The Maydan Podcast

The Maydan Podcast is a production of Maydan, with dedicated themes around Islamic Studies and related fields. Maydan is an online publication of theAli Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, offering expert analysis on a wide variety of issues in the field of Islamic Studies for academic and public audiences alike.

Project Team: Ahmet Tekelioglu: Editor-in-Chief | Micah Hughes: Project Coordinator | Nicholas Gunty: Post Production and Audio Editor | Wali Siddiq: Project Assistant. Contact: publish@themaydan.com (Former team members: Sophie Potts: Post Production and Audio Editor.)

The Maydan Podcast is made possible by generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation.

EXPLORE OUR STREAMS:

History Speaks

Connecting conversations across disciplines on gender, law, and theology in Islamic history and how they speak to contemporary issues today.

History Speaks

Islam on the Edges

Islam on the Edges with Ermin Sinanović features conversations on global Islam, highlighting themes and experiences from the geographical and other edges of Muslim thought and life.

Islam on the Edges

Knowledge and its Producers

Knowledge and its Producers is a limited podcast series from the Maydan hosted by N.A. Mansour, featuring people who are at the forefront of knowledge production, typically away from the traditional educational power structures.

Knowledge and its Producers

On The Square

On the Square is a podcast from Sapelo Square in collaboration with the Maydan Institute exploring the dynamics of race and Islam in the Americas.

On The Square

Special Guest Episodes with Maydan Podcast

Special Guest Episodes with Maydan Podcast

RECENT EPISODES:

History Speaks EP7 – Storytelling, Virtue Ethics, and Rūmī’

In this episode of History Speaks, Roshan Iqbal speaks with Cyrus Zargar on the role of storytelling and virtue ethics in the work of Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, the 13th-century jurist, philosopher, poet, and polymath....

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Islam on the Edges EP10- The Ethics of Travel, Halal Tourism, and Visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina

In episode 10 of the “Islam on the Edges” podcast, Ermin Sinanović talks with Prof. Ingrid Mattson about her recent visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Religious tourism, including the Muslim version of “halal tourism,” has...

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Islam on the Edges EP9 – Living Islam on the Edges of Counterterrorism, Racism, and Disobedience: A Conversation with Dr. Asim Qureshi

In episode 9 of the “Islam on the Edges” podcast, Dr. Ermin Sinanović talks with Dr. Asim Qureshi about the racialization and securitization of Muslims after 9/11. Dr. Qureshi is the Research Director at the...

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CSID Annual Conference and Democracy in MENA

In this guest episode of Maydan Podcast, our Editor-in-Chief Dr. Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu hosts Dr. Radwan Masmoudi and Dr. Dalia Fahmy from the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID )for a conversation...

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On The Square EP 12 – The Fight to SAVE Our Black Boys

In this episode of On The Square, it’s all about our Black boys! Sapelo Square’s Executive Director, Latasha Rouseau, speaks with Atiba Saleem Jones, the founder and Executive Director of SAVE Institute, which offers middle...

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Dr. Aminah Al-Deen with Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali on Black American Muslim Internationalism

Dr. Aminah Al-Deen, PI of Black Islam Internationalism Project (BAMI) at GMU’s AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies interviews Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, a faculty member at Zaytuna College and founder of Lamppost Productions...

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Dr. Aminah Al-Deen with Okolo Rashid on Black American Muslim Internationalism

Dr. Aminah Al-Deen, PI of Black Islam Internationalism Project (BAMI) at GMU’s AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies interviews Okolo Rashid, Co-Founder, International Museum of Muslim Cultures on Black Islam in Mississippi and beyond. See...

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On the Square EP 11 – Preserving the Legacy: Black Creatives Making a Way

Aïdah Aliyah Rasheed, Special Projects Lead sits down with Bianca Bee Walker, photographer, filmmaker and one-half of Paper Monday. Within this episode, Aïdah and Bee talk about the beginning stages behind the collaborative project between...

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Islam on the Edges EP8 – Muslims of the Caribbean

In episode 8 of the “Islam on the Edges” podcast, our host Dr. Ermin Sinanovic talks with Dr. Aliyah Khan and Dr. Kenneth Chitwood about the Muslims of the Caribbean.  There is a country with...

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Islam on the Edges EP7- The Islamic Party in North America

African-American Muslim thought and activism are still relatively understudied areas. Even though they constitute one-quarter to one-third of the Muslim population in North America, African-American Muslims did not receive as much attention in the study...

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Dr. Aminah McCloud Al-Deen on the Black American Muslim Internationalism Project – Guest Episode

In this episode of the Maydan Podcast, our editor-in-chief, Dr. Ahmet Tekelioglu speaks with a new GMU faculty member, Dr. Aminah McCloud Al-Deen who joined Mason to lead the Black American Muslim Internationalism Project, supported...

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[Maydan Podcast] Knowledge and Its Producers EP 8 – Bharti Lalwani & Nicolas Roth

This episode of Knowledge and its Producers talks to Bharti Lalwani, who is a perfumer and art critic as well as the curator of the online exhibition Bagh-e Hind. Throughout the interview, Lalwani tells us...

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History Speaks EP6 | Muslim History in the American Midwest: Tazeen Ali with Edward E. Curtis IV

In this episode of History Speaks, Tazeen M. Ali speaks with Edward E. Curtis IV about his recent book, Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American Midwest (NYU Press, 2022). They...

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Rahina Muazu on Qur’an Recitation and Female Reciters in Nigeria- Special Guest Episode

In this solo episode, Rahina Muazu discusses Qur’an recitation and female reciters in Nigeria. She touches briefly on the history of Islam and Islamic knowledge in west Africa, particularly in Hausaland (what is today northern...

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[Maydan Podcast] Wikke Jansen & Ken Chitwood on The Muslims of Latin America & the Caribbean – Special Guest Episode

In this episode of Maydan Podcast, our guest host Wikke Jansen speaks with Ken Chitwood about his latest book, The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean (Lynne Rienner, 2021). They discuss the role of...

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Knowledge and its Producers EP 7 – Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley

Welcome to Knowledge and its Producers, a limited series from the Maydan produced by me, NA Mansour. In each episode, we’ll be talking to people who are at the forefront of knowledge production, typically away from...

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Islam on the Edges EP6 – The Securitization of Muslims in Europe

  In the just-concluded first round of presidential elections in France, President Macron and a far-right candidate, Marie Le Pen, emerged as the top two contenders and will face each other in a run-off. These...

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History Speaks EP5 – Law, Education, Ethics: Tazeen Ali with Aria Nakissa

In this episode of History Speaks, Tazeen Ali speaks with Aria Nakissa about his recent book, The Anthropology of Islamic Law: Education, Ethics, and Legal Interpretation at Egypt’s al-Azhar (Oxford University Press, 2019). They discuss shifting pedagogical...

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On The Square EP10- Sapelo’s Top Ten of 2021

In this episode of On The Square, our host Dr. Su’ad is joined by the Sapelo Squad! As we round out the podcast series and 2021 we wanted to bring the Squad to you up...

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History Speaks EP4 – Qur’an/Gender/Feminism

In this episode of History Speaks, Dr. Roshan Iqbal speaks with Dr. Celene Ibrahim and Dr. Hadia Mubarak on Gender as a lens to study the Qur’an, Muslim feminism, its contributions and challenges, the limits...

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H. A. Hellyer & Peter Mandaville on Tradition, Traditionalism, and Muslim Politics – Special Guest Episode

In this episode of Maydan Podcast, CGIS Director Peter Mandaville speaks with H.A. Hellyer, a scholar and analyst unique in his experience in studying religious establishments worldwide and the halls of policy-making in the West....

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On The Square EP9 – Being Black and Muslim in the World

In this episode of On The Square, we are in a diasporic mood! We talk with Gilary Massa-Machado from Canada, Tahir Fuzile Sitoto, a lecturer from South Africa, and Ismael Lea South, a community and...

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Islam on the Edges EP5- Female Muslim Piety in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In this episode, Islam on the Edges host Dr. Ermin Sinanovic talks to Dr. Dženita Karić (Humboldt University, Germany) and Đermana Kurić (a Ph.D. student at the University of Sarajevo) about female Muslim piety in...

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Knowledge and its Producers EP 6 – Mohamed ElShahed

Welcome to Knowledge and its Producers, a limited series from the Maydan produced by me, NA Mansour. In each episode, we’ll be talking to people who are at the forefront of knowledge production, typically away...

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On The Square EP8 – Muslims in the Caribbean

In this episode of On The Square, Sapelo Square Senior Editor Su’ad Abdul Khabeer speaks with Dr. Aliyah Khan, author of Far from Mecca: Globalizing the Muslim Caribbean, about the deep Muslim history of the Caribbean...

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Knowledge and its Producers EP5 – Contingent Magazine w/Erin Bartram & Marc Reyes

This interview has us moving out of our wheelhouse a bit. We’ve been listening to people who inhabit some sort of space in the Muslim or Muslim-majority world. Our geographies have been loose. They’re about...

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On The Square EP7- Race, Sex and the Ummah

In this episode of On The Square, we talk about sex! Sapelo Square Senior Editor Su’ad Abdul Khabeer speaks with The Village Auntie, Angelica Lindsey-Ali, a certified sexual health educator and expert on all things...

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Sahar Aziz on Race, Security, and the Racial Muslim – Special Guest Episode

As the 20th anniversary of September 11 reminds us of personal tragedy as well as structural violence of the state, The Maydan Podcast editor-in-chief Ahmet Tekelioglu hosts Sahar Aziz, a legal scholar, an expert on...

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On The Square EP6 – On Freedom and Self-Determination

In this episode On The Square commemorates Black August. Sapelo Square Senior Editor Su’ad Abdul Khabeer speaks with community activist, playwright, freedom fighter, and chairperson of the National Jericho Movement, Jihad Abdulmumit, about Freedom and...

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Knowledge and its Producers EP4 – Jean Druel

We’re going to be tackling two heavy topics today. They’re marginally different, so bear with me. The first is belief when it intersects with your research. As a Muslim whose career is basically Islam and...

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Islam on the Edges EP4 – Islamic Thought in Morocco: Philosophy and Muslim Feminism

In this episode, “Islam on the Edges” travels to a traditional edge of the Muslim and Arab worlds, Morocco. Often overlooked in the study of Islam and Islamic thought, Moroccans see themselves as part of...

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On The Square EP5- Muslim Artifacts at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

In this episode of On The Square, Sapelo Square History Editor Zaheer Ali speaks with Tulani Salahu-Din, museum specialist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), about Muslim artifacts at...

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Islam On The Edges EP3 – Islamic Palestine

In this episode of Islam on the Edges, Dr. Ermin Sinanovic talks to Dr. Hatem Bazian of the UC Berkeley and the Zaytuna College about Islamic Palestine and its place in Muslim theology, culture, history,...

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History Speaks EP3 – Self and Society in Sufism

In this episode of History Speaks, Saadia Yacoob speaks with Oludamini Ogunnaike and Sara Abdel-Latif about the self and society in Sufi thought from its early formative period in Nishapur to the early modern and...

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On The Square EP4-Telling Our Own Stories: Black Muslim Writers

In this episode, Sapelo Square Arts and Culture Editor Ambata Kazi-Nance speaks with author and educator Amani-Nzinga Jabbar about her book, I Bear Witness, the craft of writing, writing about difficult subject matter, and her...

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Knowledge and its Producers EP3- M. Lynx Qualey

N.A Mansour’s guest for this episode of Knowledge and Its Producers is M. Lynx Qualey. “We’re going to be talking about everything from translation to KDrama, to work-life balance to the idea of guilty pleasures....

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On The Square EP3- Umi’s Archive

In this episode of On The Square, Sapelo Square History Editor Zaheer Ali speaks with Sapelo Square Senior Editor and On The Square curator Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer about her latest work, Umi’s Archive. The...

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Islam on the Edges EP2 – Ramadan on the Edges

In this episode, Islam on the Edges curator-host Ermin Sinanovic interviews four scholars and activists about Ramadan fasting in their countries and communities. The episode reveals many similarities across the four continents – North America,...

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History Speaks EP2 – Local Traditions of Islamic Law

In this episode of History Speaks, Saadia Yacoob speaks with Matthew Steele and Mahmood Kooria about the Islamic legal traditions in Africa, South and Southeast Asia.  They discuss the life of legal texts as they...

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Knowledge and its Producers EP2 – Vanessa Taylor

Our guest today on Knowledge and its Producers is Vanessa Taylor. She is the founding editor of the Drinking Gourd magazine, and she edits a newsletter called Nazar, which tackles issues of surveillance and the...

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On The Square EP2- Black Maternal Health and the Black Midwifery Tradition

In this episode of On The Square, Sapelo Square Arts and Culture editor Ambata Kazi-Nance speaks with renowned midwife, birthwork historian, and doula educator Shafia Monroe, founder of the International Center for Traditional Childbearing, the...

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On The Square EP1- Being Muslim on Turtle Island

In this episode our host, Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer talks with Siddeeqah Sharif Fichman an Afro-Native Muslim and community advocate and Hazel Gómez, a faith-based community organizer, about Being Muslim on Turtle Island. This deep...

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Knowledge and its Producers EP1 – Sato Moughalian

Sato Moughalian is one of those people who can do drastically different things well. She is, to my mind, everything a professional historian should be. Sensitive. Kind. Fearless. Detail-oriented. She’s also a professional flutist and...

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History Speaks EP1 – Retrieving Silenced Voices

In this episode, Saadia Yacoob speaks with Pernilla Myrne and Laury Silvers about the limits of historical sources, the methods historians employ to uncover the lives of the marginalized in society, and the role of...

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Islam On The Edges EP 1 – Muslim Cosmopolitanism with Khairudin Aljunied

Ermin Sinanović hosts Dr. Syed Muhammad Khairudin Aljunied, an associate professor of history and Malay studies at the National University of Singapore on the theme of Muslim cosmopolitanism. What is Muslim cosmopolitanism and why is...

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