William Barylo recently sat down with us to talk about neoliberalism, its effects on Muslims in the West, his experience being homeless as a graduate student, the folly of the "hijra industry," and more. This is our 12th and final episode of 2025. See you for more in 2026 ✌️

Pleased to share Episode 12 of the Protean View podcast: The Burdens of Neoliberalism, in which @alarian.muftah.org and I speak with sociologist William Barylo. Other URLs in the replies. www.muftah.org/the-burdens-...

Two podcast episodes in a single month! Pleased to share Episode 11 of @proteanview.muftah.org: Dilemmas of Authenticity, in which @alarian.muftah.org and I speak with Zaid Adhami. URLs in replies.

This incredibly moving and haunting account of the Gaza genocide by a 19-year-old survivor in @thenation.com is a must-read. He was just 17 when the genocide started.

It’s been less than a year since Bashar al-Assad was deposed, and much is still in flux, but I think the arguments @mesbushra.muftah.org and I made in June about Syria’s present condition and possible future continue to hold 👇

Very pleased to announce the latest from @proteanview.muftah.org Episode 10: On the Politics of Analytic Philosophy, in which @alarian.muftah.org and I speak with @schuringa.bsky.social. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube URLs in replies. www.muftah.org/the-politics...

The release of our latest episode today marks a modest milestone for Protean View––our tenth episode! Keeping the show running at a consistent pace is a challenge, but we're excited for what's ahead. We hope you're enjoying our content. Thank you for your support ✌️

Don’t miss this—the recent response of philosophy departments to the Gaza genocide is also discussed. Other topics include Rawls’ early religious & political influences, the meaning of the analytic-continental divide, & how philosophy has historically reinforced the status quo.

We have a new episode out with @schuringa.bsky.social on the politics of analytic philosophy. Want to know how and why analytic philosophy framed itself as apolitical even as it was bankrolled by the CIA and the RAND corporation? Listen to our conversation, out now wherever you podcast.

Muftah Magazine’s new issue is out. We explore the theme of ‘authenticity,’ with essays on revolution and the state, capitalism and self, activism, democracy, and more. Articles are being released weekly, and the first two are available now.

Is the new Syrian state revolutionary? In Muftah Magazine's new issue, @alarian.muftah.org & @mesbushra.muftah.org argue that while post-Assad Syria seemed, in theory, a blank canvas for revolutionary change, its inherited conditions narrowed the horizon of possibility.

For Muftah Magazine's latest issue, Zaid Adhami asks: What does it mean to hold commitments 'in the gray'? Though our culture often extols the critical virtues of 'being skeptical,' with Gaza, it can often be an excuse to waver and mask moral evasion.

Religion and the American Border with @bethhurd.bsky.social F'19 on @proteanview.muftah.org podcast: www.muftah.org/p/religion-a...

Really enjoyed this conversation, don't miss it

Some of you might get a kick out of this short research note I wrote for Harvard’s CSWR: “The Body is Never Just Flesh.” about rival medical epistemologies, spectral anatomies, & the contested meaning of dissection in Edo-Meiji Japan. Enjoy! cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/05...

Had a great time talking with Muftah for their new podcast series. Discussing the role of policing "superstition" and the secular, the history of magic-religion-science, my more recent work on critical history. If that sounds like your kind of thing, give it a listen: www.muftah.org/p/superstiti...

Don't miss this, with @profstorm.bsky.social!

Pleased to share the latest episode of @proteanview.muftah.org, in which @alarian.muftah.org and I interview Professors Karen Bauer and Feras Hamza on their new book, Women, Households, and the Hereafter in the Qur'an: A Patronage of Piety (OUP, 2024). On @muftah.org: www.muftah.org/p/women-in-t...

In our country today, we have to endure the circulation of genocidal statements like this as we simultaneously watch college students get caged—indefinitely and without charge—for opposing genocide.

If you haven't explored @proteanview.muftah.org yet, what are you waiting for? We have six great episodes out (on our website and wherever you podcast) featuring Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Salman Sayyid, Sherman Jackson, Daniel Tutt, Nader Hashemi, and Norman Finkelstein. Much more soon––follow us!

“Nah dude due process is only for Americans/citizens”

Death is the point.

In this excellent essay, @profstorm.bsky.social asks: What happens when the grand narratives of modernity and critical insights of postmodern thought discordantly converge? On the cusp of new unknowns, unfamiliar questions emerge that a familiar world can't answer.

The ruling elite love to proclaim concern for the weak, powerless, and forgotten in our society. But as Daniel Tutt powerfully and correctly argues here, they perpetuate a cynical winner-loser logic that reverberates in the most destructive ways.

Alex Odeh is probably not a name you've ever heard before, even though his murder in 1985 remains one of the most bizarre, unresolved mysteries of our time. Read this incredible piece about Odeh's murder and its ongoing implications by William Lafi Youmans.

Aaron Bushnell didn’t self-immolate to “raise awareness” or call us to action, argues @alarian.muftah.org. Responding to the limits of protest and the fact that the truth about Gaza means nothing to the ruling elite, Bushnell’s message was arguably: watch this—nothing will change.

"The very first line of Open Socrates admonishes the reader, “There is a question you are avoiding.” For Callard, that question is: Why are you living this way? But this only points to a host of questions that Callard herself avoids..." me for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/cult...

Hossam Shabat’s last article. What an extraordinary young man has been taken from the world. www.dropsitenews.com/p/hossam-sha...

Today, Israel killed our colleague Hossam Shabat, who reported for @dropsitenews.com from northern Gaza. Witnesses say it was a targeted strike on his car. This is our statement: www.dropsitenews.com/p/statement-...

incredible piece alpheratzmag.com/reports/2025... on starvation and the experience of siege between gaza and yarmouk camp

Columbia University thinks it crawled its way out of a problem by bowing to the administration’s draconian demands, but I honestly don’t see how its reputation recovers from this in the long run. This is a permanent stain on the university’s legacy.

"My husband was taken away from me in the middle of the night. It was one of the most terrifying times of my life. I don't think I've ever experienced anything scarier than that." www.cbsnews.com/news/mahmoud...

For @thenation.com, I reflect on Aaron Bushnell’s death & the limits of protest. I deny that he self-immolated to raise awareness, or because he thought he could quell the Gaza genocide, & I claim that part of his message was: watch this, nothing will change. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

“Companies like CoreCivic & GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies” “The more detainees, the more money they make. It stands to reason that these companies have no incentive to release people quickly”

For @thenation.com, I reflect on Aaron Bushnell’s death & the limits of protest. I deny that he self-immolated to raise awareness, or because he thought he could quell the Gaza genocide, & I claim that part of his message was: watch this, nothing will change. www.thenation.com/article/acti...

The Mahmoud Khalil affair has made it perfectly clear that a staggering number of people have no idea what free speech means and what its protections entail. There are people out here bizarrely claiming they’re defenders of free speech while insisting Khalil must be punished for what he said.

New episode! Sectarianization and Gaza with Nader Hashemi is out now. Apple: tinyurl.com/3s8jh8wj Spotify: tinyurl.com/2s4x7b98 YouTube: tinyurl.com/2223fp7 This episode was released early on Patreon last week. Follow and support us there for exclusive content!

The viking has become an object of cultural fetishization today––but why? For our Misfits issue, Ahmed Elbenni argues that viking culture "is being rehabilitated as one alternative to Hellenized Christianity" in response to "a Western crisis of faith and identity." tinyurl.com/y7xmdby7

The grand narratives of modernity and the critical insights of postmodern thought seem to be discordantly converging. On the cusp of new unknowns, unfamiliar questions emerge that a familiar world can't answer. Protean View emerged in response––to probe the metamodern. 🧵1/9

Happy to announce @muftah.org launched a new Opinions page and is now accepting submissions. Have an idea? Pitch us. We’re interested in pieces (~800-1200 words) on current issues that dovetail with our mission. For guidelines and how to submit, visit our About page 👇 muftah.org/about/

The American émigré who lives in an illegal settlement in the West Bank, surrounding the native population, says he is “surrounded by Palestinian Arab towns”

What this report doesn’t mention is that the two survivors blamed antisemitism for what happened to them and then called for “death to the Arabs.”

Excellent conversation

The people who are now saying "there are consequences to war" to justify the ethnic cleansing of Gaza previously insisted they were not enemies of the Palestinian people and had their best interests in mind.

I often say, to the incredulity of many, Palestinians are among the most dehumanized people in modern America. This is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about. Palestinians are so dehumanized, humanizing them is seen as a threat & justifies harassment, violence, firing, etc. Parts 2, 3, 4 below

2011 is back

Sherman Jackson recently joined us on @proteanview.muftah.org to talk about his idea of the ‘Islamic Secular’. Check it out: www.patreon.com/posts/121159...

Ethnic cleansing.

I recently had a wide-ranging and provocative conversation with Salman Sayyid on the 'Muslim question' and defeat for the new @muftah.org podcast, @proteanview.muftah.org, and he had the following to say: