Dr Darryl Li is a practicing lawyer and anthropologist who has written a brilliant work on global jihad mobilisation in Bosnia. His book, titled The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity, challenges the prevailing narrative – and attempts to ask more searching and important questions. Joining us is Professor Ovamir Anjum, who reflects on Dr Li’s work and the broader themes that come from it.

We invite back Dr Shadee Elmasry, Imam and community leader who has worked tirelessly at the local level to develop strong communities premised upon an Islamic framework. We ask Dr Shadee to spell out the importance of communities in Islam and how the modern maladies that come from individualism can be remedied.

This week, we talk to Dr Alex Thurston, a specialist in the region, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati to explain why the Sahel is important. Alex has written extensively about the Sahel and is an authority, regularly contributing to reports and discussions.

In this second part we take a look at the Ottoman ulema in the later period, the controversies surrounding the printing press and coffee and we explore the role of the ulema after Turkey’s secular turn.

In this first part we take a look at the Ottoman ulema in the early period, the issue of the 'caliphate', Sultan Fatih's ilmiyah reforms and Sultan Selim's defeat of the Mamluks and the response of the Arab ulema and the independence of the ulema system.

Dr Shadi Hamid discusses American liberalism, the trends towards nativism, exemplified in the near re-election of Donald Trump last year but also how he reconciles his liberal worldview with his Islamic faith.

We have brought together two Islamic thinkers and scholars that have been working for some time on rethinking Islamic governance. Ustadh Iyad Hilal runs the al-Arqam Academy in California and is a regular imam and khateeb at Masajids across his state. Kamal Hussein is a lecturer and legal expert who recently delivered a paper to academics and scholars on ‘al Sultan-al Ummah’ the authority of the Ummah

This week we bring together two commentators and analysts to make sense of the regional and international dimensions to the crisis. Sami Hamdi is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Interest. Ibrahim Moiz is a writer on South Asia with considerable insight into Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The project to reform Islam has certainly become a popular pursuit, especially of western-based think tanks and policy institutes. This week we bring together two scholars, each on either side of the reform debate, Mustafa Akyol and Dr Ovamir Anjum.

This week we have probably one of the most learned authorities on the subject. Professor Joseph Kaminski from the University of Sarajevo has recently published a really important academic work on the subject, titled Islam, Liberalism, and Ontology.

In this episode, we talk to Dr Yakoob Ahmed, an Ottoman specialist on decline and what he calls a collective Muslim amnesia as Ottoman history is erased from our lives.

In this episode, we talk to Ustadh Iyad Hilal from al-Arqam Institute about how Muslims should understand this Masjid and its precincts.

Farhat Amin speaks to Zara Choudhary founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sacred Footsteps. Zara talks about her recent article "Unveiling the Algerienne, French colonial photography", which looks at the central obsession of French colonialism to unveil Muslim women.

This week we discuss the politics of Palestine with the veteran commentator Dr Azam Tamimi. Dr Tamimi is no stranger to the debate, he has thoughtfully and with consistency raised the issues of Palestine at immense personal cost.

Mohamedou Slahi’s period of unlawful detention in Guantanamo Bey has recently been portrayed in the film ‘The Mauritanian’. His resilience and sense of human dignity comes through in the movie. In this episode, we reached out to Mohamedou to find out what gave him the ability to remain strong throughout his ordeal?

This week we speak to Ustadh Nuh Saunders, who has given a lifetime of service to inculcating a love for the book of Allah. His passion for the Qur’an can be seen through his social media interactions, in a recent post he talked of his desire to build a Qur’an school in every black inner-city neighbourhood in America.

Ustadh Iyad Hilal talks through all the evidences on the matter of moon sighting and discusses issues of using calculations, local vs global sighting, what is a witness and following countries such as Saudi Arabia exclusively.

Author, campaigner, ex-Guantanamo prisoner and Director of Outreach at CAGE, Moazzam Begg joins us again this week to discuss ‘The Mauritanian’, a new film that follows the gripping story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Slahi was falsely accused of links to Al-Qaeda and without recourse to due process, ended up spending 14 long years in Camp X-Ray.

Dr Asad Zaman is currently serving on the Economic Advisory Committee of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the State Bank of Pakistan. He has a unique view of modern economics and argues that capitalism is a house of cards masquerading as objective truths.

In today’s rather poisoned landscape, kings and presidents endow scholarly positions through patronage and western liberal states seek to promote a ‘reformation’ from within. We speak to scholar and academic Dr. Osman Umarji on Maqasid al Shari’ah, understanding the objectives of the Shari'ah.