Authentic knowledge from authentic sources.
In an age when anyone can record a video and call themselves a scholar, Islam has never been carried that way. It moves from teacher to student, across generations, back to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace). That chain has a name: isnad.
Hosted by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick in Cape Town, this podcast is built on that principle.
ROOTED, the flagship interview series, sits with the scholars of South Africa who went to the source and came home, and asks what it cost them to get there.
Alongside it, Studio Chats brings single conversations on whatever the moment asks of us, from Qurbani to Gaza to the state of Islamic education. The Ramadan series, Unlocking Hearts, I Am Near, Tafakkur and Understanding Juz Amma, are kept complete so they can be followed from the first day.
More than 175 episodes since 2021.
Every episode, with chapter markers and full notes: isnadacademy.com/podcast
"The Mats Are Honest" | Ustadh Nisar Shaikh | BRANCHES Ep. 1
The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said that the strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, and in both there is good. In the first episode of BRANCHES, Shaykh Irshaad Sedick sits with Ustadh Nisar Shaikh, a grappling coach from London with more than twenty years on the mat, to ask what that strength is.
They talk about the ego and being pinned by someone half your size, the objectives of sport traced back to Sayyid Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Maliki and Shaykh Seraj Hendricks, why "do not get angry" only means something once you have been provoked, the mercy that only a strong man can choose, space for Muslim sisters to train, and the physical Sunna that so many of us admire from a distance.
Ustadh Nisar Shaikh is a 3rd degree black belt with Carlson Gracie Team London, founder of Osswa Jiu-jitsu, Male Sports Coach of the Year 2024 at the Muslim Sports Awards, and the author of Prophetic Grappling, which includes Imam Suyuti's treatise on wrestling.
BRANCHES: where the tradition meets your life. Topic conversations from Isnad Academy, the companion to ROOTED.
Prophetic Grappling (Beacon Books, 2022): https://www.meccabooks.com/products/prophetic-grappling-including-as-suyuti-s-al-muxar-ah-ila-al-musar-ah
Osswa Jiu-jitsu, London: https://osswa.co.uk
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gUpkiTgbdtQ
Support the work of Isnad Academy: https://isnadacademy.com/sponsor/
Join the Isnad Academy community: https://www.skool.com/isnad-academy-7659
Website: https://isnadacademy.com
16 Oct 2026
"A Few Steps Back" | Shaykh Nazeer Majiet | ROOTED Ep. 13
Shaykh Nazeer Majiet only began his hifz after matric, on his father's one condition. From Shaykh Yusuf Agherdien's hifz school in Chiappini Street he went on to Darun Na'im, al-Tanzil and the Darul Uloom in Strand, then to Cairo, where he graduated from al-Azhar and sat with the mashayikh of the madyafas, among them Dr Ahmad al-Tijani. Today he heads the Arabic and Tafsir departments at the Imam Kurani Institute.
This sitting is about taking a few steps back: starting nahw and sarf again six years into his studies, the gold of Egypt that lies outside the university walls, and why a chain to the Prophet ﷺ needs a transmitted understanding as well as transmitted words.
00:00 Cold open: the isnad of understanding
00:40 Welcome to Rooted
01:35 What was I like as a teacher?
02:13 Hifz after matric: the father's condition
05:24 The oldest boy in the hifz class
06:59 Shaykh Yusuf, Chiappini Street
13:06 Pressures, parents and provision
15:01 Tajwid and the first Arabic
17:37 Darun Na'im: the year that changed everything
19:35 Arabic institute, al-Tanzil and Mawlana Saalim
24:20 The push to Strand
28:13 What Strand gives
34:45 Egypt twice, and a Madinah acceptance
46:25 Inside al-Azhar
52:06 Placement exams
59:58 Beyond the university walls
1:05:53 The madyafa and Shaykh Ahmad
1:14:46 Teaching at home
1:19:53 Favourite tafasir
1:20:35 What isnad means
1:23:17 Advice to three people
1:31:59 Closing
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/W8b2G7ewxdk
ROOTED, the full series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf_aPJtuAk9c
Read FRUITS and join the mailing list: https://isnadacademy.com/fruits
Sponsor an episode: https://isnadacademy.com/sponsor
Join our school community: https://www.skool.com/isnad-academy-7659/about
Mawlana Hafiz Qari Saalim Peck learnt to recite the Quran from his father, completed his hifz before the late Shaykh Muhammad Yusuf Booley, read the Quran to teachers in Egypt and Syria, and graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand under Mawlana Taha Karaan. He was the first at the Cape to read the entire Quran in all seven qira'at through the Shatibiyyah. Today he is an imam of Al-Jamia Masjid on Stegman Road in Claremont, teaches the Quran to adults, and directs the Quwwa Strength Academy.
This sitting follows the Quran from his father's voice to his own heart: the teachers who heard him, Cairo and Damascus, Strand and Mawlana Taha, what the qira'at are and how al-Fatiha sounds in the readings, and what isnad means in the age of AI. Then the two of us take the first Quwwa Strength Challenge on camera, because the body that carries the Quran has a right over us.
The Quwwa Strength Challenge: Friday 30 October from Asr at Al-Jamia Masjid, Stegman Road, Claremont. Five events, a team beep test, stalls and food. Everyone is welcome.
00:00 Cold open
01:07 Introducing Mawlana Saalim
02:21 First meeting
03:17 A father's voice
06:55 Parents and hifz
13:18 Sitting before Shaykh Booley
20:31 Egypt
23:01 Syria
28:02 Strand and Mawlana Taha
36:19 What are the qira'at
43:04 Al-Fatiha in the readings
47:17 Teaching adults
53:17 Isnad in the age of AI
58:55 Kettlebells and the Quran
1:05:53 Supporting Isnad Academy
1:06:28 Why train the body
1:08:43 The hinge and the deadlift
1:12:27 The kettlebell swing
1:20:36 Clean, squat and the get up
1:27:05 The Quwwa Strength Challenge
1:28:51 Broad jump
1:33:25 Two minute goblet squat
1:36:57 Your biggest rival
1:37:34 Challenge day: 30 October
1:39:06 Push ups
1:41:38 Bone density
1:43:42 Closing
1:45:16 Bloopers
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NLmXeHoWCdk
ROOTED, the full series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf_aPJtuAk9c
Website: https://isnadacademy.com
Join our school community: https://www.skool.com/isnad-academy-7659/about
Support our work: https://payf.st/sfr4x
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