“When Lions Write History"

TaHa 51-54

 "Until the lion learns how to write - every story will glorify the hunter,” goes a well known African proverb.

History is written by the victor.  But The Victor has the true record, and His account omits nothing and never errs. 

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Imam Mohamed Magid discuss Musa’s (s) dialogue with Pharoah and the power of who creates the historical record.  

You will learn:

📖 How to forgive yourself

📖 Why we must write our own history and narratives

📖 The Divine relationship with nature

📖 The power of awe in human humility

📖 The real purpose of Intellect

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Speaking Truth to Tyranny

TaHa 47-50  

Speaking truth to power is often fruitless on the surface: your message falls on deaf ears, the oppression continues or even intensifies, you face negative consequences. So what’s the point?

In this episode Dalia Mogahed and Samia Mubarak discuss the importance of speaking  truth to power with confidence and clarity, regardless of the apparent receptiveness of those you hope to change.  

You will learn:

📖 How to approach a tyrant of any kind.

📖 The source of human psychological resilience. 

📖 The ways oppressors work to break you. 

📖 Why we must speak the truth even when it feels like no one is listening.

📖 How to maintain solidarity in the face of a “divide and conquer” adversary. 

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Mission Possible: How to March Forward Even in Fear

TaHa 42-46

What are the elements needed to march forth and do something you’re afraid of? Better resources? More training? Perhaps, but also the elements no one can buy; clarity of purpose, the right team and the remembrance of Allah. 

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Samia Mubarak reflect on fear, friendship and the power of finding God in our darkest hour as we move through life’s challenges as they discuss Ayas 42-46 of Surat TaHa.

You will learn: 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Making Meaning

TaHa 40-41

David Eagleman, in his book “Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain,” wrote, “Instead of reality being passively  recorded  by the brain, it is actively constructed by it.” This construction is our meaning-making ability.  The meaning we give events change the way we respond to them, how we feel about our lives and those around us. 

In this episode we discuss how Allah is reframing the events of Musa’s life from what could be seen as a litany of tragedies to a series of training experiences under his Lord’s loving  eye.

You will learn: 

📖 Linguistic Insights into understanding the different types of grief

📖 How to cope with emotional distress: 

📖 The weight of sin and how to let go of shame.

📖 Understanding Qadr: The Divine Measurement

📖 The role of exile in personal growth

📖 How interpreting life events impacts our mental health

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Season 3, Episode 11

The Gifts God Gives

TaHa 38-40

Our lives often take unexpected turns; joy and loss, pain and pleasure.  We witness the birth of a child, a difficult diagnosis, the loss of a loved one.  For some the hardships are losing family in a genocide.  How do we make sense of these triumphs and tragedies?

In this episode we discuss the way Allah recounts to Musa (s) the events of his own life– surviving a genocide, raised by his enemy, accidentally killing a man, exile– and shows him how in every step he was under God’s loving eye. 

You will learn: 

📖 The  surprising forms God’s favors take

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Season 3, Episode 10

“Finding the Right Partner to Pursue Your Purpose”

TaHa 29-37

Asking for help is not easy.  You need to trust the other person enough to rely on them and be confident enough in yourself to admit you can’t do it alone.  In this episode Dalia Mogahed and Imam Magid explore the importance of community, companionship and commitment to the greater good over one’s own credit as they discuss the story of Musa (s) asking

Allah for his brother Haroon’s (s) partnership in facing Pharoah.  They also delve into the central role of dhikr in individual and community resilience. 

You will learn: 

Vocabulary: 

Wird: A prescribed litany or set of daily prayers and invocations recited regularly

Sohba: Companionship

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

S3:E9

“How to do Hard Things”

TaHa 25-28

Have you ever been afraid to speak even when you know you must? Have you ever been weighed down by self-doubt and constriction or overwhelmed by the task at hand?

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Samia Mubarak @quranic_ocean do a deep dive into the famous “dua of Musa” where he (s) asks Allah for His aid when commanded to go confront Pharaoh. We explore what the dua teaches us about overcoming our own fears in order to do the hard things that make life meaningful.

You will learn: 

📖 The physical and emotional dimensions of fear.

📖 How to “break open”: embracing vulnerability with Allah.

📖 How the dua of Musa reveals a critical aspect of effective leadership.

📖 The key to finding the courage to speak up even against a tyrant.

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

Season 3, Episode 8

“How to Fortify Your Heart”

TaHa 21-24

How do we fortify our hearts when we have fear, self-doubt and a loss of direction? In this episode, Dalia Mogahed is in conversation with Ustatha Samia Mubarak*, founder of @QuranicOcean, where they delve into the meanings of the signs Allah shows Musa (s).

This very special discussion about hope, hardship and the power of surrender is not one you want to miss.  

You will learn: 

📖 How fear can be a means to draw nearer to Allah.

📖 How Allah couples every difficult command with reassurance.

📖 The self-soothing techniques enshrined in the Quran.

📖 When and how to find the fortification you need to face life’s challenges.

📖How something that was a source of shame can be transformed into a source of shining light.

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

*Samia Mubarak is the founder of Quranic Ocean, a guided platform dedicated to building personal and emotional connections with Allah’s words. She completed her Quran memorization shortly after attaining her Bachelor’s degree in Communications with a minor in Psychology from Florida State University. She is a student of the Muddakir Quran Tafseer and memorization program and of the Suhba Seminary by Al-Madina. She is a Quran teacher at the Ribaat Academic Institute by Rabata and is currently working on an Ijaza (Quranic memorization certification) in Hafs recitation with Shaykh Abdallah Deeb of Itqaan Institute. She’s a single mom to two girls, one of which was born with a very rare syndrome called CHILD and has special medical needs, alhamdulillah. She hopes to help people dive deep into the Quranic ocean so they can find comfort and reassurance through Allah’s words amidst the varying circumstances of life.

Season 3: Episode 7

“Letting Go: The Path to Miracles”

TaHa: 17-20

What do you rely on to get through the day? Your car, phone or even your morning cup of coffee are things you may lean on to manage your life. What if you were told to cast all that aside?

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Hajj Hisham Mahmoud explore the spiritual meaning of the staff of Moses (s) and how we all have the tendency to lean too far on our means, yet only have to “let go and let God”  to see Allah’s miracles manifest in our lives. 

You will learn: 

📖 The power of letting go. 

📖The profound symbolism of the staff of Moses (s)

📖Why the surah about liberation and expansion contains so many commands to “throw”.

📖The role of sacrifice on the path to nearness to Allah.

📖Delineating control: Camels and The Kaaba

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Learn more about Hajj Hisham Mahmoud’s work at Lanturna.com

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Season 3: Episode 6

“How to hear the voice of God in your life”

TaHa: 15-16

The world is not fair.  If this wasn’t obvious before, the past two years have laid bare the injustice of the current world order.  How do we cope with seeing so much cruelty without accountability?  How can we keep working for a just and compassionate world when it feels so futile to try. 

In this episode, Imam Magid and Dalia Mogahed discuss the profound purpose of Divine accountability and the need we all have for a Day of Reckoning. 

They also explore how surat Taha teaches us how to open ourselves to hearing the voice of God in our lives.

You will learn: 

📖 The reality and healing power of belief in Divine accountability. 

📖 How to avoid burnout when working for a more just world.

📖 How no pain, emotional or physical, is in vain. 

📖 How to hear the voice of God in your life

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed

Season 3: Episode 5

“The Purpose of Life” TaHa: 14

What is our purpose for existence? How has our Creator facilitated realizing this purpose?

In this conversation, Dalia Mogahed and Imam Magid explore the profound concept of worship in Islam, emphasizing that worship (Ubudiyyah) transcends mere rituals and is central to the purpose of human existence. 

You will learn: 

📖The essence of ubudiyyah (servitude to God).

📖The transformative power of salah

📖How liberation is through servitude to God alone.

📖The way salah is an invitation, a journey, and a mobile sanctuary.

📖How to overcome barriers to prayer

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed

Season 3: Episode 4

“When We Hear the Voice of God” TaHa: 9-14

Sometimes we can only see the light of God when things seem dark.  Sometimes we only hear His guidance when we feel lost.  Sometimes the warmth of His nearness is only sought when life feels cold. 

In this episode’s rich discussion, Imam Magid and Dalia Mogahed delve into the story of Musa (s) journey to speaking to God at the burning bush, and the lessons therein.  

You will learn:

📖 Musa's leadership lessons

📖 The Blessing of being chosen to believe.

📖 Linguistic Nuances in Divine Address

📖 The purpose of prayer

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know.

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed

Inshirah is an Arabic word meaning “expansion.” In this spiritually invigorating episode,  Imam Magid and Dalia Mogahed discuss the ways Surat Taha expands the believing heart when read because it shines light on both Divine power and might as well as Divine proximity and mercy.  

Season 3: Episode 3

“On God’s Power and Proximity” TaHa: 5-8

You will learn:

📖 The relationship between mercy and revelation.

📖The concept of ownership in Islam

📖The unique concept of God in Islam.

📖How to steady your nerves before a difficult conversation or meeting.

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Have you ever felt like being a Muslim is to swim againstthe norm? Like you're the odd person out at work, school and in how you see the world? 

In this episode Imam Magid and Dalia Mogahed discuss how the Quranis a source of healing not hardship. 

Season 3: Episode 2

“The Quran as a Source of Healing not Hardship”  TaHa:2-4

You will learn:

📖What makes the Quran’s method of revelation uniqueamong sacred books. 

📖Why the Quran is called a ‘reminder’.

📖The impact of not following the guidance of the Quranon one’s heart.

 📖How to activate God-consciousness in ourlives.  

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on yourpodcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an onlinelearning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start yourjourney in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journeywith the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflectionprompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at@daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including ApplePodcasts and Spotify.

Has reading an ayah in the Quran ever stopped you dead in your tracks as if it were talking directly to you? In the first episode of season 3, Imam Magid and Dalia Mogahed are joined by Hajj Hisham Mahmoud* to discuss the opening of Surat Taha and the heart it transformed from enemy to intimate companion and eventually Commander of the Faithful in eight short verses. 

S3:E1: The Surah that Melted Omar’s Heart (Taha 20: 1-2)

You will learn:

📖 How the revelation of Surah Al-Taha marked a turning point in the mission of Islam

📖 The complex conversion story of Umar ibn Al-Khattab

📖 The power of faith to inspire courage 

📖 How to experience the Qur'an as a living text

📖 The mysteries of the seperate letters in the Qur’an

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

We are very excited to introduce Hajj Hisham Mahmoud as a contributing scholar on Quran Conversations.  El-Hajj Hisham Mahmoud studied theology, hadith, legal theory, jurisprudence, ethics, Qur’an recitation, and Arabic with scholars in Morocco, Mauritania, and Egypt. He taught for more than a decade at Yale, Princeton, and Harvard, then left the Academy to institute Lanturna, an educational initiative that intends to establish learning collectives to carry forward the legacies of our greatest luminaries. He continues to read with scholars and students in the United States and abroad. Learn more at Lanturna.com 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts and Spotify and now YouTube (link in bio).

In this bonus episode, Dalia Mogahed shares her inspiration for creating this podcast, as well as her journey of healing through the study of Surah Yusuf. 

She discusses the main lessons from the Surah as a bookend and prequel all in one.  

You will learn: 

📖 How our family of origin shapes our self-worth

📖 The power of drawing parallels between the stories in the Quran and our own lives.

📖 The main lessons from Surat Yusuf

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

In this culminating episode on Surat Yusuf, Imam Magid and Dalia Mogahed discuss the final ayas of the surah and draw out the overarching themes and lessons of this epic story.  

You will learn: 

📖 The power of clarity in dawa

📖 How dawa is a means to deepen one’s own faith

📖 How to never give up on our children

📖 Reconciling Divine help and human effort 

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If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt. 

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

When was the last time you stopped to admire a tree or flower in awe, or watched the sun rise and reflected on Allah’s mercy? 

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and Imam Mohamed Magid explore the themes of vulnerability before God, making God the center of  life’s orbit and balancing Trust in Him and awareness of one’s fragility. They discuss the importance of noticing the miracles all around us, as well as the dangers of “New Age Spirituality."

You will learn: 

📖 The beauty of everyday Miracles

📖 The dangers of believing in a God that demands nothing of you

📖 Modern paganism and “manifestating”

📖 The power of positive thinking in faith

📖 The illusion of self-sufficiency

📖 Balancing awareness of our fragility and trust in God

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed 

Listen anywhere you get your podcasts including Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Educating others about Islam can be one of the mostrewarding acts of worship we can engage in.  But how do we approach itwith courage and confidence rather than compromise and people-pleasing?

In this episode, Dalia Mogahed and ImamMagid delve explore how Surat Yusuf teaches us about dawah (inviting) people toGod, as well as how this very Surah is proof of Muhammed’s (s)prophethood. 

You will learn: 

📖 How tointerpret the hard times of our lives.

📖 Why‘converting’ people is not the goal of sharing our faith.

📖 Whycomparative religious literacy is beneficial to understanding the Quran.

📖 HowSurat Yusuf is proof of Muhammed’s (s) prophethood.

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on yourpodcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an onlinelearning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start yourjourney in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journeywith the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflectionprompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at@daliamogahed

How do you tell the story of your life? Are you the victim of circumstances, the self reliant survivor, or the receiver of God’s infinite bounty in different forms?

 In this emotional episode we discuss the culmination of the story of Yusuf (s) when he reunites with his father and embraces him, when his brothers prostrate to him and his dream as a child is realized.

You will learn: 

📖 The biggest challenge facing great leaders

📖 Parenting lessons from Prophet Yaqub (s)

📖 Balancing respecting parents and guarding against the abuse of power. 

📖 Reframing our life narratives

📖 Parallels in the story of Prophets Yusuf (s) and Muhammed (s). 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please review it on your podcasting platform.  It helps more than you know. 

@Quran.Conversations is sponsored by Fawakih, an online learning platform for Quranic Arabic which I myself use.  Start your journey in unlocking the language of the Quran.  Go to Fawakih.org

We hope this podcast encourages your own reflective journey with the Quran. Make sure to stay until the end to hear this week’s reflection prompt.  

For more spiritual insights, follow me on Instagram at @daliamogahed