The Thinking Muslim

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This episode was filmed on Saturday, before Damascus fell.

The Syrian revolution began in 2011 as a grassroots, civil society uprising against one of the most tyrannical rulers in the Muslim World. Bashar al-Assad like his father before him, presided over a state of terror, with disappearances, secret police repression and a punitive state machinery that governed through fear. Assad styled himself as an anti-imperialist when in reality he had colluded with the West in past conflicts and after 9/11 Syria became a favourite place for the Americans to render suspects for horrific torture.

Today we have Moazzam Begg who is the senior director of CAGE and author of enemy combatant – a book about his time as a detainee first in Bagram and then in Guantanamo. He also spent time in Syria during the revolution, as part of his investigation into the Assad regimes complicity in the CIA torture programme.

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:41 – Assad anti-imperialist?

7:07 – Syria’s torture campaign

12:42 – The Left on Syria

16:24 – Why dismiss Syrians?

19:05 – Russia

22:48 – The opposition

27:33 – ISIS vs Opposition

31:59 – Post-Assad Syria

34:36 – Minorities

36:40 – Assad against Israel?

39:17 – Palestinian resistance on Syria

42:48 – Islamic activism

45:26 – Will we be able to visit Syria

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The demands of the people were snuffed out by a deranged dictator who decided he would burn his country, before giving up power. We thought the revolution had ended, and the millions of Syrians dispersed around the world were never to see their homeland again. This all spectacularly changed this past week, where, to everyone’s surprise, the opposition was able, for the first time, to take over Aleppo and are now fighting to expand their territory. Many questions remain, and a deliberate propaganda campaign waged by Iran and Russia with the help of their social media proxies has confused many who had not followed the events.

They hope to throw out false news to make us believe its all too confusing. To help us untangle the political realities I have back on the show Sami Hamdi who joins us today from the US.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

1:50- Rebellion – Why now?

8:48 – Turkey – did they know?

17:29 – Is HTS moderated?

24:37 – Division in rebellion groups

30:30 – Is this another Libya?

43:45 – American policy on Syria

52:20 – Kurdish role

1:02:02 – Syria undermining Gaza?

1:10:03 – Did Hezbollah fail?

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It’s been a spectacular week in Syria. The world had written off the rebellion that began in 2011, believing Assad, with the support of Russian air power and Iranian militias, had consolidated his rule. In the past weeks, it has been reintegrated into the Arab League, and it just seemed the best the revolution could accept is a rump state in Idlib. There are many who have not followed the developments in Syria over the past 13 years of revolution, and the Thinking Muslim will dedicate some of our shows to reveal the facts and provide important analysis.

Today, we have Razan Safoor to give her own account of the Syrian revolution. Razan is a Syrian researcher and an activist. Recently she has been speaking to the international press about developments. So we are honoured to have her with us today.

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Moulana Ebrahim Ismail Bham was born and raised in South Africa. He has attained his masters in the Islamic sciences and theology under great traditional scholars. Shaykh Ebrahim I. Bham is known to be one of the most active scholars in South Africa for education, development and advocacy.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Introduction

2:05 – Hamidia Masjid

7:40 – South African Muslims

14:18 – South Africa ICJ

19:11 – Nalendi Pandor bravery

22:38 – Justice in Islam

29:30 – How do we stay motivated?

35:22 – Accountability in Islam

40:37 – non-Muslims Islam queries

44:11 – Balance of Ummatic cause

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Now that the US elections are over, I want to explore deeper issues today with my guests. Is political participation really the principal way by which we are going to proceed, and who best should be charged from within us to undertake this task? Some have argued that to progress, we have to play the ‘long game’ and adopt the Zionist prototype of influence.

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

2:50 – Satisfied with results?

7:18 – Will Trump be a problem?

13:20 – Trump vs the globalists?

18:20 - America First Ideology?

20:36 - Trumps cabinet

27:35 – US Empire in trouble?

36:16 – Muslim’s moving forward

42:49 – Islamic ethics?

51:00 – What are the guardrails?

56:32 – Prioritisation in communities

1:04:00 Mid Terms

1:05:15 US Muslims and exceptionalism

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How do Muslims deal with what looks like the comprehensive success of Western civilisation. Is it time to accept defeat, as one writer put it? Or does Islam have something to offer the world that can move us beyond this dysfunctional world.

Our guest today is Hasan Spiker, he argues that modernity is not neutral. The assumption is that modernity is regarded as universal is false. He argues that modernity is Western and its embrace is a means to Western hegemony and domination. He is the author of this soon to be published work, published on the 26th November – The Unraveling of Intelligibility.

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How do Muslims deal with what looks like the comprehensive success of Western civilisation. Is it time to accept defeat, as one writer put it? Or does Islam have something to offer the world that can move us beyond this dysfunctional world.

Our guest today is Hasan Spiker, he argues that modernity is not neutral. The assumption is that modernity is regarded as universal is false. He argues that modernity is Western and its embrace is a means to Western hegemony and domination. He is the author of this soon to be published work, published on the 26th November – The Unraveling of Intelligibility.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

1:58 – Muslims Disempowered?

4:34 – What is Modernity?

9:42 – Metaphysics and progress

 14:51 – Islam and modernity

19:00 – The 5 Bifurcations

24:20 – Importance of Sharia

25:36 – Separating sacred from spirit

27:58 – Sharia vs Spiritual

29:57 – The second bifurcation

37:43 – Protestantism and secularism

41:02 – Nation-state and modernity

44:06 – Liberalism development

49:52 – The third bifurcation

53:02 – Reasoning religious belief

56:38 – Empirical vs Metaphysics

59:10 – The fourth bifurcation

1:08:21 – non-recognition of Metaphysics

1:11:40 – The final bifurcation

1:13:47 – The west’s Machiavellianism

1:17:20 – Liberalism’s Façade

1:19:18 – Gaza western hegemony

1:27:17 – Ideologies and modernity

1:31:58 – Islams counter-hegemony

1:41:41 – City of Love

1:45:51 – Strength of modernity

1:50:30 – Islam will save modernity

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What does Trump mean for the wider world, how do we position Trump’s America First philosophy in the context of US Unipolarity. Are we seeing the unravelling of the US in the world? To help us understand Trumps America I am happy to have back on the show Sami Hamdi. Sami is an analysts and campaigner and we are forever indebted to his energy.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

3:49 – How much did Gaza play in Kamala’s loss?

17:00 – The Muslim community’s role in Kamala’s loss

21:15 – The Green Party not a vehicle?

23:00 – The power of Dawah

31:30 – Has Gaza brought about a shift?

37:11 – Is Netanyahu emboldened by the Trump presidency?

43:45 – Does Iran have to worry about Trump?

56:42 – Is the Trump administration going to be more ‘America First’?

1:04:35 – ‘America First’ from a trade perspective

1:10:37 – Gaza created a new environment

1:14:27 – What will dictate the future of America?

1:15:58 – Public opinion in America turning towards Nationalism?

1:19:25 – Dawah’s ability to shift society

1:27:20 – Never forget that Gazans are at the centre of all of this

1:38:30 – The reward for our activism is Jannah – centre this

1:43:00 – Connecting Dawah to politics

1:55:09 – Is politics so ingrained within Sami that he will carry on in Jannah?

1:57:56 – We all build on the backs of each other

1:58:45 – Imagine the impact we have if we continue moving

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Should we, people who remain married to justice, accept that international law, if it ever did work, is today defunct? In a broader sense, when we pursue its application are we in danger of creating a sense of false hope. These are the existential questions we are now asking ourselves as the genocide proceeds at pace into its 2nd year.

My guest today is Francesca Albanese, an international lawyer who has been in the eye of the storm, speaking truth at the highest levels. Francesca specialises in international humanitarian law and is the special rapporteur for the UN reporting on Palestine.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

3:21 – Is international law the problem?

5:05 – ICC ruling, why the delayed decision?

7:07 – How effective are the ICJ judgements ?

9:54 – Who is the system working for?

11:05 – Is Francesca hopeful about international justice?

13:27 – David Lammy and the definition of genocide

16:51 – The reluctance of the West to call this a genocide

19:30 – Is October 7th a catalyst for ethnic cleansing?

26:03 – Can Israel be isolated by the UN?

29:27 – Arab and Muslim countries lack of solidarity

33:48 – How successful can the ICJ complaint be?

37:08 – Weaponizing of antisemitism

41:40 – How can young Muslims stay active?

44:45 – How does Francesca stay motivated in an unjust world?

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There’s an assumption that the West have remained honest brokers in the Gaza genocide, or at least critical friends of Israel. My guest today Matt Kennard argues that contrary to public utterances, the British government, like the Americans are deeply involved in Israel’s merciless bombing of Gaza. They are providing military support, intelligence, diplomatic cover whilst at the same time claiming they want a quick resolution to the slaughter.

Matt is an independent journalist and author of three books Irregular Army, Silent coup and The Racket

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Timestamps:

0:00 – Introduction

2:03 – Britain’s participation in the Gaza genocide

7:48 – The secrecy around the intelligence

10:26 – Britain leads in giving intelligence to Israel

12:11 – How do we apply pressure on the Labour government?

15:37 – We need transparency around Cyprus

24:23 – Mainstream media’s complicity

32:15 – Has the Labour government really shifted?

37:29 – Labour has lost control of the narrative

42:37 – How can the activist space reset their focus

51:42 – How do we recalibrate the Palestinian movement

54:11 – Have people moved on from Gaza?

59:29 – What can we do?

1:04:31 – The role of the Muslim Community

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The US elections are nearly upon us, and we have all be subject to the empty words and rhetoric of of the two main political parties. The Green Party has gained a lot of traction, especially amongst the countries small but very important Muslim community. I have already interviewed the leader of the Greens, Dr Jill Stein. But Today I have the pleasure to speak with Professor Butch Bilal Ware, its Vice Presidential nominee.

Professor Butch Ware is a lifelong activist and educator specializing in the history of empire, colonialism, genocide and revolution. For the past two decades, Ware has put scholarship in service of the people, especially in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as the George Floyd murder in 2020.

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Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

2:00 Embrace Islam at 15

5:00 Malcolm X and radicalism

9:09 Sufis and being radical

13:21 Diluting radical tradition

19:40 Green Party and Liberals

23:25 Green’s and social issues

31:57 Uyghurs and foreign policy

40:06 His political leanings

45:55 Can Muslims work independently

52:44 Voting for Trump

58:31 George Floyd

1:03:32 Fascism in US

1:11:42 Dismantling Empire

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