The Middle Ground Podcast

﷽ Welcome to Episode 61 of the Middle Ground Podcast. This was recorded November 8 2026 after Fajr Prayer.I wanted to pose the question: What changes when we move from abstract or transactional thoughts about Allāh to contemplating the Qurʾān and how it speaks to us directly?Drawing upon a similarity between Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and Sūrah al-Qamar, I show how the use of what is called iltifāt (التفات) in Arabic grammar grabs our attention and invites us to think deeper about our relationship with our Creator. This changing of the narrative voice, from say third person to second person, helps us to more keenly focus on things such as gratitude, our dependence on divine guidance, and approaching each prayer with renewed attention, just to name a few.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽ 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 importance of making struggle meaningful.Allāh says in the Qurʾān:يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَـٰقِيهِفَأَمَّا مَنْ أُوتِىَ كِتَـٰبَهُۥ بِيَمِينِهِۦفَسَوْفَ يُحَاسَبُ حِسَابًا يَسِيرًاوَيَنقَلِبُ إِلَىٰٓ أَهْلِهِۦ مَسْرُورًاO mankind! You are indeed laboring restlessly towards your Lord, and will meet Him. Therefore the one who has his book handed to him from his right-side will have an easy reckoning and will be returned to his people, happy. — Sūrah al-Inshiqāq I focused in particular on two terms in this Sūrah: * striving (kadḥ) and * how the striving through those difficulties will turn us over to “our people” (inqilāb) in the Hereafter.“There are people that have never met us, and that are there waiting for us, and—in shāʾ Allāh—by Allah's mercy and His faḍl, if we arrive in that way, we have people that will be the happiest people that will ever want to see us.”Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽ 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 Sūrah Yūnus and Sūrah al-Sajdah share several themes, including Allah’s creation of the heavens and the earth, His governance of all affairs, and the repeated invitation to remember Him. This repetition in the Qur’ān serves an important purpose. By encountering the same ideas in different passages, sometimes expressed in slightly different language, we begin to recognize their relationships and develop a more coherent understanding of the Qur’ān. This leads to an important distinction between memory and remembrance (dhikr). Memory allows us to recall information and experiences, while remembrance gives those experiences meaning by connecting them to our awareness of Allah. The Qur’ān repeatedly invites us to engage in this process through the question, أَفَلَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ (Will you not remember?), encouraging a form of reflection that continues beyond the immediate moment of reading or listening.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽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 forever, just as self-sufficiency, forever, is an intrinsic attribute of Him.”This episode of the Middle Ground Podcast is from our Friday Night Ḥalaqah (September 25 2026). Imām Marc expands on a ḥadīth qudsī from Friday’s khutbah in which Allāh declares that He has prepared for His devoted worshippers “what no eye has seen and no ear has heard”, tied to the verse in Sūrah al-Sajdah that “no soul knows what has been prepared for it”, the qurrat al-’ayn — the “coolness of the eyes.” The contrast he draws is between this life, which by design leaves us restless with our eyes always chasing novelty, our hearts stirred by trends that expire and the Here-After, where satisfaction never runs out, illustrated by the description of a man in paradise who gazes at his wife for forty years and never tires. So the beginning of training our palate, our souls, to pursue what actually satisfies rather than what merely gives a temporary dopamine hit, is the topic of this episode.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽ 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 arguments, scandals, and endless speculation about what may happen next, it becomes fatiguing. Sūrah al-Nabaʾ cuts through that noise by directing our attention to the one event that cannot be postponed or avoided: the Day of Judgment (يوم القيامة)The Sūrah begins with people in disarray, disputing the reality of the Day of Judgment only to end with a scene completely the opposite: the day has arrived. A day in which the Spirit (Rūḥ/Angel Gabriel) and the other angels standing in ranks, with no one speaking except by Allāh’s permission. And unlike this dunyā every word will be the truth. What once seemed distant has now arrived.The way in which Allāh presents this Day to us ought to change the way we should think about time and about our deeds. The Qurʾān says that on that Day a person will see: يَوْمَ يَنظُرُ ٱلْمَرْءُ مَا قَدَّمَتْ يَدَاهُ“the Day every person will see what their hands have sent ahead” - 78: 40meaning, we think our deeds and actions are in the past but in reality they’re in the future waiting for us.But the Quran never leaves mankind without direction and guidance. We should focus on which path we are taking back to our Lord: a path of humility, obedience and servitude, or a path of disobedience, hedonism, and obstinacy: ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْيَوْمُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۖ فَمَن شَآءَ ٱتَّخَذَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِۦ مَـَٔابًا“Whoever so will should take a path back to his Lord.” - 78: 39al-Qurṭubī explains maʾāb (مآب) as “a return to Allāh through righteous action”. The destination is unavoidable: Allah! But the path one takes toward it is still open. The question is therefore not whether we are returning to Allāh—we are—but how we are traveling there, and what we are sending ahead of ourselves before we arrive.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽ 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 crisis, we also talked about how change takes grit, determination and courage, as found in the statement of the Prophet ‎ﷺ احرِصْ على ما يَنفَعُكَ، واستَعِنْ باللهِ ولا تَعجِزْ“Guard that is beneficial for you, seek help through God, and don’t be weak!”itself taken from a longer ḥadīth, “The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allāh than a weak one though each has good in them1.”* Taken from Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 2664.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽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 participants were asking about perfection as it related to following the Prophet ‎ﷺ. I share a few reflections in this post-Fajr talk from this Sunday, August 30th, 2026 for our Fajr Club & Breakfast.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The ḥadīth is the one collected in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī:ارجِعوا إلى أهليكم فكونوا فيهم، وعَلِّموهم ومُروهم، وصَلُّوا كما رَأَيْتُموني أُصلِّي، فإذا حضرَتِ الصَّلاةُ فلْيُؤذِّنْ لكم أحدُكم، ولْيَؤُمَّكم أكبرُكم“Return to your families and remain among them. Teach them and instruct them, and pray as you have seen me pray. When the time for prayer comes, let one of you give the adhān, and let the eldest among you lead you in prayer.”My thanks to Shaykh Atef and the Rahma Center for inviting me to share a few thoughts. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽ 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 builds—whether in a political campaign, a business venture, or a spiritual/religious experience—it is easy to ride the bandwagon and pledge to the promise of future exploits. Yet the Qur’ān and Islamic ethics treats unfulfilled speech not as harmless optimism, but as a critical spiritual and legal liability.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.A Little Backstory Behind Sūrah al-ṢaffSūrah al-Ṣaff opens with a divine rebuke of those who were bragging about their exploits and their hollow promises they were making to God and the Prophet ﷺ:“O you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? Most hateful it is with Allah that you say that which you do not do.”Qur’an, Sūrah al-Ṣaff 61:2–3In his tafsīr, Imam al-Qurṭubī explains that this verse emerged during a pivotal moment in Madīnah. Following the miraculous underdog victory of the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims at Badr, bandwagon enthusiasm surged. People began over-committing, swearing that if another battle arose they would sacrifice everything just to be there, yet when the Battle of Uḥud came, many retreated. Others engaged in outright hypocrisy and deception, taking credit for feats of valor they never actually performed. One man even claimed he had killed a combatant at Badr when he was never there.al-Qurṭubī categorizes speech that departs from reality into two categories:* Kadhib: Falsely claiming credit for sacrifices or work you never completed.* Khulf: Making bold vows in an emotional rush, only to quietly abandon them when execution requires real effort.The Four Categories of CommitmentsIslamic jurisprudence (fiqh) classifies human pledges into clear legal and ethical rulings:* Unconditional Vows (Nadhr Taqarrub Mubtadaʾ): A direct, voluntary devotional vow made to Allah (e.g., “I owe a fast for Allah’s sake”). This is universally binding by scholarly consensus (ijmāʿ).* Conditional Vows (Nadhr Muʿallaq): Pledging worship contingent on securing an outcome (e.g., “If my business succeeds, I will donate $X”). Imams Mālik and Abū Ḥanīfah hold that once the outcome occurs, fulfillment is non-negotiable.* Causal-Linked Promises (Waʿd Manūṭ bi-Sabab): A pledge made to another that induces them to take financial or logistical action (e.g., “Sign the lease, and I will cover the first month”). Because the other party incurred liability relying on your word, this promise is legally binding by consensus.* Standalone Promises (Waʿd Mujarrad): A bare commitment with no prerequisites. While Imām Mālik noted it may not always be judicially enforceable in court (qaḍāʾan), breaking it destroys one’s nobility, spiritual integrity, and personal honor (makārim al-akhlāq wa-ḥusn al-murūʾah).The Wisdom of Sustainable ConsistencyWe often default to dramatic promises because we mistake momentary inspiration for genuine capacity. When a Bedouin came to the Prophet ﷺ asking if fulfilling only the baseline pillars of Islam without additional voluntary devotions would grant him Paradise, the Prophet ﷺ affirmed that it would (recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 11, English/Arabic).True spiritual and religious maturity lies in recognizing your limits, guarding your tongue, and delivering reliably on the baseline rather than building a reputation on unfulfilled hype. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽ 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 ransom to escape the Fire!But the Sūrah also teaches us how to live before that day arrives.Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.In this post-Fajr khāṭirah, we reflect on the relationship between īmān and security and why both hardship and prosperity are tests: it’s all in how you look at it.Allāh singles out al-muṣallīn—the people of prayer—as those capable of remaining steady through both. Ṣalāh, the daily prayer, particularly when practiced in congregation (jamāʿah), produces the kind of people who give others their rights, who honor their trusts, speak truthfully, and remember their ultimate accountability before Allāh.Sūrah al-Maʿārij also offers an important lesson for Muslims living amid hostility and ridicule: confront evil when necessary, but do not allow those who oppose Islam to determine your sense of security, belonging, or self-worth. Our task is to remain faithful, build together, and remember that our security ultimately comes from Allāh—not from the approval of others. Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe

﷽ 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 the Surveillance State. There is no veil from this surveillance. So how should we as Muslims feel about this and what might we do about it?Imam’s Corner is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Build It Local & Live Off the LandI know this sounds more like a fantasy or an idea, something you’d see on YouTube with someone living an ideal and charming life “off-the-grid” in a van. But after my experience building my own OCR AI tool using Qwen, a tool which runs locally on my laptop, this might be an opportunity for Muslims to explore the open-source space and stake out our claim.We cover this and more in Episode 51 of the Middle Ground Podcast.Here’s some items of interest we think you might want to explore:* deflock.org: an open-source project mapping license plate readers.* Rialto police make late-night TV thanks to irresponsible surveillance (warning some profanity).* What is a panopticon? We thought you’d never ask!* For more info on the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) app (an AI design pattern that improves large language model [LLM] accuracy by fetching relevant facts from external sources such as PDF’s) that I’ve built, watch this video:* Islamic Economics as an answer to the ribā/usury/ vs. mutual-risk/muʿāmalāt model. Let’s move away from a casino economy.* Elevate your critique: Muslims, including myself, have been shouting “western!, western!” from the rooftops for God knows how long but we’ve got to elevate our critique because in many ways the world quietly moved past our static critiques, stealthily creating a world which is completely western: the only difference now is to which degree of westerness are we talking about? Get full access to Imam’s Corner at www.imammarc.com/subscribe