Our very own Thomas Small has started a brand new podcast over on Substack called ‘Life Sentences’ – and we want to give Conflicted listeners a listen to the first episode…

Life Sentences is Thomas’ attempt to introduce the world to the Church Fathers – the Christian writers, theologians, mystics and divines who wrote in the first 1000 years of Christianity. The podcast sees Thomas read out the texts of the Church Fathers and comment on them as he goes, making them relevant to today. 

It’s a fascinating listen, and we know all fans of Conflicted listeners will enjoy it. The first episode is now live, and new episodes come out on Sundays, every two weeks.

You can subscribe and find out more about the podcast through the website at: https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/ 

To listen to more bonus episodes like this one, subscribe to the Conflicted Community, where subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

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Season 5 of Conflicted is here!

In this season, we’re delving deep into a continent whose Islamic heritage is often overlooked, but which is one of the most consequential and politically significant places in the world of geopolitics today. That’s right – in Season 5, Conflicted does Africa!

In our opening episode, Thomas and Aimen are giving you an introductory overview of the continent, and we really are covering a lot. From the Islamisation of North Africa, to the ISIS cells forming on the East African coast, to the reasons why there are so many redheads in the Levant, we want to use this episode to explain just why Africa is so important and consequential, both in terms of Islamic history and beyond. We’ll cover themes that will return across this season to welcome you into this truly fascinating world that we haven’t covered in any real depth across our previous four seasons.

New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

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All Conflicted fans know Aimen’s life story – but what about that of his co-host, Thomas Small? Avid listeners will have heard Thomas talk about his Orthodox Christian faith and his time as a novice monk at a monastery on the Greek island of Mount Athos, but the story of how he got there, and why he decided to leave the brotherhood, is a fascinating tale… This week, Thomas and Aimen switch roles to find out more about Thomas’ spiritual journey.

We’re putting out this episode to all of our dear listeners, because Thomas is releasing a new podcast over on Substack called ‘Life Sentences’. This is Thomas’ attempt to introduce to the world the Church Fathers – the Christian writers, theologians, mystics and divines who wrote in the first 1000 years of Christianity. The podcast sees Thomas read out the texts of the Church Fathers and comment on them as he goes, making them relevant to today. It’s a fascinating listen, and we hope all Conflicted listeners will tune in when the first episode goes live on Sunday July 14th.

You can subscribe and find out more about the podcast through the website at: https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/ 

To listen to more bonus episodes like this one, subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

And finally – Conflicted season 5 goes live next Wednesday on July 17th! Thomas and Aimen have been cooking up a whole new season on… Africa. Tune in next Wednesday for the first episode.

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

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The 1860 ‘Damascus Events’ saw Syrian Christians murdered by their Sunni Muslim neighbours in a brutal genocidal moment that reshaped the late Ottoman Empire. It’s an example of how previously harmonious communities can descend into brutal violence in a very short time span. But in the Ottoman Empire’s response to the violence, it’s also an example of how hostile communities can be brought back from the brink.

To learn more about this fascinating historical episode and its resonances today, Conflicted welcomes Eugene Rogan to our community! Eugene is a Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History and a Fellow of St. Anthony’s College at the University of Oxford. His recent book, ‘The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Destruction of the Old Ottoman World’ is available now at all good bookshops and is very much recommended for the Conflicted Community as a must read to learn more about the late Ottoman Empire.

To keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

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Iran is rarely out of the news at the moment: from the death of President Raisi (which we covered in our last Conflicted Community episode), to the rumours of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s illness, and with unrest inside the country ever present, it feels like a country at the precipice. So this week, we again look to Persia to make sense of what Iran’s global strategy actually is.

And this week, in a Conflicted Community first, we welcome a guest onto the show to help Thomas and Aimen on their way. Karim Sadjadpour is an Iranian-American who has focused on Iranian foreign policy and the region’s geopolitics throughout his career. After spending time in Iran (and evading arrest), he is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a contributing writer at the Atlantic and the New York Times, as well as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

In our first of two episodes with Karim, we discuss Iran’s global strategy towards foreign policy, how it intersects with the new multipolar world, and what they actually get from their axis with Russia and China. This first part is going out to all Conflicted listeners, but part two (coming out tomorrow on June 13th) is exclusively for Conflicted Community subscribers.

To listen to part two, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community, where you will get bonus episodes like this one, alongside many other benefits, including our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

And finally: Conflicted Season 5 is coming soon on July 17th! Watch this space for more information…

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

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Enjoy another clip from a new episode for our Conflicted Community! 

This week, Thomas and Aimen discuss the life and times of Iran’s President Raisi – ‘ The Butcher of Tehran’ – as well as doing a deep dive on the fascinating relationship between Iran and Azerbaijan, before Aimen gives us some intel on how Raisi might have died…

To keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

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Enjoy a clip from the first exclusive Q&A episode for our Conflicted Community! Thanks so much to our supporters for sending in all these brilliant questions on our Discord chatroom.

This week, Thomas and Aimen answer your burning questions, from Eurovision to Qatar, visiting corners of the world they’ve not touched on before… 

To keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can ask questions for future Q&As, interact with your fellow listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

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Thomas introduces a whole hour of extra content, as Aimen gives evidence to the Foreign Affair Committee in the UK Parliament. To hear more about this trip to the palace of Westminster, as well as other bonus content, sign up to the Conflicted Community!

Members also get access to our chatroom on Discord, where you can engage in riveting post-episode debates, and ask questions for upcoming exclusive Q&A episodes.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

This audio is available to the public on and taken from the Parliament TV website.

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The second episode for our Conflicted Community is here! 

This bonus episode is the final one going out to all of our dear listeners on this feed, so to keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe. Subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom on Discord, which is already brimming with conversation and analysis.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

For our second episode, Thomas and Aimen are returning to their bread and butter: jihadi terrorism. The attacks on a Moscow concert hall in March 2024, carried out by ISIS Khorasan Province, have revealed the return of a kind of terror not witnessed for a few years. But there’s a difference: could they have been jihadi mercenaries? Are they in fact jihadis for hire? Thomas and Aimen discuss how Afghanistan has once again become a hotbed of terror, and what this all means for the country and the rest of the world.

Sign up to the Conflicted Community: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

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And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

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Welcome to the first episode for our Conflicted Community! 

We’ll be coming to you every two weeks with interactive episodes for our subscribers. We’re giving the first couple of episodes out for all of our dear listeners, but to keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom on Discord, to discuss everything you hear, and so much more.

All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

In our first Conflicted Community episode, Thomas and Aimen discuss the unavoidable topic of war in Israel and Gaza, giving you an update on where things stand, what they’ve been hearing about the Hamas leadership and the threats posed by Iran and the wider axis of resistance. They also dig deep into Netanyahu and the ways in which Israel is prosecuting the war – does it legally constitute ethnic cleansing? Even a genocide?

Sign up to the Conflicted Community: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted

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