EP009 Dr. Kevin Blankinship on the life and works of poet-philosopher 'heretic' Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī (d. 1058)

Considered a heretic, the vegan anti-natalist poet Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī (d. 1058) provoked throughout his life but only had his head chopped off in 2013 as a statue by fanatics in his Syrian hometown. Dr. Kevin Blankinship, Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Brigham Young University, challenges what we think we know about the man. For more on his work, see kblankinship.com.