Ep. 7 | Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Tradition | The Insight Interviews

Timestamps listed below An informative discussion with Dr. Cyrus Ali Zargar, Al-Ghazali Distinguished Professor, Professor in the Department of Philosophy, at the University of Central Florida. The topic of discussion will be his latest book, The Polished Mirror: Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism, an accessible monograph on virtue ethics in Islam as theorized and narrated by philosophical as well as mystical authors, both from the classical and the medieval periods. Hosted by Dr. Vinay Khetia, the seventh instalment in our series ‘The Insight Interviews’, promises to be an engaging conversation. 0:00:00 / Start 0:00:26 / Introduction 0:02:55 / Distinction between Greek virtue ethics and Islamic ethics 0:06:01 / Enlightenment, European ethics and divergence with Islamic ethics 0:08:59 / The role of moral theology in Islam 0:11:50 / Difference Philosophy and Sufism in Islamic ethics 0:12:50 / Nasir al-Din al-Tusi on Ibn Sina 0:15:09 / Canonical/revealed sources of knowledge and rational sources: Is there a tension? 0:22:31 / Thriving as a human being 0:25:46 / Tolerating people as a virtue ethic 0:27:52 / Did the Qur'an and hadith influence the articulation of virtue ethics of philosophers? 0:29:32 / Philosophers and Sufism on concept of aql (intellect) 0:34:15 / The Brethren of Purity ( Ikhwan al-Safa) and Islamic ethics 0:38:57 / Brethren of Purity drew certain concepts from a common Islamicate vocabulary 0:42:23 / Were the Brethren of Purity working with Indian concepts as well? 0:45:53 / The presence of a teleological framework that runs through these discussions 0:46:55 / Is modern virtue devoid of a teleology? 0:50:03 / Role of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq in virtue ethics 0:52:32 / How a prostitute guided a pious man: A Narrative 0:58:25 / Futuwwa (manliness) in Islamic virtue 1:02:23 / Toxic masculinity and modern gender roles in an islamic context 1:03:44 / Conclusion The Insight Interviews: An informative series of academic discussions, taking a deeper dive on a variety of unique topics. Learn more at https://shiaresearch.ca/insight-interviews View the series playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgu_sYFBPFVV5yBiwTU9snnvMmMlw41gp Follow us on: Instagram: https://instagram.com/ShiaResearchIns Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShiaResearchIns Facebok: https://facebook.com/ShiaResearchIns Contribute to SRI to help us continue creating high quality research and content: https://shiaresearch.ca/donate/