The Adnan Husain Show

After too long a hiatus, Dr. Marc Applebaum and I have returned with the fifth episode in our series on the Names of God, centered around the Sufi mystical tradition of the 99 Names. This episode comes at the end of Ramadan and arrives into a world desperately in need of mercy, compassion, empathy. Following closely from its relation to al-Rahman, "the Merciful", in our last episode, this name opens further spiritual vistas. We examine some of these resonances and motifs and engage the discussions of al-Ghazali and al-Tilimsani in connecting our own experience and reflections on al-Raheem. You can watch the video as well: https://youtu.be/i0HOJONxpa4 Follow Marc on his channel and website: https://www.youtube.com/@marcapplebaum8177 https://phenomenologyblog.com/?page_id=198 http://www.itlaqfoundation.com/staff.html Support the show on Patreon or Substack, if you can (and get early access to episodes as well as full audio of all livestreams)! www.patreon.com/adnanhusain https://www.adnanahusain.substack.com Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share! Also available in video on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

Adnan convenes another extra emergency livestream Sunday March 1st 8pmET--this time in collaboration with Resistance is Fertile Podcast-- on the regional war in West Asia that "Epstein Empire" has launched against Iran and the people of the region. We take a broad approach in situating this in the Gaza genocide sponsored by the West through the Zionist state of Israel confronted by the Axis of Resistance. We will examine the geopolitical and strategic situation on the second day of the illegal imperialist attack as well as analysis of global dimesions and ramifications within the imperial core. I will be joined by Dr. David Yaghoubian, friend and supporter of the show and historian of modern Iran and the Middle East at CS-San Bernardino, and the Resistance is Fertile co-hosts, Benji and Indica. It will be a great panel to answer your questions, respond to your comments, and take up your suggested topics. Join us for this continuing series!    Follow Resistance is Fertile on Substack: https://substack.com/@resistanceisfertilepodcast   Support the show on Patreon or Substack, if you can (and get early access to episodes as well as full audio of all livestreams)! www.patreon.com/adnanhusain https://www.adnanahusain.substack.com Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share! Also available in video on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

Adnan is joined by Nina and Navid Farnia, members of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective, to talk about the illegal imperialist US-Israeli-Western war launched against Iran. Please avail yourselves of the playlist Iran: History and Politics on this channel. We will be focusing on current developments but that background is always relevant and important in analyzing contemporary conditions. Read Nina and Navid Farnia's interview on Pambazuka News for some background and insight from their excellent analysis: https://www.pambazuka.org/Iran-vs-US-Imperialism Support the show on Patreon or Substack, if you can (and get early access to episodes as well as full audio of all livestreams)! www.patreon.com/adnanhusain https://www.adnanahusain.substack.com Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share! Also available in video on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

Adnan has a fascinating conversation with Dr. Navid Zarrinnal, a historian of modern Iran, who also speaks from first hand experience from inside Iran about current conditions economically and socially, as well as providing keen political and historical analysis of the internal support for Iran's foreign policy and the divisions between elite and Western-oriented "neo-liberal" classes and factions and the majority of average working and middle class people who have suffered most under sanctions. Navid provides insight into the resistance of the Iranian people to empire and their resolve and reframes the question of Iran in close connection to Palestine as a cause of justice. He appeals for us in the "imperial core" to demand justice for Iran and an end to sanctions. No War is not enough! Follow Navid: https://x.com/colonyarchive and youtube.com/@TheColonyArchive Support the show on Patreon or Substack, if you can (and get early access to episodes as well as full audio of all livestreams)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain https://www.adnanahusain.substack.com Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusainLike, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com  www.adnanhusain.org  

Exclusive extended conversation w/Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, about the recent High Court decision in favor of her suit against the Home Secretary and Starmer government banning Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act of 2000. In addition to analyzing the decision and the political ramifications of this momentous victory—the first time a suit has been successful against the application of the act against a group, Huda related the direct action group's successes against Israeli military corporation, Elbit Systems, and the financial and commercial infrastructure that enables it in the UK. We also discuss the legal battles and success with jury trials as well as repression by the state culminating in the ban. This is an incredibly illuminating conversation about resistance in solidarity with Palestine in the imperial core with a courageous and determined hero (along with her incredible and committed actionists and the movement they have built). Full of insights and inspiration, you want to learn from these experiences. Free Palestine! Follow Huda on X: https://x.com/HudaAmmori We also ask you to support the Sameer Project. You can donate to any of their vital campaigns in Gaza. Right now on Office Hours we are raising funds for the Refaat Alareer Camp: https://chuffed.org/project/113327-refaat-alareer-camp-the-sameer-project Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes as well as full audio of all livestreams)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: https://adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org  

Full Audio!!!! Bonus for Podcast listeners. Emergency Office Hours Iran livestream, the first of a major double episode on Iran, Monday, Feb 2nd at 11amET w/Jedaal host and Iran analyst Ali Alizadeh. On the cusp of a possible US attack on Iran in its continuing sanctions, threats, destabilization, and war against the Islamic Republic, we discussed the political and geopolitical dimensions with an expert guest. Follow Ali Alizadeh on X.com/jedaal and /ali7adeh and his YouTube channel, youtube.com/@jedaal Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: https://adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

Full Audio of Struggle Session 7! If you missed the livestream, you can listen back. The Struggle Session is back, Sunday Jan 18 at 3:30pmET/12:30pmPT! This livestream panel program will wrestle with the major developments shaping the world so far in 2026. Expect uncompromising anti-imperialist analysis of the continuing resistance to US hegemony and defense of sovereignty in Venezuela and the Caribbean, Iran and West Asia, from Turtle Island to Palestine. Send your questions and comments for the panel--Nina Farnia and Lara Sheehi, two outstanding comrades and colleagues with important insights and analysis. Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org  

Bonus Audio of the return of Office Hours, a regular Friday livestream on YouTube and X!  Adnan and David Yaghoubian, returning guest and historian of Modern Iran and the Middle East at CSU-San Bernardino, discuss their recent visit to Tehran and their social, political and economic impressions. We will also analyze the economic protests and subsequent violent riots as well as the social and government responses, the histories of sanctions and subversion against the Islamic Republic, and the geopolitical context and consequences regionally and internationally. It is a timely discussion not only of our recent experience in Iran but an opportunity to examine and understand the situation with a historical scholar and Iran expert, the inimitable David Yaghoubian.    Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: https://adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org  

I contributed a short piece to Sasha Frere Jones' newsletter, "Writing about 2025". It's full of terrific reflections from friends, comrades, and colleagues like Nora Barrows Friedman, Calla Walsh, Laleh Khalili, Louis Allday, Abdeljawad Omar, and Lara Sheehi, who have been guest on the Adnan Husain Show or Guerrilla History (or both). I have also been enjoying a range of reflective thoughts, observations, insights from many many others through some wonderful writing. It's a tour de force. I suggest you check it out and subscribe: https://n.sashafrerejones.com/archive/writing-about-2025/ I have recorded a version with more commentary for those who like to listen. Check it out! Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org  

Full audio of Revolutionary Guerrilla Menace's 2025: A Year in History livestream! A fantastic discussion with blistering analysis from the crew. We discussed US criminal assault on Venezuela and its consequences geopolitically and economically on US empire and its designs in Latin America and implications for West Asia and especially subversion or assault on Iran. We analyzed US/Western imperialism and how it is the primary contradiction in global capitalism. Other topics we touched on were far right politics and "divisions" obfuscating the central class politics, the demonization of refugees, climate/ecology, big tech and AI in the infrastructure of empire, and much more! Lots of great audience comments, provocations and interaction as well. Let's get busy in 2026--there is a world to win! Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

In this episode, Adnan discusses Professor Gabriel Rockhill's new book, Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism, v. 1 of The Intellectual World War. This incredibly important book contributes an insurgent foray, a guerrilla attack, against the imperial theory industry and its ideological work in the psychological, intellectual war that is central to the perpetuation of imperialist capitalism of our era. This first volume lays out a crucial method and approach, a way of performing intellectual history through dialectical and historical materialism, while exposing the relationship between the deep state/permanent state forces that have patronized a compatible left culture and the wider systemic network of institutions where intellectual and cultural production takes place. The work goes on to examine some important figures particularly in the so-called "Frankfurt School" and situate these thinkers/scholars and their work within the imperial theory industry. It is a fascinating conversation about an profoundly important new book. We look forward to further volumes in this important series on the Intellectual World War. Dr. Gabriel Rockhill is a professor of philosophy and global interdisciplinary studies at Villanova University. He is the author or editor of a dozen books and co-founder of the Critical Theory Workshop. Check out its website and consider joining their summer school, attending their events and supporting this collective intellectual and liberatory project: https://criticaltheoryworkshop.com/ Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org  

The radical academy is in session Friday, Nov. 21 at 5pm for Office Hours. In this session Adnan hosts Dr. Bikrum Gill, a professor at Virginia Tech, a scholar of international political economy, and member of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective. We will talk about the key confrontation of our time: the possibility for sovereign development by peoples of the Global South and the imperialist wars waged against these projects by the colonial West. We'll examine these processes and projects of alternative development outside of Western capitalist hegemony, the geopolitical economies and ecologies of imperial capitalism, and the various theatres in which sovereign development is under violent intervention and attack across the globe. This will be an important discussion, so join us and post your questions and comments on socials and in the YT chat! Bikrum's research is guided by third world Marxist political and methodological commitments. He is concerned, in particular, with how the contradictions of capitalist imperialism bear upon the sovereign capacity of peoples in the Global South. His research and writings have inquired into this question through a focus on agriculture and development, the climate crisis, sanctions, and anti-colonial/anti-imperialist resistance. To prepare for Office Hours, you can read some recent pieces by Bikrum:  https://www.anti-imperialists.com/blog/orders-of-sovereignty https://voxummah.com/2025/06/the-second-sacred-defence-solidarity-sovereignty-and-the-politics-of-anti-war/ https://voxummah.com/2025/06/the-second-sacred-defence-solidarity-sovereignty-and-the-politics-of-anti-war/ You can have priority for your questions and comments by becoming a supporter and posting on patreon.com/adnanhusain or make a one time contribution via buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)! www.patreon.com/adnanhusain Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share! Also available as audio podcast on all major platforms: https://adnanhusainshow.libsyn.com X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

The Struggle Session was back for November on Sunday Nov 23rd at 3pmET! Enjoy full audio of the program. This monthly livestream panel program is not convening to make you feel better--the unvarnished analysis and fierce self-criticism may make you feel a bit worse! But, it will inform and, hopefully, spur you to taking action. As Marx said, the point isn't just to understand the world but to change it. This is an activist panel for a much needed Struggle Session: Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within our Lifetime; Sina Rahmani, host of East is a Podcast and impressario/producer of the online tankie left; Henry Hakamaki, editor at ISKRA Books and co-host of Guerrilla History podcast; and Mehmet Ali Arslan, musician, activist, and co-host of Fredshetsarna podcast in Swedish and English.  Join us for a wide-ranging discussion of the key developments and issues for the anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-genocide left. We'll talk about directions of the Palestine solidarity movement and Gaza resistance in light of the ceasefire/UN occupation force resolution that Russia and China didn't veto, Mamdani on the Left and MAGA civil war on the Right, Jolani at the White House and Kremlin, imperial wars on Venezuela, Lebanon, Iran brewing and much more. Post your questions, suggested topics, and comments. Note there are now two livestream formats: landscape and portrait depending on which fits best on your screen. So do choose the alternative if it doesn't show up properly on your mobile device or computer monitor/screen. You can get priority for your questions/suggestions/comments by posting on patreon.com/adnanhusain. Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available as audio podcast on all major platforms:  https://adnanhusainshow.libsyn.com X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com  www.adnanhusain.org

In this edition of Office Hours, Friday Nov. 7 at a special time, 6pm ET, Adnan hosts Hamza Al-Muqawi a Sudanese writer and activist to talk about Sudan's history as a crucial and continuing front in the struggle against colonialism, imperialism, and capitalist exploitation of Eastern Africa and West Asia. We will learn about Sudan's strategic place on the Red Sea and the geopolitical factors fueling imperial and subimperial designs and interventions as well as the resistance and struggle for liberation by Sudan's people facing terror, deliberate starvation and genocide. Hamza's analysis will help illuminate a central battleground in resisting empire and the struggle for liberation. This is a crucial conversation about a major crisis that is thoroughly ignored. Join us and post your questions and comments. You can prepare for Office Hours 13 by reading Hamza's article on substack: https://abuhureirah.substack.com/p/su... You can have priority for your questions and comments by becoming a supporter and posting on patreon.com/adnanhusain or make a one time contribution via buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)! www.patreon.com/adnanhusain Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share! Also available as audio podcast on all major plaforms: https://adnanhusainshow.libsyn.com X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

Adnan has a conversation with noted writer and religion scholar Reza Aslan on the 20th anniversary edition of his classic popular history of Islam, "No god but God: the Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam". Reza talks about his unique background and interests in religion, the reasons he wrote this work in the cauldron of Islamophobia during the "Global War on Terrorism" GWOT just a few years after 9/11 and after the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions and occupations. We talked about its reception then and the goals of examining Islam as a religion like any other and how that allowed for an appreciation of its diverse traditions, devotional streams, and cultural expressions while still having a coherent unity. Reza explained what has changed in his thinking over the 20 years and why/how misunderstanding and hostility toward Islam seems as virulent as ever. We also talked about future directions for this faith of nearly 2 billion. An engaging discussion about an important work that has been carefully updated. A must listen! Follow Reza's work:  https://www.rezaaslan.com/ Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com  www.adnanhusain.org

In this episode, Adnan and Marc explore the most frequently mentioned of the names that serves both as an attribute and a sort of "proper name" in some fashion. We explored the meanings of the Arabic root R-H-M that gives rise to "rahmah" or mercy as a noun and the two adjectival attributes al-Rahman and al-Raheem, the names that are part of the invocation of chapters of the Qur'an. We considered the particular onological and psychological relationships surrounding al-Rahman as the most merciful or the most benificent. In addition, we wrestled with questions of theodicy. How can we reconcile the manifest cruelty and oppression humanity has wrought--something the angels in Qur'anic origin narratives objected to and charged that humans would sow corruption and shed blood in the world rather than serve as responsible stewards--with the cosmic foundations of the universe in rahma/mercy and the fact that God is pre-eminently understood and uniquely described as al-Rahman? What can this possibly mean in the face of the suffering of most of the world's population in deprivation, during a time of genocide in Palestine and Sudan, as well as in the suffering and difficulty we all face in our lives? This was a problem medieval mystics and theologians also tried to think through. Intriguingly, these included a sense of a profoundly necessary social empathy as a spiritual value of making the name al-Rahman real that impels sacrifice for the weak, defenseless, and suffering. We had to recognize the limits of these discourses however and consider further what this might mean for the contemporary human experience from psychological and spiritual perspectives. Many issues and concerns came up in the discussion and particularly in contending with how we can understand spiritual and psychological growth in the apparent contradiction of cosmic mercy in a cruel world. that will flow naturally into the next episode on al-Raheem, the compassionate. Thank you for joining us in this journey through the Names of God. We look forward to your comments and questions. Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com  www.adnanhusain.org

Adnan's wide-ranging conversation with inspiring scholar and charismatic political activist/Green party gubernatorial candidate for California, Dr. Rudolph Butch Ware. We discussed Butch's biography and how it brought him to his groundbreaking historical scholarship on West African Islamic education, Sufi mystical and spiritual movements as anticolonial resistance and slave abolition struggles. We explored the connections between this profound and underappreciated history and the Atlantic and global resonances in the Black radical tradition and how this has informed his own politics and decisions to enter electoral politics. Finally, we learned about the gubernatorial campaign and the prospects for and opportunities within California's "jungle primary" for a Green Party breakthrough with candidate Butch Ware! Make sure to support his fight for Californians. If Zohran Mamdani can win in New York City, just think how big Butch's victory in California could be! https://www.butchware4gov.com/ Also on YT: https://youtu.be/D-89J7iPd-k Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)! www.patreon.com/adnanhusain Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share! Also available in video on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

In this *UNLOCKED* collaborative episode originally exclusively for Red Scare substack subscribers and patrons of the Adnan Husain Show, Nick Estes and Adnan discuss the role spirituality in anti-colonial resistance movements. From the Ghost Dance to Sufi warriorism, spiritual resources are an important and often undertheorized form of struggle against colonial and imperial violence, dispossession, and racism. Enjoy this behind the scenes confabulation! To become a supporter: Patreon.com/adnanhusain or make a one-time contribution via buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain

Even if you missed the livestream and if you prefer listening to watching, I'm posting Monday Sept 29th's Office Hours "Resisting Melancholia: Arab Culture and Politics during the Genocide. It was an illuminating and interesting conversation w/Nihal El Aasar who shared her insightful reflections on culture and politics and the present moment. Enjoy! Normally these live episodes are only available on YouTube or in audio form for Patrons. Please consider supporting the show on patreon.com/adnanhusain! Your regular support helps sustain this show, allows more educational content creation, and keeps this channel free and available for those who cannot afford to support but benefit from it.  You can also make a one-time donation via buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share! Also available in video on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow And as audio podcast on all the major platforms: X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

Adnan and Marc plunge into the "name" that is unique in being distinguished from all others as having no attribute or characteristic and almost definitionally contrasts with the human. How should the "human" and "divine" dichotomy be understood theologically and phenomenologically in this spiritual tradition of the 99 Names in Sufi Islam? We wrestled with these and other questions related to the spiritual meaning and experience of Allah with the help of Sufi writers al-Ghazali and al-Tilimsani. Marc cooked up a bouillabase through which the "ascending arc" of Akbari meditative practice could express itself, while Adnan puzzled over al-Ghazali's surprising confession that even in this name of the Divine Essence, the human strives for "ta'alluh" or assuming some quality of the Divine. The mysteries of spiritual experience were many in this episode. This initial foray will therefore involve a return to the Divine Being, Allah, after traveling through the 98 other names in our journey together. Support the show on Patreon if you can (and get early access to episodes)!  www.patreon.com/adnanhusain  Or make a one-time donation to the show and Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain Like, subscribe, share!  Also available in video on YouTube:  https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com  www.adnanhusain.org