Zara Khan - Roots and Implications of Pop Culture

About this lecture

In this lecture delivered at Yaqeen Institute's Canadian launch in Toronto, scholar and educator Zara Khan examines the roots and implications of popular culture through the lens of Islamic values. Drawing on the Quranic parable of the good tree and the corrupt tree, she systematically unpacks the philosophical foundations beneath pop culture's most pervasive symbols — from consumerism and material power to unfettered sexuality and the deification of the self — and makes a compelling case that Muslim communities must respond not by withdrawing from culture, but by actively producing it.