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We’re back for season 2 of Head on History and diving into the deep end. Building on the chronology established in last season, we are going to focus now on important themes in Islam and how they’ve been shaped by history. In our first episode trace the history of the concept of “jihad” in the premodern Islamic world. We explore the various ideas of fighting and conflict in Islam and how they were shaped by the experience of imperial wars in Late Antiquity and communal violence. We take a look at the various words used in the Qur’an to express fighting and how over time all of these ideas were gathered under the umbrella of “jihad” as theologians began to expand the idea and codify it in Sharia or Islamic Law. We trace the development of jihad from the early Muslim community through the Crusades, setting the stage for a part two which will cover jihad in the colonial and modern world.
