Interactive Courses
Meaning in Human Suffering
- Instructor: Rasoul Rahbari-Ghazani
- Duration: 8 weeks
- Format: Live Google Meet seminars, guided readings, discussion, interactive WhatsApp group with attendees and Course instructor
- Language: English
- Start: Mid-September 2026
- Discount: 20% early-bird registration (included)
Course Description. This course examines human suffering as both a philosophical challenge to theistic belief and an existential problem that requires discernment and an ethical response. Centering on Rumi’s practical-phenomenological theodicy and John Hick’s soul-making theodicy, the course explores divine Goodness, human freedom, moral and spiritual growth, epistemic distance, and eschatological hope. Through close reading, comparison, and critical discussion, the course evaluates whether rational explanation and lived transformation can be integrated without romanticizing suffering, neglecting injustice, or dismissing the enduring problem of excessive and apparently pointless evil.
The course will be taught primarily through critical reading of the book A Search for Meaning in Human Suffering: Rumi and John Hick in Dialogue by Rasoul Rahbari-Ghazani.
Ibn ʿArabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (12 Weeks)
- Instructor: Rasoul Rahbari-Ghazani
- Duration: 3 months
- Video-recorded seminars
- Audio-recorded seminars
- Guided readings
- Discussion
- Live interactive Whatsapp group with attendees and Course instructor
- Language: English
In this interactive course, you will explore one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of mystical thought, Ibn ʿArabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam (Seals of Wisdom). In teaching this book, I draw upon the most authoritative classical commentaries—Qūnawī, Qayṣarī, Jāmī, and Kāshānī—alongside key contemporary scholarship, to provide a rigorous, structured, and accessible interpretation of this profound text. Suitable for starters and students of sufism, Islamic philosophy, or metaphysics.
For those who prefer monthly payments, please check our memberships.
Persian Mystical Poetry Analysis
- Instructor: Rasoul Rahbari-Ghazani
- Duration: 8 weeks
- Video-recorded seminars
- Audio-recorded seminars
- Guided readings
- Discussion
- Live interactive Whatsapp group with attendees and Course tutor
- Language: English (with Persian texts and translations provided)
Course Description. In this course, there are weekly live meetings and interactive Whataspp group discussions with the Course tutor and attendees to study the renowned Persian poets, such as Rumi, Hafiz, Fayz Kashani, Shams Tabrizi, etc, from phenomenological and hermeneutic perspectives. Connect with like-minded seekers and explore the profound depths of these masterminds' poetry. A structured, guided study designed for enthusiasts, non-experts, and scholars. No technical background is required—translations and conceptual introductions are provided.
Video Courses
Shams Tabrizi's Discourses (Maqālāt)
- Instructor: Rasoul Rahbari-Ghazani
- Pre-recorded videos
- Interactive WhatsApp group for Q&A
- 18 episodes in total; 10 episodes publicly available and 7 exclusive course content.
In this series, episodes present the original Farsi texts from Shams Tabrizi's Discourses (Maqālāt), with English translation and analysis, drawing on commentary as well as modern insights to illustrate Shams’ words with accuracy and clarity—free from the simplifications or distortions often found in popular retellings. The course explores the meaning of Shams’ words and the larger picture of his ideas, personality, and transformative relationship with Rumi. Suitable for those encountering Shams for the first time or returning to his voice with deeper questions.