Our interview was added to the public library of Max Planck Institute.

Dr. MichaelBonner & @jeffreykotyk.bsky.social had an illuminating conversation (I listened & learned) about the imperative of considering Chinese sources in how we see late antiquity, the world order at the end of antiquity, ancien technology transfer between empires & so much more.

On the last note, we talked about the nitty-gritty of Reza Shah AtaTürk eras in Iran & Türkiye, their echoes in our contemporary politics, Saudi Arabia's reforms, the quest for contemporary John Lockes in the ummah & beyond.
@ahmetkuru.bsky.social

We also talked about the fetishizing of the Islamic Revolution/Republic as a medieval theocracy that ignores its modern roots like the major influence of Jalal Al-e-Ahmad (👇🏻 with Henry Kissinger) on Khomeini's worldview & it's roots in the Persian Constitutional Revolution.

In the second chapter of THE LOOM OF TIME,
Robert D. Kaplan writes about the legacies of Bernard Lewis & Edward Said with his unique personal insight.
bsky.app/profile/ferd...

I asked about my opinion that scholarships of late Bernard Lewis & Edward Said should be revisited without the sectarian politicization surrounding their debates, Lewis's pioneering work finding consultative governance in Ottoman crafts guilds & his prescience about Khomeinism.

Al-Ghazali aka Algazelus is prominently featured in @ahmetkuru.bsky.social book. We talked about his all-encompassing influence of the ulema, his evolving views, his western counterparts & how he was a product of the Islamic Golden Age.

We talked extensively about @ahmetkuru.bsky.social 's 2019 book, Islam Authoritarianism & Underdevelopment (with many translation recently German Hindi & its ban in Malaysia) on the impediment of ulema state alliance to separation of church & state + its Sasanian roots. @cambridgeup.bsky.social

But despite Humayun’s military skills, he could not fight both his brothers & the formidable Afghan warlord, Sher Shah. Will he lose all that his father had built?

Listen @empirepoduk.bsky.social
as William and @anitaanand.bsky.social explore the life of Humayun.

linktr.ee/empirepoduk

Congratulations 🎉 & خسته نباشید 🪻