Meet Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, the revolutionary philosopher whose life was a mosaic of contradictions. Was he an Afghan Sunni patriot or an Iranian Shi’a intellectual? A pious reformer or a freemason skeptical of prophecy? Driven by a fierce anti-imperialism, he pioneered Islamic Modernism and Pan-Islamism, influencing a generation of nationalists like Muhammad Abduh from Cairo to Paris. Learn about the founder who saw religion as a tool for political mobilization, whose secret radicalism clashed with his public persona, and whose final acts culminated in tragedy and "gilded captivity".
- September 9, 2026