The Adnan Husain Show

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

Adnan has a wonderful conversation with a remarkable radical activist, Elaine Mokhtefi, in this special collaborative edition w/Guerrilla History and its ongoing series of interviews with living historical revolutionaries. Elaine Mokhtefi is author of "Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers." This fascinating discussion retraces Elaine's early political engagement with the FLN mission to the UN, her decision to move to Algeria to help build the postcolonial nation after liberation from France, her experiences as a translator and journalist covering the transnational movements for liberation across the Global South, and work with the Black Panthers exiled in Algiers. She danced with Fanon, met radical third world leaders, and struggled for a better world. Now in her 90's, she remains an inspiring and committed activist. A lot to learn in this conversation! Like, subscribe, share! Also available in video on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@adnanhusainshow And as audio podcast on all the major platforms: https://adnanhusainshow.libsyn.com X: @adnanahusain Substack: adnanahusain.substack.com www.adnanhusain.org

Adnan discusses a crucial history of US subversion of Syria's sovereignty even before the conclusion of WW2 starting with interference and covert operations by the OSS precursor to the CIA and then through the entire Cold War with Dr. Patrick Higgins, a Middle East historian, co-editor of Liberated Texts and member of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective. His article "Gunning for Damascus: The US War on the Syrian Arab Republic" is mandatory reading and the state of the field on this dark history. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19436149.2023.2199487?scroll=top&needAccess=true#abstractart 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  

Normally, the audio of livestreams (Struggle Sessions and Office Hours) are exclusive to supporters on patreon.com/adnanhusain but this Struggle Session was so important and sizzling with insight, I'm making it available on the podcast feed. You can always watch these back on YouTube and X as videos, but if you like your audio, be sure to consider supporting and joining.  Adnan was joined by Benji Schoendorff of Resistance is Fertile, Jared Ball of IMIXWHATILIKE and Black Liberation Media, and Nora Barrows-Friedmann of the Electronic Intifada. Nihal El Aasar couldn't make it but will join for an Office Hours soon and a future Struggle Session. This was a wonderful, intense, and insightful conversation with the panel and engaging discussion with audience. Here is the full audio. Enjoy! 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 East is a Podcast hosted a collaborative conversation with multiple friends, airing grievances, covering multiple topics, discussing news and raising funds for Mohammed and his siblings amid evacuation orders. This stream featured Nick Estes from The Red Nation, Adnan Husain from The Adnan Husain Show and Guerrilla History podcast, Jared Ware from Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, and Mtume Gant of Within our Gates podcast. We are affectionately calling this a episode of "Red Millenials are Killing Adnan Within our Gates in the East!" But the main purpose was to: Support Mohammed from Gaza as he and his siblings seek to relocate to Southern Gaza amid evacuation orders: https://chuffed.org/project/120676-mohammed-from-gaza  

Adnan and Marc continue their conversation about the Names of God in the Sufi Muslim mystical tradition and its wider resonances for spiritual experience and self-examination. In particular we observe some of the challenges of beginning such an ambitious project and the preparation required by discussing the openings to two major medieval Arabic commentaries on the divine names introduced in episode 1, al-Ghazali's treatise on the "beautiful names" and al-Tilimsani's commentary on the names and attributes as they appear in the Qur'an, the scriptural text of Islam. We also give a brief overview of the names to comment on the contrasts among the "jamali" and "jalali"  or "beautiful" and "majestic" attributes as facets of the divine and the nature of apparent synonyms among the traditional 99 names. What does it mean that God self-describes in the Qur'an as both "the Just" and "the Merciful", "the Punisher" and the "Forgiving"? How do these contrasting qualities, like "the First and the Last" or "the Hidden and the Manifest," often paired in the devotional tradition of reciting the names, relate to the human encounter with these dimensions? We also respond to an interesting comment from a listener about our preference to translate as "the Complete Human" rather than "the Perfect Man" the concept the great mystic Ibn al-Arabi developed and we discussed in the first episode of the Insan al-Kamil. Marc has a new companion video on "Relating to God: the God image in Sufism." https://youtu.be/b4ILWhKHN2A?si=wk8la4b_xqAAlC-z You can follow his work: https://phenomenologyblog.com/?author=1 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

An excerpt from a very exciting and inspiring Office Hours livestream Friday Aug 29, 5pmET. For the full conversation and full audio of all livestreams (Office Hours and Struggle Sessions), join patreon.com/adnanhusain. In this edition of Office Hourse, I talked with Calla Walsh about taking action against genocide and empire. Calla is a brilliant analyst and courageous anti-imperialist activist. She discussed her experience in Cuba solidarity, direct action against the Israeli genocide in Gaza with comrades following the example of Palestine Action (UK), about her recent trip to Iran, and her analysis of and thoughts about moving from spectatorship to action in resisting ZioAmerican empire and its genocidal violence in Gaza, Palestine, and beyond. Do not miss this edition of Office Hours w/Prof Adnan Husain. Again, you can hear the full audio version on patreon.com/adnanhusain and also watch for free on YT.  These Office Hours and Struggle Session livestreams are meant for interaction and engagement. You can post questions to social media announcements ahead of time or join the YT livestream comments to post your questions and comments and also discuss with other members of the audience community. But, by becoming a patron and supporter, you will have priority for your questions, suggested topics and comments for livestream guests and panels. So join patreon.com/adnanhusain You can also support with a one-time donation via buymeacoffee.com/adnanhusain You can support Calla's work on Substack: https://calla.substack.com/ In particular, support our political prisoners, notably T. Hoxha and now Casey Goonan on hunger strike. Calla calls for your action here: https://calla.substack.com/p/casey-hoxha It has a toolkit for calling the prison administration to support political prisoners! Read her account of her trip to Iran: https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/16/753182/tehran-ruins-found-resistance-us-journalist-activist-postwar-firsthand-account?ht-comment-id=27431626 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 discusses recent developments in Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria with journalist, media activist and geopolitical commentator Laith Marouf of Free Palestine TV. Referring to recent reports on the platform as a basis for further analysis of ZioAmerican imperialism, its regional agents, and popular resistance to it. Support this media platform on the front lines by donating at freepalestine.video 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

Drs. Rabab Abdulhadi (San Francisco State) and Salman Sayyid (Leeds), join Adnan to discuss the geopolitically important Afro-Asian Conference of 1955, seventy years ago, that brought leaders of states newly freed from colonial rule together to advocate an agenda of peace and development that would give rise to the Non-Aligned Movement, the Tri-Continental and UNCTAD. Our panel engages in a critical discussion of that history and its relevance today for people's movements not only across the Global South but globally. 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 second half of Dr. Isa Blumi's brilliant exposition of the history of Yemen. Our conversation reviews how the earlier history continued to inform the fierce resistance to imperialism and its agents through the 2010's with the Saudi/Gulf/ZioAmerican attack and siege upon Yemen. Isa analyzes how Ansarullah's diverse coalition has combated the destruction of the country while forging new paths in the annals of the history of solidarity and resistance against genocide. Do not miss this episode! For further readings and links to Dr. Isa Blumi's recent scholarship, see the description to part 1. 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 discusses with Dr. Laleh Khalili her article in Jewish Currents "History Lesson" (https://jewishcurrents.org/history-lesson) on settler colonialism in response to an awful (and politically pernicious) book by Adam Kirsch "On Settler Colonialism". This excellent conversation is also great preparation for Office Hours when we will discuss the topic of settler colonialism further with Dr. Max Ajl. See the post and resources there to prepare further for an important discussion with you all. Dr. Laleh Khalili, Professor at University of Exeter, is the author or editor of seven books including Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration (2007). 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 first part of a two part series, Adnan has an epic conversation with Dr. Isa Blumi, historian and Professor of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University, about Yemen's modern history of resisting colonialism geopolitically and global capitalism. Author of Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World, Dr. Blumi masterfully analyzes and integrates the geographic, social, economic, cultural, political and religious dimensions of Yemen's distinctive historical experience. If you want to understand why Ansarullah as a popular movement has taken leadership of active solidarity with the people of Gaza in confronting ZioAmerican empire, this episode will be indispensable. To consult more of Dr. Isa Blumi's recent work on Yemen and the Gulf region: Blumi, Isa. Destroying Yemen: What chaos in Arabia tells us about the world. Univ of California Press, 2018. Blumi, Isa. Chaos in Yemen: Societal collapse and the new authoritarianism. Routledge, 2010. Blumi, Isa. "The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)." In Government and Politics of the Contemporary Middle East, pp. 545-652. Routledge, 2023.   Blumi, Isa, and Jaafar Alloul. "Guest-Editors' Introduction: Re-Worlding the Gulf: Anomaly as Geopolitical Function." Middle East Critique 34, no. 2 (2025): 181-202. Blumi, Isa. "Imperial Equivocations Britain's Temperamental Mobilization of the Caliphate, 1912-1924." Rivista italiana di storia internazionale 4, no. 1 (2021): 149-173. Blumi, Isa. "Iraqi ties to Yemen's demise: Complicating the 'Arab Cold War'in South Arabia." Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World 16, no. 3 (2022): 235-254. 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

Part 8 of Palestine and the World: History in a Time of Genocide (Denial). In this update episode covering the developments in the continuing Israeli genocide in Gaza from December 2024 (when Part 7 was recorded), Dr. Ariel Salzmann and Adnan discuss the Trump administration's policies, the displacement of UNRWA with the so-called "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" mercenary force, starvation as a weapon of genocide, the attack on Iran, the suppression of Palestine solidarity and the advance in the weaponization of antisemitism, and prospects for a countervailing the politics of solidarity. The recording platform cut off a few mins at the end, but this update is a prelude to a live Q&A session with Adnan and Ariel about not only the history covered in the series but the political stakes of our present moment and the actions or objectives to organize around. So we will have a chance to cover all this material and more. Listen to this episode and join the live stream Office Hours for Fri Aug 8, 5-7pm ET. https://www.youtube.com/live/2arwdSUn2_Q?si=gPbOewDpQu5j0JCr 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