Peer Talks

Humaray Aslaf

Pir Khurshid Hasani 

Guest: Sahibzada Syed Ali Haider

#PeerTalks #PirKhurshidHasani #Sufism

Peer Syed Mudassir Nazar Shah with Yaqub ibn Yusuf, The Mystic Bookseller of  Jerusalem.  

Yaqub ibn Yusuf was born Joshua Heckelman into a warm and traditional Conservative Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York.  

He explains; In my early 20s I pursued spiritual studies with Reb Zalman Schachter in Winnipeg, Canada, There I discovered "the archetype of the Tzaddiq", the inner and outer figure of the spiritual master in the Hasidic teachings of Rebbe Nahman. Following that through, I came to Israel in 1976 looking for a spiritual teacher and became the disciple of Sidi Sheikh Muhammad al Jemal on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. From Sidi I received my Arabic name, recalling my Jewish father and grandfather. For seven years I followed Sidi's Islamic Sufi teachings and practices, but I couldn't get past the sense that he expected me to embrace Islam as a religion, although Judaism is my religion. I discovered the more broad-minded the world of Turkish Sufism and I studied, for many years, with Murat Yagan in western Canada - and I put together a book of his oral teachings which I've shared with various groups, over years: 'The Essence of Sufism in the Light of Kebzeh, the Teachings of the Caucasus Mountains. I later made a connection with a Turkish teacher of the Way of Blame of Melamet, Baba Selim Ocik, who lived in Istanbul. I came back to Israel in 1990 to pursue the academic study of Kabbalah and Hasidism with Prof. Moshe Idel. I found myself at home in the multi-faceted world of Jerusalem. In 1997 I opened Olam Qatan, based on the Kabbalistic saying, "Everyone is a 'microcosm'". My idea was to open doors for all kinds of spiritual seekers, religious and secular, Jewish, and people from other religions. For the last three years, I've down-scaled from a brick-and-mortar bookstore to a bookstall at Jerusalem's "First Station". I'm working on several projects of Hasidic and Sufi books  

#PeerTalks #Sufism #MysticBookSeller

Loud Thinking   

Peer Syed Mudassir Nazar Shah with Noor Dahri on "Pakistan - Israel Relations"  

Noor Dahri is the Executive Director of ITCT. He was born and raised in Pakistan. He has studied Forensics and Criminal Psychology from Oxford – the UK, Counter-Terrorism from the University of Maryland – U.S.A, and also studied Counter Terrorism from International Institute for Counter-Terrorism ICT- Israel. Mr. Dahri is an independent researcher in Counter Islamist Terrorism and Islamist Extremism. He is a contributing writer at the US Homeland Security Magazine (HSToday). Mr. Dahri is also a member of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS), UK. Mr. Dahri has written many research articles and research papers on hot issues such as Counter-Terrorism, Violent Extremism, De-Radicalisation, and Israel-Palestine issues which have been published in various newspapers and journals. Noor has attended many events, conferences on the threat of Counter-Terrorism, and also visited many institutes and libraries. He is a Middle East Analyst at The Great Middle East and a regular contributor at the Times of Israel (Israel) and The Daily Times (Pak). Mr. Dahri has appeared on numerous TV and Radio shows for his interviews. Noor has been invited to deliver his speeches at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism -ICT in Israel on the topic of “From Da'wah To Jihad: Breaking the Radicalization and Violent Cycle”. Mr. Dahri is a fellow member of the Intelligence Community USA and a member of the security think tank Henry Jackson Society UK. He regularly attends discussion-based events in the House of Commons and the House of Lords (UK Parliaments). He has visited many countries for his research work. Noor Dahri has also worked with the London Police department for the last 7 years and received a “Life Achievement Award Certificate” by Lord Frank Judd at The House of Lords- UK. He has recently authored two books called “Global Jihad, Islamic Radicalisation and Counter Strategy” and “Terra Nullius: The Rebirth of a Land Without Peace” which were published from India in 2019 and also edited the book “Marketing Terrorism: The Continental Fear from the Middle East to Asia & Africa” which is published in 2020. Mr. Dahri is currently working on his third book on the subject of “Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism” where he would counter the Islamist’s narratives from the theology of Islam.  

#Pakistan #Isreal #Normalization

Loud Thinking   

Peer Syed Mudassir Nazar Shah with Jeffrey Hill on "President Biden - Pakistan and the Region"  

For 33 years (1986-2019), Jeffrey Hill represented the US Government in 10 different countries across the globe, telling America’s story to the world and positively influencing key host-country audiences via a full array of academic, cultural, artistic, media, and community engagement programs and campaigns. As a U.S. Foreign Service Officer focused on public diplomacy, led U.S. embassy and consulate efforts to share the best of American values, promote U.S. interests, and advocate policies to advance U.S. interests with influential audiences. To these ends, advanced mutual understanding across the world by creating and managing programs ranging from working with student-theater groups to promote the celebration of diversity to writing talking points for visiting U.S. secretaries of state and presidents to overseeing $2 million in grant programs for community engagement and awareness among extremism-prone audiences in Pakistan.  

#PeerTalks #PresidentBiden #Pakistan&theRegion

Peer Talks with Mehlaqa Samdani 

Mehlaqa Samdani is the founder and director of Critical Connections (USA), a non-profit organization that builds community and awareness around issues related to American-Muslims and Muslims around the world  

#PeeTalks #CriticalConnections #Peace

Loud Thinking   

Peer Syed Mudassir Nazar Shah with DB Des Roches on "Post Election U.S. Security Strategies in Afghanistan and Region"  

DB Des Roches is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and a senior international affairs fellow at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. He is an associate professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, where he specializes in countries of the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf Cooperation Council regional security, border security, weapons transfers, missile defense, counterinsurgency, terrorism, and emerging trends.  

He joined NESA in 2011 after serving the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy in numerous positions, including as director of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, the Department of Defense liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, the senior country director for Pakistan, the NATO operations director, the deputy director for peacekeeping, and the spokesman for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Prior to that, he served in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy as an international law enforcement analyst and special assistant for strategy.

Des Roches retired as a colonel from a 30-year career in the active and reserve Army, serving on the Joint Staff, U.S. Special Operations Command staff, and in conventional and special operations troop units deployed throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Afghanistan. He is a regular commentator on regional affairs and author of numerous articles on Gulf security. He is the editor of The Arms Trade, Military Services, and the Security Market in the Gulf: Trends and Implications (Berlin: Gerlach, 2016) and the theme editor of the Oxford Journal of Gulf Studies Spring 2016 special issue on security. He holds advanced degrees from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies and Kings College London, which he attended as a British Marshall Scholar. Des Roches also holds an advanced degree from the U.S. Army War College, and a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy, West Point.  

#PeerTalks #USSecurityStrategies #Afghanistan

LOUD THINKING   

#PeerTalks with Ambassador Haim Koren on "Sudan & Israel, An Era of a Change"  

Ambassador Haim Koren is a former Israeli diplomat and an expert in the Arab World. 

He served as Israel’s Ambassador to the Republic of Egypt between 2014 and 2016. He previously served as the first Israeli Ambassador to South Sudan and as the Director of the Middle East Division in the Center of Political Research in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his tenure with the Ministry, his positions included serving as Director of the Political Planning Division and as Deputy Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has also served in various other diplomatic capacities in Chicago, USA; Alexandria, Egypt; Kathmandu, Nepal; and elsewhere. Ambassador Koren is an expert in the Arab World. His Ph.D. focused on Islam in Sudan, and he also deals with issues as Arab Media, the Arab Citizens of Israel and the Palestinians, Radical Islam, Political History of the Middle East, Tribal Societies in the Middle East, and Sufism on the Middle East and Beyond. 

In 1993-1995, he was an Honorary Member at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. From 2008 to 2011, he was an Instructor at the National Defence College of Israel. He has given lectures and seminars on Arabism and Islam, the Ideology of Radical Islam, the Global Dimension of the Foreign Policy in Israel, and the New Framework for Thinking on the Middle East. He taught Middle Eastern History and Communications at the University of Haifa. Ambassador Koren has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Slovenian Institute of Middle East and Balkan Studies since 2011, and a Board Member of the Ezri Center for Research of Iran and the Persian Gulf at Haifa University since 2016. He teaches at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) since 2017. 

 #Sudan #Israel

LOUD THINKING  

#PeerTalks with Dr. Mamou Farhan Othman on "The Yazidi Dilemma"  

Mr. Mamou Farhan Othman, is a second Professor, Vice Dean of The Institue of Psychotherapy and Psychothraumatology at the University of Duhok/KRG, since September 2016. He has also served as Director of the European Studies Centre and Chief Incharge of the Department of Social and Humanities Studies at the University of Duhok. He was minister of state for civil society in Baghdad during 2004-2005. He is also an official representative of the Yazidi Community.  

#Yazidi #Dilemma #Iraq

#PeerTalks with Rameez Hassan Raja, President ATI (2018-19)  

Rameez Hassan Raja was President of ATI ( انجمن طلبہ اسلام), The only leading non-partisan Sufi students organization in Pakistan.  

#ATI #Sufism

JAIZA

U.S. Presidential Elections   2020       

Expert: Sajid Tarar  Sajid Tarar, From Mandi Bahaoddin and living in Baltimore, The first Pakistani Muslim who started supporting President trump and formed "Muslims for Trump".  

By Education a lawyer, by profession a Businessman, and by passion a Politician, in total Sajid is a Pure Punjabi.  

#PeerTalks #SajidTarar #USPresidentialElectios2020