82 episodes

An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.

CONFLICTED Conflicted Community

    • History
    • 4.7 • 384 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

An ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy and a former monk turned filmmaker, have been embedded at the heart of conflicts in the Middle East. Together Aimen Dean and Thomas Small unpack the realities of war, fundamentalism and their global implications through first-hand experience.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Introducing… Life Sentences, a new podcast from Thomas Small

    Introducing… Life Sentences, a new podcast from Thomas Small

    Our very own Thomas Small has started a brand new podcast over on Substack called ‘Life Sentences’ – and we want to give Conflicted listeners a listen to the first episode…
    Life Sentences is Thomas’ attempt to introduce the world to the Church Fathers – the Christian writers, theologians, mystics and divines who wrote in the first 1000 years of Christianity. The podcast sees Thomas read out the texts of the Church Fathers and comment on them as he goes, making them relevant to today. 
    It’s a fascinating listen, and we know all fans of Conflicted listeners will enjoy it. The first episode is now live, and new episodes come out on Sundays, every two weeks.
    You can subscribe and find out more about the podcast through the website at: https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/ 

    To listen to more bonus episodes like this one, subscribe to the Conflicted Community, where subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.
    All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

    Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
    And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Africa Through Muslim Eyes

    Africa Through Muslim Eyes

    Season 5 of Conflicted is here!

    In this season, we’re delving deep into a continent whose Islamic heritage is often overlooked, but which is one of the most consequential and politically significant places in the world of geopolitics today. That’s right – in Season 5, Conflicted does Africa!

    In our opening episode, Thomas and Aimen are giving you an introductory overview of the continent, and we really are covering a lot. From the Islamisation of North Africa, to the ISIS cells forming on the East African coast, to the reasons why there are so many redheads in the Levant, we want to use this episode to explain just why Africa is so important and consequential, both in terms of Islamic history and beyond. We’ll cover themes that will return across this season to welcome you into this truly fascinating world that we haven’t covered in any real depth across our previous four seasons.

    New Conflicted Season 5 episodes will be coming every two weeks, but if you want to have your Conflicted fix every single week, then you’ll have to join our Conflicted Community.

    Subscribers will get bonus episodes every other week, and can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

    All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

    Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
    And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 1 min
    Conflicted Community – Aimen Interviews Thomas

    Conflicted Community – Aimen Interviews Thomas

    All Conflicted fans know Aimen’s life story – but what about that of his co-host, Thomas Small? Avid listeners will have heard Thomas talk about his Orthodox Christian faith and his time as a novice monk at a monastery on the Greek island of Mount Athos, but the story of how he got there, and why he decided to leave the brotherhood, is a fascinating tale… This week, Thomas and Aimen switch roles to find out more about Thomas’ spiritual journey.

    We’re putting out this episode to all of our dear listeners, because Thomas is releasing a new podcast over on Substack called ‘Life Sentences’. This is Thomas’ attempt to introduce to the world the Church Fathers – the Christian writers, theologians, mystics and divines who wrote in the first 1000 years of Christianity. The podcast sees Thomas read out the texts of the Church Fathers and comment on them as he goes, making them relevant to today. It’s a fascinating listen, and we hope all Conflicted listeners will tune in when the first episode goes live on Sunday July 14th.

    You can subscribe and find out more about the podcast through the website at: https://wisdomreadings.substack.com/ 

    To listen to more bonus episodes like this one, subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

    All the information you need to sign up to the Conflicted Community is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

    And finally – Conflicted season 5 goes live next Wednesday on July 17th! Thomas and Aimen have been cooking up a whole new season on… Africa. Tune in next Wednesday for the first episode.

    Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
    And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices



    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 3 min
    Conflicted Community – Eugene Rogan Interview: What do the 1860 ‘Damascus Events’ mean for the Middle East today?

    Conflicted Community – Eugene Rogan Interview: What do the 1860 ‘Damascus Events’ mean for the Middle East today?

    The 1860 ‘Damascus Events’ saw Syrian Christians murdered by their Sunni Muslim neighbours in a brutal genocidal moment that reshaped the late Ottoman Empire. It’s an example of how previously harmonious communities can descend into brutal violence in a very short time span. But in the Ottoman Empire’s response to the violence, it’s also an example of how hostile communities can be brought back from the brink.
    To learn more about this fascinating historical episode and its resonances today, Conflicted welcomes Eugene Rogan to our community! Eugene is a Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History and a Fellow of St. Anthony’s College at the University of Oxford. His recent book, ‘The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Destruction of the Old Ottoman World’ is available now at all good bookshops and is very much recommended for the Conflicted Community as a must read to learn more about the late Ottoman Empire.
    To keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

    All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

    Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
    And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 12 min
    Conflicted Community: Karim Sadjadpour Interview Pt.1 – Iran’s Global Strategy

    Conflicted Community: Karim Sadjadpour Interview Pt.1 – Iran’s Global Strategy

    Iran is rarely out of the news at the moment: from the death of President Raisi (which we covered in our last Conflicted Community episode), to the rumours of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s illness, and with unrest inside the country ever present, it feels like a country at the precipice. So this week, we again look to Persia to make sense of what Iran’s global strategy actually is.

    And this week, in a Conflicted Community first, we welcome a guest onto the show to help Thomas and Aimen on their way. Karim Sadjadpour is an Iranian-American who has focused on Iranian foreign policy and the region’s geopolitics throughout his career. After spending time in Iran (and evading arrest), he is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a contributing writer at the Atlantic and the New York Times, as well as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

    In our first of two episodes with Karim, we discuss Iran’s global strategy towards foreign policy, how it intersects with the new multipolar world, and what they actually get from their axis with Russia and China. This first part is going out to all Conflicted listeners, but part two (coming out tomorrow on June 13th) is exclusively for Conflicted Community subscribers.

    To listen to part two, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community, where you will get bonus episodes like this one, alongside many other benefits, including our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.

    All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

    And finally: Conflicted Season 5 is coming soon on July 17th! Watch this space for more information…

    Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
    And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 48 min
    Conflicted Community: Who Killed the Iranian President?

    Conflicted Community: Who Killed the Iranian President?

    Enjoy another clip from a new episode for our Conflicted Community! 
    This week, Thomas and Aimen discuss the life and times of Iran’s President Raisi – ‘ The Butcher of Tehran’ – as well as doing a deep dive on the fascinating relationship between Iran and Azerbaijan, before Aimen gives us some intel on how Raisi might have died…
    To keep listening, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more.
    All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ 

    Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted
    And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 8 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
384 Ratings

384 Ratings

MaripaMD ,

Amazingly good!

I have binged listened the entire podcast and now am going back and dissecting each episode. So good!! And just like Aimen said: relax and try to listen! Don’t bring your judgement into this but I guess it’s very hard for a certain dear listener, who has certain ideology which is hard to break free from. Never did I hear a calling for destruction of Palestinian state. Perhaps some dear listeners are listening a different podcast with a different calling. Keep these coming!!!

dwhkxdi27359 ,

Honest, Compelling Discussion

This is the most critically well thought out discussion on a topic that is so complex on so many levels. I love the questions Thomas asks and the brutally honest answers from Aimen. I have so much respect for Aimen to have made the moral and intellectually honest choices he did at such a young age. Well done podcast.

Dollymama85 ,

Riveting

I started listening shortly after the events on October 7 2023. I have always searched for a “neutral source” to help explain the simmering molten lava that is the Middle East. I did not want to listen to more of the same garbage we’ve been fed over the decades. What grabbed my interest in this podcast was the absolute willingness to delve into history, without being beholden to “political correctness”. A frank discussion is desperately needed this day and age. The hosts, and their experiences, are so spellbinding. I am recommending this to everyone I know, and so far they have not been disappointed.

Top Podcasts In History

Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC
The Rest Is History
Goalhanger Podcasts
American History Tellers
Wondery
Throughline
NPR
American Scandal
Wondery
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Dan Carlin

You Might Also Like

Conflicted: A History Podcast
Evergreen Podcasts
The Red Line
The Red Line
Empire
Goalhanger Podcasts
This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler
Podmasters
The Rest Is History
Goalhanger Podcasts
Ukrainecast
BBC News

More by Message Heard

Untold Killing
Message Heard / Remembering Srebrenica
Not Just Cricket with Mark Nicholas
Message Heard
Finding Natasha
Message Heard
In Focus with David Yarrow
Message Heard / David Yarrow
UNDISCOVERED
Message Heard
Twenty Twenty: A Pop Culture Podcast
Message Heard