Tag: Islam
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The Truth in a Truism: A Tafsir
by Ankur Barua Once upon a time, in a land not too far from where you are, there lived Abdul-of-the- desolate-mountain. Now Abdul was a boy of few words, and he grew up to become a man of even fewer words. The very act of speaking seemed pointless to him. He disliked having to repeat…
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Recommended Reading on Philosophy of the Self in Islam and Neuroscience
Recommended by Muhammad U. Faruque, Inayat Malik Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati and a Taft Center Fellow at the University of Cincinnati. He also holds a Visiting Scholar position at Harvard University. Prof. Faruque offers his book recommendations below on the philosophy of the self in Islam and modern neuroscience, a nascent subject…
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Zikr: The Allusions of Agra’s Assertions
by Ankur Barua O my Lord –In the autumn of my life I pine for the verdant gardens of AgraNourished by these delightful waters of your abundant YamunaO Allah – your supreme strength is sufficient for this servant. In these tumultuous times it is your still voice I seek to hearYou will not burden my…
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Zikr: The Bustling Brocades of Bombay
O my Lord – Sailing along the blue Arabian sea it is this oasis that I first see When I leave its green coves its memories continue to haunt me O Allah – we are sent by you and it is to you that we seek to return.
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Chaitanya Vaishnavism and Islam: The Path of Bhakti / Devotion
Dr. Saad Ismail is joined with Dr. David Coolidge who is a leading Muslim voice in Hindu studies. They focus on his area of specialization i.e. Chaitanya or Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Among other things, they explore the Vaishnava path of Bhakti or devotion to the Lord and discuss how it differs from other models of Hindu…
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Zikr: The Labour of Lucknow’s Love
by Ankur Barua O my Lord –If there is paradise on earth it is this pearl of exquisite beautyThat gently nestles on the meandering necklace of your GomtiO Allah – this beggar stands waiting at your door for your bounty. In every iota of dust do I discern your resplendent Residency1In whose mansions once dwelled…
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Zikr: The Four Minarets of Hyderabad
O my Lord – Tossed up and down on this vast ocean of humanity I hold on to your name as the anchor of our stability O Allah – in my darkness you shine as a mountain of light. Walking past all the magnificent palaces of the Nizam I gently sigh In this frantic living…
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Top Three Books on Chaitanya Vaishnavism
Recommended by R. David Coolidge. David completed his PhD from the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) with a dissertation about Muslim perceptions of the Hindu tradition. He worked as a Muslim chaplain at Dartmouth College and Brown University and taught undergraduate courses on Islamic law and ethics at New York University. He has served on the…
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Reading al-Biruni’s ‘Kitab al Hind’ as Phenomenology of Religion
by Saad Ismail *A paper originally presented at the Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University in January 2024. 1. Introduction: “I have found it very hard to work my way into the subject, although I have a great liking for it, in which respect I stand quite alone in my time.” al-Biruni Abu Rayhan…
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Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship After Empire with SherAli Tareen
In this conversation Prof. SherAli Tareen joins Dr. Saad Ismail for a succinct survey of key theoretical motifs in Prof. Tareen’s most recent ground-breaking book which explores how leading South Asian Muslim thinkers imagined and contested the boundaries of Hindu-Muslim friendship from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. He argues that often what was…
Project Noon 