Boys In The Cave

Nationalism, Khashoggi, Syria, Geo-politics of Turkey and lets not forget the infamous Maajid Nawaz & Quilliam Foundation. We touch all bases in this monster episode featuring our dear Bangali Brother Dilly Hussain! Dilly Hussain is the deputy editor of British Muslim news site 5Pillars. He is also a blogger for the Huffington Post UK, a freelance contributor for Al Jazeera English, the Ceasefire Magazine, the Middle East Eye and the Foreign Policy Journal. Hosts : Tanzim, Rafael & Josh Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: info@boysinthecave.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Check out our website - boysinthecave.com Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave Twitter - @boysinthecave Become a Patreon today! https://www.patreon.com/boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dilly Hussain's Online Visibility: https://www.facebook.com/dilly.hussain88/ https://www.facebook.com/dillysdesk/ Twitter: @DillyHussain88 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our dear brother Ahmed Karat joins the Boys In The Cave. We delve into archery in the Islamic tradition, veganism, meat consumption, hunting, and Ottoman history. Ahmed Karat is the President of the Maydaan Archery Club Australia. Hosts : Tanzim & Josh Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: info@boysinthecave.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Check out our website - boysinthecave.com Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave Twitter - @boysinthecave Become a Patreon today! https://www.patreon.com/boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out Maydaan Archery's page! https://www.facebook.com/maydaanarchery/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Ghilan returns back home to the Cave! We delve into veganism, what is true reality, how rationality and science alone cannot lead to real Truth, why Allah created Hell-fire, and the state of the Muslim world in today's day and age. Dr. Ghilan is a neuroscientist, Islamic lecturer, YouTuber, podcaster, writer and is currently studying Medicine at The University of Queensland. Check out our video of this episode on YouTube! Hosts : Tanzim, Rafael & Josh Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: info@boysinthecave.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Check out our website - boysinthecave.com Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave Twitter - @boysinthecave Become a Patreon today! https://www.patreon.com/boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Ghilan's Online Visibility: AndalusOnline.org - Join the Andalus Book Club! Support Dr Ghilan on his patreon. https://www.patreon.com/MohamedGhilan Search for "Mohamed Ghilan" in iTunes and subscribe to his podcast. Twitter: @MohamedGhilan Dr. Mohamed Ghilan is a Canadian Muslim originally born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to parents from Sudanese and Yemeni backgrounds. He attended high school after immigrating to Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia. Eventually, Mohamed moved to Victoria where he obtained a B.Sc. with a major in microbiology (honours) and a minor in business administration. In 2007, Mohamed began his full-time studies in the Islamic Tradition after having made connections with several Muslim scholars. He has been consistently travelling over the past years to spend intensive extended periods studying various aspects of the Islamic sciences relating to Theology and Creed, Jurisprudence, Hadith, Foundational Principles (Usool), Arabic, Poetry, spiritual purification, and Qur'anic sciences. Mohamed has previously given lectures on the biography of the Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him, Fundamentalism in Islam, Islam and science, the message of Islam, Jesus in the Qur'an, in addition to others. He has also taught an introductory course on Islamic Jurisprudence according to the Maliki School as well as an introductory course on Islamic Theology ('Aqeedah). In 2015, Mohamed earned a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Victoria, where he studied synaptic plasticity in Huntington's disease, as well as the effects and molecular mechanisms of stress on the brain in Fragile X syndrome. He hopes his research can eventually be used to develop new therapies can be used to assist individual with movement disorders or intellectual disabilities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [11:00] Introducing Dr Mohamed Ghilan [12:30] Dr Ghilan's time after touching down in Sydney [14:00] Some Sahaba didn't slaughter meat on Eid-ul-Adha [14:47] Dr Mohamed Ghilan's article on Veganism [15:00] Separation of the legal from the ethical when it comes to slaughtering meat in Islam. [16:30] Taking on the attributes of what we eat [18:00] The Prophet PBUH's relationship with animals and meat [21:30] As a Muslim how do you respond to an Atheist who says there is no hidden meaning to anything in regards to events that play out in life? [26:00] Nature of quality and quantity [29:00] Nature of knowledge being bound by time, space and science being only an instrumentalising tool. [31:00] Truth based on experiential knowledge. [36:00] Religious people are the worst salespeople [36:30] Mind is powerful that it can rationalise something that we already don't believe in. [37:23] Essence of rationality, rationality can be welded to different ends, can rationality be purely be used to find Truth? [40:00] Why is there so much hype of science in the modern world and the nature of technology. [48:40] Why did Allah create the universe when he already knew only a few people would be Believers and go Jannah whereas the rest will be going to Jahannam? Doesn't that mean he is unjust? [56:00] How should Muslims engage with the society, civic, political system? [1:06:00] Muslims need to be more creative in regards to how they approach the world.

The Mad Mamluks from America invite Tanzim & Josh onto their podcast to make a special announcement!

It is tough being a student of knowledge whilst dealing with the modern world. So we talk to Ustadh Suved about how to seek ilm in today's day and age, juggling the 9-5 work hustle in the process, differences between the traditional Islamic way of seeking knowledge vs. the university scene and how a layman Muslim can gain more rewards than The Sahaba. Suved studies Commerce at University of Sydney, is a teacher of Hadith sciences. He is prominent in the Sydney MSA circles giving talks and lectures at Universities. Most importantly he is a dear friend of ours. Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: boysinthecave@gmail.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave Donate to our patreon account: patreon.com/boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suved's Online Visibility: https://www.facebook.com/Suved.Siddiqui -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shownotes [2:00] The Work Life hustle [5:00] How did Suved come to the point of studying traditional Islam? [6:15] Introducing Suved [10:30] Suved's journey about learning biographies of the Scholars [15:20] Is the term "aalim" given to people more easily in this day and age compared to the past? [19:50] How can you proper study Islamic knowledge whilst doing so in the Modern day and age alongside the 9-5 work life hustle for e.g. [26:30] Is the best way to teach Islamic knowledge through the traditional way (i.e. knee to knee), and if so how can we implement this style on a wider scale in today's day and age? [31:22] Is Islamic knowledge decreasing due to the university style of knowledge being transmitted? [33:39] How would we encourage people to get into Islamic tradition? [39:00] Where should you go to acquaint yourself with the Islamic tradition? [43:53] Is it permissible for a Ilm seeker to put a pause on seeking knowledge as life gets hectic? [50:57] How big of a role is rote memorisation in studying Islamic sciences? [55:55] If you want to be studying the Deen overseas in what ways can we fund it to make it happen? [1:02:00] The tough lives of a shaykh [1:08:00] availability of resources online which makes more people intrigued about studying the deen [1:12:00] Can a lay Muslim get immense rewards compared to a scholar of Islam? Our experiences being layman Muslim in the workplace. [1:39:00] What do we aim to achieve as a goal after we have acquired the Islamic knowledge we need?

How we look at the world can be broken into power dynamics. We talk with Yassir Morsi about racism, power structures, feminism and oppression. Yassir Morsi's main area of research is the critical analysis of contemporary racism and Islamophobia. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian. He was a lecturer at RMIT University in Melbourne and now he is currently lecturer at La Trobe University. His recent book which he released is titled 'Radical Skin, Moderate Masks'. Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: boysinthecave@gmail.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave Donate to our patreon account: patreon.com/boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yassir Morsi's Online Visibility: Twitter: @YMorsi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shownotes [2:00] Introduction of Yassir Morsi [2:48] Boys In The Caves' experience with Yassir [3:30] Muslim community adapting and having conversations [5:00] Tanzim's experience with Yassir Morsi's ideas on Samarqand Facebook page and being exposed to different ideas when getting into the Deen. [8:15] Why do you think racism is such a central issue for muslims to be aware of and understand thoroughly? [11:45] In Yassir's book 'Radical Skin, Moderate Masks' the terms 'apollonian' and the 'dionysian', the two different elements to how we see racism, are discussed. Dionysian is the brute force of the europeans subjugating the rest of the world, and apollonian is how they present themselves as beyond racism now where all it is good, when it's dyonisian violence that created the societies we live in today. [14:30] Racism is modernity. The condition of the world is racism. [15:50] How does racism trickle down to Muslims? Is that what is called Islamophobia? [17:00] Why do you think race is given such importance to uncover the oppressions of the world? E.g. people may say economic reasons may the reason for certain oppressions in the world. [19:35] In regards to power isn't expansionist Jihad by Muslims be the same as colonialism by the Europeans? [22:20] Some people try to make all violence throughout history the same e.g. comparing Ottomans to the Europeans who colonised lands. [24:25] People feeding into the identity politics. [26:20] Dynamics of violence in a Muslim context. [30:00] The effects of poorly run countries leading to worser conditions for people. [31:30] Being short sighted and blaming countries current climate on themselves rather than looking at the structures that were put in place. [36:30] Joe Rogan talking about inbreeding amongst Muslims being the reason for ISIS coming about. [37:30] Muslims falling back on "racism not being part of the religion" [42:00] Making statements about how Islam gave rights to women but not actually doing anything in practice to live up to that statement. [51:10] To what extent can Muslim brothers use theories external to Islam? [56:20] Just because concepts stem from the West does it mean we can't use it in Islam? [1:00:00] Double standards when it comes to policing Brothers and then the sisters in Islam [1:03:57] Differentiating people who speak about feminism like Daniel H with people like Yassir Morsi. [1:14:50] We hear all these terms such as conservative muslim, fundamental muslim, or moderate/good muslim used by non-muslims to frame us. What are the implications of these terms - like we know we shouldn't use them, because that's how they define us. [1:16:57] If you could hang out with three people, who influenced you during your studies, in a Cave who would it be?

It seems like political events cause huge divisions in the ummah. So we talk with Shaykh Omar El-Banna about how we can reconcile political events. He also clarifies the whole takfir incident that happened with him. Shaykh Omar completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in Engineering, attained in ijazah in teaching the Quran, studied for 8 years under shaykhs in Egypt, and also graduated from Al-Azhar University in Cairo from the Faculty of Shariah, Islamic Jurisprudence. Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: boysinthecave@gmail.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shaykh Omar's Online Visibility: https://www.facebook.com/Sheikh-Omar-El-Banna-212684098797820/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shownotes [1:00] Intro to Shaykh Omar's life [4:00] Shaykh Omar taking Al-Azhar University to court [8:55] The nature of Al-Azhar in regards to be controlled by the government [12:00] How should Muslims react to Muslim political divisions? [17:00] How do we reconcile groups with ideological difference like HT and Muslim Brotherhood? [22:00] Does finding the Haqq in regards to politics boil down to sincerity? [27:00] Does each group have a "portion" of the straight path? [28:00] Tanzim mentions an example of cultish behaviour due to being affiliated with a certain group. [32:00] Can cultish behaviour be excused on the basis of "taqlid"? [34:00] What should our actions be when we witness injustice by the government? Should we stay quiet and obey the state or rebel? [35:25] Are scholars perhaps justifying injustice by the government? [40:00] Tanzim witnessing the different Islamic groups as a youth and the different ideologies that they bring to the table. [45:00] Describing the incident where a person takfired Shaykh Omar [56:00] If you had to hang with 3 people from history who would it be?

Dr. Samir Mahmoud and the team discuss variety of topics related to Islamic architecture, aesthetics, the modern world and philosophy. Dr. Samir Mahmoud, PhD. is a graduate of the University of Cambridge (2012) in Islamic Studies. He is currently Assistant Professor of Architectural History & Theory at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Between 2013-2016 he was Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He was Postdoctoral Fellow at the Khalili Centre for Research in Art & Material Culture, University of Oxford (2012-2013) and Agha Khan Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT (2012). Dr Samir is also director of "The Living Turath Initiative." Living Turath (Living Tradition in English) is an educational initiative that enables Muslims to discover the wisdom of the Islamic tradition today. Its mission is to educate Muslims on the continued relevance and value of traditional Islamic perspectives and practices for their day-to-day lives. To this end, we organize educational workshops, lectures, & retreats. Dr Samir's interests vary widely and include: art & architecture (Islamic and Western), philosophy (Islamic, Neoplatonism, and Continental), Islamic studies, urban & landscape design, and psychology (particularly the dialogue between Islamic and Western 'therapeutics of the soul'). He has lectured in the UK, Lebanon, & Australia. Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: boysinthecave@gmail.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Samir Mahmoud Online Visibility: https://www.facebook.com/samir.mahmoudmerabi -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shownotes [6:40] Islam and Sci fi discuss ion – of the tradition of storytelling in east and west; How to reconcile imagination and stories to Islam. [18:00] Islamic Architecture Philosophical cultural shifts [23:00] Kant, philosophical traditional onwards, of modernity forgetting and rejecting history. [25:00] What is architectural modernism – break with the past. [34:00] – Architecture is not neutral – it impacts on your lifestyle, happiness – colours, streets, use of materials, size of spaces. [36:00] – Late twentieth century becomes about how do we bring back what was lost – architecture theorists realise it has not been working. The great transformation (book) - capitalism. Before there was a higher ethics controlling the market, now it is the MARKET that creates those norms and codes and ethical values for us. The challenges of modernity are unique; qualitatively different o all that has come before; [38:30] Quranic discourse as universal [40:00] impulse in Islam towards non- figurative art Islam recognizes the truth of other traditions; other traditions not seen as entirely other. Islam is not just a perspective amongst others; it encompasses all in one – this seen in its artistic impulse; a likewise universality in the abstract. [46:30] No concrete image that could represent Islam Islam did not obliterate other culture's forms Western culture had images at centre; in Islam patterns were central. [51:00] Islam took pride in borrowing from other cultures; there was no need to enclose upon ourselves Post-Mongol invasion – Islam rejuvenated and flourished. [56:30] Anecdotes on Hayban Laksan story and encounter with Germans in Spain. Last of the Mohicans – if we are able to communicate more effectively; by explaining our wisdom to others, instead of asking for our right [1:00:00] - Hadith then Plato and Aristotle; scholars though the Greek had revelation, or through their own fitrah were able to discover their wisdoms Islam brought into the 21st century by its fixation on patterns to convey; instead of image. Islamic architecture in the present: Cambridge Muslim College in the UK. Dome has become part of experience and meaning of what a mosque is – creating that continuity. [1:12:00] Mosques become a nexus for identity. A garden as welcoming; [1:15:00] Mystical geometry. Geometry as the realm behind the physical; instils a state of reverie. More accurate representation of reality – the geometry than what we see in reality; what people now call virtual reality. Virtual means something beyond imagination. No images dictated to you

In this episode, we discuss with Uthman Badar a variety of topics related to Islamic activism, political dimensions of Islam and Khilafa. Uthman Badar is a writer, activist and PhD student of philosophy, and also a student of Arabic and Islam. He is member of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia. Hosts: Tanzim Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: boysinthecave@gmail.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uthman Badar's Online Visibility: https://www.facebook.com/uthbadar/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shownotes [0:00] Podcast - not affiliated with HT, we are talking about the perception of HT prevalent in the media; we have a negative image, of people with big beards - that is the stereotype we see. Preaching something scary; in university scene we see the discussions and panels which are of great benefit, so we see that angle also of the hizbut tahrir personalities. Wassim Doureihi video which went viral on ABC - boosted so much faith in our ability to control the narrative; the constant need to condemn; line of thinking made us realise many things . Playing cricket with uthman; just a regular brother outside of his media personality. Natural that people bring their own personalities and politics to discussion. The media gives us all of it in a negative light regarding HT, as such compelling people to stay away. USYD talk - uthman badar form HT singled out as a radical figure in a negative light without raising any actual discussion. We live in that society where conversation is skewed and not steered towards where it should be. That's sort of a natural consequence of living in this society; normative positions society hold which we have to fight against. Having a debate about God is not too controversial, but about western foreign policy, it will be much more challenging to discuss that in this society - do we stay away or give it the justice it deserves, and what islam demands us to address of it. [10:00] Is islam even part of the political realm? Islamic society in sydney has several realms, of islam becoming about work on yourself, of islam coming to fruition through our internal struggle. Those who try get by in society, doing the obligatory and not too much more. And those who are more politically active and aware. Many more nuances in how muslims go about this, in their particular ways of activism. Different focus of other groups. People can be engaged in various ways; Whole idea of Khilafa - concept we probably haven't heard of living in the West. Are groups of islamic activism a cause of division? How can you claim something to help the whole ummah when the whole ummah is not on board with your vision? Uthman: as long as those efforts are based in something sincere, then its not part of the problem - what is instead is that the vast majority of people don't do much work, in this realm of trying to revive islam. There is nothing much wrong with doing something but in different ways - what counts in the effort. If someone is doing something beyond the personal obligation at a community level, then that is what is good. Collective effort is better. The condition of the ummah wont improve without collective effort. So long as it is sincere and based in islam. Problems exacerbated by the way different groups interact with each other. Going further into the khilafa - what does it mean and how to go about it, and the history behind it. What is it? [18:00] Basically - the vehicle by which islam is implemented; it is not an additional thing for muslims, but the basis. It is the way by which you implement islam completely; The road to implement islam continues after the death of the prophet (saws). The deen in its totality. Not about individuals - who can pray on their own. Certain aspects that individuals can't do - state processes, civil society, etc. Vast area of islam you cannot do without such a state - the contracts in islam, vast majority cannot be done without khilafa - like how interest is haram; the individual cannot do anything about that at a society level unless it is implemented. We live in a time when the dominant paradigms structured our living when we think on individual terms, atomistically, and many muslims have internalised that thinking; of fixing themselves and nothing else. The social and political aspects of islam are considered an afterthought whereas in reality they are central. Historically it was implemented for hundreds of years, over a thousand. [22:00] Do we need to worry about khilafah in our context of comfortable western lives? Don't we just pray and fast and we're good? Allah's pleasure lies in us doing what he wants us to do - and this is how the prophet saws implemented islam. Different contexts require different things for us - the type of test we have changes. We are responsible for what we did or didn't do in trying to strive for the khilafa. Role to pass on - of enjoining good and forbidding evil. We need to learn about our responsibilities here and expand our scope. Learn about political system and strive for it. [26:00] The abyssinian model - our situation in west is not like mecca or medina, but like abyssinia, where we practice only to the extent we can. But that model is a footnote to the prophet's life - not intended as a permanent state, so we can't make an analogy between our situation and them As people only migrated to abyssinia temporarily, to come back to mecca and carry on their Islam. We can't just consider our situation here in the West as here and doing our basic personal prayers and otherwise enjoying life. Society's systems and structures shape us - the colonial invasion of the muslim world. [30:00] European bought ideas of secularism, liberalism - that have influenced us over time. When you migrate to the west its the same thing on steroids, because we are on their own turf. We can't see anything otherwise World structured differently , in how we think. Liberalism discussion. [35:00] Reformation, science, rationality as the starting point for our understanding of RELIGION now. Religion as interior. [40:00] religion fed to us as something that oppresses and limits progress. West sees itself as the only one capable of progress. Religion as limiting everything - the perception. The West Universalizes themselves. They read violence into religion. [46:00] Isis discussion. ISIS makes the discussion more obscure as it is about American foreign policy. [48:00] fulfilling conditions of Khilafa. [51:00] Practicality of the Khilafa in a world dominated by western institutions and states. How can Khilafa fix the ills of the world system already in place? We have to learn our best and understand - but we can't assume all changes to be in our hands. [57:00] How to we reconcile islamic punishments with this age? Certain areas left for people to decide on themselves. European punishments were also cruel not even 100 years ago [1:00:00] Christians in their attempt to reconcile faiths with modern western science. Responsibility to study this and realise the basis of our faith, the difference between science and scientism [1:09:00] The liberal standard cannot be our criteria. Present islam in a way that gives people the best chance. [1:15:00] Jizya and Zakat - jizya can be less than zakat; not unequal as people think it all is, unless you use a western lense. Body of muslim statehood and power - to protect those muslims now who are being persecuted. Needs leadership that is sincere and based in Islam. [1:20:00] Khilafa in the modern day - is it possible, what does it require - material force and public opinions.

Your passion for the faith is important when it comes to dawah. So we talk with the beloved Kamal Saleh in regards to his journey in the dawah scene via content creation, how he "blew up" online, the science behind making videos and also his journey with OnePath Network. Kamal Saleh is a speaker, spoken word poet, director, editor and content creator for Talk Islam & OnePath Network. Hosts : Tanzim & Josh Please email us your comments, feedback, and questions at: boysinthecave@gmail.com, and leave a review and 5-star rating on iTunes! Follow us on: Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/boysinthecave/ Instagram – @boysinthecave Twitter - @boysinthecave Become a Patreon today! https://www.patreon.com/boysinthecave -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kamal Saleh's online presence https://www.facebook.com/kamalsalehkamal Talk Islam https://www.facebook.com/talkislam/ OnePath Network https://www.facebook.com/OnePathNetwork/ Link for 'Last Chance' movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brt6H9MtD2c 'Meaning of Life' video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d16CpWp-ok -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2:15] Tazim and Josh's initial encounter with One Path. Tanzim falls off a cliff in dramatic fashion. [5.55] Introduction to Kamal Saleh. [8:30] Reasons for wanting to do media, MUMSA's footprint and Kamal's journey to Islamic content production. [13:55] The benefits of the Muslim society on the individual. [17:25] Kamal's Youtube videos and the reception to his content. [22:00] 'Meaning of Life'- how and why Kamal did it and the impacts it has had on people. [30:10] Jaclyn Glenn's response to Kamal's video and counter-responses and etiquette in Dawah. [36:45] Kamal's journey to America and his views on America. [39:40] Keeping the ego in check with the newly found fame and doing things for the sake of Allah. [45:25] Kamal on joining One Path and his current activities with One Path. [47:30] Objectives of One Path and engaging with the audience and giving the audience something of benefit to take home. [52:15] The impressive setup of One Path's studio. [54:10] Kamal discusses One Path's movie, "The Last Chance". [1:01:55] On the history of Youtube user 'lebo2196'. [1:05:45] The importance of having a scholar/shaykh over your shoulder when you do what you are passionate at for the Ummah