Demystifying Sufism | Waleed Ziad

Waleed Ziad — author of "Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus" — joins us on the afikra podcast to demystify Sufism. Ziad explains the mystical and scientific aspects of Sufism and its far reaching geographies that surpass today's "securitized" borders and colonial conceptions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East as "reified zones". We also learn about the concept of sovereignty in the Islamic world and how modern day understandings of Sufism and abandonment of meditative practices differ from the realities of the pre-20th century Muslim world. 0:00 Introduction 0:53 Importance of Understanding Sufism Today 4:46 The Oxus and the Indus 8:44 Governance and Sovereignty in the Muslim World 14:36 Improving Pre-Existing Understandings 21:30 The Hidden Caliphate 23:52 Language, Geography & Identity in Sufi Centers 31:40 Modern Day Understandings of Sufism 36:28 Sufism, Science and Education 40:53 Rumi and Deislamization 46:42 Reception of “Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus” 48:35 North Waziristan & Socially Constructed Borders 55:12 Russian Imperialism 59:05 Sufism & the Modern Arab World Waleed Ziad is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus" which won the Albert Hourani Prize. His research concerns the historical and philosophical foundations of Muslim revivalism and revivalist responses to internal political fragmentation and colonialism in the "Persiante" world. Connect with Waleed 👉https://twitter.com/waleedziad?lang=en-GB Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns Hosted by: Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5xaTkBDrUKLCulvoCE8ubX&feature=shared ABOUT AFIKRA afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity. 📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters 🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts ⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership 🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_ 🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official 🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra