Path & Present W/baraka Blue

Dr. Abdallah Rothman is an Islamic Psychology researcher and practitioner. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and a Board Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC). In addition to his academic and clinical training in Western psychology, Abdallah studies and practices Islamic Psychology and is currently doing doctoral research in this area. His clinical practice as well as his academic research focus on approaching counseling from within an Islamic paradigm; and establishing an indigenous Islamic theoretical orientation to human psychology that is grounded in the knowledge of the soul from the Islamic tradition. He is the founder of Shifaa Integrative Counseling and the Executive Director of the International Association of Islamic Psychology. www.islamicpsychology.org www.shifaacounseling.com Academic Writings: https://kingston.academia.edu/AbdallahRothman

Amir Sulaiman is a poet, recording artist, Harvard Fellow, actor, screen writer and producer born in Rochester, New York. His poems cross subjects of love, tragedy as well as what it means to reconcile humanity with the unprecedented trials of modernity. He has performed his works across the US as well as many other countries including England, Belgium, Senegal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Australia, Iran and the Netherlands, and continues to tour world-wide. His recently published book of poetry, Love, Gnosis & Other Suicide Attempts met with critical acclaim, in addition to his latest album "The Opening," the third in a unique trilogy project, following "The Meccan Openings" (2011) and "The Medinan Openings" (2012). Amir was first introduced to a National audience in 2005 when he was featured for two seasons on Russell Simmons' groundbreaking series Def Poetry Jam on HBO.

Cyrus Zargar is the Endowed Al-Ghazali Distinguished Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of Central Florida. He earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in Near Eastern Studies in 2008. Zargar’s research interests include Classical Sufism, Islamic Philosophy, Arabic and Persian Sufi Literature, and Ethics in Literature and Film. He is the author of: The Polished Mirror: Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism. London: Oneworld. Sufi Aesthetics: Beauty, Love, and the Human Form in the Writings of Ibn ʿArabi and ʿIraqi. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.

Dr. Xavier is a professor of Religious Studies at Queens University in Ontario Canada. She works on contemporary global Islam and Sufism, with particular regional interests in North America (United States and Canada) and South Asia(Sri Lanka). She broadly examines how Sufism transforms and/or maintains continuity as it is transmitted to new regions, such as through migration, diaspora, literature, and popular culture (i.e., Rumi). In doing so, she engages sacred spaces (Sufi shrines), rituals, practices, and memory, in addition to gender dynamics. She is the author of Sacred Spaces and Transnational Networks in American Sufism: Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and Contemporary Shrine Cultures (2018), and the co-author of Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics and Popular Culture (2017). She is currently work on two book projects. The first is a case study on the development of Sufism in Toronto. For her second project, she is documenting Sufi shrines in Sri Lanka and its contemporary legacy, amidst growing anti-Sufism on t

Kabir Helminski is a Shaikh of the Mevlevi Order of Sufis, which traces its inspiration to Mevlana Rumi. He began his Mevlevi training as a student of the late Shaikh Suleyman Loras. In 1990 he was subsequently appointed a Shaikh. Under Kabir’s direction, the Mevlevi Order is working to apply traditional Sufi principles to the conditions of contemporary life. Kabir and his wife, Camille, founded and now direct The Threshold Society, a nonprofit educational foundation that has developed programs for practice and study within Sufism and spiritual psychology. He leads workshops and retreats for Sufis and the broader multifaith community. sufism.org

Zachary Markwith is the Executive Director of the Hub Foundation. He is also a doctoral candidate in Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He earned an MA (cum laude) in Comparative Religious Studies at the George Washington University and a BA in Islamic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research and teaching interests include Muslim sacred texts (Quran, Hadith, and ahadith qudsiyyah) and spiritual traditions (ihsan, 'irfan, and tasawwuf), intrafaith and interfaith relations and dialogue, just war and nonviolence. Prior to joining Hub Foundation, Markwith worked for several non-profit organizations, including the Covenants Initiative, Council on American-Islamic Relations, the International Peace Project, and Food Not Bombs. https://hub-foundation.org "Hub Foundation is a non-profit organization located in San Ramon, California. We strive to empower and inspire individuals and communities through providing greater access to edu

Rory Dickson is Assistant Professor of Islamic Religion and Culture at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. He researches Sufism (Contemporary Sufism, Sufism and Islam, Sufism in North America). You can find his books here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&text=William+Rory+Dickson&search-alias=books&field-author=William+Rory+Dickson&sort=relevancerank And other writings here: https://uwinnipeg.academia.edu/RoryDickson

Farooq Maseehuddin is the Founder of Tarjuma in Edmonton, Canada and has worked closely with Taleef Collective. His graduate research is a comparative study of Christian and Muslim communities in North America. https://tarjuma.ca Topics discussed include: History of Muslim community in North America - Unmosqued vs. Demosqued - Third Spaces - Social Media Culture - Internet Disruptions - Muslim, Evangelical, Hindu, Buddhist communities in North America - Virality as Authority - Religious Economies - Counter-publics

Omid Safi is an American Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University, where he is the Director of Duke Islamic Studies Center, and a columnist for On Being. Dr. Safi specializes in Islamic mysticism (Sufism), contemporary Islamic thought and medieval Islamic history. He has served on the board of the Pluralism project at Harvard University and is the co-chair of the steering committee for the Study of Islam and the Islamic Mysticism Group at the American Academy of Religion. Before joining Duke University, Dr. Safi was a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Website: https://onbeing.org/author/omid-safi/ Radical Love Book: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300225815/radical-love

Azhar is a standup comedian, actor, writer, playwright, and producer. He is one of Chicago's top standup comics; CNN called him "America's Funniest Muslim," and Georgetown University identified him as "one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World." In 2010, standup icon Dave Chappelle–for whom Azhar has opened over 50 times–commented "Azhar is untouchable. He's like a comedian from the future." He is a paid regular at the prestigious Comedy Cellar in New York City, and hosts a monthly standup show at his home club, Laugh Factory Chicago. As the co-founder of the international comedy showcase "Allah Made Me Funny–The Official Muslim Comedy Tour," he toured over 20 countries, on five continents.

Hunter Brown studied Art History and Physics at UC Berkeley. His core areas of research are early Buddhist art and ancient Asian art more generally. He is currently living in Bali and studying traditional Balinese Gamelan music. You can support Path & Present here: https://www.patreon.com/pathandpresent

Michael Sugich is a native of Santa Barbara, California and studied at UCLA and the California Institute of the Arts. He was initiated into a traditional Sufi order in 1972. Since that time he has studied Sufi doctrine and practice with spiritual masters across the Arab and Islamic world. He lived for 23 years in the precincts of the sacred city of Makkah Al Mukaramah where he kept company with many men of knowledge and illumination. He has written Palaces of India (Pavilion Books), a travel book, and Living in Makkah (Macdonald Publishers), a children's book, and, most recently a feature documentary film on the life of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Faisal: Legacy of a King. Michael Sugich is author of 'Signs on the Horizons: Meetings with Men of Knowledge and Illumination', a memoir of 40 years with Sufi saints of the 20th and 21st centuries. https://www.amazon.com/Signs-Horizons-Meetings-Knowledge-Illumination/dp/0989364011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481132772&sr=8-1&keywords=signs+on+the+horizons

Leonard Lewisohn is an American author, translator and lecturer in the area of Islamic studies and a specialist in Persian language and Sufi literature. He is the editor of Mawlana Rumi Review. He is a member of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies in University of Exeter. Mawlana Rumi Review: http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/research/centres/cpis/rumireview/ Some of Dr. Lewisohn's writings can be found here: https://exeter.academia.edu/LeonardLewisohn

Abdul-Rahman Malik is an award winning London-based journalist, educator and organiser. Toronto born, he is Programmes Manager for the Radical Middle Way, and Director of the Insight Film Festival. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio, offering Pause for Thought - contemporary perspectives on spirituality - on Radio 2’s flagship breakfast show and presenting documentaries for Radio 4 and the World Service. His most recent radio documentaries include “The Muhammadan Bean: The Secret History of Islam and Coffee” and “Finding Allah at 33rpm: My Search for Sacred Music”. https://about.me/abdulrehmanmalik

Antar Hanif (iAMSHOOTER) is a veteran photographer who has worked for many clients, including Ikea and Nike. More recently he has been focusing his lens in the fields of fashion and travel photography. We spoke about how your art/craft/work transforms the way you see the world, how travel changes one's vantage point, learning to ride a scooter in Bali without killing oneself, and more. http://www.iamshooter.com

Adisa Banjoko aka The Bishop is an author and educator based in the SF Bay Area. In 2006 he founded the 501c3 non-profit Hip-Hop Chess Federation Inc. They fuse music, chess and martial arts to promote unity, strategy and nonviolence. He is also the chess and jiu-jitsu instructor at Zaytuna College. In 2016 he released the book Bobby, Bruce & the Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess. It was recently selected to be preserved at the Cornell Hip-Hop Collection. www.hiphopchess.com

Michael Vicente Pérez is a professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Washington. His research interests include migration and displacement, ethnicity and nationalism, memory, violence, human rights, Muslim societies and Islam. https://anthropology.washington.edu/people/michael-vicente-perez

Ali Hussain is a doctoral candidate in Islamic studies in the department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan. His research focuses on Jesus in the thought and writings of the 12th/13th century Muslim mystic Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-ʿArabi (d. 1240). He's also interested in sacred bodies as tools for mythic storytelling in Sufism. https://www.facebook.com/AkbariAliZHussain

Syed Muhiyuddin bin Husein Al-Attas graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Otago, New Zealand in 2011. Since 2012 he has been a student of contemporary Malaysian Philosopher Syed Naquib Al-Attas and his students, especially Prof Wan Mohd, at CASIS(Center for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science and Civilisation) concentrating his Master's thesis on Naquib Al-Attas' conception of the West. He has also taught introductory courses on Islamic philosophy, civilization and the worldview of Islam.

Professor Dr. Malik Badri was born in Rufa’a, Sudan in 1932. He obtained his B.A. (with distinction) and his Masters from the American University of Beirut, in 1956 and 1958 respectively. He further obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Leicester, England in 1961 and his Postgraduate Certificate of Clinical Psychology from the Academic Department of Psychiatry of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School of London University in 1966. He was elected Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 1977 and now he is the holder of the title of Chartered Psychologist C.Psychol from the same Society. In recognition to his contributions in his field he was awarded an honorary D.Sc. from the Ahfad University and was decorated by the President of Sudan in April of the year, 2003, with the medal of Shahid Zubair which is the highest award for academic excellence. Apart from being appointed as professor and dean in varies universities, such as Dean of the Faculties of Education in the University of Khartoum and Juba Un