Part of the “Source of Life: Water Management in the Premodern Middle East” project (Radboud Institute for Culture and History). Ep2. Mesopotamia: Taming the Euphrates Mesopotamia means “the land between the rivers.” The fertile silt and lif

💧EP047 GUEST EPISODE (1/8) Water History and the Pre-Modern Middle East. “Source of Life: Water Management in the Premodern Middle East” (Radboud Institute for Culture and History)

Mar 1st, 2024 42m 26s

This episode was produced by Edmund Hayes and Jouke Heringa. Ep1. Water History and the Pre-Modern Middle East The cities of the medieval Middle East were some of the largest in the world, dwarfing the major cities of western Europe, for exampl

🕸EP046 Prof. Hayrettin Yücesoy on his new book "Disenchanting the Caliphate"

Feb 18th, 2024 1h 25m

Hayrettin Yücesoy is a historian with a specialization in the premodern Middle East. His scholarly interests revolve around the intricate realm of political thought and practice, covering themes such as political messianism, monarchy, republica

🖋EP045 Nasim Hassani on an illustrated manuscript of al-Maqāmāt by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥarīrī (d.1122CE)

Feb 18th, 2024 35m 38s

Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥarīrī was an Arab poet, scholar and Seljuk government official who died in 1122CE aged 68 years old. His work al-Maqāmāt, a compilation of 50 highly-stylised comic anecdotes about the exploits of trickster Abū Zayd, received wi

💒EP044 The Curious Tale of Isaac: An Egyptian Jew baptised as godson to King Edward II (d. 1327)

Feb 17th, 2024 1h 8m

In 1319 Roger de Stangrave, a Hospitaller knight, and a Jew named Isaac arrived in England. For a ransom of 10,00 gold florins, Isaac had freed Stangrave, a stranger to him, from over 30 years of Mamluk captivity and then accompanied the knight

💰EP043 Dr. Isabelle Imbert on a Beginner's Guide to Investing in Islamic Arts

Feb 17th, 2024 36m 55s

This is the second part of two presentations. More on our guest: https://isabelle-imbert.com 0:50 In your previous presentation, you gave us an overview of the history of Islamic art. Give us an overview of the Islamic arts market scene: who a

🕌EP042 Dr. Isabelle Imbert on a Very Brief Introduction to Studying the History of Islamic Arts

Feb 17th, 2024 49m 47s

Works of Islamic arts mesmerise their viewers, be it calligraphy, vases or mausoleums, but knowledge of their developments continues to be weak for the general enthusiast. To give an introductory survey on how to delve deeper into the fascinat

💡EP041 Dr. Abdul Azim Ahmed on Shahab Ahmed's "What is Islam? The Importance of being Islamic"

Jan 31st, 2024 1h 20m

Dr. Azim Ahmed, Research Associate in British Muslim Studies at Cardiff University, discusses the late Shahab Ahmed's (no relation!) seminal work "What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic" leading us to identify the Anglophone as the New

🎈EP040 Muhammad Ali Mojaradi (@sharghzadeh) on Rumi (d. 1273CE): Life, Works and Legacy of a Muslim Poet (#RumiWasMuslim)

Apr 1st, 2022 41m 21s

Despite many a tattoo of his alleged verses decorating limbs of heartbroken US college students, the actual life, works and legacy of the Sunni Hanafi jurist and Māturīdī theologian Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī have been conveniently overlooked.

🏔 EP039 Dr. Ramon Harvey on Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d.944CE): Life, works and legacy of the seminal Sunni theologian

Mar 11th, 2022 38m 25s

Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d.944CE) was a Persian Sunni Hanafi jurist, theologian, and scriptural exegete based in Samarkand. His eponymous codification of Sunni creed became the dominant theological school for Sunni Muslims in Central Asia and la

🧊EP038 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on Twitter Space (Monday 27th December 2021). Part 12 of 12 - Spring of Classical Arabic Poetry

Jan 5th, 2022 1h 38m

Our series concludes with this live session with our guest and listeners. For more on our guest, see kblankinship.com. Sponsored by shop.ihrc.org Get 15% off with discount code AHP15 at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Contact IHRC Booksh

🗻EP037 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥillī (1278-1349 CE): Poetry in the Mamluk era. Part 11 of 12 - Spring of Classical Arabic Poetry

Dec 18th, 2021 28m 27s

Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥillī was a Shʿī poet who was born in Iraq but lived much of his life in Mardin in modern day Turkey. He was an exemplar of versatility in verse for the much neglected Mamluk period of literary history. Timestamps 01:20 Ṣafī al-D

🟥EP036 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on Ibn ʿArabī (1165-1240 CE): The Red Sulphur sings. Part 10 of 12 - Spring of Classical Arabic Poetry

Dec 4th, 2021 25m 11s

Ibn ʿArabī was an Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher. He is renowned among practitioners of Sufism by the names al-Shaykh al-Akbar ("the Greatest Shaykh"; from here the Akbarian school derives its name). Timestamps 01:36 I

🥀EP035 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on Ibn Zaydūn (1003-1071 CE): Love, Longing and Lost - an introduction to Andalusian poetry. Part 9 of 12 - Spring of Classical Arabic Poetry

Nov 27th, 2021 24m 59s

Abū al-Walīd Aḥmad Ibn Zaydūn al-Makhzūmī, or simply known as Ibn Zaydūn, was considered the greatest neoclassical poet of al-Andalus. His love affair with the princess and poet Wallada and his exile inspired many of his poems. Timestamps 01:3

⚔EP034 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on Abū Firās al-Ḥamdānī: the Prince, the Prisoner, the Poet. Part 8 of 12 - Spring of Classical Arabic Poetry

Nov 13th, 2021 25m 31s

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of Abū Firās al-Ḥamdānī, prince, prisoner, poet. Al-Ḥārith b. Abū al-ʿAlā Saʿīd ibn Ḥamdān al-Taghlibī, better known by his nom de plume of Abū Firās al-Ḥamdānī, was an A

✒EP033 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on al-Mutanabī (c.915-965CE): 'the Shakespeare of the Arabs.' Part 7 of 12 - Spring of Classical Arabic Poetry

Nov 6th, 2021 35m 3s

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of al-Mutanabbī, whose poetry continues to inspire. Timestamps 01:44 Al-Mutanabbī was born in 915CE in the city Kufah in modern day Iraq at the height of the Abbasid cali

😷EP032 Prof. Peter Adamson on the life, work and legacy of Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (d.925CE): Physician, Philosopher, Provacateur

Aug 21st, 2021 27m 24s

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī (865–925 CE), also known by his Latinized name Rhazes, was one of the greatest figures in the history of medicine in the Islamic tradition, and one of its most controversial philosophers. While we have a

EP031 Dr. Antonia Bosanquet on Ibn al-Qayyim (d.1350CE) and Dhimma governance

Aug 15th, 2021 27m 39s

The laws of Dhimma, or governance of non-Muslim minorities in a Muslim polity, can arouse difficult feelings amongst both Muslims and non-Muslims especially at sites of tension and conflict between them around the globe. To discuss with us toda

EP030 Dr. Stephennie Mulder on Imām al-Shāfiʿī (d.820CE), an afterlife: the story of his mausoleum in Cairo and the role of arts and crafts as a source in Islamic(ate) history

Jul 19th, 2021 30m 36s

"This blessed cenotaph was made for the Imam (al-Shāfʿī)…by ʿUbayd the carpenter, known as Ibn Maʿālai, in the months of the year five hundred seventy-four. May God have mercy on him; may he [also] have mercy on those who are merciful toward hi

🎟EP029 Dr. Hannah Erlwein from Kalamopod on a brief history of Kalām (philosophy of religion within the Islamic ecumene)

Jul 3rd, 2021 27m 49s

Literally meaning "speech, word, utterance" among other things, Kalām or philosophy of religion within the Islamic ecumene has divided Muslim believers about it scope, methods and even its validity in itself. To give us a brief history of Kalām

EP028 Dr. Jonathan Brown on the life, works and legacy of hadith scholar al-Bukhārī (810-870CE)

Jun 28th, 2021 1h 4m

Considered by Sunni Muslims as the second most authentic book after the Quran, Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī's collection of the Prophet's sayings and traditions, or ḥadīth, holds an esteemed station in Sunni scholasticism. To discuss with me

EP027 Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft on philosopher al-Fārābī (d. 951CE), ISIS and Iconoclasm

Apr 17th, 2021 24m 35s

In February 2015, the former Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a video showing their destruction of Mesopotamian antiquities at the museum of Mosul. Although perhaps ironic that images are used to show the destruction of images, a

EP026 Dr. Philip Grant on the Zanj Revolt 869-883CE: A Slave Uprising against the Caliphate

Apr 12th, 2021 56m 46s

In and around 869CE, African slaves used to cultivate the salt marshes of Basra in present-day Iraq revolted against their master. Led by an ʿAlī b. Muḥammad, a charismatic messianic figure, their uprising would prove to very damaging to an alr

EP025 Dr. Ahab Bdaiwi on Shaykh al-Mufīd (c.948-1022): Life, Works and Legacy of a Seminal Shia Scholar

Apr 4th, 2021 32m 12s

To discuss with us the life, works and legacy of Shaykh al-Mufīd is Dr. Ahab Bdaiwi. Dr. Bdaiwi completed his PhD at Exeter on Islamic intellectual history and is currently the Cook-Crone Research Bye-Fellow in Ancient and Medieval History at t

EP024 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on al-Ḥallāj (c.858-922 CE): Life, works and poetic legacy of a martyred mystic. Part 6 of 12 - Spring of Classical Arabic Poetry

Mar 27th, 2021 22m 54s

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of one controversial Sufi, al-Ḥallāj, whose poetic outpourings continue to inspire. This is the sixth part of a twelve part series exploring classical Arabic poetry which