Faith in Fine Print – Details, episodes & analysis

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 role hadith plays in the historical preservation of the Islam tradition, discussions on the authority and veracity of the hadith reports, and the scholarly depth needed to engage with the hadith tradition at a deep level. Shaykh Dr. Issam Eido is a an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University Department of Religious Studies, as well as a fellow at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul, Türkiye. He was formerly a visiting scholar of Islamic and Arabic Studies at The University of Chicago-Divinity School (2013-2015). Prior to the Syrian uprising, Eido served as a lecturer in the faculty of Islamic Studies in the Department of Quran and Hadith Studies at the University of Damascus. Eido received his Ph.D. from the Department of Quran and Hadith Studies at Damascus University in 2010. -- Faith in Fine Print is hosted by Nihal Khan and is the official podcast of Maktab Academy. @MaktabAcademy www.maktabacademy.net

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 justice for Palestinians” and a “call for prevention of genocide.” Amnesty International has declared that the Israeli government is guilty of “war crimes” due to their mass extermination of civilians in Gaza, and the leveling of entire apartment complexes in their unfolding ethnic cleansing campaign of the Palestinian people. This is in addition to their 280 page report from 2021 concluding that the Israeli government is guilty of apartheid and has violated international law.

In light of all of this, the question arises: what can we do? Nihal sat down with Mohamad Habehh at American Muslims for Palestine to speak about how people througout the world can stand up for the people of Palestine.

Mohamad Habehh serves as the Director of Community Outreach of American Muslims for Palestine NJ Chapter. He is a graduate from Rutgers-Newark where he studied social work and political science and served as the President of the Students for Justice in Palestine student organization on campus. He also serves as an advisor to the city of Hackensack on the access for all board and is an active community member in the Islamic Center of Passaic County where he serves as a volunteer coordinator and educator. Mohamad is currently working on achieving his Master’s degree from Al-Manara institute in Islamic studies.

--

Faith in Fine Print is hosted by Nihal Khan and is the official podcast of Maktab Academy. ⁠⁠www.maktabacademy.net

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 courses on Arabic, law, history, and Islamic spirituality. Follow him at @ImamZaidShakir on Twitter.  Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality.  Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfineprint Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/

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 Jaffer @faiyazjaffer — Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality.  Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfineprint Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/

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 concerned about the 9/11 museum.

Follow Todd Fine on Twitter @tfine, and read more about his activism and work at the Washington Street Advocacy Group at https://washingtonstreet.group. 

-- 

Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality. 

Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfineprint

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint

Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/

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 to study how Muslims engage with Islam. 

--

Abdul-Rehman Malik is an award winning journalist, educator and cultural organizer. In June 2019 he was appointed Lecturer and Associate Research Scholar at the Yale Divinity School. He also serves at the Program Coordinator at Yale University’s Council on Middle East Studies, and is responsible for developing curricula and partnerships with public schools to promote better cultural, language and religious literacy about the Middle East to educators and students alike. Abdul-Rehman also serves as Director of the Muslim Leadership Lab, an innovative student leadership program being incubated at the Dwight Hall Center of Social Justice at Yale. He remains programs manager for the Radical Middle Way, which offers powerful, faith-inspired guidance and tools to enable change, combat exclusion and violence and promote social justice for all. His work has spanned the UK, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, Mali, Morocco, Singapore, Canada and Malaysia. Read more about him at https://divinity.yale.edu/faculty-and-research/yds-faculty/abdul-rehman-malik

--

Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality.

Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfineprint

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint

Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/

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 realistic ways of actually getting married, as well as how to stay married--an area that does not get much attention. Finally, they speak about the taboo subject of divorce--when should one conclude a relationship when it's not working, learning to be amicable, and healing. 

Dr. Suzy Ismail is the Founding Director of Cornerstone, a nonprofit, faith-based communication intervention organization with several locations around the world that focus on youth, family, marriage, identity, socioemotional wellness, and relationship rebuilding. She is the author of many books including "Modern Muslim Marriage," "9 to 5," "When Muslim Marriage Fails," and several other works. She specializes in educating and empowering women, youth, and vulnerable populations by presenting a range of workshops, lectures, programs, diversity seminars, and corporate trainings both nationally and internationally. As a Visiting Professor for over a decade in the Communication Departments of Rutgers University and DeVry University, Dr. Ismail has researched, written, and presented extensively on the intersectionality of education, faith, communication, and culture. She has also served for many years as a student adviser, teacher, and board member of a local private school. You can read more about her at https://suzyismail.webs.com/

A special thanks to the Islamic Center of Connecticut in Windsor, CT for inviting Dr. Suzy Ismail to the Hartford Muslim community.

----

Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality.

Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfineprint

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint

Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/

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 political statement by many, how Muslims can address domestic violence and other intra-community traumas, and how Muslims can take control of their narratives in the United States.

Rowaida Abdelaziz is a reporter based in NYC where she focuses on Islamophobia and social justice issues facing the Muslim community. Fluent in Arabic, Rowaida also has written numerous stories on the Middle East and covered the refugee crises in Syria, Yemen and other parts of the Arab world. Before joining HuffPost, Rowaida was at the Committee to Protect Journalists and Al Jazeera Arabic at the UN. She can be reached at rowaida.abdelaziz@huffpost.com. Follow her on Twitter @Rowaida_Abdel. 

We want to especially thank Darul Islah in Teaneck, New Jersey for graciously allowing Faith in Fine Print to utilize the masjid to record this episode.

----

Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality.

Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfineprint

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint

Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/

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 United States. She is a Muslim woman, native New Yorker, and is ethnically from Guinea, West Africa. She holds a MA in Sport Management from the University of Connecticut. Compelled to create unique opportunities for young girls around the world, Batouly founded Women and Kids Empowerment (W.A.K.E), a nonprofit geared towards empowering young women all over the world.

Check out Batouly on Instagram at @toolyyy!

----

Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality.

Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfineprint

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint

Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/

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 publicly funded initiatives. 

Check out Dr. Keshavarzi and the Khalil Center at https://khalilcenter.com/.

----

Faith in Fine Print is brought to you by The Mantle, a sacred safe space dedicated to facilitating and demonstrating Islamic Spirituality.

Comments or Questions? E-mail us at faithinfineprint@gmail.com.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithinfinep...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faithfineprint

Instagram: https://instagram.com/faithinfineprint

SUBSCRIBE FOR UPDATES AT http://www.faithinfineprint.com/