show episodes
 
For the past 7 years, Tarek Ali has always prefaced his talks with, “I never come to be right, I come to start the conversation.” And on this podcast, he continues THAT conversation. The thought-provoking conversations w not only inspire self-reflection and challenge societal norms, but also provide you with the tools for self-improvement. Tune in every week to hear Tarek have THAT conversation, either alone or with an insightful guest, as we grow closer to our highest potential—together. We ...
  continue reading
 
Artwork

4
Harvard Islamica Podcast

Harvard Islamic Studies

Unsubscribe
Unsubscribe
Monthly
 
Harvard Islamica, the podcast of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University, explores topics related to the scholarly study of Islam and Muslim societies at Harvard and beyond.
  continue reading
 
Loading …
show series
 
Send us a Text Message. When life threw me into a whirlwind of stress and responsibility, I found myself questioning the spirit, searching for a glimmer of purpose in the chaos. What unfolded was a profound journey, one that we unpack in this intimate conversation, revealing the transformative power of perspective during life's most trying times. T…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. This is a preview of the bonus content you get when you Leap into Healing! Today, we’re not just talking about making moves; we’re about setting those pent-up dreams free. You'll hear firsthand how the simple act of beginning can unravel the path to unexpected and wondrous destinations. If you've been cradling a vision or a …
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. The labyrinth of personal healing is often clouded with the shame and secrecy of our deepest struggles. Embark with me, Tarek Ali, as I traverse the raw and intimate pathways of my own self-discovery, laying bare the battles with anxiety and the transformative power of returning to one's roots. This episode is a candid revel…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. Several years after being betrayed by the people she trusted the most, Johnell joins Tarek to share her story no one else has ever made space for. From her partner to her best friends, the people she thought would always be there seemed to turn their back on her when she needed them most. Struggling to navigate this betrayal…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. In this episode, Tarek provides a perspective shift for the different voices that live in your head. The voice that tells you that you aren't good enough, to the voice that tells you to go after that dream, to the voice that tells you it'll never get better. Tarek gives tools to identify these different voices, and how to ma…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. After 4 months sober, Mary joins Tarek in sharing her testimony of addiction to alcohol, diving into the false validation it previously provided her. Creating a safe space and emphasizing radical grace, Tarek helps Mary connect with her inner child to evaluate what she needs and how Mary can now be the one to provide for her…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. After suddenly disappearing from the podcast for 6 months, Tarek returns with a powerful episode full of radical transparency and vulnerability like he never left. In this episode, Tarek takes us on the journey of what caused him to hit rock bottom when he thought he was on top of the world, a shocking diagnosis from his psy…
  continue reading
 
Dr. Shiraz Hajiani's research contributes to the scant scholarship on the early Nizari Ismaili community. After a succession crisis in the Fatimid Empire in 1095 divided the Ismailis, the community in Iran accepted the crown-prince, Nizar, as the legitimate Imam and successor to the Imam-Caliph al-Mustanṣir and established a polity in Iran at the f…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, we leave Harvard and Cambridge to explore the little-known history of immigration from the former Ottoman Empire to Boston in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While completing their PhDs at Boston University and Harvard, Dr. Lydia Harrington and Dr. Chloe Bordewich began to research the history of the neighborhood in today's…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. In one of his most transparent episodes to date, Tarek revisits the traumatic events that led him to uncover his own self-hatred and the harm it was causing to others. From vulnerable conversations with his best friends that went left, to colorist tweets from grade school that resurfaced online in 2020, he shares how all of …
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. In this episode, Tarek offers a new mindset that will help you see the light in your dark times. Not just after the storm, but while it's happening. He uses examples from his own journey and gives you the tools needed to allow yourself to not be ok, and see how the storm you're in is needed for what's next. So that the next …
  continue reading
 
Dr. Janan Delgado is the winner of the 2022 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for her dissertation entitled, "The Ties That Bind: Child Custody in Andalusī Mālikism, 3rd/9th to 6th/12th c." While scholars of Islamic law have produced numerous studies on marriage and divorce in recent decades, the topic of ḥaḍāna, or child cus…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. Depression and anxiety are much more than just feelings of sadness. They are changes in behavior that make you act out of character and turn to others for the validation you should be giving to yourself. In this episode, Tarek reveals the therapist-approved method he uses to nurture himself back to health when he was close t…
  continue reading
 
Professor Leila Ahmed's book, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (1992) was published in a time in which there was little scholarship on the history of women in Islam. Over the years, it became a classic and was re-published in 2021 with a new foreword by Professor Kecia Ali, who has used it in her own scholarship and al…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. Imagine being dressed by your favorite world-renowned designers at NY’s Fashion Week and getting praise for your hard work, then an overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction and depression washes over you. But you don’t know… why. In this episode, Tarek first catches us up on his busy last couple of weeks, then shares his person…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. Whether we like it or not, childhood wounding leaks into our adult relationships. And, without therapy or healing work we are at the mercy of the trauma we grew up with because we are always searching for love. In this episode, Tarek is joined by Taylor, an indispensable friend from college, who is still grieving a breakup. …
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. It takes courage and vulnerability to ask questions when we are in times of doubt in our lives. Reaching out to others is the process of expressing our internal questions and releasing them into the universe so it can properly guide us. In this episode, Tarek thoughtfully answers the questions submitted on his Instagram feed…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. The YES after a thousand NOs! In this episode, Tarek is still processing the news that he got his big YES! He is now a SIGNED SCREENWRITER to a very reputable management group and is swaggering in the endless possibilities of what this means for his writing and filmmaking career. It is proof that when you continue to believe…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. When we experience emotional pain, it can feel as if we are the cause. We beat ourselves up and blame ourselves for things that may not have anything to do with us. In this episode, Tarek opens up about his journey through the healing process to overcome the systematic grief that has been a raw undercurrent in his life. He h…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. In today’s episode, Tarek shares the different times in his life he has put himself out there during his journey of success. Whether he was applying to Stanford, writing essay after essay for grants to fund his college dreams, or getting his pilot script in front of the ultra-influential and exclusive CAA, Tarek embraces the…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. Today’s episode recaps the awarenesses highlighted in episode #1. Tarek offers reflections and Tools For Growth (TFG) that create the space for us to own our story and become the big, beautiful people we are! As he digs deep into his story, we can share his experience and dig into our journeys. And, don’t we all want to shin…
  continue reading
 
Send us a Text Message. Tarek has created a place for us to come together and have conversations that matter. In today’s inspirational stream of consciousness episode, Tarek freely shares THAT very personal conversation about the trauma he experienced during his formative years, how he came to own his story, his journey to find himself and understa…
  continue reading
 
The Alwaleed Program team speaks with András Riedlmayer, former Aga Khan Bibliographer of Islamic Art and Architecture at Harvard's Fine Arts Library, about his career as a librarian, the development of the field of the history of Islamic art and architecture, and how his passion for cultural heritage preservation took him from working in Harvard's…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, we discuss the new edited volume, Islamic Scholarship in Africa: New Directions and Global Contexts, with its editor, Professor Ousmane Kane, and his colleague, Dr. Ebrima Sall, who wrote the conclusion. This volume is the product of two conferences convened at Harvard by Professor Kane in 2017 on "Texts, Knowledge, and Practice: T…
  continue reading
 
The Alwaleed Program team speaks with Dr. Rushain Abbasi, winner of the 2021 Alwaleed bin Talal Prize for Best Dissertation in Islamic Studies for his dissertation entitled, "Beyond the Realm of Religion: The Idea of the Secular in Premodern Islam." In this study, Rushain challenges the prevailing view that maintains that premodern Muslims did not …
  continue reading
 
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic raised questions about how the health crisis, government-imposed lockdowns, and economic recession would affect religious faith and behavior. While many social scientists expected it to strengthen religiosity as people turned to their faith for comfort in a time of need, others suspected a religious recession coul…
  continue reading
 
In spring 2021, Hassaan Shahawy (A.B. '16, J.D. '22) was elected the 135th president of the Harvard Law Review, making him the first Muslim and first expert in Islamic law in the position. In the first half of our conversation, Hassaan talks about his background in Islamic law and how it contributes to his studies at Harvard Law School and work at …
  continue reading
 
Professor Ali Asani tells the Alwaleed Program team about his scholarly trajectory, beginning with his experiences coming to Harvard College as an international student from Kenya and entering Islamic studies as an Ismaili student in the early 1970s. He also discusses the importance of expanding perspectives in Islamic studies to include different …
  continue reading
 
Professor William Graham talks about his scholarly journey and how he "stumbled" into Islamic studies after pursuing other subjects including Classics and Sanskrit and Indian studies. He also shares his memories of his advisors at Harvard, Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Muhsin Mahdi, and other scholars who shaped Islamic studies including Josef van Ess…
  continue reading
 
In this collaboration between the Harvard Islamica Podcast and the Ottoman History Podcast (OHP), we discuss OHP's new series called "The Making of the Islamic World," using podcasts in the classroom, and engaging in public-facing history in the changing landscape of scholarship in the humanities. Chris Gratien, Assistant Professor of History at th…
  continue reading
 
Professor Roy Mottahedeh shares with the Alwaleed Program team how he entered the field of Islamic studies as an undergraduate at Harvard in the late 1950s and his development and career as a historian. Originally interested in studying Persian after growing up hearing the language from his father, Professor Mottahedeh pursued the study of both Per…
  continue reading
 
In this first episode in a four-part series, former Alwaleed Program directors, Professors Roy Mottahedeh, William Graham, and Ali Asani, share reflections on the development of Islamic studies over the course of their careers, first as students and then as faculty at Harvard. Professor Graham discusses the development of Islamic studies within rel…
  continue reading
 
The Alwaleed Program team speaks with Dr. Mary Elston, winner of the 2020 Alwaleed Bin Talal Prize for Best Dissertation in Islamic Studies, about her dissertation entitled, "Reviving Turāth: Islamic Education in Modern Egypt." Mary shares her findings about the history of reform at al-Azhar since the 19th century and the contemporary movement to r…
  continue reading
 
Loading …

Quick Reference Guide