On The Square EP10- Sapelo’s Top Ten of 2021
In this episode of On The Square, our host Dr. Su’ad is joined by the Sapelo Squad! As we round out the podcast series and 2021 we wanted to bring the Squad to you up…
Understanding the Deoband Movement
When I began researching the Deoband movement as a graduate student, I knew basically three things about the Deobandis: there are hundreds of madrasas around the world modelled after the original Deobandi seminary, the Dar…
Competing Victimhoods in a Sectarian Landscape
None but the hopelessly naïve or the woefully ill-informed can deny the relevance of sectarian (here meaning Sunni and Shiʿi) identities in the contemporary Middle East, particularly in the Mashriq. Equally self-evident is the centrality…
Ironic Zaydis in Yemen
In the summer of 2016, Yemen’s national poet, Abd al-Aziz Maqalih, wrote to the warring Yemeni leaders gathered for talks in Kuwait, “there are no Rafidis in Yemen, nor are there Nasibis, but the lust…
“Said Nursi and Fethullah Gulen: The Rise and Fall of Post-Nurcu Messianism in Turkey” with Mucahit Bilici
Fethullah Gulen and his vast network of followers and institutions have played a key role in Turkish politics over the last decade. With the July 15 coup attempt last summer, he has become a subject…
Sectarian Politics and Weak States in the Middle East: The Return of the Khawarij in Egypt
Viewed from afar, typically the West, sectarianism in the Middle East symbolizes the age-old struggle among Muslims, and within Islam, to modernize. Lingering atavistic hatreds, so this narrative goes, prevents equal recognition and treatment of…