FALL 2026

The Meaning of “Reading:” Becoming Human through the Adab Tradition

Professor Sarah bin Tyeer

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November 4, 2026 12:00 PM

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November 4, 2026 12:00 PM

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November 4, 2026

FALL 2026 Lecture Series

‍

Omar Nasim

How to Frame AI: Rethinking the History of Intelligence and Technology
September 16, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

Francesca Bocca-Aldaqre

Islamic Psychology as Spiritual Wayfaring (suluk)
September 23, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

Sajjad Rizvi

Revisiting a Kantian Problem in the Metaphysics of Theism: Is Existence a Real Predicate?
September 30, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

Nuha Alshaar

Living Together: Christians and Muslims in Sicily and Egypt under Fāṭimid Rule
October 07, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

Bilal Kuşpınar

Philosophical and Mystical Implications of the Light-Verse of the Qur’an
October 14, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

Hadia Mubarak

Biblical Women in the Quran: A Retelling
October 21, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

Caner Dagli

The Humanities and Social Sciences are Dead without Metaphysics
October 28, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

Sarah bin Tyeer

The Meaning of “Reading:” Becoming Human through the Adab Tradition
November 04, 2026 - 12:00PM (EST) - 1 hour

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Instructor Bio

Sarah bin Tyeer

Certificate · Intellectual Tradition Fall 2026

The Meaning of “Reading:” Becoming Human through the Adab Tradition

Professor Sarah bin Tyeer

Reading and Becoming Human through Adab

Ibn Sīnā

What this course gives you

✦

A working command of the vocabulary of Islamic metaphysics — wujūd, māhiyya, the gradation of being — used precisely, not loosely.

✦

The capacity to read primary texts of Ibn Sīnā and Mullā Ṣadrā with comprehension rather than reverence alone.

✦

An understanding of why the tradition treats metaphysics as the science of realities — and what that claim asks of the knower.

✦

Direct exchange with Professor Nasr in open Q&A after every session — the part no book can replace.

The eight weeks

A syllabus, not a playlist.

Download full syllabus →

What metaphysics is — and is not

The place of metaphysics in the Islamic sciences; why it precedes both theology and natural philosophy; the distinction between the study of beings and the study of Being.

Wujūd: the reality of existence

Existence as the first and most evident of realities; the Avicennan distinction of essence and existence and what hangs upon it.

III

The gradation of being

Mullā Ṣadrā’s tashkīk al-wujūd — a single reality admitting of intensity and degree — and its consequences for knowledge and the soul.

Substance, accident, and the orders of reality

The architecture of the cosmos as the tradition received and refined it from its Hellenic inheritance.

Knowledge as a mode of being

Why, for this tradition, to know a thing is in some manner to become it — the union of intellect and intelligible.

The soul and its ascent

Substantial motion, the perfectibility of the soul, and the metaphysics underlying the spiritual life.

VII

The One and the many

Unity and multiplicity; the relation of the world to its Principle; the long argument over waḥdat al-wujūd.

VIII

Metaphysics and the modern condition

What this body of thought has to say to a civilization that has, by and large, forgotten the question of Being.

Your instructor

Professor Sarah bin Tyeer

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The Meaning of “Reading:” Becoming Human through the Adab Tradition

FALL 2026 Lecture Series

Omar Nasim

Francesca Bocca-Aldaqre

Sajjad Rizvi

Nuha Alshaar

Bilal Kuşpınar

Hadia Mubarak

Caner Dagli

Sarah bin Tyeer

Instructor Bio

Classroom Location

Classroom Website

Available Languages

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The Meaning of “Reading:” Becoming Human through the Adab Tradition

A syllabus, not a playlist.

More in this track