Explore every episode of the podcast The Middle Ground Podcast

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In this episode I discuss my brief participation in the the conference, If He Were Among Us, put on by the Rahma Center in Lake Forest, CA. I noticed that many of the participants were asking about perfection as it related to following the Prophet ‎ﷺ. I share a few reflections in this post-Fajr talk from this Sunday, August 30th, 2026 for our Fajr Club & Breakfast.

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The ḥadīth is the one collected in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī:

ارجِعوا إلى أهليكم فكونوا فيهم، وعَلِّموهم ومُروهم، وصَلُّوا كما رَأَيْتُموني أُصلِّي، فإذا حضرَتِ الصَّلاةُ فلْيُؤذِّنْ لكم أحدُكم، ولْيَؤُمَّكم أكبرُكم

“Return to your families and remain among them. Teach them and instruct them, and pray as you have seen me pray. When the time for prayer comes, let one of you give the adhān, and let the eldest among you lead you in prayer.”

My thanks to Shaykh Atef and the Rahma Center for inviting me to share a few thoughts.

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By nature, we love an underdog. When a sports team “beats the odds” we love to cheer for them even if we were booing them just a week ago for losing. When momentum builds—whether in a political campaign, a business venture, or a spiritual/religious experience—it is easy to ride the bandwagon and pledge to the promise of future exploits. Yet the Qur’ān and Islamic ethics treats unfulfilled speech not as harmless optimism, but as a critical spiritual and legal liability.

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A Little Backstory Behind Sūrah al-Ṣaff

Sūrah al-Ṣaff opens with a divine rebuke of those who were bragging about their exploits and their hollow promises they were making to God and the Prophet ﷺ:

“O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? Most hateful it is with Allah that you say that which you do not do.”

Qur’an, Sūrah al-Ṣaff 61:2–3

In his tafsīr, Imam al-Qurṭubī explains that this verse emerged during a pivotal moment in Madīnah. Following the miraculous underdog victory of the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims at Badr, bandwagon enthusiasm surged. People began over-committing, swearing that if another battle arose they would sacrifice everything just to be there, yet when the Battle of Uḥud came, many retreated. Others engaged in outright hypocrisy and deception, taking credit for feats of valor they never actually performed. One man even claimed he had killed a combatant at Badr when he was never there.

al-Qurṭubī categorizes speech that departs from reality into two categories:

* Kadhib: Falsely claiming credit for sacrifices or work you never completed.

* Khulf: Making bold vows in an emotional rush, only to quietly abandon them when execution requires real effort.

The Four Categories of Commitments

Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) classifies human pledges into clear legal and ethical rulings:

* Unconditional Vows (Nadhr Taqarrub Mubtadaʾ): A direct, voluntary devotional vow made to Allah (e.g., “I owe a fast for Allah’s sake”). This is universally binding by scholarly consensus (ijmāʿ).

* Conditional Vows (Nadhr Muʿallaq): Pledging worship contingent on securing an outcome (e.g., “If my business succeeds, I will donate $X”). Imams Mālik and Abū Ḥanīfah hold that once the outcome occurs, fulfillment is non-negotiable.

* Causal-Linked Promises (Waʿd Manūṭ bi-Sabab): A pledge made to another that induces them to take financial or logistical action (e.g., “Sign the lease, and I will cover the first month”). Because the other party incurred liability relying on your word, this promise is legally binding by consensus.

* Standalone Promises (Waʿd Mujarrad): A bare commitment with no prerequisites. While Imām Mālik noted it may not always be judicially enforceable in court (qaḍāʾan), breaking it destroys one’s nobility, spiritual integrity, and personal honor (makārim al-akhlāq wa-ḥusn al-murūʾah).

The Wisdom of Sustainable Consistency

We often default to dramatic promises because we mistake momentary inspiration for genuine capacity. When a Bedouin came to the Prophet ﷺ asking if fulfilling only the baseline pillars of Islam without additional voluntary devotions would grant him Paradise, the Prophet ﷺ affirmed that it would (recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 11, English/Arabic).

True spiritual and religious maturity lies in recognizing your limits, guarding your tongue, and delivering reliably on the baseline rather than building a reputation on unfulfilled hype.

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Sūrat al-Maʿārij offers a sobering picture of the Day of Judgment:

* a day when when a woman would abandon her own child;

* a day when I man would offer his own mother as ransom to escape the Fire!

But the Sūrah also teaches us how to live before that day arrives.

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In this post-Fajr khāṭirah, we reflect on the relationship between īmān and security and why both hardship and prosperity are tests: it’s all in how you look at it.

Allāh singles out al-muṣallīn—the people of prayer—as those capable of remaining steady through both. Ṣalāh, the daily prayer, particularly when practiced in congregation (jamāʿah), produces the kind of people who give others their rights, who honor their trusts, speak truthfully, and remember their ultimate accountability before Allāh.

Sūrah al-Maʿārij also offers an important lesson for Muslims living amid hostility and ridicule: confront evil when necessary, but do not allow those who oppose Islam to determine your sense of security, belonging, or self-worth. Our task is to remain faithful, build together, and remember that our security ultimately comes from Allāh—not from the approval of others.

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It’s not just Muslims feeling the gaze of Big Brother these days: it seems everyone everywhere all the time is feeling like we’re all under the every-increasing watchful eye of the Surveillance State. There is no veil from this surveillance. So how should we as Muslims feel about this and what might we do about it?

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Build It Local & Live Off the Land

I know this sounds more like a fantasy or an idea, something you’d see on YouTube with someone living an ideal and charming life “off-the-grid” in a van. But after my experience building my own OCR AI tool using Qwen, a tool which runs locally on my laptop, this might be an opportunity for Muslims to explore the open-source space and stake out our claim.

We cover this and more in Episode 51 of the Middle Ground Podcast.

Here’s some items of interest we think you might want to explore:

* deflock.org: an open-source project mapping license plate readers.

* Rialto police make late-night TV thanks to irresponsible surveillance (warning some profanity).

* What is a panopticon? We thought you’d never ask!

* For more info on the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) app (an AI design pattern that improves large language model [LLM] accuracy by fetching relevant facts from external sources such as PDF’s) that I’ve built, watch this video:

* Islamic Economics as an answer to the ribā/usury/ vs. mutual-risk/muʿāmalāt model. Let’s move away from a casino economy.

* Elevate your critique: Muslims, including myself, have been shouting “western!, western!” from the rooftops for God knows how long but we’ve got to elevate our critique because in many ways the world quietly moved past our static critiques, stealthily creating a world which is completely western: the only difference now is to which degree of westerness are we talking about?

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Welcome [back!] to Episode 50 of the Middle Ground Podcast with Imam Marc Manley and brother Dawud Aleman. We discuss our absences, life in the intervening year or so, and how we still cultivate hope and faith in the ridiculous times we’re living in.

Watch the podcast on YouTube as well:

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Welcome back to another episode of the Middle Ground Podcast. This one will be short and sweet as I share some feedback from a brother who reached explaining that he felt burnout and longing from ideological fatigue.

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al-Ḥamdulillāh it was my pleasure to speak at the 10th Annual Family Symposium for Muslim Family Foundation: Roots of Wellness, alongside Dr. Deana Helmy, sister Ahlam Gheith and Shaykh Ḥasan Radi.

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Being a non-professional I wanted to bring a somewhat different perspective to the table to challenge and, in shā’ Allāh, improve how Muslim, mental health professionals and otherwise, look at and trust the wester secular approach to healing the human soul.

In the talk I referenced mainly two works of interest.

* Hunter, James Davison. The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil. Basic Books, 2000.

* Rieff, Philip. The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud. Harper Torchbooks, 1968.

Many thanks to Muslim Family Foundation, Dr. Ali Al-Saadoon, the panel members, all who attended and especially brother Mohamad Nasser for inviting me.

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al-Ḥamdulillāh I was invited again by the gracious folks at Masjid al-Fatiha of America, located in Azusa, California. I’ve worked closely with this family-run masjid for years.

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Many Muslims today speak of “love”: for Allāh, for the Prophet ‎ﷺ, etc. And while having love for Allāh and the Prophet ‎ﷺ are indeed noble ambitions it would also seem that the current emphasis on love has come at the cost how we see obedience. It would seem for some Muslims today that talk of fearing Allāh and striving for obedience is akin to negativity. Others have conflated love with mercy. But the Qur’ān, however, addresses these qualities quite differently and separately.

If we examine how the Qur’ān commands us to fear Allāh, such admonitions are unencumbered and straightforward. In contrast love is conditional:

“If you love Allah, then follow the Prophet ﷺ.” — ‘Āl ‘Imrān v. 31

or that there are those that Allāh loves, and those He doesn’t:

“Surely Allah loves those who always turn to Him in repentance and those who purify themselves.” — al-Baqarah v. 222

and

“Surely He [Allāh] does not like the wasteful.” — al-Aʿrāf v.31

In other words love—especially love to Allāh and/or His Prophet ‎ﷺ is proven through devotional commitment (ittibāʿ) and obedience (ṭāʿah), not merely self-selecting sentiment.

As for mercy (raḥmah), Allāh says that it encompasses everything:

“My mercy encompasses everything.” — al-Aʿrāf v. 156

In fact, Allāh’s mercy—in this life—extends even to those who don’t believe in Him or even reject Him outright. Yes, Allāh shows mercy to the believer and the non-believer alike (though not necessarily equally). In fact, as we leaned in our Satuday ʿaqīdah class, Allāh’s mercy can be understood as having two branches if you will: the aforementioned all-encompassing mercy for everything and everyone in this life, and a specially mercy reserved for those who believe in Him for the Next Life. The point being here is that we should not collapse mercy into love.

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A great example of this is the sotry of Qarūn (Korah, in the Bible). His story illustrates how misplaced love—especially of wealth—can blind judgment. Those around him admired him, even coveting to be in his place. But when Allāh caused the earth to swallow him, they realized that Allāh alone expands and constricts provision. In fact, in the Qālūn (Madanī) reading of the 82nd verse, we see an additional highlight that differs from the Ḥafṣ reading,

وَيَقْدِرُ ۖ لَوْلَآ أَن مَّنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا لَخَسَفَ بِنَا ۖ

“Had it not been for the grace of Allah, He could have surely caused the earth to swallow us up!”

in the reading according to Qālūn, it becomes,

وَيَقْدِرُ ۖ لَوْلَآ أَن مَّنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا لَخُسِفَ بِنَا ۖ

“Had it not been for the grace of Allāh we would have been swallowed up by the earth!” (passive)

In the latter case, the verb in the passive voice underscores our powerlessness and the need for fear in order to sober and reorientate our hearts.

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So much of today’s “spiritual” discourse turns faith into a dopamine-trap where we seek to obtain, or in some cases, avoid, a certain mood. On this treadmill of mood chasing fear is always “bad,” love is always “good.” But what we are in need of today isn’t just obtaining the perfect “vibe” but instead, we need to be taught the skills which are necessary and conducive to contemplation and reflection. We need to return to a knowledge-based engagement with the Book of Islām which means we’re going to have to study. Systematic study. Yes, we’re going to have to learn the language of revelation—Arabic—because everything in our Dīn flows from the Qur’ān in its language (as well as the Sunnah). These sciences of revelation are not the tools of gatekeepers; they are the tools by which we can authentically and effectively contemplate (tadabbur) and reflect (tafakkur) with consistency and discipline, not just sentiment.

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It goes without saying that we all need an emotional bond with the Qur’ān but feelings built on hawa (emotions/passions) and speculation won’t suffice in and of themselves. Real attachment grows out of consistent and rigorous learning. Beware of performative “piety” that entertains yet leaves you without acquiring the tools to learn. Seek teachers who impart methods, not just stories. The onus is on you to choose paths and mentors that raise the waterline of knowledge so you can truly engage this Book with is “guidance for the God-fearing” (hudan lil-Muttaqīn).

This short talk is meant as an invitation, not an admonition. A pray that we can all build a sturdy foundation of knowledge from which love can spring deep from within that well.

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Welcome to Episode 46 of the Middle Ground Podcast. In this episode I want to discuss a new (and disturbing) trend I’ve noticed in the social media landscape, namely Muslims making videos in which they claim the non-practicing Muslims are somehow actually “doing Islām more” than those who do. Can this be true? You can listen to the audio podcast or watch the video below.

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Welcome to Episode 45 of the Middle Ground Podcast. For this episode I’m sharing an excerpt from my Saturday class on ʿaqīdah, otherwise known as “creed”; i.e., the things we Muslims must believe in and things we must reject. But the study of ʿaqīdah is much more than a list of do’s and don’ts. It should ultimately impact our character as well. I share a anecdote of a lesson I recently learned while visiting my 92-year-old father in the hospital.

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Welcome to Episode 44 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Today, while driving to Jumu’ah, I wanted to share some thoughts of mine on the state of Muslim thinking and politics particularly as it relates to Zohran Mamdani’s bid for NYC mayor and the need for American Muslims to mature in their religious, and political, thinking.

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Welcome to Episode 43 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Today I want to discuss the current paradox we’re living in: the paradox of “infinite” digital options. This paradox has left many (if not most) us more distracted, less fulfilled, and suffering from a kind of spiritual malnutrition. Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th Century philosopher, presaged the age of the “smart”-phone by warning of the dangers of losing our will to exert ourselves against external forces. What he foretold of nihilism now manifests as endless scrolling: a flood of content that means nothing, an curated attrition.

Our minds and more specifically, our hearts, overwhelmed by choice and a dearth of serendipity, have succumbed, resigning us to a doom of passive consumption. We confuse abundance with freedom, but true freedom requires boundaries. Algorithms, despite the ubiquitous presence, are neither neutral or natural; they inform our desires and corral us into predictable patterns like lambs for the slaughter.

But Nietzsche’s vision of the Übermensch is not the answer. After all, he is famously attributed to the statement, “Gott ist tot/God is dead”. What we need today is not the Übermensch but the muḥsin, the one who creates values and lives by them, striving for God’s pleasure as if he sees God, though in spite of not being able to do so, the muḥsin knows God sees him. In todays context this will undoubtedly include a reclaiming of our attention. We must strive to align our habits, digital, analog, and otherwise, with our highest values, namely Islām, not our lowest impulses.

What I’m advocating for here, with all due respect to Cal Newport, shouldn’t be misconstrued as a kind of digital minimalism; it's precisely an Islāmic and spiritual resistance. The Qur'ān isn't an echo chamber; it's a resonance chamber. Echoes repeat cacophonously. Resonance transforms you.

We must build a digital philosophy grounded in Islām: rooted in submission (Islām), faith (Īmān), and excellence (Iḥsān). This means creating principles for tech use that serve our goal of achieving Jannah (Paradise), not endless, short-lived dopamine hits.

In an age where every scroll is tracked, then perhaps the revolutionary act is to stop and choose. Real freedom is not infinite content; it is deliberate attention, guided by purpose.

Recommended Actions:

* Digital Intention Journal: Before opening any app, write down your purpose and time limit. Reflect after.

* Algorithmic Sabbaticals: One day a week, consume only human-recommended content.

* Information Sanctuaries: Designate time for deep, distraction-free engagement with one source.

* Digital Containers: Set fixed times (e.g., 30 mins a.m./p.m.) for digital use.

* Create Islamic Digital Principles: Define three tech-use rules aligned with Islām, Īmān, and Iḥsān.

* Weekly Discovery Day: Seek novelty outside the algorithm: libraries, friends, strangers, random tools.

* Choose Content in Advance: Decide what to watch/read before opening apps.

* Reframe Tech Use as Worship: Ask: does this tool help me emulate the Prophet?

* Reclaim Will to Power: Choose what nourishes you—not what hooks you.

* Embrace Constraints: Boundaries don’t limit creativity; they make it possible.

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Welcome back to the Middle Ground Podcast with Episode 42. Here, Imam Marc Manley takes into an important—and uncomfortable topic—that continues to stir headlines and town hall debates across America: Sharī’ah law. The issue here is not the fears and concerns of non-Muslims; as Imam Marc states, it’s not the obligation of Muslims to make non-Muslims comfortable with Muslims and Islām. Instead, the problem is the caricature of sharī’ah that’s being presented as factual in political campaigns and viral fear-mongering social media videos. This episode endeavors to unpack what Sharī’ah really means for Muslims, especially Muslims living in a non-Muslim society and how Sharī’ah shapes the personal lives of Muslims (and maybe even influencing not public laws), challenging the caricature and assumption that Sharī’ah is something always to be “imposed” upon others (a misconception even some Muslims have bought into).

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You’ll hear a candid conversation on the difference between divine and secular law, as well as how fear of Islam shapes not just social opinions but public and governmental policy, and what it means to confidently assert your faith without compromise. Whether you’re Muslim, Christian, or just trying to make sense of religion in modern America, this is one you don’t want to miss.

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Before starting my Saturday Qur’ān class, Understanding the Qur’ān, where we read from Ibn Juzayy’s tafsīr, I shared a reflection on what it’s like to give a khuṭbah on the minbar, week after week. That there’s a weighty feeling of responsibility that comes with opening your mouth in not just a public space but most importantly a sacred one. Even after having given a khuṭbah nearly ever single Friday for over a decade, I still wrestle with the weight and the significance of standing in the place where the Prophet Muḥammad ‎ﷺ stood and preached. This is compounded now with the ever increasing tendency, at least in America (if not in the greater West) of the “speakerfication” of religious sermons in our community and not for least because when someone listens to one of my khuṭbahs—and takes what I say to heart—and then acts on those words, it leaves me feeling inadequate and hesitant to speak. Every time.

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As I said, we live in an age where the word “speaker” has come to replace khaṭīb or preacher. This shift may have been understandable in the early years of the Muslim community in America, when many came from cultural Muslim backgrounds with little to no formal training. But after decades of growth, and with a new generation of Western Muslims who have pursued formal study both at home and abroad, this terminology—and the mindset behind it—feels outdated.

Yet the old mentality persists. Along with reducing the khaṭīb to a “speaker,” the khuṭbah itself has been downgraded to motivational talks, TED-style sermons, or worse: political pandering and incoherent rambling. As someone raised in the ’70s, the word “speaker” meant Cerwin Vegas or JBLs—equipment, not people. Today, the criteria for assuming the mantle of the Prophet ﷺ can be as superficial as having a large social media following or the right connections to the masjid board.

I don’t say this to be harsh, but because of some recent experiences that both I and another brother were witness to. This brother shared with me disturbing feedback from a khuṭbah he attended where the khaṭīb made deeply troubling remarks. I also recently attended one myself that left me questioning where we are as a community. Who is being allowed to shape the minds and hearts of Muslims every Friday? Has our reverence for what it means to speak with authenticity and accountability fallen this low?

Giving a khuṭbah isn’t just a speech. It’s not “content” and furthermore, it’s a responsibility, an obligation to know what the khuṭbah is, something which the Qur’ān is not silent about. Allāh says in the Sixty Second Chapter,

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا نُودِىَ لِلصَّلَوٰةِ مِن يَوْمِ ٱلْجُمُعَةِ فَٱسْعَوْا۟ إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلْبَيْعَ ۚ

O believers! When the call to prayer is made on Friday, then proceed with haste to the remembrance of Allāh, leaving off all business matters.

The khuṭbah and the prayer are jointly referred to as dhikr Allāh, “the Remembrance of Allāh”. Many have the skewed view that the khuṭbah is some kind of weekly alternative to the normal prayer which is conducted silently. But Friday (Yawm al-Jumu’ah) has its own uṣūl, its own foundations, of which the khuṭbah is foundationally a part of, not alternatively.

My point is that I’ve seen an attitude develop amongst this generation of Muslims where the khuṭbah is not regarded with the same reverence and regard as the prayer. This, along with other factors, has led to a degrading of the khuṭbah. This is of special concern in that what young Muslims are seeing—online or in-person—isn’t knowledge-based. Arguments about abstract theological debates from centuries ago or political grievances, especially those that have no real bearing on our lives today, have no place on the minbar.

We need to ask ourselves: Are people bored of serious scholarship and spiritual effort because the people who represent it seem more interested in spectacle than sincerity? And have we contributed to that, creating a culture where nobody wants to get up for Fajr and study, not because they’re lazy, but because they’ve never been invited into something worth sacrificing for?

This is why the minbar matters and why I feel its prophetic weight every Friday.

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Modern life pushes us into two extremes: a hamster wheel of "progression" or paralyzing fatalism. Islam offers a different paradigm. We discussed, as part of our Saturday morning Fajr Club, how believers can hold space for both divine decree and improvised action, rooted in sincerity and gratitude.

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Many of us focus on repentance, but did you know there’s a reward simply for avoiding major sins? Allāh says in Sūrah al-Shūrā,

وَمَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ خَيْرٌۭ وَأَبْقَىٰ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ - وَٱلَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَـٰٓئِرَ ٱلْإِثْمِ وَٱلْفَوَٰحِشَ وَإِذَا مَا غَضِبُوا۟ هُمْ يَغْفِرُونَ

“What is with Allah is far better and more lasting for those who believe and put their trust in their Lord; who avoid major sins and shameful deeds, and forgive when angered…” – al-Shūrā v. 36-37

This is an excerpt from Sunday Arabic class, The Arabic Reader, where we were studying a passage from Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī’s al-Risālah that shows how the deliberate and intentional efforts to stay away from major sins can lead to Allāh forgiving our minor ones.

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The following is an excerpt from my Sunday Arabic class, The Arabic Reader. I wanted to illustrate how pre-modern scholars of the Qur’ān, in this case Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī, the author of the famous al-Risālah, commented on how everything “flows into existence according to the decree of Allāh”, itself a commentary on the Qur’ānic motif of "flowing rivers" in paradise. I illustrate how this resonates with ideas in quantum physics. So what can classical Islamic thought teach us, or rather, physicists!, about the nature of existence?

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You can also watch on YouTube:

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Inadequacies – we all have them. And Shayṭān, the Accursed Devil, uses these to discourage us from repenting to our Lord, Who is Merciful, and demoralize us from persevering through our faults, sins, and mistakes, making us think that we’ll never make it. But our beloved Guide and Messenger ‎ﷺ warned us from thinking just our deeds alone could save us when he said,

“The deeds of anyone of you will not save you" They said, "Even you will not be saved by your deeds, O Allah's Messenger?" He said, "No, even I unless and until Allah bestows His Mercy on me. Therefore, do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately, and worship Allah in the forenoon and in the afternoon and during a part of the night, and always adopt a middle, moderate, regular course whereby you will reach your target ( meaning Jannah/Paradise)”. – See Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (English and Arabic).

So know that what you do in worship to your Creator is appreciated, accounted for, and weighed and considered. And that it just may to you and I our entire lives, striving mightily, no matter how week we get, to achieve the ultimate goal:

“And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, has truly achieved a great triumph – وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا ٧١” – Sūrah al-Aḥzāb v. 71.

May Allāh accept from us and forgive us our shortcomings, overlook our sins and mistakes, and make us from the People of Paradise. Āmīn.

You can watch the full khuṭbah here:

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Welcome to Episode 38 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Hosts Imam Marc Manley and brother Dawud Aleman. In this episode we reflect on the duality that on one hand Allāh tells us that Shaytan (Satan) is our "clear enemy" (عُدُوٌّ مُبِيْنٌ) and yet he remains hidden to us, at least directly. We also talk about the effects of “blue light” and what it means to be “alternative” as it relates to medical practices.

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You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

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Welcome to Episode 37 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Hosts Imam Marc Manley and brother Dawud Aleman.

In this episode we what's ahead for Muslims in America now that the election is over. Will Trump fulfill his promises, for good or bad, or is he a lame duck president?

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You can also watch this episode on YouTube:

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Welcome to Episode 36 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Hosts Imam Marc Manley and brother Dawud Aleman.

In this episode we ask the question: if much of politics is about "the optics" then what happens if it's just an optical illusion?

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Welcome to Episode 35 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Hosts Imam Marc Manley and brother Dawud Aleman.

Values. They sound good but are they really as permanent and unchangeable as we think? And what's the difference between values and character?

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Welcome to Episode Thirty Four of the Middle Ground Podcast. We’re your hosts Imām Marc and brother Dawud Aleman. Narratives. Arabic. Question: Can a Muslim cry? Can we do yoga or mindfulness meditation? What are the limits in Islam? Brother Dawud and myself explore the limits, if any, of emotional expression as Muslims.

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Ever wonder why there seems to be two systems of classification for Arabic dictionaries? Pre-modern dictionaries have one system (the “bāb and faṣl” system, as we’ll see) and modern dictionaries have another.

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In modern dictionaries like Arabic-English Lexicon (1863), better know as Lane’s Lexicon, by British orientalist, Edward William Lane, or Arabisches Wörterbuch (1952), know in English as A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (1961), or simply, Hans Wehr, by German orientalist, Hans Bodo Wehr, where the sorting and classification proceeds in alphabetical form, from the first, second, and third letters (and forth or fifth in those rarities). For example, a-l-f (أ+ل+ف) would precede q-f-l (ق+ف+ل) if one were looking up the words ‘ulfah (ألفة/”affection”) and qaffāl (قفّال/”locksmith”) respectively in those dictionaries. But in classical dictionaries like al-Ṣiḥāḥ, by Transo-Turkic lexicographer Abū Naṣr al-Jawharī, the last letter of the root (the “bāb”) is how words/roots are sorted. So for instance, b-ḥ-t (ب+ح+ت) would precede n-a-t (ن+ع+ت) if one were looking up the words na’t (نعت/”characteristic”) and baḥt (بحت/”pure”) respectively:

يسلّط هذا المعجم الضوء على أحد أنظمة التأليف المعجميّ عند العرب أي نظام الباب والفصل أي أن الحرف الأخير من المادّة الأصليّة هو الباب وأن الحرف الأول منها هو الفصل، وأن الباب هو الأصل وأن الفصل هو الفرع، ويشير إلى أن هذا النظام أوْقع المؤلفين في مشكلة بالنسبة إلى الألفاظ المعتلَّة الأواخر إذ لم يستطيعوا أحياناً التمييز بين ما كان واويَّ الأصل أو يائيّة.

“This dictionary sheds light on one of the systems of lexicographic compilation used by the Arabs, specifically the system of ‘bāb and faṣl.’ In this system, the last letter of the root word is the ‘bāb’ (the sorting letter), and the first letter is the ‘faṣl’ (secondary sorting letter). The ‘bāb’ is considered the primary category, while the ‘faṣl’ is a secondary one. The text also points out that this system led to difficulties for the compilers, particularly regarding words with weak or defective (مُعْتَلَّة/muʿtallah) endings, as they were sometimes unable to distinguish between roots ending in a ‘wāw’ or a ‘yā’”. — from Dr. Hishām Ṭa Ha Shallāsh’s Muʿjam al-Afʿāl al-Wāwiyyah al-Yā'iyyah (Compendium of of Verbs Ending with Wāw and Yā’)

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Welcome to Episode Thirty Three of the Middle Ground Podcast. We’re your hosts Imām Marc and brother Dawud Aleman. Narratives. Arabic. All Muslims prize this language. Everyone wants to learn it. But for so many of us, Arabic remains an elusive goal despite the Qur'an being revealed in it. Why?

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This episode can also be found on YouTube:

In shā’ Allāh we hope to start our new class, Facilitating the Learning of Arabic for Devotional Studies – The Arabic Reader (تَيْسِيْرُ تَعَلُّمِ اللُّغَةِ العَرَبِيَّةِ لِلدِّراسَةِ التَّعَبُّدِيَّةِ - القارئ العربي) soon.

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Welcome to Episode Thirty Two of the Middle Ground Podcast. We’re your hosts Imām Marc and brother Dawud Aleman. Narratives. Are Jinn just fables? Is the Unseen real or just a metaphor? We'll discuss this and more

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This episode can also be found on YouTube:

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Welcome to Episode Thirty One of the Middle Ground Podcast. We’re your hosts Imām Marc and brother Dawud Aleman. Narratives. They're everywhere and it seems that everyone has one or at least they're trying to sell you one. But what is it? And why should Muslims have one?

This episode can also be found on YouTube:

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Other references in this episode:

* Qur’ān 28: 41: “We made them leaders inviting ˹others˺ to the Fire. And on the Day of Judgment they will not be helped”

* Shaykh Muḥammad Abū Zahrah on the importance of developing Muslim thought (X).

* David Levering Lewis’ article on American exceptionalism: Exceptionalism’s Exceptions - The Changing American Narrative (PDF).

Flex alert power saver awards.

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Welcome to Episode Twenty Nine of the Middle Ground Podcast. We’re your hosts Imām Marc and brother Dawud Aleman. In the day and age of personalities and influencers, how and who can you trust when it comes to taking religious knowledge? As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube:

Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Other references in this episode:

* From Imām al-Shāfi’ī: “if you see a man walking on water and flying in the air, do not be amazed by him until he shows that he follows the command of the Book and the Sunnah.”

* Middle Ground Podcast Episode 27 on postmodernity: “All the World is a Stage”.

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Welcome to Episode Twenty Eight of the Middle Ground Podcast. Running solo for this episode, I’m your host, Imam Marc from Middle Ground. In the last 24 hours I had three enlightening encounters: a post on Instagram, a counseling appointment, and a consultation for marriage. All three provided valuable insights into what drives us as humans. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube:

Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Jāthiyah v. 23: “Have you seen those who have taken their own desires as their god? As a result, Allāh has deliberately misguided them.”

* Middle Ground Podcast Episode 27 on postmodernity: “All the World is a Stage”.

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Welcome to Episode Twenty Seven of the Middle Ground Podcast. Myself, Imam Marc, and brother Dawud Aleman. As the poet Shaykh Zubayr, a.k.a., William Shakespeare once said, "All the word's a stage". From the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump to politics in America in general, it seems we are living, if not in an illusion, then certainly a fantasy. We continue our conversation from last week on French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation". Strap in for American Psycho 2. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube:

Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Baqarah v. 51: “And ˹remember˺ when We appointed forty nights for Moses, then you worshipped the calf in his absence, acting wrongfully.”

* Sūrah al-Ḥujarāt v. 6: “O believers, if an evildoer brings you any news, verify it.”

* Expanded notes on Jean Baudrillard and postmodernity (PDF).

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Welcome to Episode Twenty Six of the Middle Ground Podcast. Myself, Imam Marc, and brother Dawud Aleman. In this episode we'll asking the question, “Is reality a simulation? Are we in French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's ‘Simulacra and Simulation’? We're not saying it's aliens ... As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube:

Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah Fāṭir v. 5: “So do not let the life of this world deceive you.”

* Neil DeGrasse Tyson freaks out when physicist James Gates finds intelligent code in the fabric of space (YouTube).

* Symbols of Power: Adinkras and the Nature of Reality (link).

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Welcome to Episode Twenty Five of the Middle Ground Podcast. Myself, Imam Marc, and brother Dawud Aleman. In this episode we'll be looking at the relation between sound and light and how understanding this and contemplating it gives us deeper insights into God's majesty and creation. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube:

Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah Hūd v. 67: “And the ˹mighty˺ blast overtook the wrongdoers, so they fell lifeless in their homes,”

* Quantum Theory Demonstrated: Observation Affects Reality.

* The Devil's Interval That Makes Us Sick.

* Shattering cancer with resonant frequencies: Anthony Holland at TEDx Skidmore College.

* Secrets of Zamzam water (video one and video two).

* Water Is alive and responds to human emotion.

* Water Memory (2014 Documentary about Nobel Prize laureate Luc Montagnier).

* The Extraordinary Impact Sound Has On Your Everyday Life.

* Rice Experiment - Dr Masaru Emoto.

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Welcome to Episode Twenty Four of the Middle Ground Podcast. Myself, Imam Marc, and brother Dawud Aleman. In this we explore what it means for us as Muslims to be at the end of American/western empire. We look at the writings of investor Ray Dalio and ask if his predictions are accurate or whether they’re too reductionist. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube as we are now live streaming all of our episodes there. You can also watch our podcast live on Instagram as well.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Jāthiyah v. 14: “˹O Prophet!˺ Tell the believers to forgive those who do not fear Allah’s days ˹of torment˺, so that He will reward each group for what they used to commit.”

* Sūrah Fāṭir v. 43: “Are they awaiting anything but the fate of those ˹destroyed˺ before? You will find no change in the way of Allah, nor will you find it diverted ˹to someone else˺.”

* Some critiques of Ray Dalio’s Principles – (PDF).

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Welcome to Episode Twenty Three of the Middle Ground Podcast. Myself, Imam Marc, and brother Dawud Aleman. In this episode our hearts are heavy with the passing of our beloved brother Jamal (Alexander) Ramsey, may Allāh have mercy on him. Brother Jamal was quite beloved by everyone in the community and had such a caring spirit about him. But his passing also reminds us of the importance of having our earthly affairs taken care of so we do not cause undo hardship on our loved ones we leave behind. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube as we are now live streaming all of our episodes there as well.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Baqarah v. 180: “It is prescribed that when death approaches any of you…a will should be made.”

* Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 1614: “A Muslim is not entitled to inherit from a non-Muslim, and a non-Muslim is not entitled to inherit from a Muslim.”

* My Wassiyah – Make an Islāmic will.

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Welcome to Episode Twenty One of the Middle Ground Podcast. Myself, Imam Marc, and brother Dawud Aleman, are your hosts for exploring the topic of Artificial Intelligence. Should we fear it? Is it all bad? Are we all going to lose our jobs or become the victims of Skynet? As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube as we are now live streaming all of our episodes there as well.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Naḥl v. 8: “And He creates what you do not know.’”

* Sūrah al-Qaṣaṣ v. 68: “Your Lord creates and chooses whatever He wills.”

* From The Joe Rogan Experience #2152 – his interview of (former?) actor Terrence Howard.

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Welcome to Episode Twenty of the Middle Ground Podcast. I am joined again by my brother Dawud Aleman. In this episode we discuss the increasingly toxic world we live in and the consequences as a society of being completely divorced from how our food and medicine is produced. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

This episode can also be found on YouTube as we are now live streaming all of our episodes there as well.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Baqarah v. 11: “When they are told, ‘Do not spread corruption in the land,’ they reply, ‘We are only peace-makers!’”

* Sūrah al-Insān v. 8: “[They] and give food—despite their desire for it—to the poor, the orphan, and the captive.”

* Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 2939: a ḥadīth which reminds us of the Dajjāl and the fake nature of food today.

* For more on how we developed into siloed communities, cut off from our food production, read Carolyn Steel’s very good Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives.

* Dr. Rima Laibow – the Medical Director of the Natural Solutions Foundation – her talk on the Codex Alimentarius and its history and impact on our food and health systems.

* Dr. Lee Merritt’s talk: "Why You Need To Care About 'Codex Alimentarius'.”

* Vaccine Excipient Summary [PDF].

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Welcome to Episode Nineteen of the Middle Ground Podcast. I am joined again by my brother Dawud Aleman. We’re excited to accounce that we’re now streaming the MGP on YouTube. Head over to our YouTube channel and subscribe so you’ll be notified for the next live stream.

In this episode we discuss the current situation with student protests across the nation against the genocide and illegal war in Palestine. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah Yūnus v. 83: “But no one believed in Moses except a few youths of his people, while fearing that Pharaoh and their own chiefs”

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Welcome to Episode Eighteen of the Middle Ground Podcast. I am joined again by my brother Dawud Aleman. We discuss a recent encounter of a young man who came to Middle Ground, seeking some clarification on how to explore the truth-claims of Islām, to which I introduced the idea of Christianity being a “black box” when it comes to ascertaining its truth-claims. We explore this and other themes as it relates to understanding how Islām and Christianity are different and also how a non-Muslims assumptions about Christianity may problematize understanding Islām according to its own criteria. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Jāthiyah v. 23: “Have you seen those who have taken their own desires as their god?”

* Paul C. Vitz, The Self: Beyond the Postmodern Crisis:

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Welcome to Episode Seventeen of the Middle Ground Podcast. I am joined again by my brother Dawud Aleman. We discuss my recent heart attack, facing mortality, and what change, if any, has it had on me. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

قال شُرَيْح ابن الحارث القاضي

إني لأصاب بالمصيبة فأحمد الله عليها أربعة مرات

أحمد إذ لم يكن أعظم منها

وأحمد إذ رزقني الصبر عليها

وأحمد إذ رزقني للاسترجاع لما أرجو من الثابت

وأحمد إذ لم يجعلها في ديني

Shurayḥ ibn al-Ḥārith stated,

“Whenever I am afflicted with some great difficulty, I praise Allāh four times:

I praise Him that it was not greater than it was;

I praise him that He gave me the wherewithal to withstand it;

I praise Him that He gave me the means to say, ‘to Allāh we belong and to Him are we returning’;

And I praise Him that He didn’t make it a test for my faith.”

Other references in this episode:

* Musnad Aḥmad no. 8945: “The believer is friendly, for there is no goodness in one who is neither friendly, nor befriended.”

* Sūrah al-Anfāl v. 50: “If only you could see when the angels take the souls of the disbelievers, beating their faces and backs.”

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Welcome to Episode Sixteen of the Middle Ground Podcast. I am joined again by my brother Dawud Aleman. We discuss Ramaḍān, fasting (ṣiyām/ṣawm), ṣabr (perseverance), as well as some of our first experiences with fasting when we were new Muslims, and what it’s like to withdrawal from the world for a little while. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

The reference I made to al-Zubaydī’s work on Arabic grammar, Tāj al-’Arūs min Jawāhir al-Qāmūs, in which he highlights the grammatical root of fasting (ṣāḍ+waw+mīm) means, “to grasp; to hold on to” as well as “to stop"; to withhold”:

* Sūrah Maryam v. 26: “I have taken vow of silence to the Most Merciful (al-Raḥmān)”;

* Sūrah al-Zumar v 10: “Only those who persevere for My sake will be given their reward without limit”;

* Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim #2685: “Whoever loves to meet Allāh, Allāh loves to meet them”;

* Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim #1152: “In Paradise there is a gate which is called al-Rayyān through which only the people who fast would enter on the Day on Resurrection”;

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Welcome to Episode Fifteen of the Middle Ground Podcast. I am joined again by my brother Dawud Aleman. We discuss economics via UK inequality economist Gary Stevenson, investing, and the importance of Muslims cultivating resources for themselves and the communities they live in. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Nisā’ v. 32: “And do not covet what Allāh has given some of you over others”;

* Investing and financial literacy with Shaykh Joe Bradford;

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Welcome to Episode Fourteen of the Middle Ground Podcast. This episode is a recording of a talk I gave at Kitaab Academy’s Aqsa Conference. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Mā’idah v. 55: “God, the Messenger, and the Believers, are your only guardian”;

* Christianity and Eugenics: The Place of Religion in the British Eugenics Education Society and the American Eugenics Society, c.1907–1940;

* Tweet about New York Post article;

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Welcome to Episode Thirteen of the Middle Ground Podcast. In this episode brother Dawud Aleman (GBLevate) and myself discuss the phenomenal of the psy-op better known as celebrity culture. We ask questions such as “why is Taylor Swift everywhere?” and “why do they want us to pay so much attention to her?”As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sunan Abī Dāwūd no. 3331: “A time is certainly coming to mankind when only the receiver of usury will remain, and if he does not receive it, some of its dust will reach him”;

* Sūrah al-Naḥl v. 63: “If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more”;

* Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord;

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Welcome to Episode Twelve of the Middle Ground Podcast. In this episode brother Dawud Aleman (GBLevate) and myself discuss politics again but drill down a little deeper and interrogate our understanding and estimation of the utility of politics and where might we go from here? As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sunan Abī Dāwūd no. 3329: “What is lawful is clear and what is unlawful is clear, but between them are certain doubtful things”;

* Sūrah Ibrāhīm v. 7: “If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more”;

* Interview with John Gray: “Everything You Know About The Future is Wrong | Aaron Bastani meets”;

* A few thoughts on where we’re at as #Muslims living in the West and the realities therein (on X/Twitter);

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Welcome to Episode Eleven of the Middle Ground Podcast. In this episode brother Dawud Aleman (GBLevate) and myself discuss ṣalāh (prayer) in Islām as it is contrasted and compared to meditation, flow state, and focus and are those the same as the Qur’ānic term, khushū’/خشوع? As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Baqarah v. 40: “O’ Children of Isrā’īl, stand in awe of Me!”;

* Sūrah al-Baqarah v. 45: “Be perseverant and hold the prayer; this will be difficult except for the khāshi’īn”;

* Sūrah al-Ḥashr v. 19: “Don’t be like those who forgot Allāh”;

* Sūrah al-Ḥashr v. 21: “If We had sent down this Qur’ān upon a mountain”;

* Sūrah al-Anbiyā’ v. 90: “They called upon Us with hope and fear, totally humbling themselves before Us”;

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Welcome to Episode Ten of the Middle Ground Podcast. In this episode brother Dawud Aleman (GBLevate) and myself discuss politics and politicking, American Muslims, and just what is it we want from America/politics? As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah al-Baqarah v. 31: “And [Allāh] taught Ādam the names of all things”;

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Welcome to Episode Nine of the Middle Ground Podcast. In this episode brother Dawud Aleman (GBLevate) and myself discuss the power of mercy and how it relates to our plight in the world today. As usual, we discuss all topics in light of the Qur’ān and statements from the Prophet, ‎ﷺ.

Other references in this episode:

* Sūrah ‘Āl ‘Imrān v. 111: “They can never harm you (except for perhaps a little)”;

* Sūrah al-An’ām v. 133: “Your Lord is Free of All Needs, the Possessor of Mercy”;

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