Become a member to ger access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membership Syria has finally been liberated after 13 years of struggle. We mourn the lives of all that have fallen and celebrate with Syrians. But the horrors of Assad’s gulags are coming to light for the world to see. The scenes from Seydnaya, the slaughterhouse, have shocked many of us. Reflecting on the horrors and looking at some of the challenges, I am honoured today to have a Syrian who has been at the...
Dec 12, 2024•48 min
Become a member to ger access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membership This episode was filmed on Saturday, before Damascus fell. The Syrian revolution began in 2011 as a grassroots, civil society uprising against one of the most tyrannical rulers in the Muslim World. Bashar al-Assad like his father before him, presided over a state of terror, with disappearances, secret police repression and a punitive state machinery that governed through fear. Assad styled himself...
Dec 08, 2024•47 min
Become a member to get access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membership The demands of the people were snuffed out by a deranged dictator who decided he would burn his country, before giving up power. We thought the revolution had ended, and the millions of Syrians dispersed around the world were never to see their homeland again. This all spectacularly changed this past week, where, to everyone’s surprise, the opposition was able, for the first time, to take over Ale...
Dec 05, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Become a member to get access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membership It’s been a spectacular week in Syria. The world had written off the rebellion that began in 2011, believing Assad, with the support of Russian air power and Iranian militias, had consolidated his rule. In the past weeks, it has been reintegrated into the Arab League, and it just seemed the best the revolution could accept is a rump state in Idlib. There are many who have not followed the developm...
Dec 04, 2024•59 min
Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim Moulana Ebrahim Ismail Bham was born and raised in South Africa. He has attained his masters in the Islamic sciences and theology under great traditional scholars. Shaykh Ebrahim I. Bham is known to be one of the most active scholars in South Africa for education, development and advocacy. Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to engage critical thought at this time, Please consider ...
Nov 30, 2024•48 min
Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim Now that the US elections are over, I want to explore deeper issues today with my guests. Is political participation really the principal way by which we are going to proceed, and who best should be charged from within us to undertake this task? Some have argued that to progress, we have to play the ‘long game’ and adopt the Zionist prototype of influence. Let me remind all viewers that to help u...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 10 min
How do Muslims deal with what looks like the comprehensive success of Western civilisation. Is it time to accept defeat, as one writer put it? Or does Islam have something to offer the world that can move us beyond this dysfunctional world. Our guest today is Hasan Spiker, he argues that modernity is not neutral. The assumption is that modernity is regarded as universal is false. He argues that modernity is Western and its embrace is a means to Western hegemony and domination. He is the author o...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 52 min
Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim What does Trump mean for the wider world, how do we position Trump’s America First philosophy in the context of US Unipolarity. Are we seeing the unravelling of the US in the world? To help us understand Trumps America I am happy to have back on the show Sami Hamdi. Sami is an analysts and campaigner and we are forever indebted to his energy. Let me remind all viewers that to help us continue to ...
Nov 18, 2024•2 hr
Join our Patreon to get access to exclusive monthly calls: https://www.patreon.com/TheThinkingMuslim Should we, people who remain married to justice, accept that international law, if it ever did work, is today defunct? In a broader sense, when we pursue its application are we in danger of creating a sense of false hope. These are the existential questions we are now asking ourselves as the genocide proceeds at pace into its 2nd year. My guest today is Francesca Albanese, an international lawyer...
Nov 14, 2024•48 min
There’s an assumption that the West have remained honest brokers in the Gaza genocide, or at least critical friends of Israel. My guest today Matt Kennard argues that contrary to public utterances, the British government, like the Americans are deeply involved in Israel’s merciless bombing of Gaza. They are providing military support, intelligence, diplomatic cover whilst at the same time claiming they want a quick resolution to the slaughter. Matt is an independent journalist and author of thre...
Nov 09, 2024•1 hr 8 min
The US elections are nearly upon us, and we have all be subject to the empty words and rhetoric of of the two main political parties. The Green Party has gained a lot of traction, especially amongst the countries small but very important Muslim community. I have already interviewed the leader of the Greens, Dr Jill Stein. But Today I have the pleasure to speak with Professor Butch Bilal Ware, its Vice Presidential nominee. Professor Butch Ware is a lifelong activist and educator specializing in ...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 20 min
The Abandon Harris campaign has been making waves across the US. It has galvanised largely Muslim and conscientious Americans so build a coalition together to resist the genocidal administration through the ballot box. They have a lot of detractors, paid democratic people ready to defame them. But my guest today is relentless. Hassan Abdel Salam is one of two founders of the Abandon Harris movement. He is also the Executive Director of the Civil Rights Alliance for America, which is the organiza...
Oct 30, 2024•46 min
I know that not all Americans value what I have to say on the US elections. However, I do receive many emails and messages daily asking for advice, and my podcast, The Thinking Muslim, has been fairly instrumental in setting the correct intellectual parameters in parts of the US Muslim community when forming a conscious electoral decision on November 5th. My original position was to echo the views of many leaders within the US Muslim community who have said Muslim voters must disavow the two par...
Oct 28, 2024•7 min
The pro-genocide administration of Biden and Harris has been involved in a frenetic outreach to America’s small but vocal Muslim community. These critical constituents in crucial battleground states like Michigan are where November’s election will be won or lost. Both parties, the Democrats and Republicans, are Zionist to their core, but this genocide has happened with the seal of approval and the consent of the Biden-Harris administration. Is Gaza a turning point? Can we move beyond this two-pa...
Oct 27, 2024•1 hr 7 min
I have been struck by the thoughtful and nuanced conversations that are being had across the US about the coming elections. But there remains confusion. One such community that probably has reason to be sceptical of mainstream Muslim organisations and their approach to politics, as relationships, is the all-important African American Muslim community – very often neglected in any conversation. I have invited today to show someone who I deeply respect for how he thought through these essential to...
Oct 25, 2024•1 hr 19 min
We have seen the horrific genocidal scenes unfolding in the north of Gaza and in particular the onslaught by the occupation in Jabaliya. There is a horrendous cleansing of Palestinians, apparently to make way for Israeli settler expansion and cut the territory into two. This is a Nakba but worse. A catastrophe. But the world seems to remain silent. On a deeper level – many are asking when will the help of Allah come? How do we deal with this situation as a personal trauma. My guest today, is Ima...
Oct 23, 2024•37 min
The US elections are in full flow, with the two big parties focussing on the key swing states that will decide this election. In states like Michigan, a slight movement of voters can determine the outcome. And this means Muslim voters may play a decisive role. To help us understand the political and intellectual climate, I have invited back onto the show Imam Tom Facchine show. Imam Tom has been instrumental in galvanising Muslims behind the anti-Harris campaign, and he joins us from Pennsylvani...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min
To help us unpick the relationship between Western foreign policy and media our guest this week is Hamza Yusuf is a British-Palestinian writer and journalist whose work focuses on Palestine. He has reported on daily life under occupation for Palestinians, including home demolitions and forced expulsion and the conditions for Palestinians in Israeli prisons. He is an investigative journalist at Declassified amongst other publications. You can also support The Thinking Muslim through a one-time do...
Oct 18, 2024•55 min
The Biden-Harris administration has aided and abetted genocide. The argument they still deserve our vote is not only politically naïve but is also built upon a bed of lies. We must show courage in this election and vote for a third party. This is not only morally the correct position; it is the only way to build long-term political leverage for the American Muslim community. Read Muhammad Jalal's full article here: https://jalalayn.substack.com/p/harri... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...
Oct 13, 2024•14 min
Please subscribe ** Dr Yakoob Ahmed interviews your host, Muhammad Jalal. The genocide in Gaza and the need for enlightened activism was captured by the guests and content that came out on The Thinking Muslim. We had become accustomed to calls for immediate action, some of which were short-lived. But what The Thinking Muslim did was to place this activism within a sacred responsibility. That's why it captured so many imaginations and activated so many people. Much of The Thinking Muslim's conten...
Oct 11, 2024•1 hr 35 min
Is modern society failing our children? Has the quest for constant progress, through the use of technology and the desire to constantly engage our children with stimuli and keep them busy with lives that we have curated for them, been to the detriment of childhood? A recent global childhood report found that British children are the most unhappy in the Western world despite our relative material progress. Yet, there is rarely a conversation about the root causes. My guest today, Ahmed Paul Keele...
Oct 04, 2024•1 hr 35 min
Apologies for the slight deterioration in sound, especially in the first 30 minutes of the interview. 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 The ongoing slaughter in Gaza and now the carpet bombing of Lebanon has at its backdrop the US elections. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have clearly stated their intentions to back Israel, and it is hard sometimes to place ...
Sep 28, 2024•1 hr 47 min
Join our Telegram channel Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslim 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 Sami Hamdi has been at the fore of the conversation about how Muslims should respond to the unparalleled attack upon Gaza. The brutality with which the Israelis now act with impunity is clear for the majority of the world to see, but the West remains immune to its cr...
Sep 21, 2024•1 hr 3 min
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 to...
Sep 13, 2024•37 min
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 histo...
Sep 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min
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 write...
Aug 30, 2024•1 hr 1 min
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 thi...
Aug 16, 2024•58 min
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 cur...
Aug 10, 2024•1 hr 11 min
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 Nas...
Aug 04, 2024•40 min
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:/...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 16 min
