Rising in the West

BRIDGING THE IVORY TOWER & THE STREETS 🕌 | Muslim Chaplain at Columbia University, Ebad What does it actually look like to lead a spiritual community inside the Ivy League? In this powerful episode of Rising in the West, we sit down with Ebad Rahman, Muslim Chaplain at Columbia University to talk about faith, service, and showing up for students in the heart of NYC. From organizing massive Ei...

The group comes together to debate Omar's article, The Muhammadan Presence: an American Vision. It is a vision for Muslims in the United States and what to do. It starts off slow, but then suddenly spikes in a passionate talk about how to go about integrating with the world. What are Islamic values? How do we cultivate them? What is the plan to see it through? Let us know what you think! Artic...

Haroon and Omar go at it on Iran. What's happening? Why? Religious? What? Iran strikes coincided with Purim. Intentional? Who knows? The point is innocent people die regardless of what "old flesh bags" decide. This is a passionate one for Omar, who wants to do right and struggles in the rubble to do so. Check this stop in his journey for a Free Palestine. The interview with Dr. Ali A...

The "Plateau" Experience Haroon and Nadir get vulnerable about their personal struggles this Ramadan. Haroon discusses the "flatline" he experienced after a strong start and the difficulty of maintaining a "spiritual mode" while managing the daily grind of work and a lack of weekday community. How was your Ramadan?

Sam Altman wants to create a ‘Digital God,’ but we’re just trying to get students to think for themselves. Is generative AI the end of critical thinking? This week on  Rising in the West , Haroon reports from the “English trenches,” where the “Death of the Essay” looms as students trade deep analysis for polished AI outputs. Omar explains the technical reality—why AI doesn’t “think,” but instead m...

“If you can get someone to believe in absurdities, they will commit atrocities.” Is the chaos we are witnessing a bug in the system, or is it a feature? This week on Rising in the West , Haroon and Omar are joined by Nadir, unpacking a heavy news cycle, starting with the escalation of immigration enforcement. Haroon argues that the “lethality and harshness” aren’t accidental byproducts—they are th...

How do we push back against a world of "pure excess"? In this episode, Haroon and Omar are rejoined by Nadir and Abu Hamza and dive into the "Knowledge of the Self" to find freedom in an age of AI and surveillance. We explore the necessity of a "Third Space"—a social environment that isn't quite home and isn't quite the mosque—and why most third space projects...

Join hosts Haroon and Omar with special guest Nadir as they connect the dots between modern geopolitics, the surveillance state, and the timeless power of faith. Is history repeating itself? We dive into the crisis in Venezuela and the cyclic nature of foreign intervention before shifting to the digital world. Does the convenience of Big Tech outweigh the harms of mass surveillance and addiction l...

In this episode, Haroon and Omar analyze the legal and moral contradictions of Western democracy through the theoretical candidacy of Zohran Mamdani. They examine the "Natural Born Citizen" requirement of Article II, questioning how "blood and soil" barriers in the U.S. Constitution exclude naturalized citizens from the highest office . The hosts discuss the potential for such a candidacy to serve...

In this caffeinated deep dive, hosts Haroon and Omar are joined by guests Abu Hamza and Nadir to ask: Is the Ummah settling for "good enough"? They explore the disconnect between traditional scholarship and a Western community distracted by Fortnite and the Metaverse, debating whether we’ve lost the "genius-level" ambition of our predecessors. From the "heresy" of Keurig coffee to the philosophy o...

Is the world actually ending, or does it just feel that way? Haroon and Omar compare the chaos of middle school classrooms to the chaos of American politics. They discuss why billionaires are building bunkers in New Zealand, why common sense isn’t so common anymore, and why—despite the “dystopic” nature of the dunya—we can’t just run for the hills. Plus, a look back at their time at Zaytuna and wh...

Greetings, I recently penned an article about marriage. It was an outpouring of love to my wife. A few days before this recording, I disposed of a kidney stone. God that was a long ten days. Somewhere in there, I decided to talk about love. Here it is. To hear more, visit www.omarb.com

I recently had no idea what to write looking at the blank Notion box. So, I wrote about that struggle: https://open.substack.com/pub/omarbayramoglu/p/a-blank-page?r=5m0h7o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false In speaking about it, I had a revelation when speaking about my wife and her Islamic geometric art class. Bam! A solution. Thanks, wife! Thanks for reading! Subscribe for...

Trailer episode. I forgot to mention the fourth reason. I met a professor down here in Southern Florida. we were talking about public speaking and how I don't really record myself. he smiled and told me. "Oh, so you can only speak in front of people." I thought to myself, wow I'm arrogant. So here I am trying to break this and hopefully attain some humility. Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free...