I've wanted to understand the radical flank of Islam for a long time, and I feel a little ashamed it took me this long. In this episode I talk with Mona Haydar — rapper, poet, chaplain, and Muslim activist — about the theological architecture of Islamic mutual aid: zakat, the mandatory redistribution of wealth; sadaqa, voluntary charity rooted in truthfulness; and taqwa, the reverence and permeating consciousness that Ramadan is designed to build. Mona makes the case that if Muslims fully practiced these commandments, global poverty could be eliminated. We also get into 9/11's psychic reckoning for American Muslim communities, the good Muslim/bad Muslim trap that Mahmood Mamdani diagnosed, and why Islamophobic attacks — including right here in Toronto from my own city councillor — keep producing conversion waves rather than retreat. Part Two is on Patreon.

Mona Haydar