Ep. 8 | How Has the Pandemic Affected Religious Behavior in the Muslim World? | Tarek Masoud, Kadir Yildirim, and Peter Mandaville

<p>The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic raised questions about how the health crisis, government-imposed lockdowns, and economic recession would affect religious faith and behavior. While many social scientists expected it to strengthen religiosity as people turned to their faith for comfort in a time of need, others suspected a religious recession could result from the limitations on communal religious activity. In this episode, we speak with three political scientists, Tarek Masoud, A. Kadir Yildirim, and Peter Mandaville, about their <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/02/will-pandemic-spark-religious-revival-muslim-world/#click=https://t.co/AFCNza01ob" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">new study</a> of religious behavior following the pandemic in the Muslim-majority countries of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Indonesia in November and December of 2020.</p><p><a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/tarek-masoud" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Tarek Masoud</a> is Faculty Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University, Professor of Public Policy, and Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman Professor of International Relations at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.</p><p><a href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/experts/a-kadir-yildirim/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">A. Kadir Yildirim</a> is Fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Twitter: @akyildirim</p><p><a href="https://islamicstudiescenter.gmu.edu/people/pmandavi" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Peter Mandaville</a> is Professor of International Affairs at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. Twitter: @pmandaville</p><p>Credits and transcript: <a href="https://islamicstudies.harvard.edu/ep-8-pandemic-religious-behavior-muslim-world-tarek-masoud-kadir-yildirim-and-peter?admin_panel=1" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">islamicstudies.harvard.edu/ep-8-pandemic-r