Quran Conversations

Speaking Truth to Tyranny

TaHa 47-50  

Speaking truth to power is often fruitless on the surface: your message falls on deaf ears, the oppression continues or even intensifies, you face negative consequences. So what’s the point?

In this episode Dalia Mogahed and Samia Mubarak discuss the importance of speaking  truth to power with confidence and clarity, regardless of the apparent receptiveness of those you hope to change.  

You will learn:

📖 How to approach a tyrant of any kind.

📖 The source of human psychological resilience. 

📖 The ways oppressors work to break you. 

📖 Why we must speak the truth even when it feels like no one is listening.

📖 How to maintain solidarity in the face of a “divide and conquer” adversary. 

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Mission Possible: How to March Forward Even in Fear

TaHa 42-46

What are the elements needed to march forth and do something you’re afraid of? Better resources? More training? Perhaps, but also the elements no one can buy; clarity of purpose, the right team and the remembrance of Allah. 

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Samia Mubarak reflect on fear, friendship and the power of finding God in our darkest hour as we move through life’s challenges as they discuss Ayas 42-46 of Surat TaHa.

You will learn: 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Making Meaning

TaHa 40-41

David Eagleman, in his book “Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain,” wrote, “Instead of reality being passively  recorded  by the brain, it is actively constructed by it.” This construction is our meaning-making ability.  The meaning we give events change the way we respond to them, how we feel about our lives and those around us. 

In this episode we discuss how Allah is reframing the events of Musa’s life from what could be seen as a litany of tragedies to a series of training experiences under his Lord’s loving  eye.

You will learn: 

📖 Linguistic Insights into understanding the different types of grief

📖 How to cope with emotional distress: 

📖 The weight of sin and how to let go of shame.

📖 Understanding Qadr: The Divine Measurement

📖 The role of exile in personal growth

📖 How interpreting life events impacts our mental health

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Season 3, Episode 11

The Gifts God Gives

TaHa 38-40

Our lives often take unexpected turns; joy and loss, pain and pleasure.  We witness the birth of a child, a difficult diagnosis, the loss of a loved one.  For some the hardships are losing family in a genocide.  How do we make sense of these triumphs and tragedies?

In this episode we discuss the way Allah recounts to Musa (s) the events of his own life– surviving a genocide, raised by his enemy, accidentally killing a man, exile– and shows him how in every step he was under God’s loving eye. 

You will learn: 

📖 The  surprising forms God’s favors take

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Season 3, Episode 10

“Finding the Right Partner to Pursue Your Purpose”

TaHa 29-37

Asking for help is not easy.  You need to trust the other person enough to rely on them and be confident enough in yourself to admit you can’t do it alone.  In this episode Dalia Mogahed and Imam Magid explore the importance of community, companionship and commitment to the greater good over one’s own credit as they discuss the story of Musa (s) asking

Allah for his brother Haroon’s (s) partnership in facing Pharoah.  They also delve into the central role of dhikr in individual and community resilience. 

You will learn: 

Vocabulary: 

Wird: A prescribed litany or set of daily prayers and invocations recited regularly

Sohba: Companionship

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

S3:E9

“How to do Hard Things”

TaHa 25-28

Have you ever been afraid to speak even when you know you must? Have you ever been weighed down by self-doubt and constriction or overwhelmed by the task at hand?

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Samia Mubarak @quranic_ocean do a deep dive into the famous “dua of Musa” where he (s) asks Allah for His aid when commanded to go confront Pharaoh. We explore what the dua teaches us about overcoming our own fears in order to do the hard things that make life meaningful.

You will learn: 

📖 The physical and emotional dimensions of fear.

📖 How to “break open”: embracing vulnerability with Allah.

📖 How the dua of Musa reveals a critical aspect of effective leadership.

📖 The key to finding the courage to speak up even against a tyrant.

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

Season 3, Episode 8

“How to Fortify Your Heart”

TaHa 21-24

How do we fortify our hearts when we have fear, self-doubt and a loss of direction? In this episode, Dalia Mogahed is in conversation with Ustatha Samia Mubarak*, founder of @QuranicOcean, where they delve into the meanings of the signs Allah shows Musa (s).

This very special discussion about hope, hardship and the power of surrender is not one you want to miss.  

You will learn: 

📖 How fear can be a means to draw nearer to Allah.

📖 How Allah couples every difficult command with reassurance.

📖 The self-soothing techniques enshrined in the Quran.

📖 When and how to find the fortification you need to face life’s challenges.

📖How something that was a source of shame can be transformed into a source of shining light.

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

*Samia Mubarak is the founder of Quranic Ocean, a guided platform dedicated to building personal and emotional connections with Allah’s words. She completed her Quran memorization shortly after attaining her Bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in Psychology from Florida State University. She is a student of the Muddakir Quran Tafseer and memorization program and of the Suhba Seminary by Al-Madina. She is a Quran teacher at the Ribaat Academic Institute by Rabata and is currently working on an Ijaza (Quranic memorization certification) in Hafs recitation with Shaykh Abdallah Deeb of Itqaan Institute. She’s a single mom to two girls, one of which was born with a very rare syndrome called CHILD and has special medical needs, alhamdulillah. She hopes to help people dive deep into the Quranic ocean so they can find comfort and reassurance through Allah’s words amidst the varying circumstances of life.

Season 3: Episode 7

“Letting Go: The Path to Miracles”

TaHa: 17-20

What do you rely on to get through the day? Your car, phone or even your morning cup of coffee are things you may lean on to manage your life. What if you were told to cast all that aside?

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Hajj Hisham Mahmoud explore the spiritual meaning of the staff of Moses (s) and how we all have the tendency to lean too far on our means, yet only have to “let go and let God”  to see Allah’s miracles manifest in our lives. 

You will learn: 

📖 The power of letting go. 

📖The profound symbolism of the staff of Moses (s)

📖Why the surah about liberation and expansion contains so many commands to “throw”.

📖The role of sacrifice on the path to nearness to Allah.

📖Delineating control: Camels and The Kaaba

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Learn more about Hajj Hisham Mahmoud’s work at Lanturna.com

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Season 3: Episode 6

“How to hear the voice of God in your life”

TaHa: 15-16

The world is not fair.  If this wasn’t obvious before, the past two years have laid bare the injustice of the current world order.  How do we cope with seeing so much cruelty without accountability?  How can we keep working for a just and compassionate world when it feels so futile to try. 

In this episode, Imam Magid and Dalia Mogahed discuss the profound purpose of Divine accountability and the need we all have for a Day of Reckoning. 

They also explore how surat Taha teaches us how to open ourselves to hearing the voice of God in our lives.

You will learn: 

📖 The reality and healing power of belief in Divine accountability. 

📖 How to avoid burnout when working for a more just world.

📖 How no pain, emotional or physical, is in vain. 

📖 How to hear the voice of God in your life

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed

Season 3: Episode 5

“The Purpose of Life” TaHa: 14

What is our purpose for existence? How has our Creator facilitated realizing this purpose?

In this conversation, Dalia Mogahed and Imam Magid explore the profound concept of worship in Islam, emphasizing that worship (Ubudiyyah) transcends mere rituals and is central to the purpose of human existence. 

You will learn: 

📖The essence of ubudiyyah (servitude to God).

📖The transformative power of salah

📖How liberation is through servitude to God alone.

📖The way salah is an invitation, a journey, and a mobile sanctuary.

📖How to overcome barriers to prayer

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed