On The Square EP10- Sapelo’s Top Ten of 2021

In this episode of On The Square, our host Dr. Su’ad is joined by the Sapelo Squad! As we round out the podcast series and 2021 we wanted to bring the Squad to you up…

Understanding the Deoband Movement

When I began researching the Deoband movement as a graduate student, I knew basically three things about the Deobandis: there are hundreds of madrasas around the world modelled after the original Deobandi seminary, the Dar…

Competing Victimhoods in a Sectarian Landscape

None but the hopelessly naïve or the woefully ill-informed can deny the relevance of sectarian (here meaning Sunni and Shiʿi) identities in the contemporary Middle East, particularly in the Mashriq. Equally self-evident is the centrality…

Ironic Zaydis in Yemen

In the summer of 2016, Yemen’s national poet, Abd al-Aziz Maqalih, wrote to the warring Yemeni leaders gathered for talks in Kuwait, “there are no Rafidis in Yemen, nor are there Nasibis, but the lust…