Islamic thought, past and present, on video
Tahqiq is an English-language YouTube channel by Ömer F. Gürlesin. The name comes from the Arabic taḥqīq, careful inquiry or verification. The videos introduce debates from Islamic theology, philosophy and Sufism, and look at how these ideas meet modern thought and religious life today.
They draw on academic research and classical texts, but are made for a general audience and assume no prior knowledge.
- Englishlanguage
- 120+videos
- 16,000+subscribers
Four kinds of videos
Imagined dialogues
Thinkers who never met, or who disagreed across centuries, are brought to the same table: al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd, Ibn Arabi and Ibn Taymiyya, or Ibn Arabi in conversation with Spinoza, Jung and Freud. The dialogues are marked as simulations; AI tools are used for voices and images.
Short explainers
Shorter videos on a single figure, idea or practice, such as al-Ghazali on the levels of fasting, al-Hallaj’s saying “Ana al-Haqq”, or the meeting of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz.
Religion today
Current debates read through the sociology of religion: artificial intelligence and religious authority, nationalism as a civil religion in Turkey, or a long public debate between Ahmadi and Salafi speakers.
Series
Longer sequences on a single work. Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah introduces Ibn Khaldun’s account of society, history and the rise and fall of states in eleven episodes.
Watch the series →Latest uploads
9:14Why more data doesn’t mean more truth: René Guénon’s warning
24:25Do we have good reasons to believe in God?
25:03Freud called it the unconscious. Ibn Arabi called it something else
16:38Is the world God, or God’s face? Ibn Arabi meets Spinoza
16:508 hours, 2 winners: reading the Ahmadi–Salafi “true Islam” debate
9:20Turks are religious about Turkey
A closer look
The drowning tyrant: Ibn Arabi and Ibn Taymiyya on Pharaoh’s final breath
Was Pharaoh’s last-minute “I believe” real faith? Ibn Arabi’s much-debated answer in the Fusus al-Hikam, and why it drew such strong criticism.
The death of the scholar, the birth of the bot
How religious authority moved from the scholar in the madrasa to print, the internet and now artificial intelligence, and what this means for the question of who speaks for religion.
Ali Shariati: which religion are they really serving?
An introduction to Ali Shariati’s idea of “religion against religion”: the argument that a living faith is challenged less by unbelief than by a religion that serves power.
Most viewed so far
Islam’s greatest debates: al-Ghazali vs Ibn Taymiyya
An imagined debate on philosophy, Sufism and the relation between faith and deeds.
The 800-year-old feud shaping Islam today
Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Arabi, two very different readings of Islam, in one conversation.
Who was right about philosophy? Al-Ghazali vs Ibn Rushd
The classic dispute over reason, revelation and the place of philosophy.
Ibn Rushd and Richard Dawkins: a debate on the God hypothesis
A medieval philosopher and a modern biologist on science, reason and belief in God.
Ibn Arabi on what fasting is
A short introduction to Ibn Arabi’s understanding of fasting, beyond abstaining from food.
Why the first American Pope chose a 99% Muslim nation
On Pope Leo XIV’s first journey abroad, to Turkey.
Watch in order
- Ibn Khaldun: The Muqaddimah11 episodes · an introduction to Ibn Khaldun’s study of society and history
- Islam and Muslim Societies: Faith, Culture, and TransformationPodcast · 2 episodes
In preparation
New videos are published regularly on the channel. Topics in preparation will be listed here.
From research to a wider audience
Several videos grow out of the research presented on this site, including Sufi thought, Turkish civil religion and religious authority. For the academic work behind them, see the research and publications pages.