The Thinking Muslim (Muhammad Jalal)

At the time of this episode’s release, the outcome of the French presidential election has yet to be announced. It is likely the incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, will come back to office, once again defeating his hard-right rival Marine Le Pen. Many Muslims may breathe a sigh of relief, Le Pen stands out as a viscerally anti-Muslim candidate in a country where it’s hard to find any moderate voices. But in many ways, Macron’s return to power is meaningless for the Muslim community in France. For all the calls for greater political participation, the choice for many is between one form of Islamophobia over another.

Muslims in France find themselves wedged between a rock and a hard place. Today, our guest, Rayan Freschi, a legal expert and researcher for CageUK has recently authored a disturbing report on the French government’s policy of “systematic obstruction” of the Muslim community. He uncovers how the French state under Macron has targeted peaceful Muslims, shut down Mosques, closed charities, hounded Islamic schools and made it impossible for civil society to operate independently from the state. His report, found in the show notes, makes a chilling read. Rayan tells me that the French state is shutting down Islam in France. We talk about how this systematic obstruction has manifested and the consequence for Europe’s largest Muslim community.

Download the report here https://www.cage.ngo/we-are-beginning-to-spread-terror-report 

Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam.

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The journalist Peter Oborne stands out as one of the few defenders of our community in the mainstream press. Over the past two decades he has worked tirelessly to speak truth to power. He is currently a writer for the Middle East Eye and was named as British Press Awards Columnist of the Year in 2013. Previously he worked as the chief political columnist of the Daily Telegraph until he resigned in 2015. His latest book is The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam, which takes a look at the often-opaque world of the Islamophobia industry. Importantly, Oborne is a conservative and until 2019 was a member of the Conservative Party until he resigned in disgust at Boris Johnson’s leadership.

Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam.

Join our Telegram group here: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website Archive: thinkingmuslim.com -

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The war on terror, a US-led strategy that saw deadly interventions in the Muslim world, has transformed a generation of Muslims. Some, like my guest today, unwittingly got caught up in this mindless campaign and 21 years after the events of 9/11, we still feel the aftereffects of programmes that placed every Muslim in categories, moderate or extreme, good and bad, loyal or disloyal.

Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo detainee upon his release, has been a tireless campaigner for the truth, exposing its lies and deceits. In the process, he and his organisation CAGE international have tactically contacted non-Muslim sympathisers and wider Human Rights organisations. But I asked him about the risks involved in this strategy. Many a time, Muslims that receive such support are forced to compromise. The left wants Islam to change and come with various social positions we find problematic. The right often possesses a chauvinism that calls upon Muslims to accept a secondary role in society. I ask Moazzam to conceptualise how he navigates these binaries.

Join our Telegram group here: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim 

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website Archive: thinkingmuslim.com -

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can write to Dr Aafia via her lawyer on email clive@3dc.org.uk

The deadline for the first round of letters is 1/8/23 - you can still send letters after this date for future visits.

Please place in the subject of the email: Thinking Muslim letter for Aafia.Clive has set up a crowdfunding page for a monthly standing order/debit for Aafia; this is to pay for a young Pakistani researcher to help on the case and to fund the trips to the US etc. Use -  https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/freeaafia/backers#startAlthough the war on terror is now a distant memory to many Americans, it’s horrible residue remains. The incarceration of Aafia Siddiqui, a brilliant academic and mother of three, has become a symbol of its excesses, of which there were many. She languishes in prison, serving an 86-year sentence for an offence that looks barely credible, the attempted murder of two US officials in Afghanistan in 2008. Her whereabouts before that date remain murky, and so does the welfare of her youngest son Suleman – who has not been seen since her detention in 2003. To help us unpick the facts, we have invited Aafias lawyer Clive Stafford Smith to shed light on what happened to Aafia and her children. Clive has helped secure the release of 86 prisoners from Guantánamo Bay and still acts for the remaining numbers. Since the early days of the War on Terror, he has worked tirelessly to force the Americans and other Western powers to adhere to the rule of law. He has sought to uncover the secret prisons and ghost prisoners that stain the reputation of powerful states – who presented their wars in benevolent terms.Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠⁠
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com#TheThinkingMuslimPodcast

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For twenty years, the United States fought an unwinnable and ultimately self-defeating war in Afghanistan – only to withdraw in a humiliating way in 2021. The conflict ended what many saw to be a colonial enterprise. We explore that war, where it leaves Afghanistan, the region's geopolitics, Afghanistans relationship with Pakistan and the role of the Taliban. Many see the austere Islamic group as classic freedom fighters, defeating the world's strongest and only superpower. But have they ultimately disappointed many in their time in government.? The country suffers from poverty and near famine. Who is to blame for this terrible situation? Ahmed-Waleed Kakar is no stranger to the country. Of Afghan descent, he is an analyst specialising in Afghan political history and the founder and editor-in-chief of The Afghan Eye @AFGHANEYE : an independent media platform offering English-language analysis of Afghan affairs.

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: ⁠⁠⁠⁠thinkingmuslim.com⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Jonathan Brown joins us this week to engage in an in-depth discussion about the Hadith corpus and why contemporary arguments forwarded by orientalists and modernists lack rigour. He takes us on a journey of informed exploration of some of the key personalities and thinkers of early Islam and the lengths they went through to determine the veracity of a tradition attributed to the Messenger of Allah (saw).    

His books include The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon, Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oneworld, 2009) and His most recent book, Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenges and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy (Oneworld, 2014), was named one of the top books on religion in 2014 by the Independent. He is the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.   

Join our Telegram group here: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim 

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website Archive: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This past week marks twenty years since the opening of the infamous detention centre, Guantanamo Bay. It remains a symbol of the hollowness of the very values that underpin the liberal world order. Camp X ray was to house dangerous ‘jihadists’, a nebulous general term that is used to describe those foreign fighters that would for no 'explicable' reason travel to distant parts of the world to fight other peoples wars. Within time, the term came to explain a universal ideology, from Bosnia to Afghanistan, Palestine to Kashmir – those that crossed national boundaries to fight for an oppressed ummah were lumped into a singular narrative, stripped of acceptable political motives and removed of their humanity.

Dr Daryl Li is a practicing lawyer and anthropologist who has written a brilliant work on global jihad mobilisation in Bosnia. His book, titled The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity, challenges the prevailing narrative – and attempts to ask more searching and important questions. Joining us is Professor Ovamir Anjum, who reflects on Dr Li’s work and the broader themes that come from it.

Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahmed Serag, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam.

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As you all know, this podcast is no stranger to dissecting the narrative forwarded by liberals in general and those within our community that self-identify as Muslim liberals. And if you know me you would know that I don’t particularly find the modernist narrative appealing nor elegant in their appeals to what I and I think most Muslims see as the ideas of an incoherent worldview that has undermined human societies the world over.

With these caveats in mind, this episode we dedicate to a discussion with an American Muslim liberal, Dr Shadi Hamid. I have followed his work for some years and although we part company on a number of issues, as you will hear, I do feel Shadi is a reluctant liberal, open to criticise not only those inconsistencies he witnesses but also he attempts to make sense of American foreign policy in light of his values and I am not sure he is always successful in reaching a satisfactory answer.

We discuss American liberalism, the trends towards nativism, exemplified in the near re-election of Donald Trump last year but also how he reconciles his liberal worldview with his Islamic faith, which I know he thinks a lot about. 

Shadi has written a number of books on the Muslim world, this is where he made his name in American political and academic circles, so we spend time talking about the attitudes of Muslims in the Muslim world towards Islam as well as the often-simplistic way US policy treats the Middle East and Islamic parties.

For more links to Shadi Hamid's biography and works, please view the Insights page on the show 

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please help us this Ramadan by making a donation to the show - more information here: ⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

The great Damascene scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350) authored the masterpiece of Islamic psychology Madarij al-Salikin, (Ranks of the Divine Seekers). It sets out the great Hanbalite's advice on how to journey to Allah and reach the ranks of a loving believer of our Lord. Professor Ovamir Anjum, the translator into English of this great work, talks to The Thinking Muslim about Ibn Qayyim’s spiritual perspectives, including the wisdom of sin, what attributes a believer should shun and acquire, the multiple stations on the route to this journey and the role of obedience to Allah for spiritual felicity.Dr. Ovamir Anjum is the Imam Khattab Endowed Chair of Islamic Studies at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Toledo. He obtained his Ph.D. in Islamic Intellectual history in the Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Masters in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, and Masters in Computer Science and Bachelors in Nuclear Engineering and Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before higher education, his Islamic training began at home while growing up in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States with a broad range of scholars, including his remarkable grandmother, and continued as he studied fiqh with South Asian Ḥanafī and Ahl-e-hadīs scholars and usūl al-fiqh and qirā’āt of the Quran with scholars from Egypt’s Al-Azhar and Syria. He currently leads the Ummatics Institute and is the Editor in-Chief of Yaqeen Institute.

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

France’s estimated six million strong Muslims are subject to daily inhuman treatment at the hands of a militant secular state. Islam as a faith has long been traduced and othered, exceptionalised as a religion that must be chastened by French enlightenment. It is this context that we observe with horror the recent episode of brutality. Seventeen year old Nahel Merzouk was killed at point blank range for a minor traffic infraction. His death, normally another statistic, was caught on camera and led to days of protests and rioting. To help us make sense of this tragic week, we have invited back onto The Thinking Muslim Rayan Freschi. Rayan is a legal expert and researcher for Cage International and he has recently authored a disturbing report on the French government’s policy of “systematic obstruction” of the Muslim community. He recently wrote a piece for Middle East Eye analysing these tragic events.

Find us on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslimFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim Host: https://twitter.com/jalalaynWebsite Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com#TheThinkingMuslimPodcast

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we shall be looking at the situation of the Muslim’s in China. Welcome to the first podcast of The Thinking Muslim, follow the show on @thinking_muslim and do remember to subscribe. For the past few years news about the plight of the Uyghurs in the restive north-western region of Xinjiang, known as East Turkestan, has gradually worsened. The destruction of Mosques; the use of technology to monitor every movement of the population, the banning of fasting in Ramadan, the introduction of Han Chinese visitors to each home to observe the family unit, the closing of Islamic seminaries have all been documented as the Chinese state attempts to disassociate Islam from the daily practice of ordinary believers. But it is the introduction of camps, what the Chinese government euphuistically calls ‘re-education centres that have focussed minds around the world that nothing less than the annihilation of an entire religious and cultural identity is taking place in full view of the international community. The Uyghurs have always resisted Chinese rule and their heroism in the face of Chinese imperialism predates 1949 when Chairman Mao brought the Communists to power. The Uyghurs suffered under the repression of the Cultural Revolution, where religion was suppressed. But in recent years, China’s rapid development has allowed it to acquire sophisticated forms of state control, never seen in the history of authoritarian rule. The state regulates every inch of the lives of its Muslim population, on a scale and ambition that informs us about the type of world China is trying to create. To try and understand more about the Uyghurs and their struggle, this week I am pleased to have as our guest on the Thinking Muslim Podcast, Arslan Hidayat an Uyghur activist and campaigner currently based in Turkey to talk to us about the extent to which Muslim Uyghurs have been subject to China’s programme of repression. Arslan has been active for many years, bringing to the world’s attention the situation in East Turkestan, long before it was adopted by the mainstream press. He remains in contact with members of the community and has become a source of information for many. He can be found on Twitter, @arslan_hidayat and I would encourage you all to follow him. You can also access my medium page here https://medium.com/@thinkingmuslim/the-thinking-muslim-podcast-a-conversation-with-uyghur-activist-arslan-hidayet-20fe43015154

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, Please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The trojan horse affair upended education policy in the UK and gave rise to one of the most problematic policies, the prevent duty. If you haven’t already, The New York Times Serial podcast on the subject is worth a listen – Tahir and his colleagues were vindicated as concerned parents caught up in a systematic programme of islamophobia.  

Riaz Hasan and Muhammad Jalal caught up with Tahir Alam - the man at the centre of the scandal - to try to understand the broader motivations of government and others hell bent on tuning back the tide of young Muslim achievement and in the process stoking Islamophobia.

Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam. 

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn (Host) and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim Website: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a repeat of a show first published in early 2020

Death has become a part of our everyday lives. Covid-19 and its spread have brought home to us the undeniable reality that we are mortal beings and our accumulation of wealth, prestige and power will come to an end. How we think about death impacts on how we think about life. So how should death be conceptualised? How should we really remember death, beyond the occasional thoughts about it? How do we make death our partners and our guide in conditioning our present? To understand this idea, I have invited Kamal Abu Zahra – a lecturer in Islamic studies, currently completing his PhD in looking at the minority fiqh and its compatibility with classical notions of scholarship. I ask Kamal some searching questions about death and how we should see it, how we should confront its claims upon us, and how we should address it when death falls on someone close to us. 

Thanks to the team: Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam. You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim Website: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There has been an uptick in the number of people converting to Islam recently. This was very noticeable in Ramadan, when it just seemed every day, a young man was becoming Muslim. Imam Ashraf, who leads a congregation in the inner-city London borough of Lewisham, discusses why so many British youngsters are turning to Islam. His Mosque saw over 60 conversions in Ramadan alone. I ask him about the influence of Andrew Tate upon many young men coming to Islam. Imam Ashraf Dabous is an imam at Lewisham Mosque in London. He studied at the Islamic University of Madinah. He also studied privately under various Shuyukh – studying Hanbali and Hanafi Fiqh and other Sciences. And he recently graduated from Goldsmiths University with an MSc in CBT therapy and is a qualified councilor.

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠⁠⁠⁠

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: ⁠⁠⁠⁠thinkingmuslim.com⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We often see people claim an action to be kufr (disbelief), for example, neglecting prayer, or they designate a use of language to be a term of disbelief. This leads to questioning a person's iman. A politician endorses a reprehensible act, or a Muslim academic calls for the reform of Islam – these are all discussed as attributes of kufr. So what is disbelief and what is belief, and does every act of disbelief take a person outside of Islam? We take a deep dive into this often misunderstood area and reflect on the differences within classical Islam. Iyad Hilal is a khateeb at many masajid in California, he has formally studied usal al fiqh – Islamic legal theory and is the author of the book studies in usul al-fiqh.Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thinkingmuslim.com⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many Muslims living in the West have become aware that the ideas of tolerance, individualism, liberal multiculturalism and freedom of religion – all liberal notions — have their limits when it comes to our community. A series of tensions, from depictions of the Messenger (saw) in offensive cartoons and the teaching of sexual practices at odds with our faith in schools, has brought into focus how there remains an incompatibility between the ever-increasing demands of the liberal state and the Muslim community. To help us understand these tensions, Imam Tom Facchine, an imam and convert to Islam helps us understand the liberal state. He finished his BA in Political Science and was granted the opportunity to study at the Islamic University of Madinah from 2015-2020, where he obtained his BA from the Faculty of Shariah. Imam Tom is the Research Director of Islam and Society at the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. He is also a resident scholar and imam of Utica Masjid (New York state).

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠⁠

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thinkingmuslim.com⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imam Dawud Walid has recently published a serious contribution to the subject of manhood. He argues that the rich classical scholarly works detailing how to bring up young men have been forgotten. This sacred idea of chivalry may look out of place in modernity, but it produced well-balanced young men that combine courage with humility, strength with forgiveness and public duty with prayer. Imam Dawud Walid believes Islamic masculinity is not naturally acquired but has to come from revelation and reinforced by models of manhood within families and communities. He has recently authored a brilliant book titled, Futuwwah: and raising males into sacred manhood. A timely contribution to the topic.

You can follow Imam Dawud Walid's Telegram group here https://t.me/dawudwalid

Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam. 

Join our Telegram group here: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim 

Website Archive: thinkingmuslim.com - 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we invite back Dr Shadee Elmasry, Imam and community leader who has worked tirelessly at the local level to develop strong communities premised upon an Islamic framework. We ask Dr Shadee to spell out the importance of communities in Islam and how the modern maladies that come from individualism can be remedied.

Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahmed Serag, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam.

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The issue of the caliphate has recently made a resurgence within Muslim discourse. For nearly 100 years the Muslim ummah has been without a caliphate, and many have come to the view that the world of empires is behind us, and we now must embrace the era of nation-states. Yet the issue remains a live one, Islam and Muslims have remained tortured by our lack of ability to resolve some of the most intractable problems we face – leading to the suggestion that establishing a post-nation state brings together our resources, people and potential. Dr. Uthman Badar has been thinking about the concerns of the caliphate. He is the lead editor at the Ummatics Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Western Sydney University in 2023, where he currently teaches. He is also an active Muslim community member in Sydney, Australia, with over two decades of engagement in grassroots activism and da’wah.

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thinkingmuslim.com⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inspiration from Sami Hamdi. How do we contextualise the current state of the Ummah? And how do we interact with politics?Excerpt from 'Raving in Riyadh - The New Saudi Arabia' with Sami Hamdi

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠⁠⁠

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: ⁠⁠⁠thinkingmuslim.com⁠

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Williams of Blogging Theology talks to Muhammad Jalal about his ten most influential books, why he recommends them and the importance of reading. Titles mentioned in order of rank: 1. The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali2. Islam and the Destiny of Man by Charles Le Gai Eaton3. The Book of Hadith: Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad from the Mishkat Al Masabih selected by Charles Le Gai Eaton 4. Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age by Dale C. Allison Jr.5. Ibn Taymiyya on Reason and Revelation by Carl Sharif El-Tobgui6. Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Teachings by Martin Lings7. Misquoting Muhammad by Jonathan A.C. Brown 8. The Oxford Book of English Verse edited by Christopher Ricks 9. Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant 10. The Making of a Salafi Muslim Woman by Anabel IngeThis Ramadan please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact.
⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠

Join our Telegram group here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/thinkingmuslim ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow us on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/jalalayn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website Archive: ⁠thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guests this week, distinguished in their fields take a deeper look at the issues arising from the revocation of abortion as a constitutional right. What exactly is the position of shari’ah regarding abortion? What did the classical scholars say about the issue and is there a difference with more modern takes? How do we appreciate the political context of the Supreme Court decision and what are the social repercussions? My guests have a rich background and expertise and as you know, this podcast wants to move our thinking away from the ill-informed vox pop style contributions everyone seems to want to make without the depth of study required.

Dr Tahseen Shareef is a US based physician specialising in internal medicine. She started two Islamic schools in her home state California, delivers Islamic circles to women, and is currently pursuing Islamic studies on top of her busy clinical responsibilities. Iyad Hilal is an author of an acclaimed book on Usul al Fiqh and regular Friday khateeb at Mosques in California.

Thanks to the team: Riaz Hasan, Musab Muhammad, Reem Walid, Adeel Alam, Yusra Zainuddin, Ahaz Atif and Umar Abdul Salam.

You can donate to the show here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/contribute

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Website: thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can also watch this programme on Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zbOe1pDdHkA

Newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com/

Japan is a country that is known for its deep connection with tradition. Much of its rich culture comes from its adherence to two religious beliefs, Shintoism and Buddhism but it has also been influenced by Confucianism. The Japanese value purity and cleanliness. Unlike western individualism, Japanese culture places a great deal of attention on the group and mutual respect with a strong emphasis on harmony and balance. Although globalisation has brought with it westernisation, there is still an emphasis on learning Japanese customs at an early age, such as practicing the tea ceremony, wearing kimono and studying arts and crafts. Our guest today, Dr Naoki Yamamoto converted to Islam 14 years ago. He is now an academic at Istanbul’s Marmara University and helps a growing number of Japanese converts acclimatise to their Islamic commitments. Many of whom attend classes in this city. Dr Naoki argues that for Islam to be successful in Japan, it needs to work in harmony with Japanese culture. Indeed he is known in Istanbul for demonstrating the tea ceremony. We discuss Muslim converts in Japan and the themes he raises of cultural harmony and Islam. Can Islam adopt the cultural heritage of Japan?Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate⁠⁠

Find us on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslimFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim Host: https://twitter.com/jalalaynWebsite Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com#TheThinkingMuslimPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can donate either through a one-time contribution:

 https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

 https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim/

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch 

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

.........................

Modernity brings with it the promise that ultimate truth can come through reason – a reason that often excludes believers as outside the realm of thinking. Liberalism places religion in a ‘non-reasoned’ bucket, which should be tolerated like all other irrational but ultimately comforting lifestyle choices. This is primarily why there is general animus against anyone who displays an over-exuberance towards belief systems. Such people are described as fundamentalists, unthinking and unable to make their own rational choices. 

Our guest this week, Jamie Turner is no stranger to these arguments. He is currently pursuing his doctoral research at the University of Birmingham, looking at Ibn Taymiyyah and natural theology.

As always, you can comment your thoughts below.

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim 

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#TheThinkingMuslimPodcast

The Thinking Muslim Podcast Episode 109

00:00 Introduction

02:11 The idea of fitra 

04:47 Fitra from a cognitive pov

05:19 Theistic disposition as natural

12:25 Nature of theistic faculty 

13:30 The Mu'tazilite view 

14:43 The Hadith about fitra

18:00 Role of environment 

20:36 Our role as agents 

22:05 The limits of fitra

24:00 Role of revelation

25:41 Convert vs. revert 

28:42 Moral intuition 

30:35 Journey to Islam 

33:38 The role of reason 

38:48 Obligation to use reason 

45:33 Too much thinking?

47:52 Learning to reason well 

49:27 Studying philosophy 

51:50 Fitra and moral judgements 

53:42 Dawah 

55:37 Evidence for God

57:28 Signs in nature and humans 

1:00:57 Responding to Stephen Fry

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can donate either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

To help us understand the great Salahuddin, I have invited Dr Abdul Rahman Azzam onto the show. Dr. Azzam has authored several books, including Saladin: The Triumph of the Sunni Revival. He is a scholar specialising in Islamic history, and we are grateful for his time today.

As always, you can comment your thoughts below.

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking...

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmus...

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can donate either through a one-time contribution:

 https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

 https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim/

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch 

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

.........................

The 80's movie Terminator depicts a bleak world where a cyborg assassin is sent to the past to eliminate the mother of an unborn child who holds the key to humanity's salvation. The frightening prospect of machines that can teach themselves and, in the worst-case scenario, machines that are more intelligent than human beings has led senior scientists to raise the alarm about the ethics of Artificial Intelligence and its potential destructive force. For Muslims, AI raises many ethical questions about human society, the economy and, indeed, the potential for AI-inspired ijtihad, machines that tell us how to live our Islamic lives. Are scholars and orators about to go out of business as might taxi drivers and couriers in the coming technological age. 

To help us understand the world of AI, we have invited Riaz Hassan onto The Thinking Muslim. Riaz is works in the field of innovation for many years and has had direct and extensive experience in the use of AI and the commercial use of ChatGPT. He has worked on using AI and robotics on one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country. He has responsibility for looking at the wider dimensions of innovations with its associated impacts on our economy.

As always, you can comment your thoughts below.

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim 

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#TheThinkingMuslimPodcast

The Thinking Muslim Podcast Episode 112

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction

02:40 - Should we be afraid of AI?

03:38 - What is AI?

05:53 - What differentiates AI from other technology?

07:15 - Types of AI 

08:15 - What is generative AI?

10:08 - What is AGI? (Artificial General Intelligence)

11:57 - What to expect after ChatGPT?

14:13 - The issue with driverless cars 

15:40 - Imam Ghazali's version of the trolley problem

18:02 - Islamic values in AI

22:08 - Dystopian features of AI

26:50 - America vs. China

29:29 - What professions are going to be replaced?

34:34 - Labour and economy 

38:48 - Redefining work

44:26 - Concerns around AI

49:08 - AI in the wrong hands?

51:04 - AI in warfare 

53:04 - Can AI do ijtihad?

57:33 - Can acquire consciousness?

1:01:25 - Why AI cannot replace human intelligence 

1:06:10 - Tackling crises in faith 

1:07:01 - Can a supercomputer become Khalifa?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we revive a strong thinking scholarly tradition?

Our guest this week is Dr. Shuayb Wani, he is the Director and Co-Founder of the Dār Al ‘Ilm Institute https://daralilm.org. His course on the Islamic worldview is currently running and is available online. He grew up in Indian occupied Kashmir and started his quest to learn Islamic ‘Ulūm during his schooling years. He completed his foundational Islāmic Studies in India, and Al-Azhar University, Egypt. He devoted 10 years studying advanced Islāmic Studies specializing in Usūl al-Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) at the International Islamic University, Malaysia.

Please consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim, to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can donate either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

.........................

As always, you can comment your thoughts below.

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The inhuman aggression by which Israel treats Palestinians is known to everyone who possesses an ounce of justice. This excludes, of course, Western nations for whom, apparently, history began last Saturday. However, they are very aware that the colonial outpost they set up in the Middle East is hell-bent on extracting as much land as possible to accommodate racist Americans and Europeans. They are aware that in the process, Israel slowly squeezes Palestinians and of the daily humiliations – the trigger-happy border guards that maim and murder. They know all of this yet remain deaf to the cries. They give the murderous state weapons of war, instruments of torture, and diplomatic cover. Just this past week, the main political parties on both sides of the Atlantic were falling over each other to give Israel the green light. In an age of impunity, Israel has a free pass. 

But what lay behind the events last week, and what can we expect in the coming weeks from regional and international actors? To help us untangle the political issues, we once again invite Sami Hamdi back on the programme. Sami Hamdi is the managing director of the International Interest and a ME commentator. 

You can donate either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please REMEMBER to subscribe and consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This episode was filmed a week ago before the grave atrocities including the slaughter at Al Ahli hospital. The Western propaganda machine is in full motion. Israel, aided by the west are conditioning western public opinion for the effective expunging of Gaza from the map. This slow, steady war machine is exceptionalising Palestinian violence, real or concocted, to further its aims. This is the Iraq war all over again.

To help us understand this subtle propaganda machine it is a pleasure to have Moazzam Begg on the show. Moazzam Begg is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and senior director for the UK-based campaign group CAGE.

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we consider the stance of the West over Israel’s actions these past weeks, many point out the blatant hypocrisy in applying their standards. We are constantly told that human rights are inviolable, that freedom of speech is sacrosanct, and that people have the right to self-determination. Westerners sermonise about how Muslims should embrace democratic norms. They pontificate about the rules-based liberal world order, where rules are applied fairly and equally. Yet, in these past weeks, anyone with a conscience would note that these calls ring hollow. We all can see this hypocrisy. But are the West negligent of their ideals? Are they acting in contrary to their liberal values. It is said if only they were brought to the right path once again.

Imam Tom Facchine argues the West is acting perfectly in line with their worldviews. Imam Tom Facchine finished his BA in Political Science and was granted the opportunity to study at the Islamic University of Madinah from 2015-2020, where he obtained his BA from the Faculty of Shariah. Imam Tom is the Research Director of Islam and Society at the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. He is also a resident scholar and imam of Utica Masjid (New York state).

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please REMEMBER to subscribe and consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

The anger we feel from Israel’s continued barbarous shelling of Gaza cannot be put into words. The impunity with which it acts and the green light given by the west just reminds us that the so-called rules-based order is setup to serve the West. With all this in mind, young people in particular are being reminded daily that Palestinian activism is viewed with suspicion by education authorities. In the UK, the government has mooted that flying the Palestinian flag could be supporting terror and its Prevent laws make it extremely difficult for our youth to voice even their support for our ummah, lest they are investigated for links to extremism. To help parents and young people understand how to navigate this minefield.

Dr Layla Aitlhadj, has been a tenacious campaigner to expose how the government has violated the most basic rights of ordinary Muslim citizens. Her organisation Prevent Watch has helped countless Muslim families caught up in this net of accusations. Her diligence and assiduous approach to prevent cases has helped shine a light on how destructive this policy is.

To donate to Prevent Watch, visit https://www.preventwatch.org/donation/

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest this week is Dr Kamal Abu Zahra is a lecturer in Islamic studies and in Islamic law who has an expertise in the contemporary fiqh

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

It is easy to feel a sense of gloom. The world has come together against us. Some, particularly those who are not tested like the Palestinians, may even have doubts about their Islam – impacting their basic iman. Some call for compromise with the perpetrators or, worse still, call for normalisation. We explore the concepts and emotions that form the backbone of what it is to be a believer.

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the Israeli war machine is in full motion, the position of the West lays bare the hollowness of its claims to observe international law. With every US-manufactured bomb dropped on Gaza, the vacuousness of its liberal world order is exposed to Muslims and the world. Yet what can we do about this situation? Lately, many governments have queued up to sign the so-called Abraham Accords with the apartheid state, and it has been concluded that the Arabs no longer care for the Palestinian cause. Today, we get a real feel for the ‘Arab street’ and what Palestine means to Muslims in the region. 

Our guest this episode is Dr. Tareq Suwaidan. He is the CEO and owner of Gulf Innovation Group in Kuwait and was the General Manager of Al-Resalah Satellite TV - ranked among the highest in the Middle East.He holds a PhD from the University of Oklahoma and lived in the United States for 20 years.Dr. Tareq Suwaidan is recognised as one of the most popular Islamic speakers in the Arab world and was named among the 500 Most Influential Muslims in 2022. Dr. Suwaidan authored more than 100 books on Islam and history. He uses the seerah as a source for leadership and strategic skills. He has trained more than 100,000 students in Management & Leadership skills, established 5 American and Canadian schools, and boasts over 18 million followers on social media.

Please REMEMBER to subscribe and consider making a donation, however small, to The Thinking Muslim to receive a share in the reward and to help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

 https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

 https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim/

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch 

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

As always, you can comment your thoughts below.

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim 

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The death toll in Gaza has reached above 10,000, yet the so-called international community, in reality, the Western nations, are deaf to the cries under the rubble. The Israeli war machine no longer worries about redlines as they act in complete impunity. If the hypocrisy of the West was not evident before this crisis, it is clear now that the Liberal World Order was never meant to safeguard the lives and honour of those it deems lesser people.

Amr Abdul Latif was, until recently, a resident and citizen of Gaza. He came to the UK to study for his postgraduate degree at St Andrews University and now works as a software developer. The Western press, even those that show little empathy, present the people of Gaza as lesser human beings who do not have dreams and aspirations. Who are either to be pitied or presented as subhuman. I want to understand what life has been like since 2007, when Israel announced its siege and what the average Gaza actually believes.

Please REMEMBER to subscribe and consider donating, however small, to The Thinking Muslim to receive a share in the reward and help us make a greater impact. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since we last spoke to Sami Hamdi, a lot has happened in the ongoing Gaza slaughter. Israel has finally moved its ground operations into Gaza, and their Western backers have set down their intention to provide diplomatic cover to their settler offshoot and shield it from criticism. Western leaders have had to defend the indefensible as Israel's punitive and indiscriminate action continues. For example, Ursula Vonderlyen, the President of the EU Commission, just yesterday sent out a tweet at a holocaust memorial saying never again. Yet, the day before, she met with an Israeli official and gave her undying commitment to his cause, such is their barefaced duplicity.

Calls for a ceasefire have been vetoed at the UN, and the West accepts no liability for the thousands murdered in cold blood. It is truly astonishing to see how liberals on both sides of the Atlantic have confirmed what most of us have known for a long time: that their so-called rules-based international order is set up to cover their brutality. It is not that they kill civilians without any recourse to humanity. It's that they openly declare their mass murder with knowledge of impunity. The West has given them diplomatic cover to engage in slaughter without red lines. This is truly an age of impunity.

Sami Hamdi is the director of international interest and a regular commentator on mainstream news networks.

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Come election time, Western Muslim communities have been asked to support mainstream political parties in exchange for representation. Some commentators have praised the multiculturalism of countries like the UK, where the party system has integrated many Muslims into the political system. Here in London, we have Sadiq Khan, arguably the highest-ranking elected Muslim official in the Western world. In the United States, there’s a similar push for Muslims to support the Democrats and even the Republicans, and some have broken the glass ceiling and represent the parties at local and national levels.

But does Muslim representation really work? On Gaza, we have seen the limits of the ‘Muslim voice’. What are the structural compromises the system will always want to solicit from Muslim representatives? Does the system only support particular types of candidates, and does the system change the people who set out to change the system?

To explore this topic, I have with me in the studio today Dr Asim Qureishi. Dr Asim Qureshi is the research director at CAGE, a UK-based advocacy organisation working to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror. He has a background in International Law and is the author of the books "Rules of the Game" and "A Virtue of Disobedience".

You can donate to The Thinking Muslim either through a one-time contribution:

https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

or join our Patreon to get access to exclusive events:

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim/

You can now purchase our Thinking Muslim mug here https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Sign up to our newsletter https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wadah Khanfar is the President of Al Sharq Forum and former Al Jazeera Director General from 2003 to 2011.

Gaza has been described as a graveyard of children. But it also represents a graveyard of the liberal world order. The very values that undergird this so-called rules-based system have been revealed for what they really are — a set of norms created to preserve the interests of the West. Their unrepentant support for the worst crimes of Israel, the brutality of indiscriminate bombings, the targeting of civilian infrastructure, the carpet bombings of entire neighbourhoods, and the use of the most wicked weaponry – without even the slightest murmur from Western capitals have consolidated a new consciousness.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls. You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmus...

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The events of the past 6 weeks have exposed the sheer double standards that apply to the implementation of international law. The so-called liberal international order has been found to be nothing short of hypocritical. Gaza has exposed not only this duplicity but also the very ideas that undergird such a system. Today, we explore these ideas. Many surmise that the West has taken a wrong turn, and if only they return back to their original noble enlightenment values. Yet Gaza unveils a more unsettling truth. That the values of secular liberalism have always remained connected to European chauvinism. Their unbridled support for a settler colonial project and the ease with which they absorb genocide reveals the unsettling nature of liberalism. This is the argument of my guest today, Hasan Spiker.

Hasan Spiker is a philosopher and comparative scholar of Islamic, Greek, and modern thought he studied at the University of Cambridge, where he received his MPhil in philosophy and where is carrying out his doctoral research. He also studied the Islamic sciences. His new book, Hierarchy and Freedom: An Examination of Some Classical Metaphysical and Post-Enlightenment Accounts of Human Autonomy, was released this year.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

This past week, the world has reflected on the death of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. As Nixon's national security advisor, he was notorious for his ultra-realist approach to international politics, which saw the policy of triangulation with China and the Soviet Union that was pivotal in bringing China into the Western sphere and ultimately helping the emerging economy become a global power. But also the carpet bombing of Laos and Cambodia, in a failed attempt to solicit concessions from the North Vietnamese. Such unscrupulous foreign policy is again on display over Gaza. The silence with which the Western powers have embraced the slaughter and the tacit, if not open, approval of Israel's behaviour evokes a long-standing memory in the global south about a racist colonial logic. Today, we would like to explore this with our very own elder statesman', Dr Mahathir Mohamed.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister for some 22 years. He has stewarded Malaysia through a difficult period; today it is a thriving economy. He came back to power briefly after winning a resounding victory in 2018. Dr Mahathir has seen first-hand in his 98 years the rise of America and the establishment of Israel, but also the sorry state of much of our ummah - and today, we would like to tap into his extensive knowledge and wisdom.

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the unrelenting Gaza killing of civilians continues unabated, another potential ethnic cleansing in Palestine is underway – again in plain sight. The gradual conquest of Palestinian land is continuing at pace. Armed Israeli settlers, with the full backing of the state, pillage and forcibly vacate entire villages and farming communities. Yet the international community remains mute. This is ethnic cleansing on two fronts.

Today, we have back on The Thinking Muslim. Journalist, author, and public commentator Peter Oborne recently returned from a visit to the West Bank. Peter is almost unique in the mainstream media for being someone who has consistently called out the marginalisation of the Muslim community, both here and abroad. Peter principally writes for the Middle East Eye, amongst other outlets. His books include ‘The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam” and “The Assault on Truth”.

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

The plight of the Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan has been described as a genocide. An entire ethnic, cultural and religious group is being erased. We hear stories of mass detention, the banning of Ramadan, and the closure and demolition of mosques. We also hear the disturbing reports of women being forced into marriage, forced sterilisation and children being removed from families and reassigned to Chinese couples.

But at the same time, people question these accounts. There is a disinformation campaign on social media and diplomatic circles, and many, even some government-paid Islamic scholars, have questioned the extent of the persecution, if not the persecution itself, especially since the Biden administration has adopted it as a cause, as part of their fight against an emerging geopolitical rival. So how do we know what to believe. Today we are joined by Abdureşid Eminhaci , he is the Secretary General of International union of The East Turkestan organisation, one of the largest Uyghur organisations in Turkey.

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We live in a world crafted by the tenets of liberalism. Western societies, of all hues, broadly base their politics, laws and thinking around this very idea. Inevitably, Muslims have been impacted by liberalism, not least because after the fall of the Ottoman caliphate, the Muslim world became subject to a liberal intellectual inquisition. Today many of us cannot see the tradition except through a liberal lens, this is most pronounced with Muslims living in western societies.

This week we have probably one of the most learned authorities on the subject. Professor Joseph Kaminski from the University of Sarajevo has recently published a really important academic work on the subject, titled Islam, Liberalism and Ontology. 

His book is available here: https://www.routledge.com/Islam-Liberalism-and-Ontology-A-Critical-Re-evaluation/Kaminski/p/book/9780367534110

Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/jalalayn and https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The events in Gaza, the horrific slaughter of over 20,000 Gazans remains a deep wound all people of conscience have had to contend with over the past two months. The callous way with which the lives of young innocents can be so openly calculated and traded is shocking yet predictable in equal measure. Much of what has happened is premised on a set of collective myths the west has attempted to perpetuate about Israel and its intentions. A compliant media and a political class that have provided a thin veneer of acceptability to Israel’s murderous rampage has all but shattered the myth that the west holds the moral high ground.

Today forensically explore the myths that surround the current crisis. To help us understand the situation better we have back onto the show Dr Azzam Tamimi who is a Palestinian British academic, author of Hamas the unwritten chapter.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#thethinkingmuslimpodcast episode127

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

** This interview was recorded a few hours before South Africa initiated its ICJ case - the Genocide Convention is discussed in detail here.

When we consider the disgraceful actions of the Israeli state, it becomes evident that they operate in a system of impunity.

But what, if anything, can we do about this? My guest today, Tayab Ali, is a lawyer specialising in criminal trials. He is a partner at the legal firm Bindmans. He has been described as “an irresistible force – he’s fearless.” He is rated as a Super Lawyer by Thompson Reuters and recognised in Civil Liberties by The Legal 500. He has represented clients in the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights and at international political and legal institutions, including the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjV...

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the long durée of Islamic history, we often lose sight that every generation, even the best generation, that of the companions, had deep challenges to overcome. Our enemies have continuously worked to undermine our unity, and it is often the hard lessons of these challenges that help us overcome our petty disputes and territorial differences. This episode we focus on the notion of unity and its real implications. If we agree the lack of Muslim unity is holding us back – how do we overcome this challenge? And are we destined to slide into further decline? And is their hope in this crisis?

Dr Omar Suleiman is the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have now passed three months of the Gaza slaughter, and according to the UN, Gaza has become uninhabitable. During these past few days, we have seen another frenetic series of diplomatic meetings by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in the region as the US looks to consolidate the status quo. The genocidal intent of the Israeli state. If it was unclear at the start of the conflict, it is clear now that the United States has given the green light to the Israelis to mete out their punishment. The Arab and Muslim states have, it seems, mostly acquiesced with the US. In public, they condemn, whereas in private, they look the other way or, in the case of Egypt, conspire with the US and Israel to make sure Gaza’s resistance is erased. We have, however, seen signs, that can be interpreted as further escalation. The Houthis in Yemen have now accosted over 20 ships in the Red Sea, and on Lebanon's southern border, there remains an active engagement with Israeli soldiers.

To help us understand the complexities of the current crisis, I have invited Sami Hamdi back into the studio. Sami is the director of the International Interest, a risk advisory.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#thethinkingmuslimpodcast episode130

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we are confronting nothing short of a campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians of Gaza, not seen since the Nakba or Catastrophe of 1948. Yet many in the Western world are silent to the suffering. Much of what justifies Israel and its actions in the West is premised on history, and many European and American historians have been ready to present a compelling argument for Zionism and the case for Israel in the heart of the Middle East.

This historical justification, based on persecution and antisemitism, gives the story of Israel a potency that has for many years served to find acceptance in the West – of impunity to act without restraint - that is not offered to any other state. At the same time, the Palestinian story has been undermined by these same historians. They were a Bedouin community, readily able to vacate their land – it is said. Palestinians, according to leading Israeli politicians, is a mythical people.

Today, we are honoured to have Professor Avi Shlaim with us to untangle historical facts from fiction. Avi Shlaim is an eminent historian. He is an Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University and the author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2014) and Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations (2009). Professor Shlaim is a dual Israeli British citizen who lived in the country as a child. His family originated from Iraq and migrated to the newly founded state in 1950.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zionism is the ideology that underpins the barbarism that has been meted out on Palestinians, its latest chapter being the slaughter that is currently happening in Gaza. Yet its ideals remain respectable in establishment circles. In the United States, political leaders fall over one another to declare their un denying loyalty to the creed and in Britain, there has been a long tradition of Christian Zionism that spans back to the early twentieth century and the Balfour Declaration. 

 Ahmed Paul Keeler. He argues that Zionism has become embedded into the Western mindset through education and culture. It relies upon a Darwinian hierarchy that places Europeans at the top and Arabs and others as savages and less human, terms that have been uttered in recent events with greater frequency. Ahmed was born in 1942 and was brought up in a conservative upper-middle class Anglo Catholic family. He belonged to a generation that was brought up to serve the British empire. Ahmed Keeler is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, and was a Distinguished Fellow at The Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia in 2016.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch 

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim 

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#thethinkingmuslimpodcast episode133

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we consider the ongoing slaughter that is Gaza and the West's complicity, it's not the world leaders, East or West, who have captured our collective imagination – it's the ordinary people who have made the difference. It's the journalists, poets – the doctors and nurses that have helped the world see the atrocities of settler colonialism and its abject violence. Certainly, a defused media has given the world, possibly for the very first time, the ability to witness the horrors of Israel – but it is people like my guest today who have been able to articulate a narrative that rises above the deliberate propaganda that passes as commentary.

Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah is a multi-award-winning Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon. He has worked in multiple war zones, including Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Gaza. He was, until recently, working to save lives in Gaza’s war ravaged and ill-equipped hospitals.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The recent ICJ interim order has been interpreted in many ways by its proponents, who hail it a victory and its opponents, who denounce it as an Israeli conspiracy. However, many have questioned the efficacy of the interim order, pointing to the ICJ’s lack of enforcement and the absence of an explicit mention of a ceasefire. To help us understand the complexities surrounding the judgement, we have invited, at short notice, Tayab Ali in once again.

Tayab Ali, is a lawyer specialising in international law. He is a partner at the legal firm Bindmans. He has represented clients in the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights and at international political and legal institutions, including the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we learn from the wisdom of others in a world intent on ruthless autonomy? Today, with the Gaza war as our backdrop, we ask Dr Yakoob Ahmed what pieces of advice he would give to his 18-year-old self.

Dr Yakoob Ahmed is an academic specialising in late Ottoman history. He is a PhD graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies and currently teaches Islamic history at Istanbul University. He is in the process of completing his first book on the late Ottoman ulema, to be published next year.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest this week, Dr Sohail Hanif, argues that we need to reconnect with not just our relationship with our umma but also have to reorient our lives to live like the murabitun of the past, those who saw themselves as within a wider objective of thinking about deen and the umma and their part within this rubric. In this endeavour, to change our mentality, we have to reconfigure how we view some of the fundamental Islamic ideas of zakat, ummah and jihad. Are we in the west manning an outpost of this umma. And has Gaza taught us a wider lesson about reorienting our mentalities. 

Dr Sohail is the National Zakat Foundation’s Chief Executive. Prior to this, he held the position of Lecturer at Cambridge Muslim College. He also was the Head of Sciences at Qasid Arabic Institute in Amman. He has expertise in Islamic law, having studied extensively with traditional scholars, and holds a PhD from Oxford University. Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We had a problem with our guest’s audio this week. Apologies for this, we wanted to however get this episode out.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

This past few weeks in Pakistan have been a rollercoaster ride. We have seen the continued, brazen army interference in elections that for so long has earned the country the dubious title of possessing a ‘sham democracy’. The country’s elected leader, Imran Khan, is languishing in prison on what are trumped-up charges and hundreds of his party members have been chased, arrested and incarcerated by what can only be described as the deep state apparatus.

Election day was a sham. And it seems the army’s designated successors are about to take their positions. But, often, what is on the surface may conceal deeper facts. Today we have political analyst Kashif Gilani from Islamabad to discuss the situation.

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

Sami Hamdi for the past five months has helped us untangle and understand the motives and actions of the actors that wage genocide in Gaza. The conflict, if that is even a proper term to use, seems to be continuing despite discussions of an end game. At the time of recording this interview, we have heard from Joe Biden casually licking an ice cream and talking of ceasefires when tens of thousands starve in Northern Gaza. The callousness with which the west now talk of mopping up a crime scene is staggering. How can a liberal west, fixated on preaching rights have maintained this collective pretence?

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjV...

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

At the time where our attention is fixed on Gaza, rightly, another conflict is taking place with horrendous cost to human life. Sadly As always, our ummah has become subject to the political ambitions of egotistical actors and their outside backers. Sudan is burning. There are 8 million people on the move, escaping the indiscriminate murder, rape and pillage of what can only be described as two warlords that thwarted a people’s revolution – aided by external powers.

Today we explore these two conflicts. In a way, they are one. They are recent episodes of a Muslim world in crisis. Our ummah today lives in a perpetual state of conflict, can we escape this dire situation. We are now 100 years since the formal demise of the Ottoman state, what does the next 100 years look like.

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

The current slaughter meted out on innocents in Gaza, fully supported Western Governments, is founded upon a bed of lies. It is said that the truth is the first casualty of war, yet in this war the truth is not hidden –the decapitated bodies, crushed skulls, emaciated children, the callous shelling of hungry souls as they clamour for flour – all of this is known to the world and there remains little doubt that what we are witnessing is truly horrific. Yet the Israeli counter-narrative looks to subvert this truth; these images they claim, however regrettable, are the result of such a heinous crime that they are necessary for rooting out the evil. The Gazan women and children are no more than collateral damage. I have argued that what the hypocritical West fails to see is that for every soul whose death they manufacture, the very edifice upon which they claim a moral high ground is crumbling.

My guest today, Ahmed Paul Keeler argues in a provocative and beautifully written piece that narratives matter. This is why millions are spent on spinning a story about the state of Israel and the traducing the claims of Palestinians. Today we take a forensic look at these narratives.

His powerful article is available on Jalal's newsletter jalalayn.substack.com

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are all angry. We live in an unjust world. The so-called rules-based system, the rhetoric surrounding human rights, the endless speeches on democracy and freedom – all of it turned out to be hollow. The death and destruction in gaza is juxtaposed with the triviality with which the political elites in the west talk of human life. We are angry. 

How does a Muslim deal with this visceral anger. How do we deal with the inhumanity of these western elites yet stay true to ourselves and who we are? Should we learn to stop being angry and live our lives in a comatose state or utilise this anger in a just direction? 

Today we have Dr Kamal Abu Zahra to help us understand anger from an Islamic perspective.

My guest today is Dr Kamal Abu Zahra is a lecturer in Islamic studies and in Islamic law who has an expertise in the contemporary fiqh. 

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

We are in the month of Ramadan where Muslims worldwide share in the simple yet profound act of fasting from dawn to dusk. Our collective commitment to this activity is often met with surprise by others who do not share our faith; how can someone be so devoted to a creator, and why is sacrifice so important to submission? We in the West are often confronted with questions about fasting and Islamic practice in general, and some have found the standard answers insufficient to appease the questioner. In a so-called rational West, where everything has to be justified, many Muslims want to know why. Why do we fast, why do we pray, why is there a Shariah?

To help us navigate the topic of rationality in Islam and how this interacts with Shariah, I am honoured to have on the show Shaykh Hamza Karamali; Shaykh Hamza has studied and mastered the Islamic sciences and Arabic grammar and rhetoric. His institute, Basira Education, aims to address some of the thoughts that undermine confidence in Islam and help the younger generation observe their religion with rational certainty. He has a course currently running on why Islam is true.

You can get Hamza Karamali's FREE Quranic Case for God Video Series. Discover the Quranic rational Argument that will silence any atheist at https://quraniccaseforgod.com/ In 4 short videos you will learn how the argument works, see it being used in the Quran, learn how to apply it to the most common atheist objection and then watch a real world christian-atheist debate, and see how it should have been applied. Go to https://ramadanforever.com/ to learn more.

You can also join him on his Ramadan Forever Challenge to make this Ramadan last forever, with a change that stays with you when Ramadan leaves. A short lesson each day with a simple to implement 3-point action plan that takes only a minute to do, and a success tracker sheet to keep yourself accountable and measure your progress. Find out more at www.RamadanForever.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

Every year, the list of beleaguered Muslim countries and people increases, and with it, the demand for charity. We are used to giving in sadaqa – and our kindness as a community is rarely matched. The Muslim community in the UK alone gives upwards of £1bn in charity – much of which goes abroad.

The situation in Gaza has once again led to a determined effort by many to contribute to charitable causes. As Ramadan comes, inevitably, our minds and hearts will turn to those in our umma who live this month with nothing but the clothes on their back; such is the parlous state of Muslims.

But does charity work? What is charity? Is building a water well, however satisfying, the way to reconstruct our Muslim world? Are there better ways by which we can use our money without compromising on our commitment to our people? To help us understand this subject, we have invited a charity insider, probably someone who is most qualified to help us untangle this topic, onto The Thinking Muslim.

Kashif Shabir has over 15 years’ experience in the social impact and charity sector. He was until recently the CEO of Muslim Aid, one of the oldest faith-based NGOs in the UK. He has worked for, and help found several Muslim charities, including The National Zakat Foundation & Charity Right and held leadership positions at some of the largest mainstream charities including as Head of Knowledge and Learning at Oxfam and the British Red Cross, as part of their strategic change management team.

Kashif sits on several advisory boards, including BOND, the largest network of organisations working in international development and Muslim Aid USA. He currently leads the Social Impact Advisory at Qadr Financial and is the founder of Ethical Consulting Group where he works with Charities, Family Offices and Government agencies to improve their effectiveness and maximise their social impact.

Kashif is available for executive coaching and consulting opportunities through the Ethical Consulting website www.ethicalltd.com

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 17th Ramadan marks the most decisive battle in the history of early Islam. Dr Wajid Akhtar, founder of Charity Week for Orphans and Children in Need and Council member of the British Islamic Medical Association discusses the great battle of Badr, the most consequential battle in Islamic history.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#thethinkingmuslimpodcast episode 145

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu... and help us expand this podcast.

You can email Clive on clivestaffordsmith2020@gmail.com

Please send your letters to Clive. Make them more than a couple of lines.

Clive also needs a team of lawyers to help him in Texas.

If you want to help fund Dr Aafia’s legal costs, below is Clive's paypal campaign

https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaig...

The case of Aafia Siddiqui remains an open wound for us all. It symbolises the inhumanity and barbarism of US foreign policy. The incarceration of this brilliant academic and mother of three, has become a marker of its excesses, of which there were many. She languishes in prison, serving an 86-year sentence for an offence that looks barely credible, the attempted murder of two US officials in Afghanistan in 2008. Her whereabouts before that date has been hotly contested, but her lawyers and activists have patched together the conspiracy surrounding Dr Aafias ordeal. Sadly the welfare of her youngest son Suleman – who has not been seen since her detention in 2003 remains unknown. Presumed dead.

The last time I spoke with Dr Aafias lawyer Clive Stafford Smith he had returned from her prison in Forth Worth Texas – where she had been reunited with her sister Fozia for the first time in 20 years. If you haven’t watched that programme, I would highly recommend you do to give you the backstory to this horrific case. Clive has just returned from a factfinsding mission to Afghanistan, and he has some considerable updates on Aafias case.

Clive has helped secure the release of 86 prisoners from Guantánamo Bay and still acts for the remaining numbers. Since the early days of the War on Terror, he has worked tirelessly to force the Americans and other Western powers to adhere to the rule of law. He has sought to uncover the secret prisons and ghost prisoners that stain the reputation of powerful states – who presented their wars in benevolent terms.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This interview was conducted before the most recent verdict in the High Court rejecting the right of a student to conduct Muslim prayers in British schools.

Over the past few years there has been intense debate about the place of Muslim practice in liberal western societies. Across the west, partly because of the war on terror, politicians talk of unwelcome cultural shifts and the the need to chasten Islam in public life. In many European capitals, theres a debate about whether multiculturalism, a policy coined in the 1960s to integrate migrants, has had its day. Here in Britain, even many on the Labour left today blame the policy for allowing migrants to feel comfortable in their ‘ghettos’ whilst the right wing press talk of ‘no go areas’ and isolationist tendencies. This febrile environment has led to leaders like David Cameron to talk of a muscular liberalism. One that demands much more from those that have origins in other countries.

My guest today is Lord Bikhu Parekh. Bikhu is a champion of a pluralist society, one where liberal dogma makes way for genuine multiculturalism where communities engage in a conversation, embracing the possible cultural shifts that may come with that. Bikhu is the emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Westminster and Hull, a distinguished scholar and prolific writer. Pertinent to today’s interview, he wrote ‘rethinking multiculturalism’.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Labour Party is en route to form the next government of the United Kingdom with what most analysts describe as a landslide majority. The Conservatives have resided over a failed government, with Brexit, economic crisis and poor public services now associated with the Rishi Sunak’s lacklustre government. Labour’s leader, Keir Starmer is comfortably ahead in the polls and it is now openly stated that the tories may be out of government for a generation.

Yet on Gaza, Labour policy has been horrendous. It has given a green light to Israel from the very start of its genocidal campaign, with its frontbenchers including David Lammy, Wes Streeting, Emily Thornberry and Lisa Nandy making it very clear that they supported a siege of Gaza or the absolute right of Israel to self defence. Labour continued this position despite the carnage and despite the interim judgement by the ICJ that clearly stated Israel was committing a plausible genocide.

I have visited many Muslim communities in towns and cities across the UK and it is clear to me that our anger is palpable. There is a consensus forming that we can no longer vote for a party that has given the green light to killing on an industrial scale. To help us make a case against Labour, I have the pleasure today to speak to probably someone who is the most qualified to discuss the party, journalist and commentator  Owen Jones. Owen has been a principled campaigner for Gaza and recently made the unprecedented move to leave Labour. He now calls for an alliance of independents and progressives.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist and the author of a number of book including The Establishment – And How They Get Away With It

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imam Tom Facchine is the research director of the Department of Islam and Society at Yaqeen Institute. And a prolific speaker and commentator on Islam and philosophy. He discusses the US empire, American exceptionalism, liberalism and US Muslims abandoning Biden.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Host:   / jalalayn  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Amina Shareef is Assistant Professor in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research seeks to understand how Muslim people are unmade as tawhidic subjects—subjects forged in relation to tawhidic worldview in which there is no god but God—and remade as liberal subjects by anti-Muslim racism.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

India’s 200 million Muslims are at the mercy of an ultra-nationalist government that looks to create an exclusively Hindu Bharat or homeland. Since the rise of the BJP government, led by Narendra Modi, Muslims have been subject to discrimination, alienation, daily religious abuse, economic marginalisation, state-sanctioned mob violence and pogroms like in Gujarat in 2002. This Hindu nationalism is underpinned by a pernicious cultural and political ideology, Hindutva, framed by antagonism towards Islam and a rewriting of Indian history.  

Our guest this week, Professor Irfan Ahmed, will help us understand the precarious state of India’s Muslims and the Hindutva ideology. Born in India,  he now lives in Istanbul, where he is a professor of sociology and anthropology at Ibn Haldun University. Before Istanbul, he was a research professor in Germany at Max Plank Institute, and he has taught anthropology and politics in the Netherlands and Australia. He has written numerous books and articles on India and Islam and recently published a provocative piece on Hindu Orientalism.

You can also watch this programme on Youtube

Newsletter: ⁠https://jalalayn.substack.com/ 

Find us on:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslimFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim Host: https://twitter.com/jalalaynWebsite Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com#TheThinkingMuslimPodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest this week has been dismayed at the negative media coverage given to Muslims who place Gaza as a voting concern. Terms like fifth column and insurrectionists have been evoked to claim the Muslim vote should be deeply feared.

Peter Oborne writes principally for the Middle East Eye, among other outlets. His books include "The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam” and “The Assault on Truth.”

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Twitter:   / thinking_muslim  

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host:   / jalalayn  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Thinking Muslim team was honoured to host this exclusive event at Gatton Road Mosque, London with two lucid and outstanding thinkers. Ahmed Paul Keeler and Imam Tom Facchine discussed Muslims in an Age of Crises.

Recording from 19th April 2024

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter:   / thinking_muslim  

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host:   / jalalayn  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Until recently, lawyer Tasnime Akunjee was standing to be an MP in the British Westminster Parliament – standing in the seat of Bethnal Green and Stephney. I say until recently, because in order to prevent a split vote he did the honourable thing and stood down – sparking praise across the country. In Britain’s 4 million strong Muslim community, Tasnime’s behaviour is a model for how we should act – in unison to achieve our ends rather than for our individual ambitions.

Tasnime is a criminal defence lawyer specialising in terrorism. He has defended high profile clients including Shamima Begüm and Jamal Hejazi – who bankrupted Tommy Robinson.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time when the youth of the world are rising up for Gaza, it is probably not uncontroversial to say that Muslim students on university campuses are lagging behind. Dr. Ayo Khalil is a medical Doctor, community worker, and former student activist who spearheaded student political campaigns against Islamophobia, racism, and Israeli apartheid. He was also a VP at Fosis in 2020, leading their political work.

Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly Zoom calls:   / thethinkingmuslim  

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjV...

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we conceptualise where we are, the international situation and what comes next. To help us understand ourselves and the world, we are happy to invite back onto the Thinking Muslim our friend Sami Hamdi.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron.

https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Instagram:   / thinkingmuslimpodcast  

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host:   / jalalayn  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Urgent Call: To help leanne’s campaign in the last few days head to https://airtable.com/appE47RFg1wKrv41...

This is probably the most important political campaign in the country. Leanne Mohamad is looking to cause a massive political upset for Labour this election night.

Leanne Mohamad is a British Palestinian organiser and politician who is looking to win a seat in the UK general election on the 4 July. We speak about courage and the need to build a moral and principled politics.

You can read about her pledges here: http://www.leannemohamad.co.uk

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMu...

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A question many Western analysts have attempted to answer is whether Islam is a political faith. To help us understand the subject, we have invited an Dr. Fadhl Hasan. Dr Fadl is a Co-Founder of the Dar Al Ilm Institute. He was born and raised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he memorised the Quran and attained his foundational knowledge of Arabic and Islamic sciences. He runs a publishing solutions company that, in addition to publishing Islamic texts, focuses on the revival and awakening of the Islamic Ummah. His research interests include Usul, Fiqh, and Muamalaat - Islamic Economics.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron.   / thethinkingmuslim  

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, I invite Riaz Hasan, an economist and data scientist who has worked with me throughout this period on the elections. Riaz and I worked together over these past weeks to inject some data into the conversation about Muslim electoral weight. He was instrumental in offering the communities advice on moving forward, using the clarity of numbers to run good-quality local campaigns.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#thethinkingmuslimpodcast episode 158

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Quran is the majestic word of Allah (swt), it gives Muslims life. In the Quran, Allah speaks to all human beings and those that read the Quran revere the majesty of its style and prose. Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem is the Professor of Islamic Studies and director of the Centre for Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University, as well as editor of the Journal of Qur’anic Studies. Born in Egypt, he learned the Qur’an by heart during childhood. Haleem has published two translations of the Qur'an including the wonderful The Qur'an: A New Translation (2004).

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To help us understand the situation in Bangladesh after the student protests, journalist and commentator Dilly Hussain joins us. Dilly is known for his public engagements, his fearless contribution to Muslim conversation, and his editorship of 5pillars.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

#thethinkingmuslimpodcast episode 160

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Until last week, all the talk in the west was that of a developing ceasefire agreement for Gaza. That talk is now about a regional conflict. The lead negotiator, Ismail Haniyah, May Allah have mercy on him and accord to him the status of shahadah, was assassinated in an audacious attack in Tehran. This follows the death of a high-profile commander, Fuad Shukr, in the southern suburbs of Beirut. There are now fears that the conflict will escalate and more directly involve Iran. Already, Hasan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, has talked of revenge, and so have the Iranians.

To help us navigate this evolving crisis, I am pleased to have Dr Azzam Tamimi back on our show. A political analyst and expert in the region and author on a well researched book on the group Hamas. He joins us today online from Jordan,

It must be made clear that this show is an analytical show and in no way represents an acceptance of the tactics and methods of any organisation discussed. It is our editorial decision to engage in a conversation about the current events as an exercise in informing our audience. We remain completely against any tactic that undermines the sanctity of all human life.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

2:00 Why did they escalate at this time

5:44 Iran’s lapse in security

7:20 Iran’s response

10:14 Is Iran serious about resistance

12:05 Netanyahu regional war?

14:05 Trump and Isreal

16:56 Harris and Israel Policy

22:12 Muslims and US elections

24:29 Khalid Mashal

28:04 Ceasefire prospects

29:34 China’s role

32:31 What can we do?

36:58 Ismail Haniyeh

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For a conscientious Muslim, managing ones money in the West can be a difficult prospect. Islam has a series of rules to do with money, the prohibition of riba (interest) being the key one, and rules on trade that often places it at odds with a rather laissez faire Neo liberal model. Muslims feel a sense of unease when we place our money in banks or engage is investment opportunities that may contravene Islamic precepts.

Our guest today was an Islamic finance industry insider. Harris Irfan is currently the CEO of Cordoba Capital Markets. He has 29 years of investment banking and consulting experience. He was the former co-founder of Deutsche Bank's world-leading Islamic finance team and CEO of Deutsche's Islamic finance subsidiary. He is the Former Global Head of Islamic Finance at Barclays, then Head of Investment Banking for the Rasmala group. He is also the author of "Heaven's Bankers: Inside the Hidden World of Islamic Finance", the critically acclaimed best-seller about the Islamic finance industry.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, The United States strides the globe as one of the world's most powerful empires ever witnessed. Its hegemonic ambition, devised after the Second World War and consolidated with the untimely fall of the Soviet Union, knows little limits. With a litany of military bases, a network of alliances, an international economic architecture that places it at the centre of the world economy and enormous structural power in the form of global institutions, its empire is all-encompassing.

My guest this week is Matt Kennard; he argues there is a global network of elites who do the bidding for this empire. While working for the Financial Times as an investigative journalist, he had unbridled access to the crème de la crème of the global elite. He is the author of The Racket, A Rogue Reporter vs the American Empire; Matt is a Co-Founder and head of investigations at Declassified UK.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage in critical thought at this time, please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

Gaza has been a hurtful experience. This year we saw the passing of a milestone, 100 years without a central leadership. The last Ottoman Caliphate, with all its faults, remained a global force and acted as a shield for this ummah. So why have we declined to such a degree that it seems our leadership is inept and our ummah has not moved over Gaza. And what now can we do about it?

Dr Tareq al-Suwaidan is a prolific writer, speaker, trainer and in many ways has brought much needed intellectual thought to our age.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, Please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

0:00 Introduction

2:21 – Why has the ummah not moved?

7:18 – is it s leadership issue

12:10 – Western interference?

14:10 – Excuses of the rulers

17:03 – Decline inevitable?

25:28 – Prophetic method

34:25 – Do we need a new leader?

37:41 – Muslim political unity

42:58 – Poor scholarship

51:55 – Responding to Gaza’s pain

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is said a people without a past are a lost soul. And in today’s turbulent world, the Muslim ummah has come to realise that we have, in many cases, been taught a version of history that fails to appreciate what the late Shabbir Akhtar called Islam as a imperial faith.

Dr Yakoob Ahmed is an academic specialising in late Ottoman history. He was until recently a lecturer in Islamic history at Istanbul University. He is a regular to this podcast and writes and lectures extensively on Ottoman history. He is the author of a soon to be published title, Does History Matter – history done islamically - the conversation of today.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, Please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

0:00 Introduction

2:00 Gaza at the crossed roads

8:08 History as a vocation

11:08 Islam as an Imperial Faith

14:40 Historians providing solutions

19:48 What are we doing wrong with history?

25:26 Idealism?

32:50 The Quran and History

37:32 Ibn Khuldun’s cyclical theory

43:22 Islam and the production of knowledge

50:40 Fiction and Ertrugul

55:20 Islamic method of history?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunni Shia divide remains an open wound and a means by which our enemies meddle in our internal affairs. Since the war on terror, and the horrible sectarianism unleashed on Iraq, this divide has got even bigger and has often led to bloody violence. However, amidst this turmoil, we often hear voices from within the Ummah and beyond, dreaming of unity to confront the misery, humiliation, and suffering of the oppressed, especially in the current situation with Palestine. But it’s a difficult topic, there are a host of theological and political concerns and the current tussle between Saudi Arabia and Iran makes any talk of reconciliation or an overlapping consensus politically charged.

Dr Suwaidan is a profile writer, speaker, trainer and in many ways has brought much needed intellectual thought to our age.

Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, Please consider becoming a Patron. https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim

You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time donation: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/Donate

Listen to the audio version of the podcast:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636a

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762

Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.com

Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merch

Find us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinking_muslim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/

Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim

Host: https://twitter.com/jalalayn

Website Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com

0:00 – Introduction

1:55 – Iraq: Framing sectarianism

10:00 – Iran’s Shia exceptionalism

15:30 – Iran and Shia not the same

16:48 – Why do we need unity?

21:03 – Overlapping consensus?

22:06 – How do we do this?

24:32 – Declaring takfir and abuse of companions

31:44 – A major cultural shift?

33:50 – Our enemies using our division

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.