Isnad Academy Podcast
Claim This Podcastby Irshaad Sedick
Podcast Overview
<p>Isnad Academy | Classical Scholarship. Contemporary Relevance.</p><p>We live in an era of information overload — and a crisis of authentic knowledge. The Islamic tradition has always had an answer: the isnad, the verified chain of transmission that separates sound scholarship from noise.</p><p>Isnad Academy is built on that foundation. Our content — led by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick and rooted in the classical orthodox tradition — is designed for Muslims navigating a complex world without abandoning their deen.</p><p>Our flagship podcast, The Strong Believer, tackles the prophetically diagnosed condition of the Ummah and offers a structured, scholarly path toward strength — for individuals, families, and communities.</p><p>This is knowledge you can trace back.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
2/10/2021
2 verified contact emails on file for Isnad Academy Podcast
Pitch yourself as a guest, propose sponsorships, or reach out directly to the host.
Recent Episodes
May 15, 2026
Qurbani: Everything They Don't Teach You | with Mawlana Anees Kara
<p><span>A practical, no-fiqh conversation about Qurbani with Mawlana Anees Kara of Maraisburg, Johannesburg. After nearly four decades in this work, Mawlana Anees brings the kind of practitioner knowledge that does not appear in any classical text or fatwa site: how to pick a healthy animal off the kraal, why some Qurbani meat tastes different and how to prevent it, the real difference between farm and home Qurbani, and the proper way to distribute meat with dignity.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>This is a standalone episode for the Eid al-Adha season. For fiqh questions about Qurbani, please refer to my other content on SeekersGuidance and on the Isnad Academy.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>Chapter markers below.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>About Mawlana Anees Kara</span></p><p><span>Mawlana Anees graduated from Darul Uloom Zakariyya in 2009 and serves as the masjid's Khatib in Maraisburg. He runs K.A.Z Livestock and Game Meat Traders - a family project that has operated for over 36 years.</span></p><p><span>#Qurbani #EidAlAdha #IsnadAcademy</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>Chapter markers</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>00:00 Introduction</span></p><p><span>01:08 Meet Mawlana Anees Kahrah</span></p><p><span>02:25 Where to actually buy your animal</span></p><p><span>05:23 What an experienced eye looks for</span></p><p><span>07:59 Honesty in weight and pricing</span></p><p><span>10:54 Why lamb costs more than mutton</span></p><p><span>12:54 The two reasons Qurbani meat gets a bad name</span></p><p><span>15:25 Merino, Dorper, and the breeds question</span></p><p><span>19:31 Bringing your animal home and treating it right</span></p><p><span>27:35 Pros and cons of home versus farm Qurbani</span></p><p><span>30:54 Tasting wild, tasting bloody: the real reason</span></p><p><span>33:31 The post-slaughter process that fixes everything</span></p><p><span>36:55 Giving your meat away with dignity</span></p><p><span>38:47 The slaughter itself: knife, angle, technique</span></p><p><span>42:42 Aspiring to slaughter for the first time</span></p><p><span>46:38 Where to find Mawlana Anees</span></p><p><span>48:11 Closing dua</span></p>
May 8, 2026
ROOTED | Ep. 2 — "He Came Home Different" | Sh Muhammad West
<p><span>In a generation pulled in every direction, ROOTED is a series about the ones who stayed grounded. The scholars who sat at the feet of their teachers and carried the tradition home.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>Sh Muhammad West is one of the few in his generation who carries two worlds at once. A graduate of the Islamic University of Madina and a chartered accountant. The imam of one of the oldest masajid in the country, Boorhanol Islam in the Bo-Kaap, and the treasurer of the Muslim Judicial Council. He is the Madina graduate who refused to come home and cut himself off from the community he disagrees with on secondary matters. He chose the harder road, the road of staying in the room.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>In this conversation, we sit with the formation of a scholar in Jeddah and Madina, the texture of his return, the Athari and Shafi'i fault lines, the cost of refusing tribalism, the romantic but halal proposal, the autistic son who is the happiest person he knows, the burnout he is only now learning to name, and the institution he is now responsible for the finances of.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>We talk about the MJC honestly. What it is, what it is not, why our forefathers thought it was non-negotiable, and what the path forward looks like for an organisation eighty years old that is finally being asked to explain itself.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>A conversation between two scholars and a long-time colleague about formation, friction, and the institutional servant’s reckoning.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>This is your deen. You deserve to understand it.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span>00:00 Cold open: just die as a Muslim</span></p><p><span>00:22 Opening monologue</span></p><p><span>02:25 Quick-fire opener</span></p><p><span>07:43 Jeddah as a child</span></p><p><span>10:50 Madina University from the inside</span></p><p><span>13:18 Coming home in 2011</span></p><p><span>17:45 The parents' search across Malaysia, Egypt, Jeddah</span></p><p><span>22:30 The mother's record</span></p><p><span>27:40 The maternal grandfather and the Silo gym call</span></p><p><span>33:30 The Madina student years</span></p><p><span>39:20 Teaching the Sirah from a minority lens</span></p><p><span>49:20 The Woolworths meeting</span></p><p><span>52:00 Athari, Salafi, and the time and place for debate</span></p><p><span>57:00 Sami Hamdi and the politics of Quran and Sunnah</span></p><p><span>01:00:40 Palestine and the heart right now</span></p><p><span>01:11:30 Just talk to Allah</span></p><p><span>01:17:25 The Romantic Proposal</span></p><p><span>01:21:00 The life of an alim's wife</span></p><p><span>01:31:30 Burnout and sharpening the saw</span></p><p><span>01:33:50 The MJC: what it actually is</span></p><p><span>01:46:35 Baytul Ulama in the absence of a Khalifa</span></p><p><span>01:55:50 Living with politics</span></p><p><span>01:57:55 Final advice for the seeker</span></p><p><span>02:00:00 The point of all of this</span></p><p><span>#ROOTED #IsnadAcademy #IslamicScholarship</span></p>
April 25, 2026
ROOTED | Ep. 1 — "He Went to the Source" | Shaykh Zaid Fataar Al-Azhari
<p>We live in a time when anyone can upload an Islamic video and call themselves a scholar. But Islam has never been carried that way. It has always moved from teacher to student, across generations, all the way back to the Prophet ﷺ. That chain has a name: isnād.</p><p>ROOTED is Isnad Academy's flagship interview series — conversations with South Africa's qualified Islamic scholars. The people who went to the source and came home. Rooted in tradition. Routed through the chain.</p><p>Our first guest embodies both.</p><p>Shaykh Zaid ibn Riad Fataar Al-Azhari left Cape Town at the age of six for Cairo, where he would spend the better part of his life inside one of the oldest universities on earth. At Al-Azhar he memorised the Qur'an, completed his Diploma in Islamic Sciences, and earned his BA in Islamic Theology — specialising in Aqīdah and Philosophy. He studied privately with Egyptian scholars, receiving ijāzāt in Hadith and Aqīdah. He returned to Cape Town, completed his Masters at the Madina Institute with a thesis on Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd — Revelation versus Reason — and has been serving the community ever since as imam, teacher, and founder of Dar At-Tawhid Institute. He currently serves as Head of Department for Islamic Studies at the Oracle Academy.</p><p>He is, in the truest sense, a scholar who went to the source — and came back to us.</p><p>In this conversation we cover:</p><p>— What it means to grow up as a Cape Town child inside the Azhar world — The moment knowledge stopped being something forced and became something wanted — What isnād actually is and why it matters in an age when any fatwa is a Google search away — The three levels of ijāzah — and what each one actually authorises you to do — Why sitting with a scholar gives you something no YouTube video, PDF, or AI can replicate — The nūr of prophethood — and why it only travels heart to heart — How the ādāb of the scholars changed Shaykh Zaid more than their knowledge did — A real talāq case that showed exactly why wisdom cannot come from a book alone — The difference between being religious and performing religiosity — What our generation of scholars carries differently — and what that demands of us — What to say to a young Muslim who wants knowledge but doesn't know where to start or who to trust</p><p>This is not a wellness podcast. This is not a highlight reel. This is a conversation about what it actually means to carry knowledge — and what Cape Town has quietly been producing for generations.</p><p>ROOTED. Every episode, one scholar. One chain. One city at the bottom of Africa with more to offer the world than most people know.</p><p>Isnad Academy is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Our mission is to connect the global Muslim community to authenticated Islamic scholarship — through live teaching, recorded courses, and platforms like ROOTED that make our scholars visible to the world.</p><p>New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss the next conversation.</p><p>#IsnadAcademy #ROOTED #IslamicScholarship #SouthAfrica #CapeTown #Azhar #Isnad #IslamicKnowledge #MuslimPodcast #Ulama</p><p><br></p><p><span></span>00:00 — A Family Almost Broke Up (Cold Open)</p><p>00:12 — Welcome to ROOTED | Series Introduction</p><p>05:00 — Quick Fire: Coffee, Cairo & Astronomy</p><p>09:45 — Cairo at Six: Growing Up as a Foreigner</p><p>18:00 — The Quran is Everywhere in Egypt</p><p>22:00 — When Knowledge Became a Choice</p><p>31:00 — The Fish in the Tank: Entering the University</p><p>38:00 — The Turning Point: The Ādāb of the Scholars</p><p>44:00 — What is Isnād and Why Should You Care?</p><p>51:00 — The Soul Operation</p><p>57:00 — What is an Ijāzah? Three Levels Explained</p><p>01:02:00 — What a Teacher Gives You That a PDF Cannot</p><p>01:09:00 — The Nūr of Prophethood: Heart to Heart</p><p>01:12:00 — Egypt's Politics and the Colonisers' Legacy</p><p>01:23:00 — The FBI Story: Freedom We Take for Granted</p><p>01:29:00 — Do We Carry the Tradition Differently?</p><p>01:35:00 — The Worrying Trend: Religion as Fashion</p><p>01:52:00 — The Exciting Trend: Scholars in the University</p><p>02:03:00 — Final Advice to Young Seekers of Knowledge</p><p>02:08:00 — What's Coming from Isnad Academy</p>
171 total episodes available
Deep-dive analytics for Isnad Academy Podcast
Frequently asked questions
Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
- What is Isnad Academy Podcast?
<p>Isnad Academy | Classical Scholarship. Contemporary Relevance.</p><p>We live in an era of information overload — and a crisis of authentic knowledge. The Islamic tradition has always had an answer: the isnad, the verified chain of transmission that separates sound scholarship from noise.</p><p>Isnad Academy is built on that foundation. Our content — led by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick and rooted in the classical orthodox tradition — is designed for Muslims navigating a complex world without abandoning their deen.</p><p>Our flagship podcast, The Strong Believer, tackles the prophetically diagnosed condition of the Ummah and offers a structured, scholarly path toward strength — for individuals, families, and communities.</p><p>This is knowledge you can trace back.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates monthly.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 8 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
Legal Disclaimer
Pod Engine is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with any of the podcasts displayed on this platform. We operate independently as a podcast discovery and analytics service.
All podcast artwork, thumbnails, and content displayed on this page are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to, podcast cover art, episode artwork, show descriptions, episode titles, transcripts, audio snippets, and any other content originating from the podcast creators or their licensors.
We display this content under fair use principles and/or implied license for the purpose of podcast discovery, information, and commentary. We make no claim of ownership over any podcast content, artwork, or related materials shown on this platform. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.
While we strive to ensure all content usage is properly authorized, if you are a rights holder and believe your content is being used inappropriately or without proper authorization, please contact us immediately at hey@podengine.ai for prompt review and appropriate action, which may include content removal or proper attribution.
By accessing and using this platform, you acknowledge and agree to respect all applicable copyright laws and intellectual property rights of content owners. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or commercial use of the content displayed on this platform is strictly prohibited.