Tag: Islam
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Sculpting the Self: Islam, Selfhood, and Human Flourishing
Sculpting the Self addresses “what it means to be human” in a secular, post-Enlightenment world by exploring notions of self and subjectivity in Islamic and non-Islamic philosophical and mystical thought. Alongside detailed analyses of three major Islamic thinkers (Mullā Ṣadrā, Shāh Walī Allāh, and Muhammad Iqbal), this study also situates their writings on selfhood within…
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What al-Biruni Can Teach Us About Hindu-Muslim Dialogue Today
by Saad Ismail “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 al-Biruni’s precocious and magisterial study al-Hind (India) was undoubtedly far ahead of its times. Exactly one millennium…
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Sadhguru and the Politics of Spirituality
If you listen to Sadhguru enough times – as I have – you come away with the impression that spirituality is the only sensible alternative to the regressive and old-fashioned belief in religion. Religions, and in Sadhguru’s view, Abrahamic religions in particular – with all their notions of a traditional creator-god, scriptural morality, and heaven…
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The Hindu Self and its Muslim Neighbors in Bengali Landscapes
What do we learn from Rabindranath Tagore’s copious yet lesser-known writings on the Hindu-Muslim question? What do we learn from the fascinating interplay of Hindu-Muslim interactions in the history of Bengal? How do the behavioral patterns between the two communities fare and change over the course of history, particularly entering into the modern period? What…
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Prof. Ankur Barua’s Gift to Project Noon
A song from Shah Abdul Karim, dedicated to Project Noon by Prof. Ankur Barua, Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. Stay tuned for our podcast release.
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Indian Muslim Minorities and the 1857 Rebellion: Religion, Race, and Empire
In her fascinating and path paving book, Indian Muslim Minorities and the 1857 Rebellion: Religion, Rebels and Jihad (I. B. Tauris, 2017), Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Vermont reorients our understanding of the 1857 rebellion in India, while offering a nuanced theorization of religion, religious identity, and questions of…
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How to do Hindu-Muslim Dialogue
Dr. Saad Ismail engages Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr on how best to approach Hindu-Muslim dialogue in a manner that is both academically rigorous as well as spiritually cognizant of the wisdom of these rich traditions. Prof. Nasr has long maintained close ties as well as deep engagement with Indian thinkers, spiritual gurus, religious leaders from…
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How Not to Do Hindu-Muslim Dialogue
Dr. Nick Sutton, director of the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies, offers a critical and respectful response to some of the gross misrepresentations of Hindu Traditions knowingly or unknowingly employed by Zakir Naik in his talks on Hinduism and Islam. The figure of Zakir Naik remains a paradigmatic example of how not to go about…
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Who is a Hindu? What is Hinduism?
Prof. Arvind Sharma and Dr. Saad Ismail continue their conversation on Hindu-Muslim dialogue. This conversation explores the central role of the historical encounter of the two traditions, and asks whether history is essential or accidental to our encounter. If history is accidental, then this opens up great possibilities for better interfaith relations in the present.…
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