Reza Aslan on Martyrdom, Islam, and Revolution
Conversations with Tyler
Conversations with Tyler
4.8 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 19 October 2022
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Reza Aslan doesn’t mind being called a pantheist. In his own “roundabout spiritual journey” and study of the world’s religions, which has led him to write books on Islam, the life of Jesus Christ, God, and most recently an American martyr in Persia, he has come to believe the Sufi notion that religion is just a shell one must break through to truly understand God—and that if God is anything at all, then all is God.
He joined Tyler to discuss Shi’a and Christian notions of martyrdom, the heroism of Howard Baskerville, the differences between Sunni and Shi’a Islam, esoteric vs. exoteric expressions of religion, how mystical movements arise more organically than religion, the conflicts over Imams in the Islamic world, how his upbringing as an Iranian immigrant shaped his view of religion, his roundabout spiritual journey, the synthesis of Spinoza and Sufism, the origins of Wahhabism, the relationship (or lackthereof) between religion and political philosophy, the sad repetition of history in Iran, his favorite Iranian movie, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded October 12th, 2022
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, |
| 0:09.4 | bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems. |
| 0:13.5 | Learn more at mercatis.org. |
| 0:16.2 | For full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links, visit |
| 0:21.0 | ConversationsWithT Tyler.com. |
| 0:26.8 | Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations with Tyler. |
| 0:30.7 | Here I am today live with Raza Ozzlin. |
| 0:33.4 | Raza has a new book out which I enjoyed very much. |
| 0:36.3 | It is called An American Martyr in Persia, the epic life and tragic death of Howard |
| 0:41.8 | Baskerville. |
| 0:42.8 | Raza has many other books, I very much like No God but God on Islam, Zellett on the |
| 0:48.9 | life of Jesus, and there is more he is a writer, scholar, producer, and generalist and |
| 0:54.6 | expert on the history of religion. |
| 0:56.6 | Raza, welcome. |
| 0:57.6 | Thank you, thanks for having me. |
| 0:59.5 | What are some characteristics of a good martyr? |
| 1:02.0 | Oh, well I guess number one would be being willing to sacrifice yourself for other people, |
| 1:07.8 | but not just other people, being willing to sacrifice yourself for your beliefs. |
| 1:12.6 | This of course is at the heart of the concept of Christianity which is all about sacrifice, |
| 1:18.4 | but it also is at the heart of Shia Islam which is the majority religion in Iran. |
| 1:24.6 | So Baskerville, this Christian missionary who arrives in this Shia country in a way, |
| 1:30.0 | maybe they had different religions and different beliefs, but they had a very similar way of |
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