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A podcast seeking to celebrate the many facets of the American Muslim experience. The goal of the show is to highlight and focus on unique and interesting personalities from both within and without the American Muslim community, and engage them in what will hopefully be a worthwhile and invigorating conversation not only for the guests, but also for listeners. Essentially, a long form interview format that’s meant to flow organically.
Episodes
Sunday Dec 24, 2023
Episode 144: Black Power and Palestine with Professor Michael Fischbach
Sunday Dec 24, 2023
Sunday Dec 24, 2023
We are back to close out 2023 and continuing our discussions on Palestine, this time through the prism of the Civil Rights struggle in the United States. Professor Michael Fishbach joins us to discuss his 2019 book Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color. Professor Fishbach chronicles how Black Power activists and others in the Civil Rights struggle came to see Palestinians as a kindred people of color, waging the same struggle for freedom and justice as themselves. He brings his meticulous research to bear for a fascinating conversation about the Palestinian conflict's role in Black activism and the ways that the struggle shaped the domestic fight for racial equality, deeply affected U.S. black politics, and animated black visions of identity well into the late 1970s.
About Dr. Michael Fischbach
Michael R. Fischbach is professor of history at Randolph-Macon College. Dr. Fischbach holds a PhD in History from Georgetown, MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown, and a BA in History from Northwestern University.
He specializes in land issues relating to Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians and is the author of State, Society, and Land in Jordan, Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Jewish Property Claims Against Arab Countries, The Peace Process and Palestinian Refugee Claims: Addressing Claims for Property Compensation and Restitution, and two related works The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left, and the book we discussed: Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color.
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Episode 143: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine with Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
We are deeply honored and privileged to be joined by the eminent historian and perhaps leading academic on Palestine in the United States, Professor Rashid Khalidi. Dr. Khalidi discussesed his new book The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 which chronicles his personal and ancestral connection to the land of Palestine and what he characterizes as a war on the Palestinian people by colonial powers and Zionist settler colonialism for over one hundred years.
Dr. Khalidi joined from his office at Columbia University.
About Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1970 and a D. Phil. from Oxford University in 1974. He has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Chicago. He is co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies and has served as President of the Middle East Studies Association. He has written or co-edited ten books, including The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 and Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (rev. ed. 2010).
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
We are back to discuss the ongoing crisis in Palestine, this time focusing on the one-sided and ideologically motivated media coverage. To offer his analysis and perspective, and discuss the possible factors that may change that status quo, we are joined by The Intercept's veteran journalist Murtaza Hussain.
About Murtaza Hussain
Brooklyn-based journalist and “Habitual line stepper” Murtaza Hussain is a political commentator for The Intercept, embodying the online publication’s dedication to “producing fearless, adversarial journalism.”
His work focuses on human rights, foreign policy and cultural affairs. Murtaza's work has appeared in The New York Times, Al Jazeera English, Common Dreams, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Salon and elsewhere. His writings are also available via his Substack https://mazmhussain.substack.com/ and he is active on Twitter/X @MazMHussain
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
We had the pleasure of sitting with Dr. Ussama Makdisi, Professor of History at the University of California Berkeley for a detailed, highly enlightening and impassioned discussion of the history of the Palestinian struggle. Dr. Makdisi masterfully contextualizes what is happening right now in Palestine within the broader history of the Western colonialist, Zionist project that has dehumanized, brutalized, and ethnically cleansed the Palestinian people for over 75 years.
About Dr. Ussama Makdisi
Dr. Ussama Makdisi is Professor of History and Chancellor’s Chair at the University of California Berkeley. He was previously Professor of History and the first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University in Houston.
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Episode 140: Diffused Congruence Celebrates 10 Years!
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
Thursday Oct 05, 2023
10/3/2013 - 10/3/2023
Parvez gets on mic to ruminate on 10 years of the podcast, its genesis, mission, accomplishments, pitfalls avoided, and future plans. We are immensely proud and grateful for these past 10 years but we could not have done it without you, our listeners! Thank you for your continued support, feedback, and for sharing the show. We pray that Allah blesses us with 10 more years and beyond by His Fadl and Tawfiq.
Saturday Sep 23, 2023
Saturday Sep 23, 2023
We continue making our way through our Chicago recordings with a very special conversation about Palliative Care, a topic that is hardly discussed in the Muslim communities but can impact the lives of young and old alike within the community. Palliative care specifically deals with relieving serious health-related suffering, be it physical, psychological, social, or spiritual for patients with serious illness like cardiovascular disease, cancer, major organ failure, end-stage chronic illness, acute trauma, or extreme frailty related to old age. It includes pastoral considerations, and more broadly can have profound implications on legal matters such as Living wills and other advance directives, the necessity of families having discussions about of quality of life and long terms care, among other issues.
About Our Guests
Dr. Aziz Ansari, is a Professor of Medicine and is the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Optimization and Revenue Integrity at Loyola University Medical Center. He is a practicing and board-certified hospitalist and palliative care physician.
Omer Mozaffar serves as the Muslim Chaplain at Loyola University Chicago where he addresses theological, personal, social matters for students of all sectarian outlooks. He has received Islamic studies training both through traditional and academic sources. Across the Muslim community, for nearly three decades, he has been giving sermons, officiating weddings, leading classes at Islamic centers.
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Episode 138: Habeeb Quadri, Educator Extraordinaire
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Tuesday Sep 05, 2023
Next stop in Chicagoland takes us to Skokie where Parvez and Omar had the honor of sitting with author, educator and school administrator, Habeeb Quadri. We had an in-depth conversation about his experiences growing up in Chicago, what inspired him to become an educator, and his journey from teaching inner city schools in Detroit and Chicago to serving as Principal and Superintendent of a renowned Islamic school.
It was also a great opportunity for Parvez and Habeeb, who have known each other for over 30 years to reconnect, reminisce about cutting their teeth as youth activist in the 90s with Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA) and the organization's resurgence in recent years.
About Habeeb Quadri
Habeeb Quadri has served as principal of the Muslim Community Center Academy (MCCA) since 2002, where he has focused on changing school culture, financial turnaround, and transforming educational standards. He led MCCA to become one of the first Islamic parochial schools to receive national accreditation by implementing a comprehensive improvement plan that engaged stakeholders at all levels.
Habeeb is on the principal advisory board and a part-time staffer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Principal Center and the founder of High Quality Educational Consulting. He was one of five private school leaders to be selected for the 2019 class of nationally distinguished principals by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.
He has lectured throughout the United States, Canada and abroad on Islam, society, and social problems confronting Muslim youth and the community at large, including workshops for the U.S Department of State, weekend and full-time Islamic schools, public schools and universities.
Habeeb holds an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Wayne State University and a B.A. in the Teaching of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has pursued continued advanced studies with Harvard University’s Professional Development Program.
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Episode 137: Ahmed Rehab and ”the Chicago Way”
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Tuesday Aug 22, 2023
Next stop on Parvez & Omar's Chicago sojourn is the beautiful CAIR offices on historic State Street in downtown where they had the privilege of sitting with Ahmed Rehab. Ahmed's ability to articulate a clear and convincing analysis of contemporary social and political issues while maintaining a fidelity to Islam's normative teachings and practices made for a wide ranging and thought-provoking interview.
About Ahmed Rehab
Ahmed is Executive Director of the Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as CAIR's National Strategic Communications Director. CAIR is the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group.
A prolific writer and lecturer on contemporary social issues including civil rights, media relations, and Islam-West relations, Ahmed lectures at various University campuses in Chicago and around the nation.
Ahmed comments regularly as a guest on various local TV and cable news programs, as well as on radio stations. He has been interviewed by news publications such as the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Herald, the Washington Post, the Orlando Sentinel, the Economist, the Boston Globe, Crain's Business Magazine, Germany's Die Zeit, and many more. His Op-Ed's have been published in numerous newspapers around the country.
Sunday Aug 06, 2023
Episode 136: Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia
Sunday Aug 06, 2023
Sunday Aug 06, 2023
Parvez and Omar have the opportunity to sit with Shaykh Amin Kholwadia and learn about his lifelong journey towards Islamic scholarship, from childhood, schooling, coming to America, and ultimately, the establishment of Darul Qasim, an institute of traditional Islamic higher learning headquartered in the Glendale Heights suburb of Chicago.
Shaykh Amin is continually engaged with a diverse following of mentees. His deep knowledge in the Islamic tradition and his aggressive engagement with contemporary issues facing everyday Muslims in the West has endeared him to young Islamic scholars and professionals all over.
Shaykh Mohammed Amin is a Muslim scholar, mentor, and the founder of Darul Qasim, an institute of traditional Islamic higher learning headquartered in the Glendale Heights suburb of Chicago. Shaykh Amin is an active advocate of the classical Sunni tradition of Islamic scholarship and a passionate promoter of traditional Islamic sciences and methodologies of teaching and learning. He is regarded internationally as an expert theologian and an authority in the fields of Islamic philosophy and theosophy.
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
Episode 135: Umair Haseeb, from Chicagoland to the Maghreb and Back
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
We are joined by Umair Haseeb. They discuss his family background, growing up in Chicagoland, the spark that led to his spiritual awakening, and his studies towards Islamic scholarship abroad.