Where is political authority to be grounded – in claims of revelation, or in claims of human reason? The relationship and tension between religion and politics was called by the German-American philosopher Leo Strauss the “theologico-political” problem. Advocates of secularization theory, such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, and others saw the rise of religious diversity […]
Category Archives: Podcast
30
Jul
Jul
The relationship between Islam and Science, and the topic of Evolutionary Theory are among the chief concerns many young Muslims find themselves having to deal with. In addition, many Muslims undertake graduate level degree programs in Islamic Studies departments in Western universities, but they hardly have spent time in traditional study of the religion, and […]
23
Jul
Jul
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is reported to have said, “Every newborn is born upon the Fitra, then their parents will turn them into a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.” Topics addressed in this episode include the questions: What is the Fitra, and how does it relate to instinct and to human nature? Is morality innate or acquired? […]
16
Jul
Jul
What makes something true and a belief about a proposition a valid one? The philosophical literature is rich with discussions and theories about the nature of Truth, much of which may appear to be more of an exercise in intellectual musings. However, there is a real personal impact one will experience when they have to […]
09
Jul
Jul
The idea of being religious often conjures up to the mind the image of one being divorced from the material world to engage in ritual practice with the purpose of attaining nearness to God. However, from an Islamic point of view this is an extremely narrow understanding that limits the scope of what Islam is […]
28
May
May
Ramadan is often explained as a time of fasting from food and drink from sunrise to sunset and increased prayers at night. But there is more to this yearly obligatory practice that Muslims engage in than the physical acts. It is asserted in the Quran that the primary purpose of fasting is to gain a […]
21
May
May
Our modern age is one purported to elevate rationality above everything and everyone. Religious belief is considered a deficiency in reasoning capacity, and the education system promotes this idea most strongly at the college/university level. It is practically taken for granted that for one to have an objective about a religion, they must be an […]
14
May
May
Vaccination, a marvel of modern medicine that has saved literally millions of lives, remains a contentious issue for some. Recent outbreaks of measles, such as the one in the Somali-American community in Minnesota have raised public health alarm bells. According to the Minnesota Department of Public Health, fewer than 50% of Minnesota children of […]
07
May
May
This podcast has an engaged audience that includes individuals who send questions about a number of subjects that come up in the episodes. In this first episode of what is planned to be a periodic episodes dedicated to the listeners, a number of these questions have been selected to be addressed. Topics discussed in this […]
30
Apr
Apr
Ever since the rise of revolutionary protests in the Middle East that were initially dubbed the “Arab Spring” before devolving into more of a long and stormy winter, Muslims have increasingly been making their presence established in the realm of political activism and social justice movements. Islamism and Sharia are stable hot topics of discussion […]
23
Apr
Apr
The Muslim nostalgia for the past and feelings of inferiority in the presence can sometimes lead one to project modern understandings and presuppositions about what is considered rational and intellectually respectable onto past scholars living during what is known as the Golden Age of Islam. However, a reading of works by those scholars, such as […]
02
Apr
Apr
One of the most dangerous human qualities lies in our naivety about human nature. It is quite easy to condemn evil when we see it as observers or read about it after the fact. We pretend that we cannot fathom how humans can be so cruel and like to elevate ourselves on a pedestal of […]
26
Mar
Mar
Neuroscience is a fascinating field, and scientists working in this area have produced a great body of research that has a direct impact on numerous medical conditions. In addition, findings from brain studies continue to shed insight into the physiological underpinnings correlated with behaviour. However, too often we fall prey to our own success and […]
The 1988 American action film Rambo III portrayed fictional events towards the end of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Despite the terrible acting the movie does serve as an important historical window into American attitudes about Muslims and Jihad at the time. At the beginning of it we follow the field officer with the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, Robert Griggs, […]
11
Sep
Sep
This past May I wrote an article that garnered quite the storm from a good number of Muslims. The Halal Bubble and the Sunnah Imperative to Go Vegan was a treatise in which I went through relevant references from the Quran and Sunnah regarding what features a diet built on a foundation of Islamic ethics would look like […]
26
Jul
Jul
Episode Transcript This is episode 14 of Mohamed Ghilan’s podcast with yours truly as your host. I really do appreciate you listening and if you haven’t subscribed yet I invite you to do so. It really does go along way in helping improve the ranking of this podcast. Also, I started turning my attention to […]
This article originally appeared in ImanWire The popular conception of religion seems to be that of a set of rules and regulations that one adheres to. It is a handbook of what to do and what not to do without much attention given to what it all means and what it is about. For many […]