This week Katherine and Paul welcome the ever-inspiring Muslim thinker, writer and Yale Divinity School lecturer, Abdul-Rehman Malik. We brew up a conversation about food, drink and spirituality, and how slowing down to enjoy the ritual of making coffee can have a positive impact on your well-being.
Abdul-Rehman, our unofficial spiritual guide and guru, tells us about the challenges and benefits of observing Ramadan during lockdown this year, as well as how this unusual time has been a great catalyst for change. Meanwhile, Katherine and Paul discuss why Greenbelt Festival made the decision to work more closely with Muslim communities in the UK after 9/11. And, perhaps most importantly of all, we find out if Katherine is a morning or evening person (spoiler alert: her answer may surprise you).
Take a moment to make a nice hot brew to enjoy with this episode! Links, resources and episode timestamps (for all you skippers out there) below.
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ABOUT ABDUL-REHMAN
Abdul-Rehman Malik is an award winning journalist, educator and cultural organiser. Since June 2019 he has been Lecturer and Associate Research Scholar at the Yale Divinity School. He also serves as the Programme Coordinator at Yale University’s Council on Middle East Studies, and is responsible for developing curricula and partnerships with public schools to promote better cultural, language and religious literacy about the Middle East.
https://about.me/abdulrehmanmalik
Twitter: @ArMalik
Instagram: @armalik
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LINKS AND RESOURCES
‘The Mohammedan Bean: The Secret History of Islam and Coffee’ by Abdul-Rehman Malik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkti89ndu4M&feature=youtu.be
Canada’s Drag Race https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p08h1dp1/canadas-drag-race
The Book of Queer Prophets https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Ruth-Hunt/The-Book-of-Queer-Prophets--24-Writers-on-Sexuality-and-Religion/24136263
Harvard study on health and happiness https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/
More from Abdul-Rehman at Greenbelt Festival
https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/talks-archive/#~abdul
We didn’t mention this one in the episode, but if you want to find out more about gender fluidity in the bible, we recommend you check out Peterson Toscano:
https://petersontoscano.com
https://petersontoscano.com/portfolio/transfigurations/
Twitter: @p2son
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00:00 - Welcome to Somewhere To Believe In
00:30 - Katherine and Paul catch up
07:00 - Katherine and Paul talk about Islam and Greenbelt Festival
11:40 - Introducing Abdul-Rehman and his work
12:18 - Abdul-Rehman joins the conversation
12:30 - Abdul-Rehman on Ramadan during lockdown
16:20 - Talk Snippet from #GB16 ‘The Mohammedan Bean: The Secret History of Islam and Coffee’
15:00 - Abdul-Rehman on spirituality and food
28:24 - Abdul-Rehman on community
31:35 - Abdul-Rehman on Friday prayers
35:00 - Abdul-Rehman on changes to traditional rules
25:40 - Abdul-Rehman on racial justice
40:50 - Abdul-Rehman on how we can be better
42:50 - Abdul-Rehman on Greenbelt
43:30 - Abdul-Rehman on death
49:00 - Abdul-Rehman on lockdown beards
49:40 - Katherine and Paul reflect on the conversation with Abdul-Rehman
54:00 - How to get in touch with us
57:50 - Coming up in next week’s episode
58:30 - Thank you’s
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A huge thanks to the Greenbelt Volunteer Talks Team for all their hard work on editing this episode. Our podcast music is ‘I Can Change’ by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires.
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https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/
#SomewhereToBelieveIn
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