The Submitter Podcast: Recent Episodes
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The Struggle Of Memory Against Forgetting: We Reflect on Black Lives Matter by Submitter Magazine
A special crossover episode with the Sacred Footsteps podcast reflecting on the true purpose of travel.
What We Talk About In This Episode
How this period of quarantine has affected our content/the way we work. Travel as a mutual ‘unveiling’ (in the Arabic language) and what this means. Guinea Bissau: conversion of tribes to Islam after an elder, Maulana, dreamt of the Prophet (saw)- and how Imran’s experience visiting the country was transformative for him. How vulnerability whilst travelling can lead one to have a greater sense of tawwakul, reliance upon God. Finding meaning in times of crisis. Finding the deeper meaning in art and architecture; how the state of the artist/architect affects your soul. Indonesia- visiting the Wali Songo, the ‘Nine Saints.’ Yemeni traders; how they brought Islam to the region, and the way in which they interacted with the local population and culture, including through music and shadow puppet plays. The tombs of the saints in Java. Preserving and connecting with tradition. How Sacred Footsteps started and what it has become. How travel can be transformative and the importance of intention.
THE PRESENT is a series we are producing based on reflections, stories, and messages sent to us by our listeners.
“For the first time in forever, it seems like time is finally slowing down. We’ve been running constantly on this chase for so long. We’ve never really had a chance to take that breath. But right now, it seems like we finally have that chance.”
Haider Syed is a hip hop artist based in Toronto, Canada. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
This week we breech the divides of social distancing and isolation by reaching out to Bassam Tariq, a Pakistani-American filmmaker whose latest project Mogul Mowgli, starring Riz Ahmed, recently premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival. In this conversation, Bassam and Imran examine how traces of religion, tradition, and history bleed together and form a voice for the South Asian diaspora. Though Bassam shares with us the difficulties of being a filmmaker with integrity, he also reminds us of our imperfection. We trip up and turn back to the One who is Perfect. This is the non-linear, vulnerable, and vibrant spiritual path of the artist. While the life of the artist can be a lonely at times, Bassam celebrates the cities and communities that support, challenge, and inform his art.
Produced by: Imran Ali Malik and Zahra Parekh.
More about Bassam Tariq: www.bassa.ms
Support this podcast: patreon.com/submittter
Tyson Amir and Imran Ali Malik reflect on the life and legacy of Malcolm X in February 2020.
It’s easy to get lost in the names, numbers, and contexts that inform who we are. In this podcast, we hear how Mustafa Briggs conceives identity as something that both illuminates and conceals. Piecing together aspects of identity and experience, Mustafa and other like-minded U.K. based Muslim millenials are creating a niche cultural conversation using Instagram and YouTube as tools to connect. We hear about ‘Beyond Bilal,’ a talk that Briggs designed to foreground black history in Islam, and how this project has taken him to forty different colleges and venues in a single year. As these identities enrich our understanding of who we are and where we come from, Mustafa reminds us that there is no one way to embody them. These identities are only the beginning of our journey. How we use them to manifest the truest version of ourselves is the work that must not be left undone.
A few highlights from our conversation:
Mustafa: It’s up to us to educate people about our experiences the same way everybody else educates everybody else about their own experiences. So I created Beyond Bilal: Black History in Islam… just to bring people to a different understanding, and a different perception of black Muslims and Islam in the West, it was more for black Muslims themselves to know… they have a place within the Islamic narrative.
Mustafa: I feel like it’s up to us, as young people who live in this new world, and live with this new technology and live within this globalized monoculture, and live within the societies to think about what aspects of the Islamic tradition are the most relevant to our context today? And what do we need to connect to? Because this is this whole concept of being connected to the tradition? But what part of the tradition?
Whatever you emphasize, that’s what gets spoken about.
Imran: The word you use emphasis I think that’s, that’s an interesting word. Because a lot of times it’s like, it’s either this, or it’s that. But to say, ‘what are we emphasizing’ — Emphasize what we need right now. Let’s not focus on the things that may not be helpful. It’s an attitude rather than a paradigm, or an epistemology, or something like that.
Mustafa: All these identities and all these different strains… I feel like instead of you seeing yourself being put into different boxes, you should just see yourself as a well that has different streams of water flowing into it from different places. I have my influence in Fiqh (Islamic Law) from the School of Imam Malik, then I have my influence in Tassawwuf (Islamic Spirituality) from Sidi Ahmad Tijani and Shaykh Ibrahim. And then I have my cultural influences from being born in inner-city London. And all of that just makes up me, as a person. And then even all of that is just majāz, like, it’s just allegory. Because in reality, I’m not even any of these things. I’m, you know, I was that soul that said, balā’ before I came into this world. And I’m going to return to a state where there will be no family ties, and there will be no identities, and there will be no politics, and there will be no pronouns, and there’ll be nothing except— were you good? Did you believe and did you make the best of that part of a day that you were in this world? Like, Pre-eternity, abad, and Post-Eternity, azal, those are the real days. Those are the real times. because Allah describes the Qur’an… When you’re brought back Allah says, how long were you there, and you say, ‘a day or bit of a day.’ It’s a flash— it’s an allegory. It’s so minute that I feel like we shouldn’t kill ourselves trying to figure out what box to fit ourselves in and what to do. All of these minute details when there’s the bigger picture of inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun—you belong to Allah and you’re gonna return to Him. You come from him and you’re going back to him.
So just using Islam, imān, and iḥsān as tools to access Allah, I think, is the goal.
Produced by Imran Ali Malik and Zahra Parekh Copyright I. A. Malik Studio
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Free-styling prayer, intentionality in craft, and creativity in devotion to God—these are a few pearls you'll find in this conversation with my mentor and dear friend, Brother Haroon Sellars. Though not a native to the Bay area, you could say his journey to the Bay has changed the course of both institutions and every heart he has encountered. On this blessed Friday, I hope you are rejuvenated by the intensity of Brother Haroon’s radiant spirit and that you too take the time to find your God-given gifts and bring to life, your creative righteousness.
Produced by Imran Ali Malik and Zahra Parekh. Special thank you to the Hayward Museum for offering a quiet-ish place to record.
The Supplication For Light: https://www.iamalik.com/supplication-of-light
After a three year hiatus American Submitter returns a with a conversation with Ubaydallah Evans, an old friend and recent commencement speaker. The conversation revolves around the things that have animated our relationship from the first time we met, discussing what beauty is for, how wisdom encompasses all things, and what it’s been like for both of us as seekers of knowledge. - Imran Ali Malik
To hear the unedited conversation head over to http://patreon.com/submitter to become a patron and get access to our interviews well before the episodes come out, and give us feedback about what you hear. New episodes every Friday morning. AMERICAN SUBMITTER is an independent production and relies on your support for us to continue to bring you episodes every Friday.
American Submitter is Created and Produced by Imran Ali Malik
All music composed, recorded, and produced by Mikhail Latif.
Thank you to Zahra Parekh, Asma Saud, Ubaydallah Evans, and Mikhail Latif.
RSS feed: http://iamalik.com/americansubmitter?format=rss Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-submitter/id1076066307
All Rights Reserved, I. A. Malik Studio LLC 2019.
To understand the world, it helps to have a key to decode its messages. Here's the story of a man from Menlo Park, and his unlikely journey towards finding that key in Islam.
Credits: Producer: Imran Ali Malik Executive Producer: Asma Saud A special thank you to Scott and his family. Subscribe on iTunes: https://itun.es/i6Y97tX ASUB-001
On this first ever episode of American Submitter, host Imran Ali Malik explains what the show is about.
Please Subscribe/Rate on iTunes: https://itun.es/i6Y97tX