Listen on iTunes
Muazzam speaks to Saaleh Baseer and Momodou Taal about their respective journeys as students of knowledge- with Saaleh travelling from California to South Africa, and Momodou from Birmingham, England to Egypt. Both tell us about their respective experiences, motivations and daily lives as students of sacred knowledge, far from home.
What We Talk About In This Episode
- Growing up in the West and being drawn towards religious learning.
- Why Saaleh and Momodou decided to study the madhab of their ancestral cultures and not the Islamic practice local to their homes in the West.
- Choosing an institution and country to study in.
- The internal structure of Al Azhar, Cairo and the options available to students.
- How Western privilege plays a role in adjusting to the lifestyle in developing countries.
- South Africa and Egypt; how deen is practiced in both countries.
- What the misconceptions Saaleh and Momodou had about travelling for knowledge.
- Connecting with scholars on a personal basis and dealing with cultural clash. Both guests tell us about the scholars who affected their lives.
- Daily life as a student of knowledge and gruelling schedules.
- Getting on with fellow students; what impression other students and teachers had of students from the West. The differences between students from the UK and the US.
- Dealing with homesickness while abroad; readjusting when returning home.
- Future hopes and plans regarding further studies.
- Advice for potential students of knowledge
Things/People Mentioned In This Episode
Institutes:
- Zaytuna College
- Al Azhar High School/Al Azhar Mosque/Al Azhar University
- Markaz Imam Malik
- Dar al Uloom Azadville
- Dar al Uloom Deoband
- Dar al Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, Lucknow
People:
- Imam Zaid Shakir
- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
- Imam Suhaib Webb
- Shaykh Zuhayr Qazzan
- Shaykh Umar Futi Taal
- Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi
- Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio
- Shaykh Al Fahashim Taal
- Imam Muhammad Ibn Idris Shafii
- Imam Jalaludin Suyuti
- Mufti Masood Darul Uloom Azadville
- Mustafa Briggs
- Mansa Musa
- Shaykh Abdullah bin Hamid Ali
Books:
- The African Caliphate by Ibraheem Suleiman
- Mukhtasar Al Quduri
- Nur al Idah
- Sahih Bukhari
- Al Hidaya
Definitions:
- Tablighi: a member of the tabligh jamaat, a grass roots missionary movement founded in India in the 1920s, closely affiliated with the Deobandi movement.
- Maulana: a title for a Muslim scholar in many Persianate languages
- Hifz/hifdh: memorisation of the Quran
- Hafith/hafidh: one who has completed hifz/hifdh
- Alim: a person of knowledge pl. ulema
- Madhab: a certain codified methodology to understand and derive islamic law
- Madaris: plural of madrasah
- Fiqh: Islamic law
- Hanafi: one who follows the methodology in understanding Islamic law, established by Imam Abu Hanifa
- Maliki: one who follows the metholdify in understanding Islamic law, established by Imam Malik
- Taqalluf: difficulty, complications
- Islamicate: culture influenced by Islam
- Shuyukh/mashayakh: plural of shaykh
- Deobandi: one who adheres to the Islamic revivalist movement of India founded by Muhammad Qasim Nanotwi and Rashid Ahmed Gangohi in the town of Deoband, which arose after the collapse of the Mughal empire.
- Barelwi: one follows the early 20th century spiritual movement in India, which arose in defence of spiritual practices of Islam founded by Ahmed Reza Khan in the town of Bareilly
- Usul al Fiqh: the foundations of the methodology to derive and understand Islamic law
- Usul al Hadith: the foundations of the methodology used to derive, understand, and classify narrations attributed to the Prophet, salalahu alayhi wa salam
- Usul al Tafsir: the foundations of the methodology used in exegesis, usually of the Quran
- Mantiq: the science of logic
- Mutn: texts, sing. matn.
- Namaz: synonymous with salah (prayer), used in Persianate languages.
- Fatwa: non-binding opinion of a scholar on a matter pertaining to Islamic law
- Adhab: punishment
- Dars e Nizami: a curriculum used in many religious learning institutes, which originated in India.
Further Resources
Saaleh Baseer is currently a Master’s student at University of Chicago, studying Mughal intellectual history. He is a graduate of Darul Uloom Azaadville, where he completed the ‘Alimiyya, and later earned his B.A. from Columbia in History. He is interested in the anthropology of secularism, Mughal history, and translation studies. You can find him on Instagram @saalehbaseer where one might find a mix of critiques and photos of 1920’s Delhi.
Momodou Taal is a law graduate from the UK who, after attaining his LLB from the University of East Anglia, began studying Islamic jurisprudence and other preliminary Islamic sciences full time at the prestigious Al-Azhar in Egypt. Momodou has a particular focus in tackling contemporary issues that relate to young people in the modern world, and has founded the Muslim Millennials and Kultural Renaissance initiatives which aim to raise the level of discussion amongst young people through top quality media, documentaries, and annual forums and conferences. Find him on Instagram @TheGambian and Twitter @YoungMalcolm.
Listen to Sacred Footsteps- The Podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify & more!
