Many academics, especially in the aftermath of September 11th, have had to become a public authority on Islam. This is largely due to the ongoing negative portrayal of Muslims in the media and the numerous misconceptions individuals derive from these p...
60 min
827
Juliane Hammer, “American Muslim Women, Religio...
In 2005, Amina Wadud led a mixed-gender congregation of Muslims in prayer. This event became the focal point of substantial media attention and highlighted some of the tensions within the Muslim community. However,
65 min
828
Karen Ruffle, “Gender, Sainthood, and Everyday ...
What does a wedding in Karbala in the year 680 have to do with South Asian Muslims today? As it turns out, this event informs contemporary ideas of personal piety and social understanding of gender roles. The battlefield wedding of Qasem and Fatimah Ku...
63 min
829
Whitney Bodman, “The Poetics of Iblis: Narrativ...
The Qur’an is filled with stories. It chronicles the lives of prophets, the stories of believers and non-believers, and lays out the creation of the cosmos. However, the Qur’an’s narrative qualities are often overlooked. Recently,
63 min
830
Steve Kemper, “Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,000 Mi...
Three years ago I travelled overland with my wife from Victoria Falls through Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It felt like we were on a real adventure. Having just read Steve Kemper‘s excellent book Labyrinth of Kingdoms: 10,
48 min
831
Ann Elizabeth Mayer, “Islam and Human Rights: T...
In the new edition to Islam and Human Rights: Traditions and Politics (Westview Press, 2012), Ann Elizabeth Mayer analyzes the complex issue of international human rights standards in Muslim countries. In the book’s preface, Dr.
51 min
832
Sherine Hamdy, “Our Bodies Belong to God: Organ...
One of the best things about co-hosting New Books in STS is the opportunity to discover books like this one. Sherine Hamdy has given us something special in Our Bodies Belong to God: Organ Transplants, Islam,
58 min
833
Nabil Matar and Gerald MacLean, “Britain and th...
Nineteenth-century observers would say that the British Empire was an Islamic one; be that as it may, before Empire there was trade- and lots of it. Nabil Matar and Gerald MacLean‘s book, Britain and the Islamic World,
66 min
834
Carl Ernst, "How to Read the Qur'an: A New Guid...
An interview with Carl Ernst
57 min
835
Parna Sengupta, “Pedagogy for Religion: Mission...
What is the relationship between religion, secularization, and education? Parna Sengupta, Associate Director of Introductory Studies at Stanford University, explores their connections as she reexamines the categories religion, empire, and modernity.
69 min
836
Jay Rubenstein, “Armies of Heaven: The First Cr...
You’ve got to be pretty creative to get anything like “holy war” out of the New Testament, what with all that trespass-forgiving, cheek-turning, and neighbor-loving. By all appearances Jesus didn’t want his followers to fight for their faith,
62 min
837
Laury Silvers, “A Soaring Minaret: Abu Bakr al-...
A broad portrait of early Islamic mysticism is fairly well-know. However, there are only a few key figures that have been explored in great detail and their activities shape how we understand this early history of Sufism. Laury Silvers,
49 min
838
Abdulkader Tayob, “Religion in Modern Islamic D...
Many people believe that the current Islamic resurgence is not necessarily a “return of religion,” but rather a continuation of tradition. According to this line of thought, therefore, Islam is essentially resistant to modernity and incompatible with c...
78 min
839
Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, “A History of Islam in Am...
Despite the fact that many American Muslim families have lived in the United States for generations they are often thought of as foreigners. I have witnessed on several occasions someone asking an African American Muslim when they converted to Islam or...
62 min
840
Carool Kersten, “Cosmopolitans and Heretics: Ne...
Often when we read about new Muslim intellectuals we are offered a presentation of their politicized Islamic teachings and radical interpretations of theology, or Western readings that nominally reflect the Islamic tradition.
60 min
841
Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin, “This Burning L...
In their new book, This Burning Land: Lessons from the Front Lines of the Transformed Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), the husband and wife team of Greg Myre and Jennifer Griffin recount their experiences working as reporters in Je...
42 min
842
Giancarlo Casale, “The Ottoman Age of Explorati...
You’ve probably heard of the “Age of Exploration.” You know, Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, Columbus, etc., etc. But actually that was the European Age of Exploration (and really it wasn’t even that, because the people who lived in what we now cal...
59 min
843
Lesley Hazleton, “After the Prophet: The Epic S...
Sometimes a shallow explanation, the kind you read in newspapers and hear on television, is enough. “The home team was beaten at the buzzer” is probably all you need to know. Sometimes, however, it’s not. The intermittent conflict between the Shias and...