The Thinking Muslim

Latest Episodes:

2024: Gaza’s Defiance and the Miserable Muslim Rulers with Sami Hamdi - Part 1 Dec 27, 2024

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This year we have seen two Muslim countries move away from bitter dictatorships, Bangladesh and Syria. Yet the horrific scenes in Gaza remain. Any joy that comes from Syria is always muted as we endure the horrific genocide perpetrated by the west and its colonial enterprise. Gaza exposes the hollowness of an international order.

The civil war in Sudan remains active, Pakistan’s generals have consolidated power, and the Egyptian pharaoh seems comfortable aiding Israel in its blood-shedding and the Saudis are looking forward to selling Palestine for a US security deal.

We have the pleasure of inviting Sami Hamdi back on the show to look at the year gone and the year ahead. Please as always remember to subscribe to this podcast on your preferred platform, this helps us grow our audience. Alhamamdulillah we are now the 2nd most listened to Muslim podcast on Apple. If you want to support the show, please think about becoming a patron. For a small monthly donation, you will be helping to expand our reach and our content.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

2:22 – Saudi Ceasefire agreement

10:51- Hezbollah peace deal

20:28 – Netanyahu’s aims

34:45 – Metaphysical and Politics

55:07 – Sisi

1:01:44 – Sisi Palestine betrayal

1:06:59 – Syria and Egypt

1:10:17 –2025 Looking ahead

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Young US Muslims and Trump Dec 25, 2024

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As part of Muhammad Jalal’s conversations with young Muslims from around the world, he speaks with Mosaab and Watfae about the Trump presidency and what this will mean for young Muslims.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

1:20 – Dread for Trump?

4:06 – Writing on Ballot?

5:00 – Feeling on ground

8:15 – Tactical voting

12:45 – Muslims in politics

16:48 – Public figures

20:57 – Hijrah

27:47 – American Muslims progressive?

33:12 – Sami Hamdi

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Jalal's Take: “Assad or We Burn the Country”: Syria’s Struggle For Liberation Dec 22, 2024

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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 mass disappearances, secret police repression and a brutal, corrupt state machinery that governed through fear. Assad had four secret service agencies (mukhabarat) that worked independently. If you got onto a list, your life would become a never-ending Kafkaesque tragedy. All four had to pardon you before you could be absolved of any guilt. Ordinary Syrians talked in hushed tones in case stray criticism of the state would be misconstrued as insurrection. Assad was a ‘god’ who had to be adored by his people.

What has happened over these past two weeks is truly spectacular. But how did we get here? And how do we understand the past 13 years?

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Why Europe has a Muslim Problem? With Mehreen Khan Dec 20, 2024

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Is the European Union a model for Muslim unity? Can the often fractious and politically weak Muslim world improve its regional strength and international standing by pooling economic and even political sovereignty and creating a zone of prosperity that harnesses talents and halts a brain drain to the West? Until 1924, the Muslim world came under a caliphate; many calling for a modern unity cite the EU as a model.

But is the EU really something to aspire to? What binds the EU states is their unity, which is fracturing under the weight of what my guest today calls Euro Whiteness. Today, many Muslims are being marginalised not just by EU nation states but in a larger sense by an EU that observes itself to be a paradise, protecting its borders from Eastern barbarians – the jungle, as Joseph Borel referred to the world outside.

To help us understand the EU, what it is, and what its failings are, I have the pleasure of speaking today to Mehreen Khan. Mehreen is the economics editor of the Times and she spent five years with the Financial Times as their Brussels Correspondent.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

2:24 – Euro whiteness

8:42 – Neutrality and Hijab ban

18:29 – European Islam?

20:35 – Secularism – France’s religion

23:38 – What is EU?

27:16 - EU Ideology

31:17 – The Left

34:44 – EU Success

38:05 – Binding structures

44:48 – Europeanness vs Muslimness

47:40 – EU on Gaza

50:03 – Media on Gaza

54:32 – Islamophobia and Optimism

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Syria The Blessed Revolution - Live Dec 17, 2024

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This live event was held on Youtube to show solidarity with the Syrian revolution. Here’s a list of speakers and their respective timestamps

Timestamps:

0:00- Introduction

9:00 - Omar Suleiman - Justice

24:10 – Tox – On ground feeling

32:44 – Dilly Hussain – Freedom

37:47 – Azzam Tamimi – The Left

46:02 – Ali Hammuda – Quranic view

59:45 – Shadee Elmasry – Propaganda

1:05:35 – Imam Tom – America

1:13:50 – Saifullah – Filmmaker experience

1:17:36 – Razzan Saffour – Syrians experience

1:28:03 – Moazzam Begg – Assad

1:36:40 – Robin Yassin – Prisons

1:47:37 – Maryam Abdulrahman – Faith

1:54:55 – Ismail Patel – Palestine

2:02:30 – Taji Mustafa – Ummatic thinking

2:10:20 – Abdul Wahid – Islam vilification

2:22:23 – Arslan Hidayat – Uyghurs view

2:29:30 – Mohammad Abdulrahman – Martyrdom

2:40:38 – Sikander Iqbal – Victory

2:48:31- Mufti Mangera – Al-Sham

2:51:00 – Imran Muneer – Muslim activism

2:57:48 – Mufti Mangera - Al-Sham

3:06:41 – Bilal Abdulkareem – Revolution Subverting

3:11:40 - Abdullah Jabbar – Aid

3:15:35 – Haitham Al-Haddad – Advice

3:34:17 – Yasir Qadhi – Final words

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Understanding HTS and the New Syria with Bilal Abdul Kareem Dec 15, 2024

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Syria is now free. But what does the future hold for a revolution that we believed had all but been decimated? The most recent spectacular offensive has given the rebel groups control over the country's major cities. There now is an appetite for change and unity. I have been struck by the jubilation felt by most Syrians as the tyrant fell. Many who escaped his brutality are returning. The optimism has to be maintained, and the positivity it expresses should not be replaced with the pessimism shown by some partial commentators who are wishing for Syria to fail.

But challenges remain. How do we navigate these? And what of the people who are now at the centre of the new government? I have the pleasure of having Bilal Abdul Kareem on the show to help us understand the complexities of the road ahead and analyse the current players.

Bilal Abdul Kareem is a video journalist who has been covering the conflict in Syria since 2012. He has produced reports for CNN, Channel 4, BBC, and Sky News and runs his own news channel, On The Ground News.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

2:30 – HTS ideology

5:55 – Justice – Islamic call

8:41 – Jolani – positive?

11:50 – Bilal too pessimistic?

14:34 – New Syria

16:31 – Toleration of Journalists

17:49 – Capability to govern

20:11 – Israel

23:30 – How far is Israel in Syria

26:00 – Assad central to resisting Israel?

28:06 - Where Islam fits?

33:28 – New government and the West

35:54 – Syrian Prisons

39:38 – SDF

43:35 – Iran and Hezbollah

46:25 – Iran’s role in Syria

49:18 – Anti-Imperialist left

52:18 – Syrian Mindset

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How Did Syria Move From Torture To Triumph? With Robin Yassin-Kassab Dec 12, 2024

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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 heart of this struggle.

Robin Yassin-Kassab is the author of the novel The Road from Damascus. He is co-author with Leila al-Shami of the Rathbone-Folio prize-shortlisted book Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War. And he is the chief English editor of the ISIS prisons museum – which may soon become the Syria Prisons Museum

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Timestamps:

0:00- Introduction

2:16 – Reflections

8:13 – Syria another Libya?

15:20 – Prisons – Torture state

22:57 – Information accessing

25:13 – HTS discipline

31:48 – Syrians re-migrating

35:02 – Israelis in Syria

41:47 – International community crippling revolution

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Assad Was a Tyrant, Not an Anti-Imperialist with Moazzam Begg Dec 08, 2024

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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 as an anti-imperialist when in reality he had colluded with the West in past conflicts and after 9/11 Syria became a favourite place for the Americans to render suspects for horrific torture.

Today we have Moazzam Begg who is the senior director of CAGE and author of enemy combatant – a book about his time as a detainee first in Bagram and then in Guantanamo. He also spent time in Syria during the revolution, as part of his investigation into the Assad regimes complicity in the CIA torture programme.

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:41 – Assad anti-imperialist?

7:07 – Syria’s torture campaign

12:42 – The Left on Syria

16:24 – Why dismiss Syrians?

19:05 – Russia

22:48 – The opposition

27:33 – ISIS vs Opposition

31:59 – Post-Assad Syria

34:36 – Minorities

36:40 – Assad against Israel?

39:17 – Palestinian resistance on Syria

42:48 – Islamic activism

45:26 – Will we be able to visit Syria

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What they are not telling you about the Syrian Rebellion with Sami Hamdi Dec 05, 2024

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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 Aleppo and are now fighting to expand their territory. Many questions remain, and a deliberate propaganda campaign waged by Iran and Russia with the help of their social media proxies has confused many who had not followed the events.

They hope to throw out false news to make us believe its all too confusing. To help us untangle the political realities I have back on the show Sami Hamdi who joins us today from the US.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:50- Rebellion – Why now?

8:48 – Turkey – did they know?

17:29 – Is HTS moderated?

24:37 – Division in rebellion groups

30:30 – Is this another Libya?

43:45 – American policy on Syria

52:20 – Kurdish role

1:02:02 – Syria undermining Gaza?

1:10:03 – Did Hezbollah fail?

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Syria: Can The Tyrant Assad Fall? With Razan Saffour Dec 04, 2024

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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 developments in Syria over the past 13 years of revolution, and the Thinking Muslim will dedicate some of our shows to reveal the facts and provide important analysis.

Today, we have Razan Safoor to give her own account of the Syrian revolution. Razan is a Syrian researcher and an activist. Recently she has been speaking to the international press about developments. So we are honoured to have her with us today.

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