After a bit of a hiatus due to busy schedules, Parvez and Omar are honored to be joined by Imam Jihad Mustafa, Founder of the Qawwamun Retreat. This was a wide-ranging conversation with Imam Jihad discussing how socially conscious Hip-hop brought him to Islam, how today's Zeitgest and pop culture has engendered a crisis of defining and exemplifying masculinity to young men, and how the Qawwamun Retreat for young men seeks to address these challenges.

About Imam Jihad Mustafa Jihad Mustafa was born JC Wren and converted to Islam shortly after returning home from serving in the US Army in Germany. He served as Imam at Masjid Tasbeeh in Oakland before it's closing and in his tenure there also opened one of the few Muslim transitional and temporary living facilities. He has a background in business, financial advisory, security and organization. Jihad is the founder of Al Qawamun, an organization formed to develop and maintain righteous manhood based on Quran; as well as some branches stemming from it; including The Young Lions Program, Muslim Incident Response Team and Muslim Town Hall. In addition to maintaining his responsibilities, he is currently developing The United Muslim Association, an effort to unite Muslim Americans in the areas that effect us all regardless of ethnicity, school of thought, leadership or association.

Closing out the blessed month of Muharram, Parvez and Omar are back for a timely and important discussion about Muharram, the Day of Āshūrā, and the events of Karbala from a Shīʿī perspective. This is a deep dive into Shīʿī readings of early Muslim history and the centrality of the Ahl-al Bayt (The Household/Progeny of the Prophet Muhammedﷺ) and specifically how the events of Karbala and the venerative rites and traditions of Muharram inform Shīʿī devotional life.

About Ahmad Rashid Salim

Ahmad Rashid Salim (احمد راشد سليم) is a doctoral candidate and instructor at the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley, in the fields of Islamic studies and Persian literature. His areas of scholarship include classical Persian literature - particularly mystical poetry, translation, Sufism, Qur’an interpretation, language and power, Persian literature in Afghanistan, the Kabuli dialect, Shīʿī - Sunni polemics, and religious thought in Afghanistan. His dissertation is titled: The Harmony of Hayrat: Words, Wonder, and Worlds in Persian Mystical Poetry and Poetics. Salim is also the founder of Aleff Institute, a premier online instruction program for the Persian language, with a special emphasis on the Kabuli dialect. He is the author of Islam Explained, a best-selling book utilized in a number of university courses throughout the United States. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a focus on Islamic studies, and was awarded a master’s degree by the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley.

A special discussion for the Haj and Eid-ul Adha season, Parvez and Omar are joined by returning guest Dr. Ali Ataie. The show dives deep into the Prophet Abraham(as) in the monotheistic scriptures/traditions, including Abraham's service of sacrifice, the innumerable blessings bestowed to Abraham and his covenant with God. The conversation then examines how the Biblical and Tanakhic traditions has been co-opted and distorted by Jewish and Christian Zionists alike as it relates to the modern state of Israel.

The goal was to release the show a couple of days after Eid so we are sorry for the delay!

About Dr. Ali Ataie

Dr. Ali Ataie is a scholar of biblical hermeneutics with field specialties in Sacred Languages, Comparative Theology, and Comparative Literature.

He received his BS in accounting from Cal Poly State University in 2000. In 2011, he received his MA in Biblical Studies from Pacific School of Religion, and in 2016, his PhD in Cultural and Historical Studies in Religion from the Graduate Theological Union.

Dr. Ataie is a native Persian speaker. He can read and write Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek. Dr. Ataie joined the Zaytuna College faculty in 2012.

At Zaytuna College, Dr. Ataie has taught Arabic, Creedal Theology, Comparative Theology, Sciences of the Quran, Introduction to the Qur’an, and Seminal Ancient Texts.