The Untold Story: How Islam Shaped the English Enlightenment I Deep Dive Talk #2 скачать в хорошем качестве

The Untold Story: How Islam Shaped the English Enlightenment I Deep Dive Talk #2

In this Deep Dive conversation, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah explores how Islamic thought, texts, and intellectual traditions shaped the English Enlightenment—not at the margins, but at its very core. Drawing on his book Islam and the English Enlightenment: The Untold Story, Dr. Shah challenges the idea that the Enlightenment was a purely European or secular achievement. Instead, he reveals a forgotten world of translation, encounter, and intellectual exchange—where English theologians, philosophers, and dissenters engaged Islamic philosophy, Qur’anic monotheism, and Muslim critiques of Trinitarian orthodoxy as they wrestled with questions of reason, toleration, and religious authority. We discuss how Arabic and Islamic learning entered England through travel, diplomacy, and scholarship; why Islam became such a powerful reference point in English religious debates; and how engagement with Muslim thought helped early Enlightenment figures loosen the grip of scholasticism and inherited dogma—often at significant personal risk. You can listen & watch the episodes of this podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6v8n1mD... Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 👇 Join the conversation Free subscribers to the Islam and the Idea of America community on Substack receive bonus content, behind-the-scenes insights, and visual resources inspired by each episode. 📜 Episode transcripts and scholarly citations are available on Substack: https://islamandtheideaofamerica.subs... 📸 Instagram:   / islam_and_theideaofamerica   📌 In this episode: Why the English Enlightenment cannot be understood without Islam How Islamic monotheism resonated with English dissenters The role of Arabic philosophy, science, and theology in shaping empiricism and reason How engagement with Islam fueled debates over toleration, conscience, and natural religion Why Enlightenment “secularization” often emerged through theological struggle—not the rejection of faith What this connected history means for how we understand modern Western and American thought ⏱️ Chapters / Timestamps 00:00 — Why the English Enlightenment needs a global history 07:02 — What we miss when Islam is excluded from Enlightenment narratives 13:57 — Arabic learning, translation, and intellectual exchange 25:55 — Alchemy, Islam, and the Birth of Natural Philosophy 34:48 — Was the Enlightenment really “secular”? 42:56 — English Unitarians and Republican Revolutions in France and America 55:42 — Final reflections: recovering a connected Enlightenment This episode is part of Islam and the Idea of America, a podcast exploring how Islamic ideas and encounters helped shape the modern West—and the intellectual foundations of America. 📚 Featured works Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Islam and the English Enlightenment: The Untold Story https://www.amazon.com/Islam-English-... Zulfiqar Ali Shah, St. Thomas Aquinas and Muslim Thought https://www.amazon.com/St-Thomas-Aqui... Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Islam's Reformation of Christianity https://www.amazon.com/Islams-Reforma... 🔔 Subscribe for future Deep Dives on history of ideas, translation networks, Islamic philosophy, early modern dissent, and the long afterlife of Enlightenment debates. ▶️ Watch / Listen / Subscribe (all links): https://linktr.ee/islamandtheideaofam... #Islam #Enlightenment #JohnLocke #ThomasJefferson #americanhistory #america250 #OttomanEmpire #Quran #HistoryPodcast #PoliticalPhilosophy #ReligiousToleration #Orientalism #DeepDive #islamandtheideaofamerica 💡 If You Like This, You’ll Love This Podcast: • If you enjoy ‪@yaqeeninstituteofficial‬ on Islam and the Western enlightenment, you'll love this episode. • If you enjoy ‪@BloggingTheology‬ talks on intellectual history, you'll love this episode. 🎵 Credits (Music Tracks) The background music licensed via Podcastle, February 7, 2026: Eternal Mountain – License Code: D68KZXVTQS5BKXTA It's used under active Podcastle Pro subscription, royalty-free with proper license documentation on file. About the Channel: Islam and the Idea of America explores how Islamic thought helped shape the moral and intellectual foundations of the modern West — from Jefferson’s Qur’an to Emerson’s Sufi writings. 🎧 Podcast • 📜 Substack • 🎥 Documentary Series © 2025 Islam and the Idea of America. All rights reserved.