Sources/Suggested Reading:

• al-Jallad, Ahmad (forthcoming) "The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia: A reconstruction based on the Safaitic Inscriptions". Pre-Print Darft (Version 2: April 3, 2021).
• al-Jallad, Ahmad (2019). "The 'One' God in a Safaitic Inscription". Draft. The Ohio State University.
• al-Jallad, Ahmad (2020). "The pre-Islamic basmala: reflections on its first epigraphic attestation and its original significance". Draft. The Ohio State University.
• Bowersock, G.W. (2017) "The Crucible of Islam". Harvard University Press.
• Hoyland, Robert G. (2001). "Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam". Routledge.

Also check out these two great resources for ancient Arabic inscriptions:

• DASI: http://dasi.cnr.it/
• Ociana: http://krcfm.orient.ox.ac.uk/fmi/webd/OCIANA

#Arabia #Religion #Paganism

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Today we talk about an often asked question - what is the relatioship between Sufism and Islam? Are they the same thing or is there some difference?

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Karamustafa, Ahmet T. (2007). "Sufism: The Formative Period". Edinburgh University Press.
• Knysh, Alexander (2017). "Sufism : A New History of Islamic Mysticism". Princeton University Press.
• Malik, Jamal & John Hinnells (ed.) (2006). "Sufism in the West". Routledge.
• Ridgeon, Lloyd (ed.) (2014). "The Cambridge Companion to Sufism". Cambridge University Press.
• Van Bruinessen, Martin & Julia Day Howell (ed). (2007). "Sufism and the Modern in Islam". I.B. Tauris.

#Sufism #Islam #Mysticism

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Spinoza is one of the most controversial and debated philosophers in the last few centuries. This episode attempts to give a very general overview of his perspective on God as well as some ways that it can be interpreted.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Garrett, Don (1996). "The Cambridge Companion to Spinoza". Cambridge University Press.
• Nadler, Steven (2018). "Spinoza: A Life". Cambridge University Press.
• Wolfson, Harry Austryn (2014). "The Philosophy of Spinoza: Unfolding the Latent Processes of His Reasoning". Harvard University Press.

#Spinoza #Pantheism #Philosophy

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This episode explores the historical and religious context of the first Assassin's Creed Game.

The episode uses sound taken from gameplay footage from No Copyrightgfg Gameplaykj.

Link to their video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3k2CfOK74c&list=UUMcIQ4ZIKaYC6YescDoyw2w&index=663

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Daftary, Farhad (2007). "The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines". Cambridge University Press.

#AssassinsCreed #Islam #History

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Abraham Abulafia (d. 1291) is one of the most fascinating jewish mystics of all time, who is credited with founding the "Ecstatic/Prophetic Kabbalah".

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Hames, Harvey J. (2007). “Like Angels on Jacob’s Ladder”. State University of New York Press.
• Ide, Moshe (1988). “The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia”. Translated from the Hebrew by Jonathan Chipman. State University of New York Press.
• Idel, Moshe (1988). “Studies in Ecstatic Kabbalah”. State University of New York Press.
• Wolfson, Eliot R. (2011). “Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia and the Prophetic Kabbalah”. In Jewish Mysticism & Kabbalah (ed. Frederick E. Greenspahn). New York University Press.

#Abulafia #Kabbalah #Mysticism

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In this episode we talk about Jesus, who is was and if he even existed.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Chilton, Bruce & Craig A. Evans (ed.) (1998). Studying the historical Jesus: Evaluations of the state of Current Research. Brill.
• Ehrman, Bart D. (2013). Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth. HarperOne.
• Holmén, Tom & Stanley E. Porter (ed.) (2011). Handbook for the study of the historical Jesus. Volume 1. Brill.
• Levine, Amy-Jill; Dale C. Allison Jr. & John Dominic Crossan (2006). The Historical Jesus in Context. Princeton University Press.

#Jesus #History #ProjectHistoricity

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In this episode we talk about the great 14th-15th century saint Shah Ni'matullah Wali and the order that carries his name.

Sources/Further Reading:

• Dahlén, Ashk (2001). "Sufismen i det moderna Iran". In Levande Sufism. Edited by David Westerlund.
• Graham, Terry (1999) "Shah Ni'matullah Wali: Founder of the Ni'matullahi Sufi Order". In The Heritage of Sufism: Legacy of Medieval Persian Sufism (Volume 2). Edited by Leonard Lewisohn.
• Herman, Denis & Mathieu Terrier (2020). "Shi'i Islam and Sufism: classical views and modern perspectives". I.B. Tauris.
• Nurbakhsh, Javad (1980). "Masters of the Path: a history of the masters of the Nimatullahi sufi order". Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications: New York.
• Pourjavady, Nasrollah (?). "Shah Nematollah Vali: an Heir to Two Mystical Literary Traditions". Article.
• Various (2002). "Celebrating a Sufi Master: A collection of works on the occasion of the First (& Second) international symposium on Shah Nematollah Vali". San Jose State University. Volumes 1 & 2.

#Nimatullahi #Sufism #Islam

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This episode is one that leans heavily on the academic side. Here we talk about the effects that religion and migration have on each other.

Sources/Further Reading:

• Levitt, Peggy (2009). "God Needs No Passport: Immigrants and the Changing American Landscape". The New Press.
• Frederiks, Martha (2014). "Religion, Migration & Identity: A conceptual and theoretical exploration". In "Religion, Migration & Identity: A conceptual and theoretical exploration". Edited by Martha Frederiks & Dorottya Nagy. Brill.

#Religion #Migration #Immigration

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Meister Eckhart is an influential, and often surprising, Christian theologian/philosopher/mystics whose writings & sermons have both inspired future thinkers in the catholic church, but also been condemned by the pope as heretical.

Sources/Further Reading:

• McGinn, Bernard (2003). "The Mystical Thought of Meister Eckhart: The Man from Whom God Hid Nothing". Independent Publishers Group.
• McGinn, Bernard (1992). "Meister Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher". Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Paulist Press International, U.S.
• McGinn, Bernard (1981). "Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises and Defense". Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Paulist Press International, U.S.

#Eckhart #Mysticism #Christianity

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In this video, we talk about one of the most central texts and figures in Daoism.

Sources/Further Reading:

• Komjathy, Louis (2013). "The Daoist Tradition: An Introduction". Bloomsbury Academic.
• Lao Tzu (2013). "Tao Te Ching - A New Translation. Translated by William Scott Wilson. Shambala Publications. Hackett Publishing Co, Inc.
• Zhuangzi (2008). "Zhuangzi - The Essential Texts: With Translations from Traditional Commentaries". Translated by Brook Ziporyn.

#Zhuangzi #Daoism #Philosophy

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