Bottled Petrichor
28 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 19 ratingsWelcome to Bottled Petrichor, a podcast dedicated to discussing key topics in Islamic History and Thought. In addition to a short lecture at the start of most episodes, we ask our guest experts questions submitted by listeners and allow them to share their thoughts in a safe environment. Please visit our twitter page for feedback and question submission forms. https://twitter.com/BottldPetrichor
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Episodes
E21 Falsafa and Kalam with Dr. Peter Adamson
January 12, 2023 15:33 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBPleased to have on Dr. Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and host of the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps podcast. What is Falsafa? What types of questions did its practitioners address and how did they go about doing so? What is Kalām? What types of questions did its practitioners address and how did they go about doing so? How did practitioners of these sciences view one another? How did non-Muslims in Muslim-ruled areas engage with and contribute to the stu...
E20 The New Testament with Dr. Thomas Schmidt
May 03, 2021 16:31 - 1 hour - 69.6 MBJoin me as I discuss the New Testament with Dr. Thomas Schmidt, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Fairfield University. What is the New Testament and what is its anatomy? What is the history of its writing/canonization? What was the status of the NT among early Christians and how did they refer to it? How does the NT relate to the Hebrew scriptures and other writings? How was the NT preserved? What is the Qur'an's understanding of the NT? And more! Link to Dr. Schmidt's Aca...
E19 Christ, Christology, and Councils with Kerwin Holmes Jr.
April 19, 2021 15:53 - 2 hours - 113 MBI'm very pleased to have on Kerwin Holmes Jr., PhD student at the University of Virginia's Department of Religious Studies, to discuss Christianity. What is Christology? What did the early Christians believe about Jesus? What were the different councils and what did they accomplish? What are some of the various interpretive methodologies employed when approaching the Gospels? What does a practising Christian scholar think of the Qur'an's conception of Christian belief? And more! Link to Kerw...
E18 Islamic Education in America with Dr. Tamara Gray (Rabata)
March 19, 2021 16:21 - 1 hour - 67.4 MBI'm pleased to welcome Dr. Tamara Gray, founder of Rabata (https://www.rabata.org/) to discuss the philosophy of Islamic education in America. What is the purpose of education in general and of Islamic education in particular? How has the curriculum been organized/structured? What are some of the advantages of an online medium for education? What is the role of Islamic scholarship today (original research, education, etc)? What is the broader vision for your students' career plans? And muc...
E17 Islamic Education in America with Shaykh Amin Kholwadia (Darul Qasim)
February 11, 2021 18:12 - 1 hour - 58 MBI'm pleased to welcome Shaykh Amin Kholwadia, founder of Darul Qasim (located in a suburb of Chicago, IL, USA) to discuss the philosophy of Islamic education in America. What is the purpose of education in general and of Islamic education in particular? What is the role of Islamic scholarship today (original research, education, etc)? How should Muslim academics from Darul Qasim engage with academics in Islamic Studies/NELC departments at universities? What can be learned from the educationa...
E16 The Translation Movement and Islamic Medicine with Dr.Elaine van Dalen
August 25, 2020 15:00 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MBJoin me as I discuss the translation of philosophical texts into Arabic with Dr. Elaine van Dalen, Assistant Professor of Classical Islamic Studies in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. When and where were texts first translated after the rise of Islam? What was the "translation movement" and what was the political and social context of the movement? What was the motivation behind translating texts of certain topics and how did the chang...
E15 The Qur'an and its Variant Readings with Dr. Shady Nasser
August 22, 2020 15:03 - 1 hour - 94.9 MBJoin me as I discuss the Qurʼān and its variant readings with Dr. Shady Nasser, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard. What do we mean when we talk about variant readings? How is the presence of such readings accounted for between Muslim and Western scholars? How and when were variant readings canonized? What methodology was applied to determine whether a variant reading was valid or not? How was "Qurʼān" defined between different people? What are the aḥru...
E14 Pre-Islamic Arabia, Epigraphy, and Arabic with Dr. Ahmad Al-Jallad
August 20, 2020 15:41 - 1 hour - 67 MBJoin me as I discuss pre-Islamic Arabia, epigraphy, and Arabic with Dr. Ahmad Al-Jallad (twitter: @Safaitic). What is pre-Islamic Arabia and how can we know about it? How did pre-modern scholars approach the subject and what were their goals? How has the discovery of new inscriptions advanced our knowledge of pre-Islamic Arabia, the Qur'an, early-Islam, and the Arabic language? Why did people make inscriptions? How do we know an inscription is actually going back to a particular date? What m...
E13 The Important Questions with Dr. Jonathan Brown
August 14, 2020 22:00 - 56 minutes - 52.4 MBHad a good conversation with Professor Jonathan Brown on the important questions. What defines being Muslim? How do we analyze the truth of Islam? What methodology do we use to conclude that the Qur'an is from God? To what extent can we, people of the modern world, take pre-modern figures as role models, especially if we feel we have to constantly contextualize their lives? How do we live in today's highly connected world in a moral and ethical way? And more!
E12 Bible, Qur’an, Midrash, and Tafsir with Dr. Michael Pregill
August 12, 2020 00:52 - 1 hour - 99.3 MBJoin me as I discuss the Bible, Qur’an, Midrash, and Tafsir with Dr. Michael Pregill. We discuss the state of Qur'anic studies today and how the field has changed over the past couple decades, as well as Dr. Pregill's new book, "The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur'an" (recently published by the Oxford University Press). We then move on to several discussions, including: who was the Qur'anic Sāmirī and how is he related to Aaron/Hārūn; Qur'anic "confusions"; how the fields of Late Antiquity,...
E11 The Qur'an and its Context with Dr. Emran El Badawi
July 17, 2020 03:30 - 2 hours - 119 MBI'm pleased to have on Dr. Emran El-Badawi, Associate Professor at the University of Houston and the founding executive director of the International Qur'anic Studies Association (IQSA). We discuss various theories of the origins of the Qurʼān, the Qurʼān and the Aramaic gospel traditions (which is also the title of his book), Ephrem the Syrian's homilies, the Qurʼān in conversation with Late Antiquity, approaching the Qurʼān as believing historians, and more!
E10 The Life of a Prophet with Dr. Sean Anthony
July 09, 2020 20:08 - 1 hour - 111 MBJoin me as I discuss the sīra and maghāzī literature with Dr. Sean Anthony. Who were the main figures involved in collecting and compiling data about the life and times of the Prophet? How reliable are these works? How do they incorporate Biblical motifs, hagiography, etc? Were elements of his biography ever used polemically? How much did early Muslims, be they scholars or laymen, know about the life of their Prophet? What is the current status of Western scholarship on the sīra and maghāzī l...
E9_Race and Islamic History_Dr. Rachel Schine
June 02, 2020 16:22 - 51 minutes - 47.7 MBJoin me as I discuss race and Islamic history with Dr. Rachel Schine, a graduate of the University of Chicago and current Postdoctoral Associate in Arabic Literature and Culture at the University of Colorado Boulder. Can we speak about race when we talk about the past? How are different peoples depicted in the Qurʼān, Ḥadīth, and other literature? How were differences between human explained? Were these differences ever used in polemically? How did ideals of beauty intersect with conceptions ...
E8_The Qur'an, its Compilation, and its Variant Recitations _Maulana Arif Kamal
May 28, 2020 03:32 - 1 hour - 89.5 MBI'm pleased to have on Maulana Arif Kamal, faculty member at Darul Qasim. We discuss the compilation of the Qurʾān, its transmission, variant recitations, the seven aḥruf, and more! Maulana Arif also recites in different qirāʾāt (modes of recitation) for us on this episode!
E7.1_Muslims in Academia_Dr.Yasir Qadhi
April 14, 2020 03:58 - 1 hour - 86.9 MBJoin me as I discuss the study of Islam between madrasa and university with Dr. Yasir Qadhi. We discuss the professor's experiences as a student in both types of institutions, the advantages of each, the direction Islamic institutions in the West need to take and more!
E6.2_Transmission of the Qur'an_Dr.Marijn van Putten
April 06, 2020 15:55 - 1 hour - 60.1 MBSecond part of my discussion with Dr. Marijn van Putten, with a focus this time on the Qurʼān. We discuss the study of manuscripts, some of the doctor's main findings, the ways in which contemporary research agrees/disagrees with claims made by earlier scholars of the Qurʼān, and more!
E6.1_All About Arabic_Dr. Marijn van Putten
April 03, 2020 19:42 - 1 hour - 87.6 MBJoin me as I discuss the history of Arabic with Dr. Marijn van Putten of Leiden University. Dr. van Putten describes to me the field of historical linguistics and discusses topics such as Proto-Semitic, loan words, how Arabic was spoken in pre-modern times, the difference between Qur'anic and Classical Arabic, pronunciation variations, and more! This is a link to Dr. van Putten's publications page, which includes his very important work on the Uthmanic archetype ("The Grace of God" as evidenc...
E5.1_Theological Questions We May All Have_Dr.Shadee Elmasry
December 06, 2019 03:30 - 1 hour - 103 MBJoin me as I discuss various topics in theology with Dr. Shadee Elmasry of safinasociety.org. How do we know God exists? How do we know that He communicates with people? Is creation just? How do we recognize the truth of a prophet? The Shaykh's opinion on human evolution and Islam is also discussed. And more!
E4.1_Understanding God's Word_Dr. Sohaib Saeed
November 29, 2019 17:15 - 1 hour - 69.8 MBJoin me as I discuss Quranic exegisis (Tafsīr) with Dr. Sohaib Saeed, a graduate of Azhar University and SOAS and award-winning translator of Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī's monumental Tafsīr (name of translation is "The Great Exegesis: al-Tafsir al-Kabir: The Fatiha"). What's the status of the field of Tafsīr? Who are its major figures and what are their major works? What are common misconceptions when it comes to this field? Does every verse need an interpretation? How binding are the interpretations o...
E3.2_Can We Ever Know What Really Happened at the Start of Islam?_Dr.Jessica Mutter
June 10, 2019 23:38 - 1 hour - 76.1 MBJoin me as I conclude my discussion with Dr.Mutter. Arabization and the fall of languages. Hybrid religions in rural areas. When does conversion become religiously motivated? When does the apocalyptic fervor die down? Abdul Malik and the Apocalypse. Were Muslims ever seen as a sign of the Apocalypse by non-Muslims? What was the relationship between the rulers and the ruled? How did Muslims view non-Muslims? Arab superiority and the Abassid Revolution. Where did the designation "Muslim" come f...
E3.1_Conquests, Conversions, and Caliphates_Dr.Jessica Mutter
June 07, 2019 16:46 - 59 minutes - 55 MBWe start off with a brief lecture on the Riddah Wars (Wars of Apostasy), Islamic Conquests/Expansion, and the Umayyad and Abbassid Caliphates. We then move on to some important questions: Why did the Muslims expand? Why were the Muslims successful against the larger Byzantine and Sassanian Empires? How did religious minorities respond to the Muslim expansion? What was conversion like in that early period? Was it forced? Were there any incentives to convert? What was the rate of conversion? ...
E2.3_Islamic Law_Who Decides What God Likes or Dislikes? and More_Shaykh Aamir Bashir
May 23, 2019 03:59 - 1 hour - 80.3 MBHow did people practice religion before law was codified? How did courts throughout history go about dealing with various crimes? Ḥudūd vs Ta'zir. What is ḥarām? What is makruh? Practically speaking, are these approximations of what we think God feels about our actions? How do we know what God likes or dislikes? Does a change in society necessitate a change in law: the case of inheritance. Were early Imams consistent thinkers? Islamic Law and Science. How does the Muslim jurist interact wit...
E2.2_What has Islamic Law Offered Civilization? and More_Shaykh Aamir Bashir
May 23, 2019 03:55 - 33 minutes - 22.5 MBAre methodologies man-made? Can you create your own? Are we too focused on the form of Islam and do we lose sight of its spirit? How involved is Islamic Law in a person's personal life? Has Islamic Law offered civilization anything new or beneficial? Role of custom in Islamic Law. Is there a scholarly class in Islam? How many of the primary sources can be accessed by the lay person and how many require the guidance of a scholar? Do scholars abuse their power? What's the difference between s...
E2.1_Introduction to Islamic Law and More_Shaykh Aamir Bashir
May 23, 2019 03:52 - 1 hour - 44.6 MBAn introduction the development of Islamic Law. What is Ijmāʿ? What are the schools of Islamic Law and what are their methodologies? How well were these methodologies preserved? How critical were different schools of each other? How did methodologies in Islamic Law develop as other sciences developed? al-Shāfiʿī, Ḥadīth, and validating opinions to the outsider. The geographic distribution of the various schools of thought. The impact of the Salafi Movement on the Muslim world and the idea of...
E1.4_Hadtih_Are Hadith Reliable? Do We Need Them? and More_Mufti Muntasir Zaman
May 10, 2019 03:06 - 1 hour - 59.1 MBWe conclude our conversation with Mufti Muntasir by discussing the overall historical reliability of Hadith, whether or not we need them, how important science is in authenticating, and more.
E1.3_Hadith_What about the Companions? and More_Mufti Muntasir Zaman
May 10, 2019 02:53 - 56 minutes - 47.2 MBWe further investigate Hadith, this time focusing our discussion on the companions of the Prophet.
E1.2_Hadith_Western Criticism and More_Mufti Muntasir Zaman
May 10, 2019 02:13 - 1 hour - 49.6 MBWe continue in this episode with a series of questions further investigating Hadith. Are there any underlying presuppositions when it comes to accepting the Hadith as reliable sources of what the Prophet said and did? Who critiqued Hadith and why? And much more. Map of Hadith scholars: https://ilmfeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/4madhabs6hadithbooks1.png
E1.1_Hadith_Introduction_Mufti Muntasir Zaman
May 09, 2019 01:43 - 48 minutes - 39.2 MBPlease join me as I discuss the history of Hadith (generally speaking, these are the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) with Mufti Muntasir Zaman of Qalam Institute. In this first episode, the good Mufti gives us a brief introductory lesson on the compilation of these sayings. Mufti Muntasir's Website: https://ahadithnotes.com/ Mufti Muntasir's Biography: https://www.qalam.institute/muntasir-zaman