Dr. Rami Koujah

Great Books of Islam

Religion EN ↓ 3 episodes

The Islamic intellectual tradition produced some of the most ambitious and original - philosophy, law, mysticism, political thought that changed the world. Great Books of Islam brings them off the shelf. I hold a PhD in Islamic law, theology, and ethics from Princeton, and I read these texts with the rigor they demand and an eye for what they say about the modern condition. Lectures, close readings, and conversations with leading scholars in the field. Big ideas, primary sources, and the search for what it means to be human. No dumbing down.

Author

Dr. Rami Koujah

Episodes

Becoming Superhuman || "The Art of Being Human" by al-Raghib al-Isfahani (Ep. 3) 29.06.2026 41:38

Last time, we asked what being human is for. This time, we ask how far it can go. In this episode, we cover: - Reason and revelation aren't competing for the same job - they're the same faculty, just working from two different directions: one from outside us, one from within - How a single bad habit slowly shuts down the heart - step by step, until it can't be reached at all and ho...

The Purpose of Existence | "The Art of Being Human" by al-Raghib al-Isfahani (Ep. 2) 22.06.2026 34:19

Last time, we asked what a human being is. This time, we ask what it's for. In this episode, we cover: – Nature and scripture as two books – Nature as an externalized reflection of the self – The purpose of human existence – The original "DEI" argument – The definition of happiness – Why "just be a good person" isn't enough – A philosophy of religion – A social theory o...

"The Art of Being Human" by al-Raghib al-Isfahani | Episode 1: What Is A Human Being? 16.06.2026 30:26

What does it mean to be human? A thousand years ago, a scholar in Baghdad asked the same question and wrote a book about it that feels startlingly relevant today. Al-Räghib al-Isfahäni's answer: being human is not a given - it's an achievement. You can have the biological form of a human being and still fall short of what humanity actually demands. Religion, for al-Raghib, is the art of th...