This Being Human

Mariam Ghani is an artist, writer, and filmmaker. Her work looks at places, spaces and moments where social, political and cultural structures take on visible forms, and spans multiple disciplines. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human .  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charles Kettaneh and Nicolas Fayad are the founders of EAST Architecture Studio, an architectural design and research collective based in Beirut. They have worked on various projects ranging from master planning to interior design with a focus on sustainability, adaptive reuse, and history. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human .&n...

Anida Yoeu Ali’s art mixes humour, public confrontation, and science fiction to explore issues of identity. As a Muslim Khmer woman, Anida is a minority whether she’s in her native Cambodia or in the United States, where her family relocated to escape the regime of Pol Pot. She talks about her work across disciplines, from absurdist poetry to public performances such as the Buddhist Bug, where she...

Soumik Datta is an award-winning musician, composer and television presenter. He plays the 19 stringed sarod and connects his Indian classical roots with colourful electronica and musical styles from around the world. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Malak Mattar is an artist from the Gaza Strip. She paints expressionist faces, figures and semi-abstract designs. Malak started painting at the age of thirteen. While she was trapped inside during a 51-day day military assault on Gaza, she began painting with supplies from her school to help deal with her emotions. She has since made hundreds of paintings. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and...

Yazz Ahmed is a British-Bahraini Trumpet and Flugelhorn player. Through her music, Yazz Ahmed seeks to blur the lines between jazz and electronic sound design, bringing together the sounds of her mixed heritage in what has been described as “psychedelic Arabic jazz, intoxicating and compelling.” The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Huma...

Born in Wales with Yemeni and Bangladeshi heritage, Karimah Hassan has an expressive, bold aesthetic and is heralded for “taking stories of community gatekeepers full circle, from the canvas to the streets.” Karimah creates live paintings at performance events across London and New York to highlight the importance of communities in the city. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for...

Uzma Jalaluddin is a writer, high school teacher, and published author of her debut novel  Ayesha At Last  and her latest bestselling novel that has been optioned for film by Amazon Studios,  Hana Khan Carries On.  Uzma talks about making sure that Muslim women are represented through her storytelling, the journey from publishing her debut novel in 2018 to having her work optio...

Ali Hassan is a stand-up comic, actor, and host of both CanadaReads and the CBC Radio show Laugh Out Loud. He talks about Canadian fame, being forced by his children to face difficult questions about his identity, and why he came to think of himself as a “cultural Muslim.” His upcoming memoir is called Is There Bacon In Heaven? The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding...

Under the name Aerosol Arabic, Mohammed Ali was a pioneer in blending street art with Arabic script and imagery. He has made murals, installations, videos and theatrical productions around the world, from his native Birmingham, UK, to the US, Australia, and even the Vatican. He talks about developing his unique style and why he believes graffiti is both an ancient art and an innate part of humanit...

With her band Alsarah and the Nubatones, Alsarah brings a modern sensibility to the music she grew up with in Sudan. She talks about developing her unique sound, the music she carried with her when she left home, and how the public library played a crucial role in her artistic awakening. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human . Host...

Elamin Abdelmahmoud’s new book  Son of Elsewhere  is about struggling to find a place between two worlds: his birthplace of Sudan and his home in Canada. He talks to AR about what it was like to show up in an Ontario town as an African pre-teen who spoke no English; how WWE wrestling gave him an entrypoint to Canadian society; and why he wants his daughter to grow up with the burden of h...

Gulshan Khan talks about her path from social advocacy to becoming an acclaimed photojournalist. She also discusses her ongoing project documenting Muslim culture in South Africa, and how apartheid, which ended in her childhood, continues to affect her country. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...

Mark Gonzales is a futurist, but much of his work involves looking to the past. He believes the key to a better society is not just about the latest technology, but also about things like ancestral wisdom and sharing meals. The key to much of his approach is what he refers to as “empathy technology.” Mark talks about what empathy technology is, how he overcame trauma in his own life, and why he re...

Faria Róisín spent 18 years working on her debut novel, Like a Bird, since dreaming about it as a child. She talks to AR about art, migration, the “new Muslim Renaissance” and how writing helped her deal with childhood trauma. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yasir Khan has covered wars, revolutions, and has chased camels through the Australian Outback. As a journalist and documentary filmmaker, he has worked for outlets including CBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and Euronews, and is currently Editor-in-Chief of Thomson Reuters Foundation. He talks about lessons from his career, including how he avoided becoming the “Muslim correspondent,” and how empathy may have...

Aïda Muluneh’s photographs are almost like paintings, featuring women in majestic outfits and facepaint, set against vivid, stylized backdrops. She talks about developing her artistic voice, the role of spirituality in her work, her series on Islam in Ethiopia, and what she thinks Westerners get wrong about African art. Aïda Muluneh is the founder of the Addis Foto Fest in Ethiopia and the company...

Farah Alibay speaks more like a philosopher than an engineer. She works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she helps operate the Perseverance Rover, which searches for evidence of ancient life on Mars. She talks about how her job has changed her views of Earth, her rise through a male-dominated field, and why she thinks the prospect of extraterrestrial life raises major questions around ho...

Zarqa Nawaz is going through a bit of a rebirth. It’s been roughly a decade since the end of her hit show  Little Mosque on the Prairie . Recently, Zarqa got into stand-up comedy, she’s about to star in the web series ZARQA, and she is on the verge of releasing her first novel,  Jameela Green Ruins Everything , a dark comedy about American intervention in the Middle East. Zarqa talks abo...

A new season of This Being Human is almost here! We'll be back soon with more fascinating conversations with amazing people whose lives, ideas, and art have been shaped by Muslim culture. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of This Being Human. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, we share rapid-fire Q&As with food writer Anissa Helou, photographer Tasneem Alsultan, performance artist Wafaa Balal and women’s rights advocate Dr. Alaa Murabit. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hamid Dabashi calls himself “the first Muslim intellectual.” He is the author of more than twenty books, a consultant on major Hollywood films, a curator and juror of film festivals, and a professor of Iranian Studies and comparative literature at Columbia University. He talks about how an early love of Indian musicals, his mother’s poetry and travelling storytellers led him towards a life of writ...

Roni Helou is a rising star from Lebanon’s fashion scene. The young designer talks about making fashion with a message, why he staged a photoshoot on a mountain of garbage, and surviving the explosion that devastated Beirut in 2020. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Being Human . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Misha Euceph is the host of the podcast Tell Them, I Am and CEO of Dustlight Productions. Tell Them, I Am features major Muslim celebrities telling stories of little moments that changed their lives. She talks about her rise to podcast fame, her struggle to gain ownership over her show, and making the Quran more accessible. You can watch her Quran Book Club on her Instagram page. The Museum wishes...

Khalid Albaih is a Sudanese political cartoonist, who publishes cartoons online under the name Khartoon! as well as in galleries and publications around the world. He talks about how Superman shaped his worldview, the dangers of his work, and why he’s trying to change his relationship with the internet. The Museum wishes to thank Nadir and Shabin Mohamed for their founding support of  This Be...