Hosted by Tarek Elgawhary — over 100 episodes exploring Islamic principles, spirituality, holidays, contemporary questions, and conversations with scholars, thinkers, and practitioners from across the Muslim world.
Making Sense of Islam began as a simple question: how do serious Muslims navigate a world that is constantly changing — without losing their faith, their identity, or their ambition? That question has driven every episode since.
Each episode is an invitation to think more carefully — about the principles that govern Islamic law and theology, about the inner life and its cultivation, about contemporary challenges like politics, pluralism/coexistence, and the place of Islam in the modern world.
This is not a show about having all the answers. It is a show about asking better questions.
"The tradition is vast, alive, and entirely capable of meeting us where we are. We just have to be willing to meet it."
Click any series to expand its episodes.
The sacred calendar is not decoration — it is structure. Each episode opens a window into the spiritual, historical, and legal dimensions of the days that mark Muslim life throughout the year.
The largest series in the podcast — moving through the foundations of Islamic thought: theology, jurisprudence, ethics, and the philosophy underlying Islamic law.
A five-part exploration of the inner dimensions of the faith — the science of the soul, the stations of the heart, and the classical Islamic understanding of the nafs.
Five episodes examining the models the Prophet ﷺ established throughout his life and their implications for Muslims navigating pluralism and civic life today.
Every episode — latest to oldest — solo reflections, series instalments, and guest conversations.
A significant part of the MSI Podcast is built around conversation — bringing voices from across the Muslim world into dialogue on the questions that matter. Guests have included Imam Zaid Shakir, Muna Abu Sulayman, Rabia Chaudry, Imam Mohamed Magid, Shaykh Muhamad Al-Ninowy, and many others.
These are not celebrity interviews. They are substantive exchanges on theology, law, the state of Muslim communities, and the challenge of living a coherent Islamic life in the contemporary world.
Every conversation is grounded in the same conviction that drives the solo episodes: the tradition has the resources to meet this moment. We need to know it well enough to deploy it.
Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, or browse all 102 episodes on the MSI website.