Religious Extremism (8 CDs)

In this series of lectures, Shaykh Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo presents an in-depth study of one of the most vital topics for Muslims in the West: religious extremism.

These eight presentations provide one of the most detailed analyzes of the subject to date. Being thoroughly accurate, Shaykh Zarabozo imbues a high academic standard, thereby quenching the intellectual thirst of the listener. The topics covered include the definition of important concepts and a great deal more.

Why Definitions Come First

Because extremism is a word used to mean whatever the speaker dislikes. Applied loosely it covers a man who grows a beard and a man who plants a bomb, which makes the term useless for thinking with and dangerous for anyone described by it.

Establishing what the Islamic sources actually identify as excess — ghuluww — and where they place the boundary is the necessary first step, and it takes the series in a different direction from most treatments.

Why Eight Discs

Because the subject does not survive compression. A short talk on extremism is either a condemnation, which persuades nobody who needed persuading, or a defense, which convinces no critic. Eight presentations allow an argument to be built.

Shaykh Zarabozo is among the most rigorous English-language scholars working, and the academic standard is the point: the listener is given the evidence rather than a conclusion.

Who It Is For

Serious students, imams and community leaders. Anyone who has watched a young person drift toward positions the community could not answer.