

Scholars Unravel Middle East
Adel Aali, History Behind News Program
183 scholars (and counting) distill decades of research into an hour conversation, to unravel the misperceptions that divide East and West and clarify our common misconceptions about the Middle East - from its ancient past to its present developments.
I am Adel Aali, your host. This program is a production of History Behind News podcast (now in its 5th season). Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@ScholarsUnravelMiddleEast?sub_confirmation=1
I am Adel Aali, your host. This program is a production of History Behind News podcast (now in its 5th season). Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@ScholarsUnravelMiddleEast?sub_confirmation=1
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 12, 2024 • 31min
S1E16: The Crusades is an example of what happens when a group makes exclusionary claims on Palestine.
Our Holy Land and only Our Holy Land!
What does this mean to you?
My guest scholar explained to me that the Crusades is an example of what happens when outsiders come in and make exclusionary claims on Palestine.
As she told me, the history of the Crusades is not forgotten by the People of Palestine, because they draw sharp contrasts between Christian Europeans' conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, in which Muslims and Jews were slaughtered and excluded, to the Muslim Arab re-conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, in which there was no bloodbath and Jews were invited back.
She also shares a personal story with me, about her Palestinian roots and how her parents fled their homes in Palestine.
We talk about why there is so little scholarship of Palestine's history in the United States.
And I ask her, is there such a thing as Jewish Palestinians?
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Maha Nassar is a professor of Middle East History and Islamic Studies at the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies of the University of Arizona.
She is a cultural and intellectual historian of the twentieth-century Arab world, with a focus on Palestinian history. Her research on intellectual constructs of social, political and cultural identities seeks to trace the circulation of political vocabularies that construct as well as contest nationalist narratives.
She is the author of Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. And her forthcoming book, which we talk about in this episode, is titled Palestine’s People.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program, for any amount you like. And thank you.
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Apr 11, 2024 • 38min
S1E15: Were Palestinians historically called Palestinians? No! Historian of Palestine explains.
Would it surprise to hear a Palestinian, in fact, a scholar of Palestinians and their history, to assert that there was NOT a distinct people called Palestinians. Instead of Palestinians, my guest scholar prefers the "people of Palestine". And as it turns out, there is a huge difference between these two terms, a considerable distinction that belies our common misunderstanding of the people of Palestine and our attempts to shoehorn them into our current perceptions of homogenized peoplehood and modern nationhood.
As my guest scholar tells it, understanding the people of Palestine is not predicated on bloodline, tribal connection, or a distinct ethnonational identity. Rather, it's attachment to the land.
In this episode, we'll talk about Arabization and Islamization of the people of Palestine, and how in their history, they've rebelled against outsiders who come in... and tell them... what to do!
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Maha Nassar is a professor of Middle East History and Islamic Studies at the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies of the University of Arizona.
She is a cultural and intellectual historian of the twentieth-century Arab world, with a focus on Palestinian history. Her research on intellectual constructs of social, political and cultural identities seeks to trace the circulation of political vocabularies that construct as well as contest nationalist narratives.
She is the author of Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World. And her forthcoming book, which we talk about in this episode, is titled Palestine’s People.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program, for any amount you like. And thank you.
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Mar 29, 2024 • 27min
S1E14: Europe's fears & fascinations: American colonies vs. Ottoman trade and Islam's expansion?
Spanish explorers and colonizers spoke in Christian terms and with religious zeal - calling for another crusade against the Muslims. And when describing the Americas, they referred to Montezuma as a Sultan, America's structures as mosques and Native women's dresses as Moorish.
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Alan Mikhail is a professor of history and chair of the Department of History at Yale University. He is the author of several award-winning books , including:
Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt,
and Environmental History ;
Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt: An Environmental History, &
God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program.
https://historybehindnews.com/support
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Mar 28, 2024 • 37min
S1E13: Why didn’t the Ottomans explore the Americas? Were the Ottomans a Turkish Empire? And how Islam entered Ottoman ethos and geopolitics?
The Ottomans didn't explore the Americas because they didn't need to. The Ottomans were much wider polity than merely being a Turkish Empire. And the ambitions and life story of one Ottoman Sultan explains how the Ottomans became the custodian of Islam's holy cities.
These are the short answers to the questions posed in the title. But the long answer is way more interesting. The Ottoman Empire - the superpower of its time - writ large in Christian Europeans' minds.
In this episode, my guest, Dr. Alan Mikhail, explains the impact of the Ottomans in shaping the European mindset. He also shares with us the story of Sultan Selim I, the Ottoman ruler who double the size of his empire in just a few years.
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Alan Mikhail is a professor of history and chair of the Department of History at Yale University. He is the author of several award-winning books , including:
Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt,
and Environmental History ;
Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt: An Environmental History, &
God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program.
https://historybehindnews.com/support
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Mar 15, 2024 • 38min
S1E12: How did the mighty Sasanian Empire fall to the Muslim Arabs? Debunking widely accepted history!
►How did the mighty Sasanian Persian Empire fall to the Muslim Arabs?
►What happened in the Persian Empire on February 9, in the year 628?
►How did the Sasanian royal attempt to retake Iran from the Muslims?
►Where is the tomb of the heir to the Sasanian throne - the last Sasanian King of kings, the last pre-Islamic Shah of Iran?
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani is a lecturer and a senior research fellow at Leiden University. He is a historian of Global Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages, with a focus on Central and West Asia from 500-700 CE. His research focuses on the Sasanian and Early Islamic economy of the Near East.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program.
https://historybehindnews.com/support
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Image attribution:
Map of the Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent in 621 CE. The Sasanian Empire
lasted from 624 to 651 CE. This map reflects the Persians conquest under
Shahanshah (King of kings) Khosrow II (570-628, r. 590 & 591-628). No
Iranian Shah had achieved such immense territorial gains since Cyrus the Great
(600 BCE to 530 BCE). This map is provided by Keeby101: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Keeby101, on Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sasanian_Empire_621_A.D.jpg#/media/File:Sasanian_Empire_621_A.D.jpg, under license CC BY-SA 3.0 ttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Reflective effect has been added to the bottom portion of the map, and its
edges have been rounded.
Derafsh Kaviani: Sasanian royal standard that was derived from a mythological Iranian
blacksmith-turned-hero (Kaveh) against a demon-like foreign ruler. Public
Domain image.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Mar 14, 2024 • 47min
S1E11: Achaemenid & Sasanian Empires - Persians or Iranians? Peoples Included & Excluded. Historian Explains
Were the Achaemenid and Sasanian Empires Persian or Iranian? What's the significance of these terms in the context of the past? How about now? Or in the 20th century, when Persia officially changed its name to Iran?
Were ancient tribes of Ukraine an Iranian people?
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani is a lecturer and a senior research fellow at Leiden University. He is a historian of Global Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages, with a focus on Central and West Asia from 500-700 CE. His research focuses on the Sasanian and Early Islamic economy of the Near East.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program.
https://historybehindnews.com/support
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Image attribution:
A Haft-Seen table in honor of Nowruz at the White House (Mon., Mar. 20, 2023)
The Haft-Seen is an arrangement of 7 symbolic items, about which you can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haft-sin
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Mar 1, 2024 • 29min
S1E10: Were Ancient Middle Easterners Warlike & Violent? How Do We Know So Much About People Who Lived 4,000 Years Ago!
Habits, health, beer parties, careers, raising kids, and personal crises – stories of ancient Mesopotamians told through more than half a million clay tablets. They say, “The past is a foreign country.” This is true. Also true are the similarities of modern and ancient people.
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Amanda Podany is a professor of History at Cal Poly Pomona. She has authored many books, including the following:
Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East, and
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East.
🎧History of America's Conspiracy Theories
Listen to this amazing episode at the History Behind News podcast.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program.
https://historybehindnews.com/support
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Image attribution:
"Soldiers, ivory, Mari, Syria." Image by ALFGRN, provided on Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Feb 29, 2024 • 42min
S1E9:How Successful Diplomacy Worked in Ancient Middle East - It Required 5 Essential Elements
Before powerful empires could conquer faraway lands, the Middle East was a peaceful region, where sophisticated diplomacy averted wars with neighbors and established trade between distant kingdoms. And the absence of foreign intervention contributed to peace in the ancient Middle East.
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Amanda Podany is a professor of History at Cal Poly Pomona. She has authored many books, including the following:
Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East, and
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East.
🎧History of America's Conspiracy Theories
Listen to this amazing episode at the History Behind News podcast.
📽️Subscribe to our YouTube channel
🖱️Support Our Program:
We appreciate your financial support of our program.
https://historybehindnews.com/support
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Feb 16, 2024 • 31min
S1E8: Is Yemen the Graveyard of Empires? Yemen Was "the Vietnam" of Which Country? Are the Houthis a Ragtag Army? Do They Need Iran's Help?
The Ottomans, Portuguese and British have fought over Yemen. And through it all, the Zaydi Imamate has been there - since the 9th century. These are the roots of the Houthis - Shia Muslims who practice a different Shi'ism than Iran. As important as their religions beliefs may seem, including their association with Iran, as you will learn in this episode, it's more about geopolitics and power than anything else.
My guest for this episode is Dr. Charles Schmitz, a professor at Towson University and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute.
He is a specialist on the Middle East and Yemen. He started his academic career as a Fulbright Scholar and an American Institute for Yemeni Studies fellow in Yemen in the early 1990s, studying the country’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund’s reforms and the rise of Yemen’s oil economy. During the 2000s, Dr. Schmitz worked for the defense of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay while also heading the American Institute for Yemeni Studies. His current research interests include the political economy of development in Yemen, international law, international governance and failing states, and the sociology of contemporary Yemeni society.
Dr. Schmitz has authored many publications, including the following:
"Huthi Visions of the State: A Huthi Republic With an Unofficial Imam", which is a part of 2022 book The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition and Security in the Arab Gulf,
Weighing the Tribal Factor in Yemen's Informal Politics, and
Dictionary of Yemen.
Subscribe here to get Adel's take in your inbox.
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Image: Vectorized version of the Houthi Ansarullah "Al-Sarkha" banner. Arabic text, by lines: الله أكبر (Allah is the greatest) الموت لأمريكا (death to America) الموت لإسرائيل (death to Israel) اللعنة على اليهود (a curse upon the Jews) النصر للإسلام (victory to Islam). By RuneAgerhus (Own work) on Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.

Feb 15, 2024 • 36min
S1E7: Who Are the Houthis of Yemen? What Did Their Leader Admire About Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini? What Did They Admire About Egypt's Nasser?
The Ottomans, Portuguese and British have fought over Yemen. And through it all, the Zaydi Imamate has been there - since the 9th century. These are the roots of the Houthis - Shia Muslims who practice a different Shi'ism than Iran. As important as their religions beliefs may seem, including their association with Iran, as you will learn in this episode, it's more about geopolitics and power than anything else.
My guest for this episode is Dr. Charles Schmitz, a professor at Towson University and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute.
He is a specialist on the Middle East and Yemen. He started his academic career as a Fulbright Scholar and an American Institute for Yemeni Studies fellow in Yemen in the early 1990s, studying the country’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund’s reforms and the rise of Yemen’s oil economy. During the 2000s, Dr. Schmitz worked for the defense of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay while also heading the American Institute for Yemeni Studies. His current research interests include the political economy of development in Yemen, international law, international governance and failing states, and the sociology of contemporary Yemeni society.
Dr. Schmitz has authored many publications, including the following:
"Huthi Visions of the State: A Huthi Republic With an Unofficial Imam", which is a part of 2022 book The Huthi Movement in Yemen: Ideology, Ambition and Security in the Arab Gulf,
Weighing the Tribal Factor in Yemen's Informal Politics, and
Dictionary of Yemen.
Subscribe here to get Adel's take in your inbox.
Adel Aali
Host, Unravelling the Middle East
Host, History Behind News Podcast
Unravelling the Middle East podcast is a production of the History Behind News program.
Image: Vectorized version of the Houthi Ansarullah "Al-Sarkha" banner. Arabic text, by lines: الله أكبر (Allah is the greatest) الموت لأمريكا (death to America) الموت لإسرائيل (death to Israel) اللعنة على اليهود (a curse upon the Jews) النصر للإسلام (victory to Islam). By RuneAgerhus (Own work) on Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Image is set in a green background, but no changes are made to the image.
Music attributions:
1. Opening and closing music of the program:
Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011.
Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
2. Background music to guest introduction:
The Desert | The Grand Score
https://www.free-stock-music.com/alexander-nakarada-the-desert.html
The Desert | The Grand Score by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) | https://creatorchords.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.
3. Background music to promoting History Behind News episodes:
The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon. Music
promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The volume and lengths of this piece have been modified.


