Author, public speaker and educator Hamza Tzortzis joins us this week to discuss Freedom of Speech from an Islamic perspective. This is a special extended interview, so strap in for a great episode insha’Allah.

Doctor, pharmaceutical scientist and clinical researcher Dr Hisham Abdullah joins us this week to discuss vaccines. How should we think about them? Are they dangerous? Why should we listen to experts in the field when we’ve been lied to before? We go through all these questions and more.

This week we speak to the esteemed author of ‘Studies in Usul Ul Fiqh’, Ustadh Iyad Hilal, of the Al Arqam Institute of California. We discuss vaccines, medicines in general, how a Muslim should arrive at judgments and our responsibility to not fall prey to theories not grounded in reality.

Joining us this week is Almir Colan, director of the Australian Centre for Islamic Finance and host of the ‘Islamic Finance’ podcast. We speak about the issues with the current paradigms of capitalism and socialism and how greater thinking on Islamic economics needs to take place.

Writer and activist Iyad El-Baghdadi join us this week to discuss his valuable experience and analysis on the Arab Spring, as well as his forecast for the years ahead. Iyad’s perspective is critical if we are to learn the lessons from the last decade.

Islamic theologian and scholar Dr. Yasir Qadhi joins us this week to discuss the current crisis in France, how we should defend the honour of the Messenger of Allah (SAW), the position of minority communities and the role of scholarship in politics. Inevitably the thorny subject of scholars and despotic rulers comes up, and Dr. Qadhi gives his frank opinion on the matter.

Lecturer and academic Mohammed Hannini joins us this week to discuss the elections in the United States, the chaotic state of politics in the country, and how American Muslims engage with it all. Brother Mohammed has a B.A. in Islamic History and a Masters in Islamic Studies with a focus in Fiqh.

Palestinian academic, author and activist Dr. Azzam Tamimi joins us this week to discuss the future for the Arab world. Has the Arab spring turned into a deep winter? Have the autocrats won? Do we now see a failure of Islamic movements across the world and if so, what will replace it?

Speaker and commentator Dr. Osman Bakhach joins us to discuss the tenth anniversary of the Arab Spring. How did the widespread uprising that reverberated across Muslim capitals go so horribly wrong? And what lessons can we learn from the mistakes made?

Public Interest Law Scholar and co-founder of the Black Dawah Network Hakeem Muhammad joins us again this week to discuss Malcolm X, distilling the real man from the fiction created after his death. Today what he stood for has become unclear, as his image and message is co-opted into political agendas that, if Malcolm were alive today, he would likely find questionable.

Author, campaigner, ex-Guantanamo prisoner and Director of Outreach at CAGE, Moazzam Begg joins us this week. We discuss the 20 year anniversary of terrorism legislation introduced by Tony Blair, it’s impact on the Muslim community and how it has refashioned our relationship with institutions of government and the way we are perceived by wider society.

Professor and expert in comparative economics from Jerusalem, Dr Abul Izz Abdul Salam joins us this week to continue our Islamic Economics series. In this episode we discuss property ownership from the Capitalist, Socialist and Islamic viewpoints.

Scholar, public speaker, founder of Safina Society Dr. Shadee Elmasry joins us again to discuss division within the Muslim community. How does Islam help us to navigate our differences? What makes a valid shari’ opinion? How do we know whether a scholar or commentator is sincere to sources of Islam? How do we forbid wrong while transmitting respect and not exacerbating divisions? What does it mean to be smart in conveying Islam?

Co-host of the Mind Heist podcast and creator of Seera Masters, Ameen joins us this week to discuss “the crisis of masculinity” and what Islam expects from a man. He is in the process of writing a book on the subject, and his conclusions have challenged his own preconceptions.

Writer, commentator and director at the Religious Freedom Institute Ismail Royer joins us to discuss Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option from an Islamic viewpoint. The Benedict Option was named after the 6th-century monk Benedict of Nursia, who after witnessing the depravity of the dying days of Rome, opted to flee the city to maintain his commitment to God.

Professor in the Department of International Relations at the International University of Sarajevo Dr. Joseph Kaminski joins us this week to discuss the 25 year anniversary of the genocide of over 8000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia - a “sacrifice” by the EU, UN and USA for a greater goal of peace.

Executive Director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Imam Dawud Walid argues that our community needs to tread carefully when developing lines of collaboration with progressive movements, lest we are utilised for problematic political and cultural aims. We discuss how activism has to be rooted in an Islamic notion of justice and using means that accord with the prophetic sunnah.

We have two guests on the show this week. Sister Farhat Amin is writing a book addressing the rights of women in Islam and the reality of feminism. Author and Imam from the United States Ustadh Iyad Hilal also joins us to discuss the long colonial history behind the politicisation of women's dress and how to view the hijab from the shari’ah.

Human Rights advocate and researcher Eeman Abbasi joins Sister Farhat Amin this week to discuss her brilliant piece for the online magazine Traversing Tradition, “Hijab: Not my Body, Not my Choice”. This is an episode from our sister podcast, Smart Muslima.

Public Interest Law Scholar and co-founder of the Black Dawah Network Hakeem Muhammad joins us this week to discuss the structural conditions that enable and safeguard those that treat their fellow man as subhuman. He argues that the structural racism that plagues American life comes from a broader ideology of Liberalism that shows disdain for non-European cultures and creeds.