The Middle Ground Podcast
by The Middle Ground Podcast with Imam Marc Manley
Latest episode
The Meaning of Struggle in Islām
The Meaning of Struggle in Islām
About this podcast
This podcast will explore ideas important and pertinent to Muslims everywhere, especially in America, tackling challenges and hoping to inspire as we navigate this worldly life.
www.imammarc.com
Episodes
The newest 20 of 63 episodes
- The Meaning of Struggle in Islām · 40 min﷽ al-Salāmu ʿalaykum and welcome to Episode 60 of the Middle Ground Podcast. The following is a short talk by I gave after Fajr Prayer on the meaning of struggle and the…
- Between Memory & Remembrance · 43 min﷽ Welcome to Episode 59 of the Middle Ground Podcast. The following is from my post-Fajr talk on October 11th, 2026, discussing memory and remembrance. The opening passages of…
- The Coolness of the Eyes and Why This World Can Never Fully Satisfy Us · 44 min﷽ The great Muslim scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah, once said: الفقر لي وصف ذات لازم أبداً كما الغني أبداً وصف له ذاتي. “Neediness is an intrinsic attribute of mine, inseparable from me…
- Many Has One Destination and Many Paths · 24 min﷽ One of this world’s defining qualities is it’s filled with lies and deceptions. From make-up crises, predictions by so-called “experts”, non-stop political and cultural…
- Guard Your Islām Like Your Life Depends On It · 41 min﷽ This episode is from our Friday Ḥalaqah. Picking up from where we left off in our khuṭbah today, we discussed not only how humans tend to only change when when presented with a…
- Following vs. Perfection: What Is the Sunnah? · 28 min﷽ In this episode I discuss my brief participation in the the conference, If He Were Among Us, put on by the Rahma Center in Lake Forest, CA. I noticed that many of the…
- Integrity in an Age of Unlived Words · 22 min﷽ By nature, we love an underdog. When a sports team “beats the odds” we love to cheer for them even if we were booing them just a week ago for losing. When momentum…
- Finding Your Security As A Muslim · 28 min﷽ Sūrat al-Maʿārij offers a sobering picture of the Day of Judgment: * a day when when a woman would abandon her own child; * a day when I man would offer his own mother as…
- Riba, Robots, and the Panopticon! · 1 h 5 min﷽ It’s not just Muslims feeling the gaze of Big Brother these days: it seems everyone everywhere all the time is feeling like we’re all under the every-increasing watchful eye of…
- Hope & Faith in a Time of Absurdity · 48 min﷽ Welcome [back!] to Episode 50 of the Middle Ground Podcast with Imam Marc Manley and brother Dawud Aleman. We discuss our absences, life in the intervening year or so, and how…
- Ideology Burnout? · 13 min﷽ Welcome back to another episode of the Middle Ground Podcast. This one will be short and sweet as I share some feedback from a brother who reached explaining that he felt…
- Islamic Psychology? · 1 h 20 min﷽ al-Ḥamdulillāh it was my pleasure to speak at the 10th Annual Family Symposium for Muslim Family Foundation: Roots of Wellness, alongside Dr. Deana Helmy, sister Ahlam Gheith…
- The Truth Will Set You Free · 32 min﷽ al-Ḥamdulillāh I was invited again by the gracious folks at Masjid al-Fatiha of America, located in Azusa, California. I’ve worked closely with this family-run masjid for…
- Fear, Love, and Mercy in the Qur’ān · 15 min﷽ Many Muslims today speak of “love”: for Allāh, for the Prophet ﷺ, etc. And while having love for Allāh and the Prophet ﷺ are indeed noble ambitions it would also seem that…
- How to Develop a Strong Relationship with the Qur’ān · 5 min﷽ So much of today’s “spiritual” discourse turns faith into a dopamine-trap where we seek to obtain, or in some cases, avoid, a certain mood. On this treadmill of mood chasing…
- Are Non-Practicing Muslims Doing Islām Better Than Those That Do? · 13 min﷽ Welcome to Episode 46 of the Middle Ground Podcast. In this episode I want to discuss a new (and disturbing) trend I’ve noticed in the social media landscape, namely Muslims…
- ʿAqīdah (Creed) Should Lead to Compassion · 27 min﷽ Welcome to Episode 45 of the Middle Ground Podcast. For this episode I’m sharing an excerpt from my Saturday class on ʿaqīdah, otherwise known as “creed”; i.e., the things we…
- Muslims and Mamdani - The Need for Religious Clarity on Political Matters · 23 min﷽ Welcome to Episode 44 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Today, while driving to Jumu’ah, I wanted to share some thoughts of mine on the state of Muslim thinking and politics…
- Islām and Analog Determinism · 1 h 13 min﷽ Welcome to Episode 43 of the Middle Ground Podcast. Today I want to discuss the current paradox we’re living in: the paradox of “infinite” digital options. This paradox has…
- “We Were Here Already: Muslims & Sharī’ah in America” · 32 min﷽ Welcome back to the Middle Ground Podcast with Episode 42. Here, Imam Marc Manley takes into an important—and uncomfortable topic—that continues to stir headlines and town hall…
