UNAPOLOGETIC with Ashfaaq Carim

In this conversation with UNAPOLOGETIC, Imam Omar Suleiman reflects on two decades of global politics, the Palestinian struggle, Islamophobia in America, and the meaning of justice in a collapsing world order.
Through personal stories of exile, family history, racism, 9/11, and spiritual grounding, he offers a deeply human account of how identity, faith, and political reality have shaped his life.
This episode moves between the intimate and the global - from his parents’ journey through displacement, to the trauma and resilience of Palestinians and Syrians, to the shifting political landscape in the US and the rising generational support for Palestine.
Omar Suleiman argues that despite oppression, people power is growing, Zionist propaganda is weakening, and justice - while it may take a while - in his view remains inevitable.
Chapters
0:00 Intro & Soundbites
2:03 Gaza & Global Indifference
8:11 Childhood & Exile
13:05 Media After 9/11
16:40 Family & Diaspora Roots
23:28 Homeland & Entry Denied
27:03 Syria’s Turning Point
36:42 U.S. Politics & Islamophobia
41:34 Final Reflections

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, we speak with journalist and historian Imran Mulla about his gripping new book The Indian Caliphate: Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Prince.

The conversation uncovers a forgotten plot to relocate the Ottoman caliphate to India after its abolition in 1924 — a story involving exiled Ottoman royalty, the fabulously wealthy but austere Nizam of Hyderabad, British imperial paranoia, and an audacious vision for a modern, post-imperial caliphate rooted in the subcontinent.

Imran walks us through the hidden alliances between Ottoman exiles and Indian Muslim thinkers, the astonishing marriage engineered to fuse two royal houses, the political stakes of Hyderabad’s autonomy under the British, and how the dream of an Indian-centred caliphate was ultimately crushed by partition and rising nationalism.

This episode is a sweeping look at empire, modernity, loss, cosmopolitanism, and the forgotten place of India at the centre of the Islamic world — and why recovering this history matters today.
UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim

Chapters
0:00 Intro & Soundbites
2:00 Tomb in Rural India
9:00 How This Story Began
18:00 Reinventing the Caliphate
27:00 Hyderabad, Empire and Wealth
36:00 Archives, Travel and Tomb
45:00 Partition, Federation and Palestine
54:00 Empire, Freedom and Violence
1:03:00 Princes, Princesses and Exile
1:12:00 Modernist Pan-Islamic Politics
1:21:00 Anglicised Radicals at Oxford
1:30:00 What History Taught Imran
1:39:00 Writing the Book, Closing

In this UNAPOLOGETIC episode from the Doha Forum, investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill examines how Israel has carried out a campaign that many experts believe meets the legal and moral definitions of genocide in Gaza, while simultaneously insisting that Palestinians must not resist and that neighbouring states must demilitarise. Scahill situates Israel’s assault within a wider history of US militarism, privatised warfare, and the global security industry, showing how Gaza has become a testing ground for surveillance, weapons and siege tactics.

We also discuss the collapse of the 2025 cease-fire, the regional implications of Syria’s political shift, and the contrasting strategies of Gulf states as the war reshapes regional power.

Jeremy Scahill is co-founder of The Intercept and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army and Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield.

Recorded at the Doha Forum, this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC is in conversation with political scientist Dr. Omar Ashour examines the shifting landscape of the Middle East through three major developments: Syria’s transformation under Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the widening regional divide illustrated by the UAE’s military support for separatist groups versus Qatar’s increasingly active diplomatic strategy.
Ashour breaks down how these dynamics are reshaping alliances, security calculations, and narratives of power across the region. We explore for how long Syria’s new leadership scan continue to allow Israel to bomb it with impunity, how the genocide in Gaza has redrawn regional moral and political lines, and why Gulf states are pursuing sharply divergent approaches to influence.
Dr. Omar Ashour is the author of The De-Radicalization of Jihadists, Bullets to Ballots and How ISIS Fights and is a leading expert on military behaviour, armed groups, and security studies.

In this episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, political strategist and CEO and founder of the Cordoba Foundation,
Anas Altikriti speaks to us about the history of the Muslim Brotherhood and why Trump is looking to now proscribe the organisation in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
We examine how the Brotherhood evolved, why authoritarian governments frame it as a threat, and how Western policymakers adopted those narratives. Altikriti discusses Britain’s review of the organisation, the limits of proscription laws, and why banning political movements often strengthens regional dictatorships rather than weakening them.
The conversation also explores wider issues: political Islam, public misconceptions, the role of civil society, and how counter-extremism frameworks shape policy. A clear, structured look at an organisation widely debated but rarely understood.

Chapters:
00:00 Opening and introduction
07:40 What is the Muslim Brotherhood
15:20 Why regimes fear it
22:55 UK review and findings
31:10 Misconceptions about Islamism
39:05 Authoritarian influence abroad
47:00 Proscription laws explained
55:10 Counter-extremism as politics
1:03:00 Public narratives and bias
1:10:55 Civil society and power
1:18:20 Western policy contradictions
1:26:15 Future of the movement
1:34:30 Final reflections and outro