{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Islamic Studies","slug":"new-books-in-islamic-studies-1029962","podcast_index_feed_id":1029962,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/LIT7782346334","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/religion-faith/islamic-studies/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/d9838266-ef0d-11e8-86a0-17d544c0507b/image/97b898d95d37b7a6e4eb02f361a21c5e.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":913,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-islamic-studies-1029962"},"episode":{"title":"Adam Bursi, \"Traces of the Prophets: Relics and Sacred Spaces in Early Islam\" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)","slug":"adam-bursi-traces-of-the-prophets-relics-and-sacred-spaces-in-early-islam-edinburgh-up-2024","published_at":"2026-01-26T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-islamic-studies-1029962/adam-bursi-traces-of-the-prophets-relics-and-sacred-spaces-in-early-islam-edinburgh-up-2024","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-islamic-studies-1029962","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK4659491254.mp3?updated=1708117868","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NBNK4659491254.mp3?updated=1708117868","summary":"Adam Bursi’s Traces of the Prophets: Relics and Sacred Spaces in Early Islam (Edinburg University Press, 2024) uses writings by early Muslims to map a history of material objects, relics, and tombs of prophetic figures as they were conceptualized in the 8th and 9th centuries. The book draws from various genres of writings, including biographies and hadith of the Prophet Muhammad and Qur’an commentaries and juristic compilations to capture the tensions and practices around tomb and relic veneration. Some of the discussion of Muslim relic veneration are polemical as they aim to establish some boundaries around similar pious practices amongst Jewish and Christian communities. In the process, we learn that there were indeed debates with regards to the post-mortem “traces” or “athar” of Muhammad’s tomb, which then impacted how spaces associated with him were also perceived, as well as other prophetic figures like Ibrahim (Abraham) or Daniel. Such examples raise conceptual questions of absence and presence and Prophet Muhammad’s capacity for intercession and obligatory versus non-obligatory rituals. In charting these early Muslim debates and narratives, Bursi masterfully captures the differing approaches Muslims had to holy bodies and sacred spaces. The book will be of interest to scholars who think about early Islamic history and also for scholars who work on contemporary Islamic material and shrine cultures. Shobhana Xavier is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Queen’s University. More details about her research and scholarship may be found here and here. She may be reached at shobhana.xavier@queensu.ca. You can follow her on Twitter via @shobhanaxavier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member…","meta_description":"Adam Bursi’s Traces of the Prophets: Relics and Sacred Spaces in Early Islam (Edinburg University Press, 2024) uses writings by early Muslims to map a his…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3419,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-islamic-studies-1029962/episodes/adam-bursi-traces-of-the-prophets-relics-and-sacred-spaces-in-early-islam-edinburgh-up-2024/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-islamic-studies-1029962/adam-bursi-traces-of-the-prophets-relics-and-sacred-spaces-in-early-islam-edinburgh-up-2024.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}