Let's Talk Religion

We continue our exploration of the Occult Sciences by looking at the theory and use of Talismans in the Islamicate World.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Melvin-Koushki, Matthew & Noah Gardner (2017). "Islamicate Occultism: New Perspectives". Brill.
• Saif, Liana (2015). "The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy". Palgrave Macmillan.
• Saif, Liana; Francesca Leoni; Matthew Melvin-Koushki & Farouk Yahya (2021). "Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice". Brill.
• Savage-Smith, Emily (ed.) (2004). "Magic & Divination in Early Islam". Ashgate Publishing.
• Van Bladel, Kevin (2009). "The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science". Oxford University Press.
• "The Openings Revealed in Makka", al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya by Ibn 'Arabi. Translated by Eric Shu'ayb Winkel. Vol. 1. Pir Press.

#Occultism #Religion #Esotericism

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This is the first in a series of episodes exploring the world of Occult Sciences in the Islamicate World, including such topics as Alchemy, Astrology, Talismanic Magic & the Science of Letters.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Melvin-Koushki, Matthew & Noah Gardner (2017). "Islamicate Occultism: New Perspectives". Brill.
• Saif, Liana (2015). "The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy". Palgrave Macmillan.
• Saif, Liana; Francesca Leoni; Matthew Melvin-Koushki & Farouk Yahya (2021). "Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice". Brill.
• Savage-Smith, Emily (ed.) (2004). "Magic & Divination in Early Islam". Ashgate Publishing.
• Van Bladel, Kevin (2009). "The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science". Oxford University Press.
• "The Openings Revealed in Makka", al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya by Ibn 'Arabi. Translated by Eric Shu'ayb Winkel. Vol. 1. Pir Press.

#Occultism #Religion #Esotericism

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In this second episode in our Shocktober 2020 series, we explore the king of mythical creatures in the middle east - the Jinn. What are some of the misconceptions about these creatures, and what different kinds are there out there?

Sources/Further Reading:

• Lebling, Robert & Tahir Shah (2014). "Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar. I.B. Tauris.
• Henninger, Joseph (2004). "Beliefs in Spirits among the Pre-Islamic Arabs". In "Magic and Divination in Early Islam". Edited by Emile Savage-Smith. Ashgate Publishing Company.

#Jinn #Arabia #Genie

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This episode was originally recorded and released in 2020 on the Let's Talk Religion Youtube channel.

In this first Shocktober-special we dive into the world of Middle eastern folklore and talk about some of the mythical creatures that we can find in places like the Arabian Nights.

#Mythology #Arabia #MiddleEast

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In this episode, we finally dive into one of my favorite topics - Sufi Music. We discuss its history, practical uses as well as theoretical, philosophical perspectives on the role and power of music to affect the human soul, all from the perspective of Muslim Sufi writers.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Abu Nasr Abdallah b. Ali al-Sarraj al-Tusi - "Kitab al-Luma' fi al-Tasawwuf". Translated & summarized by Reynold A. Nicholson. E.J. Brill. 1914.
• Adamson, Peter (ed.) (2005). "The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy". Cambridge University Press.
• Addas, Claude (1993). "Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn 'Arabi". The Islamic Texts Society.
• "Al-Qushayri's Epistle on Sufism - Al-Risala Al Qushayriyya Fi 'ilm Al-Tasawwuf". Translated by Alexander Knysh. 2020. The Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization.
• Alvarez, Lourdes Maria (2009). "Abu-l Hasan al-Shushtari: Songs of Love and Devotion". In the "Classics of Western Spirituality" series. Paulist Press.
• Alvarez, Lourdes Maria (2005). "The Mystical Language of Everyday Life": Vernacular Sufi Poetry and the Songs of Abu Al-Hasan Al-Shustari". Exemplaria. 17:1, 1-32, DOI: 10.1179/exm.2005.17.1.1.
• Avery, Kenneth S. (2004). "A Psychology of Early Sufi Sama: Listening and altered states". Routledge.
• Chishti, Muhammad Tanveer Jamal & Dr. Abdul Zahoor Khan (2015). "Approaches of The Early Sufis From 10th Century to 12th Century Towards 'SAMA'". Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences. 6, 5:51.
• Cornell, Vincent J. (transl.) (1996). "The Way of Abu Madyan: The Works of Abu Madyan Shu'ayb". The Islamic Texts Society.
• Ernst, Carl W. & Bruce B. Lawrence (2003). "Sufi Martyrs of Love: The Chishti Order in South Asia and beyond". Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hammarlund, Anders; Tord Olsson & Elisabeth Özdalga (1997). "Sufism, Music and Society - In Turkey and the Middle East". Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. Transactions Vol. 10.
• Homerin, Th. Emil (2011). "Passion Before Me, My Fate Behind: Ibn al-Farid And the Poetry of Recollection". SUNY Press.
• Homerin, Th. Emil (2001). "From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint: Ibn al-Farid, His Verse, and His Shrine". The American University in Cairo Press.
• Ibn Sina - "A Treatise on Love". Translated by Emil L. Fackenheim. Medieval Studies.
• Khan, Inayat (1991). "The Mysticism of Sound and Music". Revised Edition. Shambala Dragon Editions.
• Lewis, Franklin D. (2000). "Rumi: Past and Present, East and West". Oneworld publications.
• Ibn 'Arabi - "The Ringstones of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam)". Translation by Caner K. Dagli. Great Books of the Islamic World.
• Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt (1995). "Sufi Music of India and Pakistan: Sound, Context and Meaning in Qawwali". The University of Chicago Press.
• Ridgeon, Lloyd (ed.) (2015). "The Cambridge Companion to Sufism". Cambridge University Press.
• Shehadi, Fadlou (1995). "Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam". E.J. Brill.
• Wright, Owen (translated and edited by) (2010). "Epistles of the Brethren of Purity: On Music. An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistle 5. Oxford University Press.

#Sufism #Music #Islam

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In this last part in the trilogy about Vedanta, we explore the life and teachings of Madhvacharya - the founder of the school of Dvaita (dualistic) Vedanta.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Bartley, C.J. (2002). "The Theology of Ramanuja - Realism and Religion". Routledge.
• Deutsch, Eliot (1973). “Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction”. University of Hawai’i Press.
• Deutsch, Eliot & Rohit Dalvi (2005). “Essential Vedanta: A New Source Book of Advaita Vedanta”. World Wisdoms Books.
• Flood, Gavin (ed.) (2003). "The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism". Blackwell publishing.
• Sarma, Deepak (2003). "An Introduction to Madhva Vedanta". Ashgate World Philosophy Series. Routledge.
• Sarma, Deepak (2018). "Epistemologies and the Limitations of Philosophical Inquiry: Doctrine in Madhva Vedanta". Routledge.
• Thibaut, George (translated by) (2006). "The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja". The Echo Library.

#Madhva #Vedanta #Hinduism

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In this episode we talk about a scholar who represents the very opposite tendency compared to many other figures we have discussed on this channel. Ibn Taymiyya is a controversial thinker, but one that has had a major impact on the contemporary Islamic world.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Abrahamov, Binyamin (1998). "Islamic Theology: Traditionalism and Rationalism. Edinburgh University Press.
• El-Rouayheb, Khaled & Sabine Schmidtke (2019). "The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology". Oxford University Press.
• Hoover, Jon (2019). "Ibn Taymiyya". In the Makers of the Muslim World Series. OneWorld.
• Moustafa, Mohamed A. (2017). "Upholding God's Essence: Ibn Taymiyya on the Createdness of the Spirit". Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences. 3(2): 1-43.
• Skeikh, Mustafa (2007). "Ibn Taymiyya, Analogy and the Attributes of God". Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford.

#IbnTaymiyya #Islam #Salafism

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In this episode, we keep exploring the world of Sufism through one of the oldest and most important orders in history - the Shadhiliyya.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Abu-n Nasr, Jamil M. (2007). "Muslim Communities of Grace: The Sufi Brotherhoods in Islamic Religious Life". C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd.
• Cornell, Vincent J. (1998). "Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism". University of Texas Press.
• Cornell, Vincent J. (Tranlated by) (1996). "The Way of Abu Madyan: The Works of Abu Madyan Shu'ayb". The Islamic Text Society.
• Lings, Martin (1993). "A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaikh Ahmad Al-'Alawi, his spiritual heritage and legacy". The Islamic Texts Society.
• Michon, Jean-Louis (ed.) (2010). "Ibn Ajiba: Two Treatises on the Oneness of Existence". Translated by David Streight. Archetype; Bilingual edition.

#Sufism #Islam #Mysticism

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It's finally time to talk about Suhrawardi, one of the most fascinating philosophers of the middle ages.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Suhrawardi (1187). "The Philosophy of Illumination". Translated by John Walbridge & Hossein Ziai. Islamic Translation Series. University of Chicago Press.
• Walbridge, John (2005). "Suhrawardi & Illuminationism". In "The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy" (ed. Peter Adamson & Richard C. Taylor). Cambridge University Press.

#Suhrawardi #Philosophy #Islam

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In this episode we discuss the famous medieval "heretics" known as the Cathars, and the Albigensian crusade which tried to wipe them out.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

• Barber, Malcolm, The Cathars: Dualist heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages, Second edition (Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson, 2013).
• Sennis, Antonio (ed.), Cathars in Question (York: York Medieval Press, 2016).
• Moore, R. I., The War on Heresy (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012).

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