Abbasid History Podcast

Regarded as the pinnacle of Persian literature, his works are a household item for Persian-speaking families and read during the Yalda winter solstice festival and Nowruz spring equinox festival. He was also widely known amongst European intellectuals, with even Engels mentioning him to Marx in a letter.

Abū Muḥammad Musharrif al-Dīn Muṣliḥ b. ʿAbd-Allāh, better known as Saadi is called simply as the Master in Persian for his place in classical Persian poetry. His Bustan and Gulistan takes pride of place in the canon of Islamic literary creations.

Jamal ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī better known as Nizami is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature. His love story of Layla and Majnun inspired the Eric Clapton hit record of 1970, "Layla" and there are monuments of Nizami as far as Beijing and Rome.

Farīd al-Dīn Abū Ḥamid Muḥammad ʿAṭṭār lived and died in Nishapur. Though he was little known beyond his city as a poet, his enduring legacy can perhaps be summarised by Rumi: Attar has roamed through the seven cities of love while we have barely turned down the first street.

(1) Attar was born in Nishapur around 1145CE during the reign of Abbasid caliph al-Muqtafī who finally succeeded in asserting the caliphate militarily against their supposed Sunni Seljuk Turkic vassals. Ghazzali had passed away in the conveniently memorable 1111CE leaving his enduring influence upon Sunni-Sufi high culture. ...

Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam, better known as Sanai, was an influential poet of Sufism who was attached to the Ghaznavid court in modern day Afghanistan. His major work The Walled Garden of Truth has been an enduring classic. An adaption of his verses were quoted at the end of the 2017 Hollywood film The Shape of Water.

Q1. Sanai was born 1080CE. During his life the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad were clashing with internal enemies from their supposed Seljuk vassal, engaged in a Cold War with Fatimid Cairo, and reckoning with Crusaders in the Levant. And th...

Writing to his brother from prison in 1949, a young African American man opens his letter citing these lines from a medieval Persian poet:

Indeed the Idols I have loved so long, 

Have done my credit in this World much Wrong:

Have dropped my Glory in a shallow Cup,

And sold my Reputation for a song

The writer would later achieve acclaim as the civil rights activist Malcolm X, and the lines he was citing were by Omar Khayyam, the subject of today's episode.

Q1. Omar Khayyam was b...

Born 1004CE in present-day Tajikistan then under control of the Ghaznavid dynasty, Abū Muʿīn al-Dīn Nasir Khusraw was an Ismaili convert and missionary who became better known for his poetry. 

To discuss with us today the life, works and legacy of Nasir Khusraw is Ali Hammoud. Ali Hammoud is a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University. He is broadly interested in Shīʿīsm and Islamicate intellectual history. Welcome Ustad Ali!

Q1. I think it's important we set the scene for the socio-political dynamics in which Nasir Khusraw lived. There were two m...

Born under the Samanid dyansty and living through the rule of the Ghaznavid dynasty in Tus located north Iran, Ferdowsi is author of the epic Shahnameh ("The Book of Kings") of 50,000 lines taking 30 years to compose. The work is of central importance in Persian heritage.

Q1. Ferdowsi was born in 940CE and died around 1019CE at around 80 years old. He lived under the Ghaznavid dynasty who at their height ruled territory spanning modern day Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tell us about the cultural context in which he was born.

Q2. Ferdowsi was born into a...

Living under the Samanid dyansty in modern-day Tajikistan, Rudaki is considered the first of the great classical Islamic Persian poets and the father of Tajik literature. Despite being a celebrated, patronised court poet, he would fall into poverty near the end of his life dying blind and alone.

To discuss with us today the life, works and legacy of Rudaki is Ali Hammoud. Ali Hammoud is a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University. He is broadly interested in Shīʿīsm and Islamicate intellectual history.

Q1. Rudaki was born around 858CE and died around 941CE at aro...

Thomas Bauer's "A Culture of Ambiguity" stands out as one of the most important contributions to Islamic Studies in recent decades. First published in German in 2011, it wasn't until 2021 that it became available in English. Bauer's three decades of knowledge and expertise shine through in the work, which earned him the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award in Germany. It is rare for an academic book rich in insights for specialists to also be engaging enough for general readers, yet this is exactly what Bauer has achieved. However our guest today has an essay published in the Maydan journal online journal...

The longest aqueduct of the ancient world, the Valens aqueduct brought water to the capital of the eastern Roman empire: Byzantium or Constantinople, today known as Istanbul. Monumental sections of the aqueduct bridge still majestically stride across the city. In this episode we talk about the reasons for embarking on this colossal project, its development, decline and adaptation, and its place in the cultural heritage of today's Turkey.

Speaker: Mariëtte Verhoeven. Interviewer: Edmund Hayes.

Mariëtte Verhoeven is university lecturer and researcher at Radboud University specialising in  the field of late antique and Byzantine cul...

In this episode we discuss what is perhaps the most famous and distinctive invention of Middle Eastern and North African hydraulic engineering is the qanāt (also known as foggaras, khettāras, and aflāj): an underground tunnel dug horizontally into a hillside to harvest water from the water table.

Speakers: Majid Labbaf Khaneiki and Louise Rayne.

Majid Khaneiki is a human geographer who specializes in traditional irrigation and hydro-social cycles in rural communities. He has conducted or cooperated with more than 20 research projects on water issues in Oman, Iran, Iraq, India and Azerbaijan. He is...

It is often difficult to reconstruct the water infrastructure at historical sites due to recent building and patchy excavation and survival. In this episode we look at a site in which we can see a great deal of the water supply as a connected system, and how it developed over time: the great late antique White Monastery on the edge of the Egyptian desert.

Speaker: Louise Blanke. Interviewer: Edmund Hayes.

Louise Blanke is Senior lecturer in Late Antique Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, and has written extensively on late antique and early Islamic archaeology...

You can't think about clean water without also thinking about removing dirty water and other waste. In this episode we take a deep dive into sewage (figuratively speaking) on the basis of excavations and documents that survive about cities in Muslim Spain in the Middle Ages.

Speaker: Ieva Rèklaityte. Interviewer: Edmund Hayes.

Ieva Reklaityte is an independent researcher. She graduated in Archaeology at the University of Vilnius, Lithuania, and did her PhD thesis at the University of Saragossa in Spain.

This episode was produced by Edmund Hayes and Jouke Heringa.

F...

Ep4. The City on The Tigris: Baghdad, Drinking and Water Transport

Medieval Baghdad was probably home to 200,000 to 500,000 inhabitants. In this episode we look at how water functioned as the life blood of this great city, providing drink, but also transportation that supplied the city with food and connected it with trade routes in Indian Ocean and beyond.

Speakers: Hugh Kennedy, Josephine van den Bent. Interviewer: Edmund Hayes.

Hugh Kennedy is Professor of Arabic at SOAS in the University of London and from 2022 he has been teaching in the History Department at University...

The bathhouse is an iconic feature of the medieval middle eastern city up until the present. But how did this come to be? In this episode we look into the origins of bathing culture in the Middle East by going back to the Roman, late antique and early Islamic development of bathhouses.

Speakers: Nathalie de Haan and Sadi Maréchal. Interviewer: Edmund Hayes.

Nathalie de Haan is an associate professor in ancient history at Radboud University, Department of History, Art History and Classics and RICH (Radboud Institute for Culture &History). She is the coordinator of t...

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 life-giving waters from the rivers Tigris and Euphrates allowed the region to develop into a key area of human settlement and culture in the late Holocene around 12000 years ago. In this episode we discuss the earliest settlements in Mesopotamia and how humans have managed their rela.tionship to the rivers in Iraq up until today.

Speaker: Jaafar J...

This episode was produced by Edmund Hayes and Jouke Heringa.

The cities of the medieval Middle East were some of the largest in the world, dwarfing the major cities of western Europe, for example. So how did they support large populations in relatively arid conditions? In this episode we provide an overview of the kinds of hydraulic infrastructure and social institutions that allowed pre-modern Middle Eastern cities to function.

Speakers: Maaike van Berkel and Josephine van den Bent. Interviewer: Edmund Hayes.

This episode, and this...

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, republican practices, visions of social order throughout premodern literature, and the historiography of these subjects.

In his written works and publications, Yücesoy delves into the convergence of discourse and political practice, unraveling the polyphonic and dialogic nature of texts. His research endeavors aim to uncover unconventional and dissenting voices, which act as a counterpoint to both contemporary and premodern "master narratives." Yüces...

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 widespread renown in his time across the Muslim world and is regarded as a high point of Arabic literature.

We are pleased to be joined by Nasim Hassani in Tehran. Ms. Hasani hold a master's degree in Islamic Studies from Shahid Beheshti University,Tehran, Iran, where her dissertation was an Analysis of Mary and Jesus' Birth and Early...

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 home to be repaid. By 1322, Isaac has converted to Christianity and become Edward of St. John, with King Edward II taking him as godson.

What motivated Isaac to ransom a stranger for such an exorbitant cost and leave his native Egypt and end up baptised in England which at the time had expelled all Jews with the...

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 are the main players? Where are the main auctions, and so on?

7:05
You advised in your Bayt al-Fann interview that beginners should buy what they like. At what stage can a beginner can consider himself a serious investor?
Link to interview: https://www.baytalfann.com/post/the-a...

11:12 Duration: 00:36:55

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 fascinating ocean of Islamic arts is Dr. Isaballe Imbert.

Dr. Imbert completed her PhD in 2015 at Sorbonne in Persian and Indian Flower Paintings in the 16th to 18th century. She is an Islamic Art specialist with over 10 years' experience working with the best clients and institutions in the industry. She is known as a researcher, teacher, writer, a...

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 Persianate for the Cathay-to-California Complex.

Links:
Abdul-Azim Ahmed, Mind the Gap — The Textual, The Social, and Anglophone Islam
https://medium.com/@AbdulAzim/mind-the-gap-the-textual-the-social-and-anglophone-islamin-shahab-ahmeds-2015-book-what-is-1e42b79e10ac

Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, Islam and the Cultural Imperative
https://www.theoasisinitiative.org/islam-the-cultural-imperative

Originally published Sep 1, 2022 on https://youtu.be/MBUTbuBGtFw

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. To provide a historical introduction to Rumi, we are joined by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi, a University of Michigan graduate, translator, editor and founder of the persianpoetics.com project and is best known by his Twitter and Instagram handle @sharghzadeh.

Timestamps

01:28 Rumi was born in 1207CE quite likely in modern-day Afghanistan. He would been aliv...

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 later enjoyed a preeminent status as the school of choice for both the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire.

Timestamps

01:40 Al-Māturīdī was born at Māturīd, a village or quarter in the neighbourhood of Samarkand during the reign of the caliph al-Mutawakkil whose main merit appears to be putting an end to the Muʿtazilite...

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 Bookshop for details.

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-Dīn al-Ḥillī was born in 1278 just over a decade after the Mongol sack of Baghdad. What do we know about his socio-political context?

08:27 War and disaster forced al-Ḥillī to leave his family and move to Mardin. What do we know about his life?

13:14 Al-Ḥillī's poetic s...

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 Ibn ʿArabī was born in 1165 in Andalusia whose literary history we covered in episode 35. What do we know about his socio-political context?

06:12 Ibn ʿArabī lived an iterant life and is buried in Damascus. What do we know about his life?

10:25 Ibn ʿArabī was a prolific writer. His collection of poetry is said tospan five volumes and is mostly u...

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

01:37 Ibn Zaydūn grew up during the decline of the Caliphate of Córdoba. What do we know about his socio-political context and also tell us about Arabic literature in al-Andalus more generally?

07:10 Ibn Zaydūn was born in 1003 in Cordoba to an aristocratic Andalusian Arab family and was involved in the polit...

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 Arab prince and poet. He was a cousin of Sayf al-Dawla, the ruler of northern Syria, whom we mentioned in episode 33. He best known for the collection of poems titled al-Rūmiyyāt during his time as a prisoner of war with the Byzantines.

Timestamps

01:52 Abū Fir...

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 caliphate but with rising challenges from sectarian foes. What do we know about his  socio-political context?

05:34 Al-Mutanabbī was educated in Damascus and is said to have participated in Qaramatian revolts which we covered in episode 13 with Dr. Andani. What do we know about al-Mutanabbī's life and what is the origin of his name...

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 ample surviving evidence for his medical thought, his philosophical ideas mostly have to be pieced together on the basis of reports found in other authors, who are often hostile to him.

To discuss with us the life, work and legacy of al-Rāzī is Prof. Peter Adamson. Prof. Adamson is professor of philosophy in late antiquity and in the...

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 today a medieval legal work on these rulings is Dr. Antonia Bosanquet, author of Minding their Place: Space and Religious Hierarchy in Ibn al-Qayyim's Aḥkām ahl al-dhimma published by Brill in 2021. She is currently a researcher at the University of Hamburg and a part-time farmer.

Timestamps

02.25: Before we look at Ibn al-Qayyim on Dhi...

"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 him, those who call for mercy upon him, and upon all who worked with him—the woodworkers and carvers—and all the believers."

Thus reads the inscription on the teak cenotaph at the grave of Imām al-Shafiʿī. For at least ten centuries, in a city replete with holy sites, the mausoleum of Im...

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 is the presenter of a new podcast devoted to explaining Kalām to the uninitiated, Dr. Hannah Erlwein.

Dr. Erlwein completed her PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies on Arguments for the Existence of God in Classical Islamic Thought which is now published and she is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Das...

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 the life, works and legacy of al-Bukhari is Dr. Jonathan Brown. Dr. Brown is the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His PhD title and first book was "The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: the Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon". 

Timestam...

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 video intended to shock can be turned against its makers when analysed thoughtfully.

Our guest this episode, Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft, argues in his latest book "The Idols of ISIS: From Assyria to the Internet" that iconoclasm at heart is a political manifesto a matter understood by Abbasid philosopher Abū Naṣr al-Farābī (d.951CE).

Dr. Tugen...

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 already beleaguered Abbasid caliphate before being finally crushed in 883CE.

To explain the cause, details and significance of the Zanj revolt is Dr. Philip Grant, co-author of the "Chains of Finance" published by Oxford University Press.

Timestamps

00.00 Introduction

02.09 The Zanj Revolt occurred in the salt marshes around Basra while the Cali...

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 the university of Cambridge.

Timestamps

00.00 Introduction

01.50 Shaykh al-Mufid was born in Baghdad around 948CE during the Shia Buyid dynasty's de facto control of the Abbasid caliphate and fifty years before the so-called 'Sunni Revival' with the reign of al-Qādir billāh in 991CE. Tell us about the socio-political and intellectual context of...

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 can be utilised in college-level teaching programmes. 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 Bookshop for details.

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of one of the greatest Abbasid literary figures, Abū Tammām, known particularly for his anthology.

This is the fifth part of a twelve part series exploring classical Arabic poetry which can be utilised in college-level teaching programmes. For more on our guest, see kblankinship.com.

Sponsored by shop.ihrc.org

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of one of the greatest Abbasid poets, Abū al-ʿAtāhiyyaḧ, known particularly for his ascetic poetry.

This is the fourth part of a twelve part series exploring classical Arabic poetry which can be utlised in college-level teaching programmes. For more on our guest, see kblankinship.com.

Sponsored by shop.ihrc.org

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of one of the greatest Abbasid poets, Abū Nuwās, known particularly for his homoerotic verse and wine poetry.

This is the third part of a twelve part series exploring classical Arabic poetry which can be utlised in college-level teaching programmes. For more on our guest, see kblankinship.com.

Sponsored by shop.ihrc.org

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of one of the greatest Umayyad poets, al-Farazdaq, known particularly for satirizing rival poets as well as amorous verse.

This is the second part of a twelve part series exploring classical Arabic poetry which can be utlised in college-level teaching programmes. For more on our guest, see kblankinship.com.

Dr. Kevin Blankinship, BYU Utah, speaks about the life, works and legacy of the boisterous prince, ʾImr al-Qays. Was he actually a Christian? Are his recorded poems authentic? This is the first part of a twelve part series exploring classical Arabic poetry which can be utlised in college-level teaching programmes. For more on our guest, see kblankinship.com.

Dr. Christian Sahner gives a fluent and concise introduction to Christian life prior and after the Arab-Islamic conquests of the Levant including the phenomenon of conversion and martyrdom of executed Christian converts from Islam.

Sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Visit shop.ihrc.org. Use discount code AHP15 for 15% off purchases. Terms and conditions apply. 

Dr. Laury Silvers shows how the move from academic historian to novelist requires the same imagination that the study of history demands.

Sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Visit shop.ihrc.org. Use discount code AHP15 for 15% off purchases. Terms and conditions apply. 

Dr. Yasir Qadhi offers insights into this enigmatic figure whose legacy aroused furore amongst Sunni theologians during the Abbasid era.

Sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Visit shop.ihrc.org.

Dr. Sohaib Saeed offers perhaps the most coherent introduction to this influential exegesist of the Quran revealing shortcomings in current scholarship on his work.

Sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Visit shop.ihrc.org.

Dr. Salman Younas gives an introduction to the eponymous 'founder' of the Hanafi school of Sunni law. He tackles misconceptions about Abu Hanafi's standing as hadith transmitter and allegations of his Murjia heresy.

Sponsored by shop.ihrc.org

Dr. Khalil Andani gives perhaps the most succinct introduction to the history of Ismailism. We cover their beginnings, understanding of revelation, the Qaramatians, the Fatimid caliphate and sub-sects.

Sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Visit shop.ihrc.org.

Dr. Eric Hanne speaks passionately about not imposing simple sectarian or ethnic identities onto the history of the Buyid dynasty's relationship with the Abbasid caliphate. Funny, candid and insightful.

Sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Visit shop.ihrc.org.

Dr. Rachel Schine speaks about understandings of race and blackness in premodern Islamic(ate) societies through the tale of Delhemma, a popular epic of rival families and 'Abd al-Wahhāb, the black offspring of Fāṭimah, the eponymous Delhemma (lit. "the one of high aspiration"), disowned by her husband.

Sponsored by IHRC bookshop. Visit shop.ihrc.org.

We speak with Dr. Liana Saif for an introduction on astrology in premodern Islamic(ate) societies. We cover origins, developments and key writers. A much overlooked topic explored with one of the leading authorities in the field. Find her work here: sas.academia.edu/LianaSaif.

Considered a heretic, the vegan anti-natalist poet Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī (d. 1058) provoked throughout his life but only had his head chopped off in 2013 as a statue by fanatics in his Syrian hometown. Dr. Kevin Blankinship, Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Brigham Young University, challenges what we think we know about the man. For more on his work, see kblankinship.com.

We hear from Ottoman Studies specialist Dr. Ahmed about the cusp of our podcast's remit: the assumption of the caliphate from the shadow Abbasid caliphs of Cairo by the Ottomans. We also speak candidly about his thoughts on the TV show Ertugrul, how he navigates academia as a practising Muslim and teaching in Istanbul as an ex-pat

Originally recorded 21 August 2019 via Zencastr. Produced by Talha Ahsan.

00.00
Introduction and biography

01.45
Arabic Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms project at the university of Manchester

02.25
A description of the Hippocratic Aphorisms

03.30
A survey of Arabic commentaries

04.20
Why look at paediatrics?

05.25
On the five aphorisms of paediatrics

06.55
Commentators disputing classifications within paediatrics

07.55
On the importance of Galen to the Arabic commentators
Dr Kamran Karimullah

09.23
On how Galen can elucidate Hippocratic paediatrics<...

Originally recorded 15 August 2019 via Zencastr. Produced by Talha Ahsan.

00.00
Introduction and biography
02.00
On the success of the Party-Crashing book
Shawkat Toorah
04.15
On defining Adab
05.38
On defining ḥikāyah and risālah
07.35
On defining mujun
08.08
On how to learn Latin as an Arabist
Amy Richlin
Loeb Classical Library
10.15
On the circadian structure of HAQ
24 (TV series)
12.27
On the plot
13.40
A work to be read or performed?
16.29
On authorship
18.29
On the manuscript

Originally recorded 20 May 2019 via Zencastr. Produced by Talha Ahsan.

You can read more about Ian D.Morris's work at iandavidmorris.com and follow him on Twitter @iandavidmorris.

Originally recorded 13th April 2019 at a private location. Produced by Talha Ahsan.

You can read more about Yusuf Chaudhary's work at yusufchaudhary.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter @ayusuf_c.

Originally recorded 29th April 2019 at SOAS. Produced by Talha Ahsan.

You can read more about Dr Strick's work at  alexstrick.com and follow him on Twitter @strickvl.

Originally recorded 26th March 2019 at SOAS Radio studio. Produced by Talha Ahsan

You can see some of Dr. Lodhi's work here aku.academia.edu/AneesLodhi.

Originally recorded 26th March 2019 at SOAS Radio studio. Produced by Talha Ahsan.

Pre-order Prof. Kennedy's translation of Al-Baladhuri's History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest and Administration of Empire on Amazon.

Hello and welcome to the Abbasid History Podcast!

We interview academics about their research on the pre-modern Islamic past. We want to foster greater ties within the community and introduce fresh insights by thinking broader about our interests.