Professor Sean Anthony of Near Eastern languages and cultures at Ohio State University joined us today to talk about Islam and late antiquity. We delved into Hadith texts, early Islam, and a wide range of subjects. . . from philosophy, to the current state of study abroad in the Middle East. . . even crucifixion. And we discussed his new book: “Muhammad and the Empires of Faith” due to come out in April. Dr. Anthony is offering a new course next year! It's called "The Islamic Conquest" and will cover early sources in Arabic, as well as early accounts from the conquered peoples, in Syriac, Coptic, Greek texts. There are no pre requisites. You do not have to speak Arabic.

Dr. Anthony also teaches "The Qur’an in Translation," and you don’t need to speak Arabic for that course either. It is an introduction to the modern scholarly study of the Qur’an.

Dr. Anthony was a awarded a grant to study the conquest of Palestine and Jerusalem by Persians in 614 CE, and the crisis it was for the Eastern Roman Empire. He and his partner will be working on translations in Georgian and Christian Arabic

Be on the look-out for another one of his translations coming out soon on the caliph Omar the second, Sirah Omar Ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz. It's the first biography in Arabic of a Caliph