nous

youtube.com/watch?v=-sxE1rnY… October 7 & Beyond! Here is some history and context to make sense of it and what happened subsequently.

In this episode of the Nous Podcast, @nousnetwork Professor Irfan Ahmad discusses his new book, Terrorism in Question: Decolonizing Anthropology and the Study of Islam, and challenges some of the assumptions that shape contemporary understandings of terrorism. Rather than asking who is the terrorist?, Ahmad asks a more fundamental question: “Who needs the label or the category of terrorist?” The conversation examines how terrorism has been historically associated with Islam and Muslims, from colonial India to the post-9/11 security order. Prof. Ahmad discusses W.W. Hunter’s writings on Indian Muslims, the transformation of terrorism from a tactic into an ideology, the role of media and law in constructing the “Muslim terrorist,” and why Islam was made exceptional within terrorism discourse. The discussion also explores decoloniality, jihad, hurriyat, state power, and the politics of naming violence. At its core, the conversation asks how we can move beyond inherited categories to imagine a more ethical and emancipatory politics. youtube.com/watch?v=QGoGO9kA… #TerrorismInQuestion #TIQ #Democracy #terrorism #enemy #NineEleven #9|11 #Islam #WarOnTerror #GWOT #West #Fanatic #Freedom #Justice #NWO Free to Read Book's Front Matter: academia.edu/168199837/Ahmad…

This is the first pocast on my new book Terrorism in Question: Decolonizing Anthropology and the Study of Islam with @nousnetwork and its @_ali_javed_ who posed fascinating, probing questions and steered the conversation deftly. The podcast is titled "Deconstructing Terrorism: Why Islam Was Made the Global Enemy." Its abstract, as taken from the Youtube page, is as follows: In this episode of the Nous Podcast, Professor Irfan Ahmad discusses his new book, Terrorism in Question: Decolonizing Anthropology and the Study of Islam, and challenges some of the assumptions that shape contemporary understandings of terrorism. Rather than asking who is the terrorist?, Ahmad asks a more fundamental question: “Who needs the label or the category of terrorist?” The conversation examines how terrorism has been historically associated with Islam and Muslims, from colonial India to the post-9/11 security order. Prof. Ahmad discusses W.W. Hunter’s writings on Indian Muslims, the transformation of terrorism from a tactic into an ideology, the role of media and law in constructing the “Muslim terrorist,” and why Islam was made exceptional within terrorism discourse. The discussion also explores decoloniality, jihad, hurriyat, state power, and the politics of naming violence. At its core, the conversation asks how we can move beyond inherited categories to imagine a more ethical and emancipatory politics. #TIQ #TerrorismInQuestion #Anthropology #Decolonization #Ethics #Justice #Democracy #Islam #Decoloniality youtube.com/watch?v=QGoGO9kA…

In light of the development about the "Board of Peace," sharing this video I earlier did with @nousnetwork youtube.com/watch?v=-sxE1rnY…

I am glad to share this new opinion video I did with @nousnetwork . Though it stands by itself, from the frame of history of ideas, intellectual #History or #anthropology of ideas (philosophy) it makes more sense when it is read together with the essay I published on #Habermas. youtube.com/watch?v=-sxE1rnY… Notably, much work has been put by @_ali_javed_ & the collective he leads in arranging visuals, documentary materials, meticulous editing, and more. More power to you! It was completed during my last trip to #Delhi. With minor edits, below is the abstract from YouTube. In this Nous Opinion video, Prof. Irfan Ahmad, a sociology professor at Ibn Haldun University, unpacks the deep historical roots of the Israel-Palestine issue, challenging the dominant narrative that frames October 7 as its starting point. He critically examines the complex relationship between Zionism and Judaism, questioning why Zionist aspirations were uniquely tied to Palestine despite alternative proposals. Prof. Ahmad highlights the crucial role of Christian Restorationism in shaping Zionist ideology, tracing its influence from Protestant theology to figures like William Hechler. He also explores how Western leaders—Arthur Balfour, Woodrow Wilson, and Harry Truman—supported Zionism, not purely for Jewish interests but due to a convergence of religious and imperial agendas. He also engages with Giorgio Agamben’s concept of bare life to analyze how Palestinians are systematically marginalized in Western discourse. He critiques the selective application of human rights discourse, exposing its deep-seated biases. The video also delves into Gandhi’s complex and contradictory stance on Zionism. While often seen as a symbol of nonviolence and anti-colonial resistance, yet his views on Zionism and Palestine reveal a far more nuanced and contradictory position. In this Nous Opinion video, Prof. Irfan Ahmad examines Gandhi’s shifting stance—from opposing British support for Zionism in 1921 to later stating that “Jews have a prior claim in Palestine” in 1946. Gandhi’s private meetings with Zionist leaders, including Hermann Kallenbach and Sydney Silverman, reveal a nuanced position. His secretary, Pyare Lal, destroyed key documents on Gandhi’s views after his assassination. Join us as Prof. Ahmad presents a thought-provoking analysis, urging us to rethink long-held narratives. youtube.com/watch?v=-sxE1rnY… #zionism #Israeli #PalestinianGenocide #Gaza #nationalism #habermas #PalestineSolidarity #Imperialism #British #colonialism #India #Gandhi #NonViolence #anthropology #middleeast

Glad to share this short clip, from my podcast with @nousnetwork . Here, I dwell on three themes: 1] Orientalism, 2] Political #Violence and 3] Partition of #India & creation of #Pakistan . My theory of partition is different from nearly all that is written or said about it. Here it goes: Building on Zygmunt Bauman’s ideas of humans as waste, dirt or outcast, my contention is that, in significant ways, Partition was a monumental drama preceding a series of non-linear acts over the longue duree of colonial-nationalist modernity, which sought to secure riddance of that which it christened as ‘outcast’; it was the gory manifestation of the dominant theory and practice of Indian nationalism to design a hygienic, orderly home believed to have been contaminated with a threatening outcast — the Muslim ‘Other’. At the centre of the making of the figure of the outcast was the failure of political theory to genuinely and institutionally address the question of difference— the ‘Muslim question’. If interested in 3, the essay on Partition is here to read: academia.edu/1797408/Ahmad_I… #Democracy #Secularism #Modernity #religious #hinduism #Islam