islamic law before its more sophisticated stages. We discuss, among other things, law in the Qur'an and…
• EP.34--Religion: Introduction to Islamic Law 2014-03-02
  What is Sharia? What is Fiqh? Is there a relation between law and theology?
• EP.33--Religion: Rationalist Theology between the Mu`tazilites and the Ash`arites 2014-02-08
  Today, we highlight the tenets of Mu`tazilism and the Ash`arite response to it. Ash`arism would grow to become the dominant theological school in…
• EP.32--Religion: The Created Qur'an 2014-01-22
  Today, we take a brief look at the important theological debate in early Islam over whether the Qur'an was created in history or rather eternal and…
• EP.31--Religion: Leadership, Faith, and Free Will 2014-01-10
  This episode elaborates on three early theological debates in early Islam, namely the leadership of the religious community, the relation of sinful…
• EP.30--Religion: Early Theological Debates in Islam 2013-12-20
  This episode starts introducing some early theological debates within Islam. What can these debates tell us about early Islam? And how should we…
• EP.21--Religion: The Construction of Islam 2013-07-31
  After introducing the Qur'an, its contents, and its formation in previous episodes, the podcast discusses the transition from Qur'anic discourse to…
• EP.20--Religion: Jesus in the Qur'an 2013-07-22
  Jesus is a significant figure in the Qur'an. How does the Qur'anic Jesus differ from the Jesus Christ of orthodox forms of Christianity? And what…
• EP.19--Religion: The Qur'an from Oral Discourse to Closed Codex 2013-06-21
  Today's podcast briefly discusses the transition of the Qur'an from an oral message into a closed codex through political decisions of the community…
• EP.11--Religion: Prophets and Prophecy in the Qur'an 2012-08-20
  This episode briefly introduces the concept of prophecy, its history in the Near East (including the well-developed tradition of Biblical prophets),…
• EP.10--Religion: Muslims and the Qur'an/God in the Qur'an 2012-07-26
  We continue talking about the Qur'an. We take a look at how Professor Mohammed Arkoun defined the Qur'an, at the way that most Muslims have related…
• EP.9--Religion: What is the Qur'an? 2012-07-17
  This episode of the podcast is the first part of a short introduction to the scripture of Islam known as the Qur'an (Koran). Where does the term…
• EP.8--Religion: Controversial Elements in the Sira of Muhammad 2011-12-26
  Episode 8 of the World of Islam Podcast takes a look at some seemingly controversial elements contained in the Sira literature. The elements that…
• EP.7--Religion: Sira II "Muhammad in Medina" 2011-11-06
  Episode 7 of the podcast considers what the traditional sira literature says about Muhammad's life and career after the hijra from Mecca to Medina…
• EP.6--Religion: Sira I "Muhammad in Mecca" 2011-10-11
  This episode of the podcast presents a summary of what the traditional sira tells us about Muhammad's life in Mecca, including his early life, the…
• EP.5--Religion: Approaching Muhammad (Challenges; Sources: Qur'an, Hadith, Sira) 2011-09-27
  In this episode of the World of Islam, we continue our survey of the history of Islamic thought, by looking at some of the difficulties inherent in…
• EP.4--Religion: The Pre-Islamic Environment III (Arabia) 2011-09-19
  This episode of the World of Islam provides a short introduction to Arabia on the eve of the movement of Muhammad. Among other things, we discuss…
• EP.3--Religion: The Pre-Islamic Environment II (Christianity, Zoroastrianism) 2011-09-10
  This episode of the World of Islam continues looking into the world in which the religion of Islam would eventually develop. We will take a brief…
• EP.2--Religion: The Pre-Islamic Environment I (Late Antique Near East, Empires, Judaism) 2011-09-01
  This episode of the World of Islam starts a historical survey of Islamic thought by looking into the world in which the religion of Islam would…