Harvard Islamica Podcast
Episodes
Ep. 19 | Portrait of a Moroccan ʿĀlim: Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar al-Kattānī’s Life, Works, and World | Dr. Armaan Siddiqi
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Armaan Siddiqi is the winner of the 2024 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for her dissertation, "Portrait of a Moroccan ʿ...
Ep. 18 | Islam in North America | Dr. Hussein Rashid
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr. Hussein Rashid talks about his recently published volume, Islam in North America: An Introduction (Bloomsbury, 2024), which he co...
Ep. 17 | Design as Commons, Oases, and a Changing Climate | Dr. Safouan Azouzi
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the first podcast episode of our "Climate Change and Muslim Societies" series, Dr. Safouan Azouzi discusses his research on Design for Social Innov...
Ep. 16 | The Making of the Modern Muslim State | Prof. Malika Zeghal
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In her recent book, The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton University Press, 2024)...
Ep. 15 | Reconstructing Alamut: New Approaches to the Study of the Nizari Ismaili Polity in Iran | Dr. Shiraz Hajiani
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Shiraz Hajiani's research contributes to the scant scholarship on the early Nizari Ismaili community. After a succession crisis in the Fatimid Emp...
Ep. 14 | Ottoman Boston: Discovering Little Syria | Chloe Bordewich and Lydia Harrington
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 lat...
Ep. 13 | The Ties That Bind: Child Custody in Andalusī Mālikism, 3rd/9th to 6th/12 c. | Dr. Janan Delgado
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Janan Delgado is the winner of the 2022 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for her dissertation entitled, "The Ties That Bin...
Ep. 12 | Revisiting 'Women and Gender in Islam' | Leila Ahmed and Kecia Ali
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Ep. 11 | Preserving Islamicate Cultural Heritage from Harvard’s Libraries to the Balkans | András Riedlmayer
17 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Alwaleed Program team speaks with András Riedlmayer, former Aga Khan Bibliographer of Islamic Art and Architecture at Harvard's Fine Arts Library...
Ep. 10 | Islamic Scholarship in Africa | Ousmane Kane and Ebrima Sall
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss the new edited volume, Islamic Scholarship in Africa: New Directions and Global Contexts, with its editor, Professor Ousma...
Ep. 9 | Beyond the Realm of Religion: The Idea of the Secular in Premodern Islam | Dr. Rushain Abbasi
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Ep. 8 | How Has the Pandemic Affected Religious Behavior in the Muslim World? | Tarek Masoud, Kadir Yildirim, and Peter Mandaville
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic raised questions about how the health crisis, government-imposed lockdowns, and economic recession would affect rel...
Ep. 7 | Seeking What Is Good: Harvard Law Review, Islamic Law, and Legal Studies Across Traditions | Dr. Hassaan Shahawy
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Ep. 6 | Giving Voice to Silenced Islams | Prof. Ali Asani
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Ali Asani tells the Alwaleed Program team about his scholarly trajectory, beginning with his experiences coming to Harvard College as an int...
Ep. 5 | Establishing Islamic and Comparative Religious Studies at Harvard | Prof. William A. Graham
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Professor William Graham talks about his scholarly journey and how he "stumbled" into Islamic studies after pursuing other subjects including Classics...
Ep. 4 | Podcasting and the Islamic History Classroom | Chris Gratien and Dana Sajdi
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this collaboration between the Harvard Islamica Podcast and the Ottoman History Podcast (OHP), we discuss OHP's new series called "The Making of th...
Ep. 3 | The Making of an Islamic Historian | Prof. Roy Mottahedeh
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Ep. 2 | Looking Back on Islamic Studies at Harvard | Roy Mottahedeh, William Graham, and Ali Asani
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this first episode in a four-part series, former Alwaleed Program directors, Professors Roy Mottahedeh, William Graham, and Ali Asani, share reflec...
Ep. 1 | Reviving Turāth: Islamic Education in Modern Egypt | Dr. Mary Elston
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...