Podcast Episodes Themed "Ghulāt"

Episode 223: Early Islamic ‘Mahdism’: Radical Politics, Apocalyptic, and the Esoteric

We explore the origins of an enduring idea in Islām: the idea of the mahdī, the righteous leader who will return to bring justice and purify the religion near the end of time. The origins, it turns out, are esoteric, and so are many aspects of the various mahdīs who have arisen throughout history.

Episode 222: The Struggle for Esoteric Authority in Early Islām: The Shī‘a and the Ghulāt

We explore some of the weird territory where extreme politics meet extreme theology in the pre-Umayyad and Umayyad periods. Includes case-studies of a representative selection of early shiite "extremists".

Episode 221: Prolegomena to the Development of the Shī‘a and of Shī‘ī Esotericisms in the Eighth Century and Beyond

We discuss the Iraqi context of the early shī‘ī movements, explore some of the political, esoteric, and politicesoteric concerns of the early partisans of the ahl al-bayt, and then give a basic run-down of some of the most important shiite movements and their imams.