Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago

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For background on Ibn al-Jawzī (c.1116-1201 CE, Baghdad): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Jawzi

This was supposed to have been 30 minutes but turned into an hour and half. We don't expect you to watch all of it. Get the book instead to read.

Prof. Liew, as you will see, is really down to earth and cool. You can contact him here: https://search.asu.edu/profile/3708474

Time stamps:
0:01:55 How Prof. Liew got into Ibn al-Jawzī
His reading of Ann Lambton as an introduction to "Islamic political thought" in his freshman year at college. Quite a character as you can find out here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Lambton.
He was dissatisfied with the decline narrative.
He realised that his PhD proposal under the late Roy Mottahedeh was too ambitious.
However, he realised that Sunni jurists' on the whole did have a 'might is right' policy, so he wanted to see how other types of people viewed politics.

0:17:08 My approach to structuring "Islamic history" as a possible background to contextualising Ibn al-Jawzī and his response

0:23:40 On Ibn al-Jawzī's intellectual and socio-political context: Seljuks and crusades

0:32:00 On Ibn al-Jawzī's intellectual and socio-political context: the Fatimids - the "Sunni revival"

0:34:38 On Ibn al-Jawzī's life: his paternal lineage to Abū Bakr; his maternal scholarly links; his fame as a preacher; his support from Ḥanbalite minister Ibn Hubayraḧ (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awn_al-Din_ibn_Hubayra); his exile and return

0:43:35 Ibn Rajab (d. 1383 CE) - I made a mistake with the date - on Ibn al-Jawzī: unflattering - big-headed; errors in theology; errors in writings. Ibn Rajab has relied on al-Dhahabī on Ibn al-Jawzī. Ibn al-Jawzī was trying to emulate al-Ghazālī.

0:52:55 On Ibn al-Jawzī's antipathy with ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī - my vibes based reasoning that Jīlānī lent into the Fatimid neoplatonist lexicon in his Sufism (0:55:25) and my recent interests in the occult and esoteric, and whether that existed amongst Ḥanbalites.

01:03:30 Ibn ʿAqīl's (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Aqil) influence on Ibn al-Jawzī's political thinking and an AHP exclusive - Prof. Liew's new article under review on the topic, including the love of Imām Ḥusayn.

01:07:40 On emotions as a lens of historical analysis; the relative lack of sophistication in contemporary Islamic historiography; and a push back on the role of piety in politics

01:24:15 On 'tactful preaching' on Ibn al-Jawzī's attempt to find a balance between aloofness from rulers and rebellion

01:26:45 Which three historic figures would Prof. Liew invite to a dinner party?

Thanks for engaging,
Talha



Further reading:
H. Liew, Preaching Pious Rulership in Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Jawzi's Political Thought (Edinburgh University Press, 2026)

M. El-Merheb, Political Thought in the Mamluk Period: The Unnecessary Caliphate (Edinburgh University Press, 2022)

P. Held, Baghdad during the time of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, (Piscataway N.J: Gorgias Press, 2022)

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