About Asad Dandia

Asad Dandia is a graduate student of Islamic Studies at Columbia University

NBN Episodes hosted by Asad:

Shibli Numani, "Turkey, Egypt, and Syria: A Travelogue" (Syracuse UP, 2019)

May 7, 2021

Turkey, Egypt, and Syria

Shibli Numani
Hosted by Asad Dandia

Turkey, Egypt, and Syria: A Travelogue (Syracuse UP, 2019) vividly captures the experiences of prominent Indian intellectual and scholar Shibli Nu'man…

J. Andrew Bush, "Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan" (Stanford UP, 2020)

May 7, 2021

Between Muslims

J. Andrew Bush
Hosted by Asad Dandia

Between Muslims Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan (Stanford UP, 2020) by J. Andrew Bush asks what it means to be Muslim, yet not pious, in Iraqi…

Jörg Matthias Determann, "Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life: The Culture of Astrobiology in the Muslim World" (I. B. Tauris, 2020)

May 5, 2021

Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life

Jörg Matthias Determann
Hosted by Asad Dandia

The Muslim world is not commonly associated with science fiction. Religion and repression have often been blamed for a perceived lack of creativity, i…

Michael Muhammad Knight, "Muhammad's Body: Baraka Networks and the Prophetic Assemblage" (UNC Press, 2020)

November 12, 2020

Muhammad's Body

Michael Muhammad Knight
Hosted by Asad Dandia

Muhammad's Body: Baraka Networks and the Prophetic Assemblage by Michael Muhammad Knight (UNC Press, 2020) joins the emerging subfield of literature i…

Majid Daneshgar, "Studying the Qur’an in the Muslim Academy" (Oxford UP, 2019)

September 15, 2020

Studying the Qur’an in the Muslim Academy

Majid Daneshgar
Hosted by Asad Dandia

“Consider the works of the renowned Nobel-prize-winning African American writer, literary and social critic, and activist Toni Morrison (b. 1931),” wr…

Nathan Spannaus, "Preserving Islamic Tradition: Abu Nasr Qursawi and the Beginnings of Modern Reformism" (Oxford UP, 2019)

August 5, 2020

Preserving Islamic Tradition

Nathan Spannaus
Hosted by Asad Dandia

What were some of the major transformations taking place for Muslim communities in the Russian Empire of the eighteenth century? How did the introduct…

Asma Barlas, "Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an" (U Texas Press, 2019)

August 3, 2020

Believing Women in Islam

Asma Barlas
Hosted by Asad Dandia

In this revised edition of her classic and groundbreaking work, Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an (Univers…

Alex Dika Seggerman, "Modernism on the Nile: Art in Egypt between the Islamic and the Contemporary" (UNC Press, 2019)

February 4, 2020

Modernism on the Nile

Alex Dika Seggerman
Hosted by Asad Dandia

With scholarship in the discipline of history witnessing a shift toward global approaches to local historical processes, new questions are being raise…

Leor Halevi, "Modern Things on Trial: Islam’s Global and Material Reformation in the Age of Rida, 1865-1935" (Columbia UP, 2019)

January 7, 2020

Modern Things on Trial

Leor Halevi
Hosted by Asad Dandia

How did Muslims respond to foreign goods in an age characterized by global exchange and European imperial expansion? What sort of legal reasoning did …

Peter Adamson, "Philosophy in the Islamic World: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Volume 3" (Oxford UP, 2019)

December 24, 2019

Philosophy in the Islamic World

Peter Adamson
Hosted by Asad Dandia

It is no easy task to survey and present a comprehensive history of philosophy of an entire intellectual tradition to a broad public audience without …

Martin Nguyen, "Modern Muslim Theology: Engaging God and the World with Faith and Imagination" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018)

December 18, 2019

Modern Muslim Theology

Martin Nguyen
Hosted by Asad Dandia

What precisely is “Muslim theology?” What would a “Muslim theology” in the present day look like? And what then is a “Muslim theology of engagement?” …

Asma T. Uddin, "When Islam Is Not a Religion: Inside America’s Fight for Religious Freedom" (Pegasus Books, 2019)

December 16, 2019

When Islam Is Not a Religion

Asma T. Uddin
Hosted by Asad Dandia

What happens when a religion is demonized to such an extent that it is no longer deemed a religion – but an ideology? What effect does such a politica…

Afshin Matin-Asgari, "Both Eastern and Western: An Intellectual History of Iranian Modernity" (Cambridge UP, 2018)

December 9, 2019

Both Eastern and Western

Afshin Matin-Asgari
Hosted by Asad Dandia

Following the Iranian Revolution of 1978—79, public and scholarly interest in Iran have skyrocketed, with a plethora of attempts seeking to understand…

Lior Sternfeld, "Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran" (Stanford UP, 2019)

December 3, 2019

Between Iran and Zion

Lior Sternfeld
Hosted by Asad Dandia

Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran (Stanford University Press, 2019) by Lior Sternfeld presents the first systematic st…

Christine D. Baker, "Medieval Islamic Sectarianism" (Amsterdam UP, 2019)

November 29, 2019

Medieval Islamic Sectarianism

Christine D. Baker
Hosted by Asad Dandia

How do contemporary events shape the ways in which we read, understand, and interpret historical processes of identity formation? How can we resist fr…

Simon Wolfgang Fuchs, "In a Pure Muslim Land: Shi’ism between Pakistan and the Middle East" (UNC Press, 2019)

November 26, 2019

In a Pure Muslim Land

Simon Wolfgang Fuchs
Hosted by Asad Dandia

Scholarly and public discourse on Islamic intellectual thought in the modern period tend to frame it narrowly through the concept of “influence” as it…