Many times people find the hadith tradition very cumbersome to navigate. Whether it is understanding how to engage with hadith in a modern context, what terms such as "strong" or "weak" mean, or how a non-scholar should engage with the tradition. In this episode, Nihal interviews Shaykh Dr. Issam Eido. He is a world-class expert on the study of hadith. This podcast covers Dr. Issam's studies in Syria, his journey to America, as well as about his speciality on this topic. He discusses the...

As the United Nations has reiterated multiple times, Israel is in violation of international law through its settlements. The Israeli government’s disproportionate response to Hamas’s October 7th attack has resulted in the United Nations declaring that  “there is an ongoing campaign by Israel resulting in crimes against humanity in Gaza.” They describe the situation in Gaza as an “occupation [that] needs to end” in which “there must be reparation, restitution and reconstruction, towards full...

This week marked the 28th commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide. In this episode, Nihal speaks to Dr. Ermin Sinanović, a political scientist who is an expert on Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also trained as an Islamic scholar from the International Islamic University of Malaysia. Nihal and Dr. Ermin discussed the state of Muslims in Bosnia after the break up of Yugoslavia, Serbian and Croat aggression against the Bosniak Muslim population, and what the future looks like for Bosnia. They...

Knowing our history as Muslims is imperative when it comes to knowing our narrative. The importance of understanding our collective Muslim history is directly correlated with how we engage with our faith. Do we accept our sources to be true and telling of our past, or should we trust orientalist sources to recall our own narrative? In this episode, Abu Ayyub Marulanda discusses the importance of engaging with Islamic history to recall our past after living with historical amnesia. While...

This episode covers the macro and micro elements associated with producing deliberate communities. How do Muslims construct deliberate communities? How has industrialization lead to the pandemic of loneliness on a grand scale? How do we curate culture organically? How does Islam function in an urban vs. suburban setting? These are some of the questions that Imam Ahmad Deeb and Ahmed Askary discussed with Nihal Khan. They also touched on how Istanbul is a microcosm of the problems of the...

Meet Ali Kheeler, one of the founders of Al Firdaus Ensemble, a Spain-based musical band which combines between classical, western, Moroccan, Andalusi, and Syrian styles in their music. Known for their Celtic Salawat and Madha Morisco, Nihal sat with Ali and spoke about spiritual expression through art and how to bring people together through art. They also spoke about their new album "Shifa" and the motivations behind its production. This episode will also feature some of their songs from...

Death can come upon anyone at anytime. Though, indeed a saddening event, how we prepare for dying may ease the pangs of it on those closest to us. Nihal spoke with Chaplain Sondos Kholoki about how the Muslim community can better prepare for death communally. She spoke about her experiences working as a hospital chaplain, her experiences helping others grieve their loved ones, and how we can frame death in a way wherein we can realistically prepare for it. As of recent, Chaplain Sondos also...

Recorded during the COVID lockdown in 2021, Nihal and Alman met with Omar Usman, a Dallas-based writer and thinker. Omar helped found Qalam Institute, MuslimMatters.org, and a host of other organizations. In this episode, Omar spoke about the need of being a continuous learner, evolving as a community, and how Muslims can harness the power of social media to meet their spiritual needs. Omar also brings up how his path was influenced by the late Shaykh Muhammad AlShareef and his mentorship...

Islam wants us to believe with the entirety of our hearts through reason, logic, and questions. It is not from the Islamic tradition to shun those that question their faith. Rather, it is a welcomed feat. How do we construct our belief in God? Should we question our faith? How do I know if Islam is the truth? In this episode, Nihal met with Shaykh Hamza Karamali of Basira Education in Istanbul. They spoke about the above topics, as well as how the modern era challenges the ability of many...

Nihal sat down with Shaykha Iman Badawi, a female scholar of Islamic Law. They spoke about raising the quality of scholarship in the Muslim community, her experience of studying Islam throughout the world, how knowledge exists at the nexus of community, pedagogy, and methodology, and the Fitra-Faith dissonance that the Muslim community is currently facing.  Shaykha Iman Badawi is the founder of the Fitra Foundation and a scholar of Ḥanafī Fiqh and Uṣūl. She holds a bachelor’s degree in...

Nihal sat down with Imam Zaid Shakir, and spoke to him about his journey to Islam, navigating community in the 1970s and 1980s, and how Muslims can cultivate an intellectual framework within America. Imam Zaid also reflected on the challenges he sees ahead for the greater Muslim community, the need to have a united voice, and also discusses what he is reading these days. Imam Zaid Shakir is an American Muslim scholar and co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California. He teaches...

In this episode, we talk to about how Shias and Sunnis can better learn to interact with each other. Nihal sat down with Asad Dandia, Naqi Haider, and Faiyaz Jaffer in Boston before the pandemic. They spoke about how Shias and Sunnis can navigate difficult conversations about their beliefs, how they can work together to push back against Islamophobia, and how we can elevate the quality of discussions between each other. Follow Asad Dandia @DandiaAsad Follow Naqi Haider @naqih Follow Faiyaz...

In this episode, Nihal interviews Todd Fine. A graduate of Harvard and a PhD candidate at the City University of New York, Todd is a New York City based activist and historian. Todd and Nihal spoke about his research on the 19th century Syrian community in New York City, the ideas of Samuel Huntington and Edward Said, and Arab immigration to America. They also discussed Lebanese/Syrian-American writers Kahlil Gibran and Ameen Rihani, Ottoman graves in Massachusetts, and why people should be...

Faith in Fine Print is making a return with new episodes! This week Nihal sat down with Abdul-Rehman Malik, a lecturer at Yale Divinity School, Director of the Muslim Leadership Lab at Yale, and host of the This Being Human podcast. He's an accomplished journalist, academic, and host of several audio documentaries. He  Nihal asked AR about his travels all over the world, why people are afraid of "stress testing" their faith, empowering leadership, kids in the mosque, and how important it is...

After a brief hiatus, Faith in Fine Print is finally back! This time, we're talking about marriage, relationships, and love. These have always been hot topics in the Muslim community. Alman and Nihal had the honor of hosting Dr. Suzy Ismail on Faith in Fine Print! They discussed how being in a relationship has become glamorized through social media, as well as how to meet people for marriage--be it through friends, family, rishta aunties, or Muslim marriage apps. Dr. Suzy then spoke about...

Faith in Fine Print met up with Rowaida Abdelaziz, a journalist who reports on Islamophobia for the Huffington Post. Alman and Nihal spoke to Rowaida about her life growing up between the United States and Egypt, how her academic path began with potentially pursuing medicine, but eventually choosing journalism, and her path to the Huffington Post as a lead reporter for the Islamophobia Tracker. We also spoke about the trends of Islamophobia in America, how Muslim women swimming has become a...

Nihal and Alman sat down with Batouly Camara--the only Muslim woman to play basketball for the UCONN Huskies! They spoke about how playing sports motivated Batouly to take her faith seriously, her life journey from New York City, Kentucky, and then to Connecticut, her meetings with Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, and her international non-profit work. Batouly Camara plays small forward for the UCONN Huskies women's basketball team, the most successful women's basketball team in the...

Alman and Nihal talk to Dr. Hooman Keshavarzi, the founder and executive director of Khalil Center, a psychological and spiritual community wellness center advancing the professional practice of psychology rooted in Islamic principles. They spoke about the taboos surrounding mental health in the Muslim community,  the link between trauma and colonialism, how mental health has been measured in Islamic history and scripture, as well as how mental health services in past Muslim societies were...

Imam Sohaib Sultan is the Muslim Chaplain at Princeton University. In this unique episode, Alman and Nihal discuss Imam Sohaib's journey from journalism to chaplaincy, his work with the Muslim community at Princeton, and the importance of compassion and care-giving. They speak on the  role writing and storytelling play in preserving the narratives of Muslims, encapsulating the experiences of our elders, and embracing culture instead of pushing it away. NOTE: Shortly after recording this...

Dubbed the “Snapchat Imam,” Alman and Nihal sat down with Shaykh Suhaib Webb to speak about his life and his work in the American Muslim community at the Islamic Center of New York University. They discuss the benefits and pitfalls of teaching Islam and experiencing spirituality and scholarship in the age of social media, embracing vulnerability as a public Muslim figure, and the importance of good company. Suhaib William Webb is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service of NYU’s...

Episode One is a conversation on how people can better cope with and understand pandemics in the modern age. Nihal speaks with Dr. Azfar Chak about the on-the-ground situation of COVID-19, what healthcare workers are dealing with, what medical precautions people should be taking, and what the world should expect in the future.  Shaykh Saaleh speaks to us about how Muslim societies in the past have reacted to pandemics, how faith can empower those going through a tough time, and how people can...

Episode Zero is a discussion on the ways people engage with their faith. Alman and Nihal talk about how people hold biases vs. beliefs, how to navigate differences in communities, becoming conflict-comfortable in the face of disagreement, and what they are planning to discuss in the upcoming episodes. We also get a chance to hear about the unique backgrounds of the co-hosts. Alman is a singer-songwriter who was mentored by Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) and has performed throughout the...