Islamic Podcast

Can mourning become a pathway to the divine? Has the modern world sanitised death, and does Muharram insist we don’t look away? Drawing from his forthcoming book Senses of Mourning, Dr Babak Rahimi of UC San Diego asks a question many have wondered, but few have explored: why do Shi'as keep mourning? This episode reveals mourning not as passive grief but as active devotion, a technique for connecting to God through the body, the senses, and collective memory. We explore how modernity's devotion to pleasure has pushed death to the margins, how Muharram insists we confront what modern life conceals, and why the senses are not obstacles to the sacred but pathways toward it. From the festive dimensions of grief to the standardisation of ritual by state and digital platforms, this conversation moves through the space where philosophy meets performance, and where the body becomes a site of hope. Dr Babak Rahimi is an Associate Professor of Communication, Culture and Religion at UC San Diego, where he directs the Program for the Study of Religion and the Middle East Studies Program. His research focuses on sensory religion, public sphere theory, and the historical contexts of early modern Islamicate societies. He is the author of "Theatre-State" and "The Formation of the Early Modern Public Sphere in Iran" (Brill, 2011) and editor of "Performing Iran" (I.B. Tauris, 2021). Audio Chapters: 0:00 – Highlights 01:30 – Why Muharram Performances? 5:50 – Mourning as Religiosity? 18:06 – Mourning as Technique 26:02 – Muharram as Festive Events 36:01 – Role of Senses in Muharram Devotion 46:14 – Panja and Symbolism 51:00 – Memory as a Sense? 57:00 – Gender and Muharram Performances 59:50 – Self-Flagellation as Performance? 1:06:40 – Muharram and the Other 1:11:00 – Why Western Thinkers? 1:19:40 – Modern World and the Sense of Smell 1:24:27 – Digital and the Standardisation of Muharram Rituals 1:38:28 – Thinking Islam Question 📖 Get the Book: "Senses of Mourning" by Dr. Babak Rahimi 🔗 Penn Press: https://www.pennpress.org/9781512828344/senses-of-mourning/ 🔗 Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Senses-Mourning-Moharram-Performances-Qajar/dp/1512828343

This presentation challenges instrumental views of technology by drawing on Sikh philosophy and global traditions of thought. Professor Mandair explores how alternative models of individuation and spirituality can reshape our relationship with technology beyond modern Western frameworks.

Dr Rahimi explores Muharram rituals as embodied, technical practices that shape religious experience and communal life. By examining devotional performance, material culture, and sensory engagement, he shows how religious traditions adapt and endure through specific technologies of practice.

Professor Reed addresses the ethical challenges of weapons control through Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. She explores how shared moral resources can contribute to contemporary debates on warfare, accountability, and emerging military technologies.

Professor Fatemi introduces the concept of the “Cyber-Leviathan” to describe the totalising power of digital surveillance and algorithmic governance. From an Islamic ethical and theological perspective, he argues for rethinking human rights and moral responsibility in order to protect human agency in the digital age.

Professor Campbell analyses how internet memes shape public perceptions of religious communities. She explores how humour, stereotypes, and digital culture can reinforce religious bias, while also highlighting how faith communities can critically engage and respond.

Focusing on the work of Romano Guardini, this talk examines how modern technology reshapes human power, faith, and social structures. Professor Vila-Chã reflects on the loss of authentic human experience and considers how religious thought can help address the dehumanising tendencies of modern technological systems.

This joint presentation investigates how large language models influence Catholic theology and moral reasoning. Karr and Conwill examine how AI systems can blur doctrinal distinctions, while also considering how faith-based ethical frameworks might guide responsible religious uses of AI.

This presentation examines Islamic apocalyptic thought in relation to modern technological change. Professor Mirza explores how digital culture, scientific worldviews, and rapid social transformation shape Muslim imaginaries of the future, offering a balanced theological response beyond fear or utopianism.

This talk explores how classical ethical traditions and religious philosophy can respond to the growing moral challenges posed by artificial intelligence. Drawing on Buddhist thought and contemporary philosophy, Dr Maurya examines whether AI threatens human agency and how ethical frameworks might help safeguard humanity in an increasingly automated world.

This presentation critiques transhumanist visions of remaking humanity through technology. Rev. Anyanwu examines how such ideas challenge religious understandings of human nature, divine providence, and moral limits in an age of rapid technological enhancement.

Drawing on major UK and European research projects, this talk explores how digital spaces are reshaping Muslim religious authority, identity, and practice. Professor Cheruvallil-Contractor examines how different generations navigate faith across online and offline worlds.

This talk centres Black women’s digital religious leadership through a Womanist lens. Rev. Dr Gladden explores how digital rituals, online worship, and algorithmic systems intersect with justice, creativity, and resilience in contemporary faith communities.

This talk critically examines transhumanism and AI through the lens of Christian theological anthropology. Professor Valčo contrasts visions of technological “optimization” with religious understandings of embodiment, vulnerability, and communion, offering an alternative ethical vision for the digital future.

Dr Nisha explores how digital technologies are reshaping religious life in contemporary India. Challenging the strict divide between the secular and the religious, she argues that digital media has given rise to new hybrid forms of belief, practice, and spiritual experience.

In this Research Seminar, Dr Zairu Nisha (University of Delhi) explores infertility among Muslim women in India through feminist bioethics and phenomenology. She introduces the concept of the body as a site of moral injury, showing how reproductive expectations, religious belief, and assisted reproductive technologies shape women’s moral identities and lived experiences.Drawing on thinkers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Simone de Beauvoir, Dr Nisha challenges mind–body dualism and argues that the body is not separate from the self, but a moral subject formed through relationships with others. When infertility disrupts social and religious expectations of womanhood and motherhood, women experience guilt, shame, and alienation — not because of moral failure, but because they are caught between conflicting moral worlds. Read more or watch the full seminar:Audio Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 2:40 - Self and Body Dichotomy 04:53 - The Lived-Body in a Lived World 07:35 - Embodiment and Moral Injury 12:27 - Female Body and Reproduction 15:30 - Infertility and Moral Problem 17:55 - Technology and Motherhood 22:24 - Muslim Women and Reproduction 25:26 - Conclusion: Towards Moral Repair

How do stories create political power? Why do narratives matter in shaping legitimacy, justice, and belonging? In this Research Seminar, Dr Fatemeh Sadeghi (University College London – Institute for Global Prosperity) examines the powerful role of narratives and storytelling in legitimising political authority. Drawing on examples from Islamism, nationalism, and contemporary far-right populism, she shows how political stories do not merely reflect power but actively produce it. The seminar explores how movements mobilise ideas of moral renewal, nostalgia, and collective identity to justify authority, and how these same narratives can both inspire emancipation and reproduce exclusion or authoritarianism. Dr Sadeghi also situates these dynamics within an “age of crisis,” marked by inequality, political disillusionment, and declining trust in institutions, where emotional resonance increasingly replaces ideology as the basis of legitimacy. Read more, or watch the full seminar:https://ami.is/sadeghi-seminar Audio Chapters: 0:10 - Introduction 01:29 - What is Narrative? 04:02 - Types of Narrative in Islamic Culture 08:46 - Storytellers & Storytelling 15:10 - Significance of Narratives in Politics 17:45 - Examples of Political Narratives 31:49 - The Age of Crisis and the Future of Politics

If God is everywhere, why can't God be in an image? If devotion dissolves the self before the Beloved, what remains to draw the line between Hindu and Muslim? And can we ever find an answer to suffering that satisfies both the heart and the mind? Drawing from his acclaimed book, "The Hindu Self and Its Muslim Neighbors," Dr Barua guides us through the shared devotional languages of Bhakti and Sufi traditions. He reveals how figures like Kabir, Tagore, Nazrul Islam, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan inhabited spaces of “creative ambiguity” that transcended rigid boundaries. This episode explores Dr Barua’s journey from physics to metaphysics, delving into the theology behind “idol worship” and the intersection of quantum mechanics and religious truth. It invites us to discover profound resonances and honest tensions between two great spiritual traditions. Dr Ankur Barua is a Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. He researches the conceptual constellations and the social structures of the Hindu traditions, both in premodern contexts in South Asia and in colonial milieus where multiple ideas of Hindu identity were configured along transnational circuits between India, Britain, Europe, and USA. In recent years, his research focus has moved to an exploration of the intersections between the idioms of bhakti, yoga, tawḥīd, and taṣawwuf on the multiply-stratified postcolonial landscapes of South Asia.Audio Chapters: 0:00 – Highlights 1:23 – From Physics to Metaphysics 12:30 – Language of Science vs Language of Religion 19:10 – Are There Revelations in Hinduism?24:50 – On Infallibility of the Vedas 28:28 – Revelation in Hinduism and Abrahamic Traditions 33:16 – Between Monotheism and Idol Worship in Hinduism 45:07 – Idol Worship and Muslims 47:15 – Why Muslim Neighbours? 55:52 – Muslims as Foreigners 1:04:45 – Bhakti and Sufi Love 1:17:01 – Quantum Mechanics and Truth of Religion 1:23:10 – Religion and Meaning for Modern Individuals 1:28:46 – Thinking Islam QuestionMentioned in This Episode: "Images of the Unimaginable God" by Dr Ankur Barua: https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/images-of-the-unimaginable-god "The Hindu Self and Its Muslim Neighbors" by Dr Ankur Barua: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/hindu-self-and-its-muslim-neighbors-9781793642585/ "Form and Essence" by Shaykh Arif: https://www.shaykharif.com/blog/impurity?categoryId=24615

Dr Calis introduces listeners to the rich metaphysical world of Ibn al-‘Arabī and the Akbarī tradition, where revelation is seen as an ontological process rather than a historical event. He explains how divine speech unfolds through the hierarchical realms of existence and clarifies the misunderstood distinction between risāla (messengership) and wilāya (sainthood). The discussion connects classical Sufi metaphysics to contemporary debates on divine communication.

In this episode, Dr Attar explores how two major theologians — al-Ghazālī and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī — challenged the idea that miracles serve as proof of prophethood. Drawing on their engagement with the occult sciences, Dr Attar shows how both thinkers believed that extraordinary acts could be imitated by magicians and thaumaturges, raising new questions about what truly verifies a prophet. He concludes by proposing an Avicennian reinterpretation of miracles as signs of an elevated prophetic soul rather than evidentiary proofs.