The Mad Mamluks

Shaykh Amir, SIM and Mahin sit down with Irtiza Hasan who is the founding manager of AlMaghrib Institute.  Today AlMaghrib is known as the largest in person Islamic studies institute with regular classes in over 40 cities across the world.  Over a decade ago, Irtiza took a two year break from his oil and gas career to partner with Shaykh Muhammad AlShareef and build the institute from its humble beginnings in College Park, Maryland. During his term, he helped take AlMaghrib to major cities across the US and Canada.  He remained an AlMaghrib board member until 2014.  Irtiza shares with us personal experiences of starting new classes in cities, sectarian and ideological issues that were dealt with and having to deal with the perspective that they are a profiteering organization due to them charging students money for sacred knowledge.

SIM and Mahin sit down with Maria Ahmad who represents BookAMuslim.com Maria Ahmad is the co-founder of Book A Muslim. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Ohio State University, and then obtained her Master’s degree in Higher Education from Northern Illinois University. Her involvement in campus activities and student groups as an undergraduate student led her to finding the field of higher education and student affairs. Studying and working in this field led to the idea of creating an agency for showcasing Muslim speakers and talent for colleges and other organizations. She now serves as the Coordinator of Student Activities and Chief Diversity Officer at Indiana University Kokomo. She lives in Kokomo, Indiana with her husband and daughter, Sarina. Book A Muslim is an agency of authentic American Muslims sharing their experiences with you through engaging and thought-provoking performances and lectures. Help Fund Book A Muslim at the link below! https://www.launchgood.com/bookamuslim Facebook: www.facebook.com/bookamuslim bookamuslim@gmail.com Twitter: @bookamuslim www.bookamuslim.com (775) 372-7462  

Osman Aslam is the founder and creative director of Franc Lloyd Custom Menswear.  Prior to founding Franc Lloyd, he worked at a leading architectural and engineering firm where he worked on many innovative and high profile projects not limited to:  The Jay Pritzer Pavilion, Rock n Roll McDonalds and Trump Tower Chicago.  He holds a bachelors degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a double major in Political Science and Biology. Currently, Osman is working on a Masters degree with a focus on the history and evolution of sartorial practices.  He also speaks to companies and working professionals on the importance of strategic attire. http://www.franclloyd.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrancLloyd/ Twitter: @FrancLloyd contact@franclloyd.com 655 W Irving Park Road Suite 2209 Chicago, IL 60613

The Mad Mamluks sit down with Dr. Jerry Hionis, a professor of economics at Widener University. We discussed the inspiration he finds in Dune Novels and his passion for the guitar.  We talk about concepts regarding Islamic economic theory and an analysis of the recent exit of the UK from the European Union. Dr. Hionis holds a Ph.D from Temple University. His primary research areas include: Conflict theory with an emphasis on civil conflicts and Warlord-like competition Islamic economic and financial theory The economic and market structure of the comic book entertainment industry. He is a contributing writer to Muslim Money Guide. www.muslimmoneyguide.com Http://www.muslimmoneyguide.com/author/jerryhionis/ His personal website is: http://jerryhionis.weebly.com/ Twitter: @JerryHionis

Hosts: Shaykh Amir Saeed, Syed Imran Muneer (SIM), Mahin Islam Shaykh Hamzah and Shaykh Amir reminisce about their time in Mauritania as students, Shaykh Hamzah also talks about his teacher Murabit Al-Hajj, later we talk about the Pokemon craze, and the Hajj. Currently Shaykh Hamzah is travelling with Al Haram International Hajj group.  If you're interested in joining them you can reach them at the link below. info@alharaminternational.com http://alharaminternational.com Twitter: @HamzahMaqbul SoundCloud: Hamzah wald Maqbul

Hosts: Shaykh Amir Saeed, Syed Imran Muneer (SIM), Murtuza (Mort) Vocab: Nasheed: Arabic term for a song that utilizes voice as the sole instrument or voice accompanied with a percussion instrument. Omar Esa is a nasheed artist from England, who uses only his voice in all his nasheeds and recites nasheeds in mainly the English, Urdu and Arabic languages. His nasheeds are very versatile thanks to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala), as he can write both contemporary and traditional sounding nasheeds Alhamdullilah. Omar Esa writes, composes and sings all his own material Alhamdullilah. Omar Esa was previously an RnB/Pop singer in 2011 and was guided by Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala) to leave that world and start recording nasheeds with no instruments in his nasheeds at all. His new journey began with a simple dream, to show the world the beauty of Islam through his nasheeds In'shaa'Allah. Omar Esa is a strong advocate for voice only nasheeds and has coined the phrase 'Anything music can do, so can the voice'! Within nasheeds he has created his own genre called 'Islam and blues' (InB) because he says he came from Rhythm and blues (RnB), so now he's replaced the Rhythm with Islam. His debut album called 'Omar Esa' was released in November 2012. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1omaresa/ Twitter: @1omaresa www.omaresa.com

Sheikh Amir, SIM, Mahin, Murtuza sit down and discuss Muhammad Ali, Orlando and Ramadan. E-mail us your comments, feedback and questions at TheMadMamluks@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @TheMadMamluks Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/themadmamluks Love an episode? Hate it? Feel like we missed something?   Join the discussion on Reddit!  www.reddit.com/r/themadmamluks

Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul talks to The Mad Mamluks about Islamic Relief USA, Zakat and his journey in seeking knowledge. Shaykh Hamzah Maqbul is originally from the West Coast and currently resides in the Chicagoland area. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Washington in Seattle. After graduation Shaykh Hamzah went on to pursue traditional Islamic studies, which took him to a number of countries, including Syria and Egypt where he studied the Arabic language, Morocco, Mauritania, and UAE, where he studied the madhab of Imam Malik, grammar, usul al-hadith, and the two renditions of the qira’ah of Imam Nafi’, Warsh and Qalun, and finally Pakistan where he had the opportunity to study tafsir, usul al-hadith, hadith, ‘ilm al-rijal and Hanafi fiqh. All of these studies culminated in him receiving an ijazat al-tadris, literally meaning “a license to teach” which is the equivalent in Pakistani Islamic seminaries to a MA in Arabic and Islamic studies, as well as an unbroken chain of transmission by which to narrate the hadith of such books as the Muwatta of Imam Malik, the Sihah al-Sittah (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i and Ibn Majah), and the Sharh Ma’ani al-Athar of Imam al-Tahawi. Currently Shaykh Hamzah is employed full time at Islamic Relief where he is involved in their fundraising efforts. http://www.islamic-relief.org/ Twitter: @HamzahMaqbul SoundCloud: Hamzah wald Maqbul

Abu Noor AbdulMalik Ryan is a Chicago native whose reading of African American history and specifically the life of Malcolm X led to his accepting Islam in 1994.  He was one of the founding members and is a past president of the Board of Directors of the Inner City Muslim Action Network, better known as IMAN.  After receiving his undergraduate degree from DePaul University, he went on to obtain his law degree from Georgetown University in Washington DC.  He spent 14 years working as an attorney for children in Chicago's foster care system before he transitioned into his current full time role as the Assistant Director for Religious Diversity at DePaul University.   AbdulMalik's writings can be viewed on MuslimMatters: http://muslimmatters.org/author/abdul-malik-ryan/ Prior to that he had his own blog which is still online: https://abunooralirlandee.wordpress.com/ He can also be reached via the following means online Official DePaul page: http://offices.depaul.edu/student-affairs/about/staff-directory/Pages/University%20Ministry/abdul-malik-ryan.aspx Twitter handle:  @chaplainabunoor Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DePaul-Muslim-Chaplain-Abdul-Malik-Ryan-218609871526115/ Personal Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/abunoor.ryan?fref=ts

Mike Swies works professionally as a Speech Language Pathologist serving the communicative needs of young children with developmental delays and adults with communications disorders.  He was co-founder of Project Downtown Chicago. As a lead organizer for Project Downtown Chicago he distributed food and lead youth activities on a weekly basis in the inner city.  He is currently serving Ta'leef Collective (Chicago Branch) as Convert Care Coordinator. Mike Swies can be reached at: mswies@taleefcollective.org @mikeswies