Sultans and Sneakers

Is there a viable future for people of European descent in Islam? For this discussion, I bring on Robert Dufour and Umar Lee; two converts of European descent. Robert is the North American head of Islam4Europeans, an organization that seeks to support a positive identity for Muslims of European descent. Robert will argue from the point of view that there is a viable future for Caucasian converts. Robert is a French-Canadian who converted to Islam in 2003. He resides in London, Ontario. You can learn more about Islam4Europeans at http://islam4europeans.com/ and follow Robert on Twitter @robertofcanada Umar Lee is a writer, media personality and political activist from St. Louis, Missouri. He converted to Islam back in 1992 and will be presenting the opposing view; that we should take a tempered approach with Caucasian converts due to the many challenges they may face. You can follow Umar's writings at https://umarlee.substack.com/  If you like what the channel offers, please consider becoming a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/sultansandsneakers Twitter: The podcast: @SultansNSnkrs Mahin's personal: @MahinDaPodcastr Instagram: The podcast: @sultansandsneakers Mahin's personal: @mahinthepodcaster Facebook: www.facebook.com/sultansandsneakers

Rana Zakaria is a Community Educator for the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking (CCAHT).  Rana completed her bachelor’s in human services with a minor in social work at East Tennessee State University. I met Rana on Clubhouse and felt she would be a great person to educate the listening audience about human trafficking; how it works, common misconceptions, and what we can do to combat it.  It was shocking to learn that human trafficking is such an issue that there are regionalized efforts (like in East Tennessee of all places).  If you want to learn more about her organization, you can check out https://growfreetn.org/ If you are enjoying the podcast, please consider becoming a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/sultansandsneakers  Additional links for the show are as follows: YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8nN9RSnLs08M87yEZppwaA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sultansandsneakers Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sultansandsneakers/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SultansNSnkrs  

Dr. Mohamed Ghilan has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada and is a recent medical school graduate from the University of Queensland in Australia. In this episode, he reflects upon what he learned from medical school and how that adds insights to what he brought in as a Ph.D in neuroscience. We also discussed the ideology of anti-vaxxers, specifically focusing on one of the main ideologues behind the movement, Andrew Wakefield. Finally, Dr. Ghilan tells us about his newfound affinity for sneakers. To learn about Dr. Ghilan and the work he puts out, please visit https://alandalusacademy.com/ The book about Andrew Wakefield that is referenced is called "The doctor who fooled the world" by Brian Deer. You can get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Fooled-World-Deception/dp/1421438003/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1627864703&sr=8-1 To support the podcast, please consider becoming a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/sultansandsneakers

Episode 50 of the podcast was meant to be a discussion between Ijaz Ahmad of EFDawah and Calling Christians and Joe Wyrostek, Pastor of MPI Church in Chicago.  The topic was intended to be around the concept of the "Injil" in the Quran and why it poses an issue for Muslims (from Joe's POV).  We may or may not have covered that as we went in multiple different angles throughout the show.  Joe was also joined by Usama Dakdok, a Christian Arab.   You can follow Ijaz on Twitter, Clubhouse and TikTok @IjaztheTrini You can find Joe at https://mpichurch.org/

Yusuf Clack is the owner of ClackFit, a gym that opened in 2009 and closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, we talked about approaches to fitness and his perspective on how the state of California handled the pandemic. You can follow Yusuf on Instagram @clackfit.

In this episode, I caught up with Hamza Dudgeon from the YouTube channels "Hamza the Historian" and "Hamza the Linguist". Hamza is a Muslim convert from Minnesota who I met while he was doing his graduate studies at the University of Chicago. In this almost 3 hour long episode, we talked about powerlifting, his upbringing in Minnesota, his conversion to Islam, approaches to understanding various world views and the aftermath of the George Floyd murder.(We recorded this episode during the trial but it's being released after the conviction of Derek Chauvin) His full bio is available below. Hamza Dudgeon is an academician in Religious Studies and Islamic History. He holds an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago and is currently a doctoral student at the Islamic University of Minnesota. He has experience teaching at the university level, in public schools, and in a seminary setting. Hamza has taught Somali refugees, graduate students, undergrads, and visiting professors, as well as children of all ages and people of various ethnic backgrounds. Besides teaching, Hamza is also passionately committed to his research. At the University of Chicago, he specialized in Islamic ritual (fiqh). Hamza's doctoral dissertation is on nascent Islamic legal epistemology (Uṣūl al-Fiqh) before al-Shāfiʿī (d. 820). Most in the field claim that a 9th century figure, al-Shāfiʿī is the first to advocate an Islamic legio-ritual theory known as Uṣūl al-Fiqh. However, al-Shāfiʿī’s teacher, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī (d. 805), promulgated a legio-ritual theory in his Kitāb al-Aṣl, which is largely untouched and unknown by Western Academics. Even before that, legal analogy (qiyas) and jurisprudential discretion (istiḥsān) is seen in the thought of al-Awzāʿī (d. 774). Hamza Dudgeon has also written on Sufism’s esoteric allegories of Islamic ritual, how Chicago muftis use modern science to produce fatwas on transgenderism, Islamic ritual footwear, and Isma’ili Shi’ite legio-ritual theory. Hamza's paper on Islamic ritual footwear, “The Khuffayn in Muslim Ritual Thought,” was presented at the Middle Eastern Studies Association’s annual conference held in San Antonio, TX Nov, 2018. He has also published in JMIAS twice “The Counter-Current Movements of Andalusia and Ibn ʿArabī: Should Ibn ʿArabī be considered a Ẓāhirī?” and “The Revival of Sharia's Allegories: al-Ghazzālī and al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī.” Hamza has an article on the entire history of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, which is forthcoming in Routledge’s Handbook of Islamic Ritual & Practice.

The Ahmadiyyah Movement was started in the late 1800s by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian which is located in the state of Punjab in modern day India.  The Ahmadiyyah ascribe Messiah-ship to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and are considered to be outside the fold of normative Islam by traditional Muslims. In this episode, I talk to Farhan Yusufzai, who used to engage in dialogue with the Ahmadiyyah and wrote a book called "With Love to the Ahmadis of the world".  The book is available for free download at https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/with-love-to-the-ahmadis-of-the-world-by-farhan-khan-2010.pdf I also speak to Bashir Ahmad Shah, who was raised in an Ahmadi household before leaving the movement in the mid-2000s.  Bashir runs the website https://ahmadiyyafactcheckblog.com/ and the YouTube channel by the same name.  You can access the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtJCxHPvj4vRg4I5uR6Nmbw If you are enjoying the podcast, please consider supporting the show by becoming a Patron at https://www.patreon.com/sultansandsneakers You can also reach out to me at info@sultansandsneakers.com and the video of this podcast will be available on the Sultans and Sneakers YouTube channel, which you can find at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8nN9RSnLs08M87yEZppwaA  

Richard Spencer is the founder of the Alternative Right movement, known more commonly as The Alt-Right. He is well known for his support of Donald Trump in the 2016 election and considers himself an "identitarian". In this episode, Richard shares his passion for philosophy, particularly the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. He also discusses his mistake in supporting Trump while we have some candid discussion about traditional religious spaces becoming places of worship again instead of museums. We also walked through what kind of individuals would be most aligned with his worldview. Finally, I pressed him on some of his comments where he expressed disdain for the institution of college football. Richard is currently focused on writing and producing content for Radix Journal, which he founded in 2012. You can find out more at https://radixjournal.com/ If you're enjoying the content on this channel, you can support it at https://www.patreon.com/sultansandsneakers  

Art Ort has been writing a blog about his spiritual endeavors since 2007.  I found it when looking up Unitarian Christians and noticed he seemed to have objectively studied Islam in a fair and balanced way.  Although he never converted, Art maintains a great deal of respect for Islam and in this show he walks us through his journey...as well as explaining the reasons for his non-conversion.  You can find Art's blog at http://spiritualmutt.blogspot.com/ In addition to his blog, he is on Quora at https://www.quora.com/profile/Arthur-Ort-2/ If you are enjoying the content, you can support the channel at https://www.patreon.com/sultansandsneakers  

Episode 44 of the podcast is with Albi Abdullah, formerly known as Tracy X.  Albi grew up in the foster system in Pittsburgh, PA before enlisting in the US Navy in the 1950s.  He joined the Nation of Islam in 1956 and would spend close to two decades in the close companionship of Minister Louis X..whom we know today as Louis Farrakhan.  In this interview, Albi opens up about his orphaned childhood, his path to the Nation, and life after the Nation…including future plans for The Gambia.  If you have any questions or comments you can reach me at info@sultansandsneakers.com.  I’d also appreciate your support on Patreon.  https://www.patreon.com/sultansandsneakers Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/sultansandsneakers/ https://twitter.com/sultansnsnkrs https://www.facebook.com/sultansandsneakers