Apr 17, 2021
In February 2015, the former Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS) released a video showing their destruction of Mesopotamian
antiquities at the museum of Mosul. Although perhaps ironic that
images are used to show the destruction of images, a video intended
to shock can be turned against its makers when analysed
thoughtfully.
Our guest this episode, Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft, argues in his latest book "The
Idols of ISIS: From Assyria to the Internet" that iconoclasm at
heart is a political manifesto a matter understood by Abbasid
philosopher Abū Naṣr al-Farābī (d.951CE).
Dr. Tugendhaft received his PhD from the Department of Hebrew and
Judaic Studies at New York University in 2012 and also holds
degrees in Art History and Social Thought from the University of
Chicago. In 2013, he received the Jonas Greenfield Prize for
Younger Semitists from the American Oriental Society. He currently
teaches at Bard College Berlin.
Timestamps
00.00 Introduction
02.40 Abū
Naṣr al-Farābī (ca. 870–950) thought deeply about the relation
between images and politics. He adapted the insights of ancient
political philosophers—especially Plato and Aristotle—to make sense
of prophetic religion. How do his political treatises shed light on
Abraham's iconoclasm that ISIS claimed to uphold?
06.30 Where ISIS
spoke of the need to cleanse the world of idols, their critics
refer to a moral and legal imperative to protect cultural heritage.
How do we see Al-Farābī's thesis play out in our contemporary
context?
10.20 You also
mention in your book how once archaeologists commonly removed
so-called late levels—that is, medieval and modern Islamic
remains—without recording them to get to the ancient layers
underneath eliding the Islamic Middle East as though only the West
beholds antiquity’s beauty today. What is called the "secular" can
also have their idols, right?
13.30 Your book
ends creatively employing al-Farābī's thoughts on images and
politics in the age of video games. How would the philosopher have
advised Trump?
22.55 Your book
"The Idols of ISIS: From Assyria to the Internet" is published by
University of Chicago Press. What are other current projects that
listeners can anticipate?
Dr. Tugendhaft, Thank you for being a guest on the Abbasid History
Podcast!
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