Harvard Islamica, the podcast of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University, explores topics related to the scholarly study of Islam and Muslim societies at Harvard and beyond.
Ep. 20 | A Rūmī in the Lands of Shām: Life, Poetry, and Legacy of a Janissary-Turned-Poet Māmayya al-Rūmī | Dr. Hacı Osman Gündüz
Dr. Hacı Osman (Ozzy) Gündüz is a winner of the 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for his dissertation, "A Rūmī in the Lands of Shām: Life, Poetry, and Legacy of a Janissary-Turned-Poet Māmayya al-Rūmī (d. 985–7/1577–9)." Ozzy talks about his interests in Arabic literature during the Ottoman era, often considered a period of inḥiṭāṭ, or decline, in which Arabic literature came to be decadent, imitative, and lacking creativity. Ozzy challenges the decline narrative and conducts a micro-history of Māmayya al-Rūmī, an Arabic poet of non-Arab origin, whose poetry Ozzy analyzes on its own terms and within the context of the literary milieu of 16th century Damascus. Māmayya al-Rūmī's poetry spans a vast range, including panegyrics to rulers and scholars, multi-lingual macaronic poems, chronograms, and "bawdy" poetry on the themes of homoerotic desire, drugs, and the wildly popular new beverage, coffee.
Dr. Hacı Osman (Ozzy) Gündüz is Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He earned his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 2025. You can follow Ozzy on Academia.edu (http://Academia.edu)here (https://macalester.academia.edu/Hac%C4%B1OsmanG%C3%BCnd%C3%BCzOzzy)and on Instagram @ozzyggozzy (https://www.instagram.com/ozzyggozzy/).
Credits and Transcript (https://islamicstudies.harvard.edu/ep-20-rumi-in-sham-haci-osman-gunduz)
15 Aug 2025
Ep. 19 | Portrait of a Moroccan ʿĀlim: Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar al-Kattānī’s Life, Works, and World | Dr. Armaan Siddiqi
Dr. Armaan Siddiqi is the winner of the 2024 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for her dissertation, "Portrait of a Moroccan ʿālim: Shaykh Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar al-Kattānī’s Life, Works, and World (1858 - 1927)." In this episode, Armaan talks about her research on al-Kattani, a traditionally-trained Moroccan Muslim scholar who came from a prominent family of scholars, Sufis, and descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. While scholarship on Islam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has focused on the Muslim reformers and the Middle East, Armaan's dissertation sheds light on the thought of a conservative scholar from the Maghrib, the “frontier” lands of Islam. Through an exploration of al-Kattani’s works including a hagiography, advice to the sultan, fatwa, travelogue, and theological tract, Armaan shows how a traditional Moroccan scholar navigates religion and politics on the eve of French colonization while remaining faithful to existing traditions and structures of authority.
Dr. Armaan Siddiqi earned her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University in 2024.
Credits and Transcript (https://islamicstudies.harvard.edu/ep-19-portrait-moroccan-alim-muhammad-b-jafar-al-kattani)
25 Feb 2025
Ep. 18 | Islam in North America | Dr. Hussein Rashid
In this episode, Dr. Hussein Rashid talks about his recently published volume, Islam in North America: An Introduction (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/islam-in-north-america-9781350385085/) (Bloomsbury, 2024), which he co-edited with Huma Mohibullah and Vincent Biondo. Hussein discusses his trajectory as a scholar and how beginning his academic career in the post-9/11 world led him to believe in the importance of public-facing and accessible scholarship. The chapters of the book cover a wide range of topics related to Islam in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Caribbean and explore themes of race, gender, class, and sexuality, among others. Hussein sheds light on the long and little-known history of Muslims in North America, the changing perception of Muslims in the American imagination, and how Islamophobia/anti-Muslim bias and the racialization of Muslims manifest in the past and present.
Dr. Hussein Rashid (https://husseinrashid.com/) is a scholar of Islam whose research focuses on Muslims and American popular culture. Hussein earned his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, focusing on South and Central Asia, at Harvard and has since taught at many universities. Hussein writes and speaks about music, comics, movies, and the blogistan.
Credits and transcript (https://islamicstudies.harvard.edu/ep-18-islam-north-america-dr-hussein-rashid)
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