The Majlis

🎙️ Dive into the heart of the Middle East's dynamic landscape with our Host Dr. Adnan Husain and special guest Dr. Juan Cole in Episode 35 of "The Majlis Podcast"! 🌍 In this episode, our host Dr. Adnan Husain embarks on a riveting exploration of the latest developments shaping the Middle East and the Islamic world. From bustling city streets to the corridors of power, Dr. Husain and Dr. Cole unpack the complex tapestry of politics, culture, and society that defines the region. In this episode, we'll confront the stark realities of the ongoing situation in Palestine head-on. Amidst the tumultuous geopolitical climate, we'll explore the responses reverberating across North America to the harrowing genocide unfolding in the region. Dr. Husain and Dr. Cole provide a compassionate yet incisive examination of these crucial issues, shedding light on the urgent need for solidarity and action. About our Guest Dr. Juan Ricardo Cole is a public intellectual, prominent blogger and essayist, and the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Dr. Cole is very active on social media and uploads his insightful comments regularly on his website https://www.juancole.com/ You can find his latest book here "Peace Movements in IslamHistory, Religion, and Politics" Juan Cole, Editor and contributor. (London: I. B. Tauris/ Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).

In this episode, our host Dr. Adnan Husain and Queen's Professor Dr. Ardi Imseis, explore the complexities of international law, human rights and the urgent imperative of addressing the current situation of Palestine. From the halls of academia to the corridors of power, "The Majlis" invites listeners to engage with pressing global issues through the lens of informed analysis and compassionate dialogue. Join us for a compelling conversation that transcends borders and amplifies the voices of those seeking truth, justice, and dignity for Palestinians. Through meticulous research and unwavering dedication to justice, Imseis's scholarship offers invaluable insights into the legal frameworks that underpin the Palestinian struggle. As we unpack the historical narratives and contemporary realities shaping the question of Palestine, Imseis's work serves as a guiding beacon, challenging prevailing norms and advocating for a rights-based approach to peace and justice. About Dr. Ardi Imseis (LLB, LLM, PhD): Dr. Imseis joined the Queen’s Faculty of Law in 2018, following a 12-year career as a UN official in the Middle East, first with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and then with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Full Bio Here⁠ Dr. Imseis' Latest Book: The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

In this special episode of both "the Majlis podcast" of the Muslim Societies-Global Perspectives project at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON and "Guerrilla Radio", an activist companion podcast to "Guerrilla History podcast", Adnan Husain and Matt Deitsch, part of the "Guerrilla Radio activist network", discuss campus organizing, the repression of Palestinian solidarity at universities, and how faculty and students have responded. A diverse group of students and faculty from Syracuse University joined the program to discuss the range of issues about academic freedom, the denial of expertise, the persecution of racialized communities, and repression of pro-Palestinian solidarity. They issued a call and petition making concrete demands that has articulated the shape of the intersectional struggle for freedom and justice in the neoliberal university and for Palestine. Statement of Solidarity in Opposition to the Repressive Climate on US Campuses (Faculty for Justice in Palestine-Syracuse University) USACBI, BDS call for Faculty of Palestine chapters: https://usacbi.org/faculty-for-justice-in-palestine/ Co-Host: Matt Deitsch is a filmmaker, writer, educator and organizer w/NNOC (National Network on Cuba), Friends of Swazi Freedom, Progressive International and in Democratic Socialists of America’s International Committee. He has a political economy background through work at the IDEAs Institute, a development economics institute located in India. Guests: Sophie Clinton is from Syracuse, NY, and is currently studying to get their MPA at Syracuse University. Their research focuses on the study of global atrocities, historical memory, and genocidal patterns with a focus on contemporary Latin America. Their current project is on the ways in which family planning policies under the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet played a role in queer erasure and heightened violence against the queer community. Their other research interests include historical atrocities in the Middle East and South Asia. MoAde M. J. is a recent alum of Syracuse University and the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. They are a poet, essayist, and creative nonfiction writer who pays special attention to the fields of regenerative agriculture and afrofuturism. They founded the @blackatcuse Instagram account to provide a platform for radical honesty about the experiences that Black and Indigenous students have at Syracuse University. Biko Mandela Gray is a writer and ethicist concerned about life, liberation, and freedom. He is also an associate professor of religion at Syracuse university, where he teaches on politics, ethics, and race. He is the author/co-author/co-editor of three books, all of which interrogate the religious and/or philosophical dimensions of antiblackness in the west. Carol Fadda grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and is currently faculty member at Syracuse University. Her teaching and scholarship lie at the intersections of American Studies, transnational SWANA studies, and women’s and gender studies. She focuses in her work on critical engagements with race, gender, war trauma, carcerality, cross-racial solidarities, and transnational belonging across the US and the SWANA region. Dana Olwan teaches in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Syracuse University. She is a core member of Faculty for Palestine-Syracuse University chapter.

In this episode, our host Dr. Adnan Husain talks with award-winning writer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and Professor of Intercultural Performing Arts, Dr. Rachel Beckles Willson. In this episode, Dr. Husain and Dr. Beckles Willson explore her latest book, 'The Oud: an illustrated history' while discussing the beauty and significance of this musical instrument, one of the most relevant in music cultures of the Middle East/North Africa and increasingly around the globe. About... Rachel Beckles Willson, https://om.rachelbeckleswillson.com 'The Oud: an illustrated history' : https://www.interlinkbooks.com/product/the-oud/ Hamza El Din: Greetings, Oud Duo

On this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain invites back Dr. Arial Salzmann, Associate Professor of Islamic and World History at Queen’s University, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq by the US military and its allies. With almost 500,000 Iraqis dead, the Iraq War continues to shape the modern Middle East. Together with Dr. Husain, Dr. Salzmann offers an in-depth analysis of the devastation of the Iraq war and reflects upon the war’s history, the contemporary social and political ramifications, and the continued lack of accountability for anyone responsible for the mass casualties in Iraq.

In this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain speaks with the historian of the modern Middle East, Dr. Djene Bajalan, about the Kurdish struggle in Iran and its impact on the ongoing protests in country. The discussion follows Dr. Bajalan’s article in Jacobin and offers insight into the nature of the protests in Iran, particularly focusing on the centrality of the Kurdish community. For more of his work, you can follow Dr. Bajalan on Twitter and listen to his podcast “This is Revolution”. To sign up for the MSGP newsletter, please follow this link.

In this special episode, M.A student Shahroz Khan catches up with the Mediterranean historian and an alum of The Majlis, Amel Bensalim. She inaugurated The Majlis as a podcast during her time as an M.A student at Queen's University, where she worked with Dr. Husain and Dr. Salzmann on the Hafsid Dynasty and trained as a 'Mediterranean-ist'. As a Ph.D. student at Princeton University's history department, Amel is currently working with Dr. Marina Rustow and researching the Geniza Documents, and how they paint an image of the medieval world. For more information on Geniza, you can go to The Princeton Geniza Project. To follow more of Amel's work, you can find her Twitter.

In this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain speaks with historian and essayist Prof. Juan Cole from the University of Michigan, about a new collection of essays and studies in his latest book Peace Movements in Islam. Contrary to the distorted and mainstream view of Islam as somehow inherently or uniquely violent, Prof. Cole argues that there is a dazzling array of Muslim organizations and individuals that have worked for harmony and conciliation through history. Expanding Islam and its relationship to movements for peace, this episode discusses the necessity of bringing attention to how Muslims have looked to their faith to find inspiration for creating and uplifting peace movements throughout the world. You can find more of Prof. Cole's work on his website or find him on twitter.

In this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain speaks with gender studies scholar Dr. Dana Olwan as they discuss her most recent book "Gender Violence and the Transnational Politics of the Honor Crime". Dr. Olwan's research examines how certain forms of violence become known, recognized, and contested across multiple geopolitical contexts—looking specifically at a particular form of gender-based violence known as the “honor crime” and tracing how a range of legal, political, and literary texts inform normative and critical understandings of this term.

On Jan. 29, 2017, a lone gunman entered a mosque in Quebec City and opened fire on dozens of Muslim Canadians ending a prayer service. By the time the shooting had ended, tragically six worshippers had been killed, and 19 more injured. In this special episode, Dr. Adnan speaks to Canadian author, filmmaker, and creative producer Student Asim about his latest project in commemoration of the Quebec City mosque shooting. By going on the website islamophobia.io/jan29, listeners can participate in the project by writing a Letter of Remembrance for the Quebec City Mosque Massacre Victims.

20 years on, the so-called "War on Terror" has had major consequences on geopolitics but also on domestic politics. In this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain speaks with Dr. Arun Kundnani, author of The Muslims are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror (Verso, 2014) about the intersections between imperialism and military invasion abroad, and their effect on the security and surveillance of Muslims to understand how Islamophobia underwrote both foreign and domestic policies in the US, UK, Canada and beyond. Dr. Kundnani in particular explains the connections between programs of "de-radicalization" and their racial and Islamophobic underpinnings, and implementation as "liberal" alternatives to Bush's War on Terror. On Jan. 25, Dr. Kundnani will be speaking at the MSGP lecture titled 'What was the War on Terror'. The link to register for the event can be found here. For more updates from Dr. Kundnani, you can follow him on twitter.

In this special episode, Binish Ahmed (she/her), an Asian Indigenous Kashmiri Muslim cis-woman, reflects on her identity and the formation of her activism and politics on Turtle Island through spoken word poetry. Currently, a Policy Studies Ph.D. candidate at X University, formerly Ryerson, her academic and community organizing work has focused on human rights, Indigenous rights, decolonizing governance, anti-imperialism, and social movement resistance at the intersections of racialization, migration, gender, labor, and solidarity with Indigenous movements for self-determination and resurgence. Her first book, ‘The Alchemy of Making Soft Landings on Sharp Places’ s a collection of poetry that deals with subjects of racism, trauma healing, and decolonization; some spoken-word poems are performed in the podcast. Reach her via Instagram @BinishAhmedArt, Twitter @BinishAhmed or mail@binishahmed.com. More on in embedded links: - Azaadi Now - Kashmir Gulposh As Binish Ahmed discussed during the podcast, it's imperative we credit, cite, and attribute Indigenous people for their ideas, analysis, and knowledge. Please cite and credit Binish Ahmed from the knowledge she shared during this podcast as a reference, especially given some of the work she shared is her original work from her Ph.D. Dissertation research. Here is the reference: "A Kashmiri Fire-Pot Speaking": Poetry and Politics - In Conversation with Binish Ahmed." The Majlis Podcast With Shahroze Khan, Muslim Societies, Global Perspectives, Queen's University. Recorded Nov 18, 2021. Citation format: Binish Ahmed said... (The Majlis Podcast With Shahroze Khan, 2021)

Dr. Shobhana Xavier, Queen’s School of Religion, reflects on the course of her explorations of contemporary Islamic mysticism transnationally and ethnographically. Beginning with her first project, Sacred Spaces and Transnational Networks in American Sufism: Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and Contemporary Shrine Cultures (2018), which connected the career and teachings of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, a Sufi master, from his multi-religious native Sri Lanka to an equally diverse community in Philadelphia. Dr. Adnan Husain and Dr. Xavier discussed her current research interests and experiences using the prism of Rumi to examine Sufism in Canada. You can follow her on Twitter, and listen to her podcast: New Books in Islamic Studies.

Dr. Adnan Husain discusses the fascinating dissertation research of Golam Rabbani, a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queen's University. Golam sketches the unique spiritual practices of the Baul, a syncretic Sufi Muslim orientation in rural Bengal, that employ musical training and performance in an integrated mysticism and pious devotional program. These amazing traditions are being transformed in contemporary Bangladesh, especially under the global regimes of the capitalist music industry.

Host Adnan Husain speaks with his colleague Dr. Ariel Salzmann (Department of History, Queen’s University) about the US defeat and withdrawal from Afghanistan in historical context since the 1970’s, the implications for Afghanistan’s future under the Taliban in a regional framework, and the costs, crimes and consequences of the GWOT for the last 20 years since 9/11 and the Bush administration’s invasion of Afghanistan. Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU On Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/msgpqu/ Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

Dr. Adnan Husain sits down with author, journalist, and community leader Murray Hogben to discuss his exciting new book Minarets on the Horizon: Muslim Pioneers in Canada. For the first time ever, Hogben has compiled the stories and oral histories of some of the earliest Muslims in Canada. The pioneering work takes a journey across Canada and paints a portrait of stories seldom told and rarely presented in such a holistic perspective. This is especially timely given the growth of Islamophobia in Canada – Hogben’s work demonstrates decisively that there has been a lively Muslim community all over the country for many decades. This represents the first invaluable contribution to the growing study of Muslims and Islam in Canada. Get your copy of Minarets from the publisher Mawenzi House (link below) or call your local bookstore and request a copy! https://www.mawenzihouse.com/product/minarets-on-the-horizon/ Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

Dr. Adnan Husain -Director of MSGP- is joined by co host Amel Bensalim, a Libyan-Canadian SSHRC-funded Master's student at Queen's University and Member of MSGP. Dr. Husain and Amel welcomed two guests: Azeezah Kanji, a legal academic and writer, whose has appeared in the Al Jazeera English, Haaretz, Toronto Star, TruthOut, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, OpenDemocracy, Roar Magazine, iPolitics, Policy Options, Rabble, and various academic anthologies and journals. And Dr. Yasmine Djerbal, a recent PhD graduate from Queen's University whose work revolves around Islamophobia and the French and Canadian states. Her research investigates how radicalization & terrorist narratives are used to erode citizenship rights of Muslims in Canada and France. Specifically, she looks at how the two countries oversee, read, and manage Muslims in relation to secularism and 'war on terror' legislation. In this episode, the panelists addressed the implications and impact of the horrific murder of four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ontario, which was motivated by white supremacy and hate. Three generations of a Muslim Canadian family killed, leaving a 9-year-old child orphaned. The motive was horrific: Nathaniel Veltman, the pickup driver who mowed into them targeted them because of their faith. Thus far, Federal and provincial Crown attorneys have laid terror charges against Veltman while Police allege the incident was a planned and premeditated attack targeting Muslims However, Canadian Society continues to address the tragic killing of the Afzaal family as an "isolated incident"; yet Canada simultaneously faces virulent anti-Muslim hate and a brand of exceptionalism that promotes apathy and even denial towards the very existence of islamophobia in the country. Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

What do literary studies have to do with politics? How and why was Edward Said able to emphasize this connection, and revolutionize the way the West looked at the Middle East, and the way the Middle East looked back? Dr. Husain is joined by guest co-host Dr. David Schmid, professor of English at the University at Buffalo, for this discussion on the life and work of famed scholar and activist, Edward Said. The University of Minnesota’s Dr. Timothy Brennan, who was a student, colleague, and friend of Said, speaks about the scholar and his new biography “Places of Mind: A Life of Edward Said.” The fascinating discussion covers not only his work, but also Said’s remarkable life, personality, and world view, and how all of those came together to shape his writing. Get the book here: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/places-of-mind-a-life/9780374714710-item.html https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374146535 Professor David Schmid is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY). The recipient of the Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Award and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, he teaches courses in British and American fiction, cultural studies, and popular culture. Dr. Schmid has published on a variety of subjects, including the nonfiction novel, celebrity, film adaptation, Dracula, and crime fiction. Timothy Brennan works on the relationship between comparative literature, world literature, and global English. He is a member of both the departments of Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature, and English, and is a member of the graduate faculty of American Studies at the University of Minnesota. As someone who studied under Edward Said and remained a friend until his death in 2003, Timothy Brennan had unprecedented access to his thesis adviser’s ideas and legacy. In this authoritative work, Said, the pioneer of postcolonial studies, a tireless champion for his native Palestine, and an erudite literary critic, emerges as a self-doubting, tender, eloquent advocate of literature’s dramatic effects on politics and civic life. Charting the intertwined routes of Said’s intellectual development, Places of Mind reveals him as a study in opposites: a cajoler and strategist, a New York intellectual with a foot in Beirut, an orchestra impresario in Weimar and Ramallah, a raconteur on national television, a Palestinian negotiator at the State Department, and an actor in films in which he played himself. Brennan traces the Arab influences on Said’s thinking along with his tutelage under Lebanese statesmen, off-beat modernist auteurs, and New York literati, as Said grew into a scholar whose influential writings changed the face of university life forever. With both intimidating brilliance and charm, Said melded these resources into a groundbreaking and influential countertradition of radical humanism, set against the backdrop of techno-scientific dominance and religious war. With unparalleled clarity, Said gave the humanities a new authority in the age of Reaganism, one that continues today. Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

When one thinks of African enslavement in history, the Ottoman Empire is rarely the first thing to come to mind. On this episode, Dr. Michael Ferguson (Concordia University) illuminates and discusses the facets of this little known aspect of global slavery history. Dr. Ferguson and Majlis host Dr. Adnan Husain delve into the relatively unknown social and cultural history of enslaved and emancipated Africans and their descendants in Izmir in the late Ottoman Empire. Dr. Michael Ferguson is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Concordia University. Michael’s research focuses on questions of identity, marginalization, and minorities in the late Ottoman Empire and early republican Turkey. Learn more about Dr. Ferguson and his work: http://www.michaelfergusonhistorian.net/ Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

Soleiman Faqiri was killed while in federal custody in 2016. To this day, questions remain about the circumstances of his death at the hands of correctional officers, and the lack of transparency and justice for his murder. In this episode of The Majlis, host Dr. Adnan Husain sits down with his brother Yusuf Faqiri and with Yusuf Zine, who hosts and produced an upcoming investigative podcast series called "Unascertained," which delves into the case. Yusuf Faqiri not only outlines the details of his brother's murder, but remembers his life and how important it is for all Canadians to seek #JusticeForSoli. Tune in to the Unascertained pre-launch event tomorrow (March 31st) at 7pm EDT https://fb.me/e/49XLsf452 Listen to Unascertained, launching April 7th on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/66piID0CN1nXbel6NxxZj2?si=P3ITj6HNRdmYUkGKg061KA and Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/unascertained/id1559615719 To get involved and stay informed, follow JusticeForSoli on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Justice4Soli Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justiceforsoli Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justiceforsoli/ Follow Yusuf Zine on twitter https://twitter.com/yusufzine and Kevin Young https://twitter.com/theyoungkevin13 And check out more of their work on https://www.innerspeak.co/