The biggest struggle is with our own appetites, our own ego, and the gravitational pull downward.
1. The Travelers Podcast with Brother Ali centers on a Friday sermon at Islah LA in South Central Los Angeles.
2. Brother Ali speaks as the host and preacher, while Dr. Shaykh Jihad Safir is the imam whose absence makes the sermon possible.
3. The episode asks what jihad, gratitude, and human struggle mean inside an Islamic prayer service.
4. Brother Ali says he has lived in Istanbul for four years, so giving jumma again makes him more nervous than usual.
5. He describes Islah as a mosque on Slauson where Black Americans and people from many backgrounds gather together.
6. Thanksgiving comes up as a rare American day when people stop work and gather with family.
7. He contrasts that family time with the pressures of devices, money, and the idea that a baby becomes a burden.
8. He says the same American culture is tied to genocide, imperialism, and “some of the worst and most inhumane and barbaric scars on the face of humanity.”
9. He frames jihad as struggle, then says terrorism is forbidden in Islam and violates the religion’s code.
10. He says the greatest struggle is against “our own appetites” and “our own ego.”
11. The sermon recounts the gathering of souls before creation and the question, “Am I not your Lord?”
12. Brother Ali describes Adam as khalifa and says the angels asked whether that could lead to bloodshed.
13. He retells the refusal of Iblis and says shaitan becomes the enemy of the human being.
14. He connects that story to colonizers, slave masters, and propaganda that tell people they are not worthy of what God says they are worthy of.
15. Bilal and Imam Ali appear as examples of battlefield conduct, with Ali stopping after being spat on because he was no longer fighting for Allah.
16. He also contrasts the dunya’s impermanence with remembrance of Allah, saying everything in the world changes and decays except what points back to God.
17. The tone is sermon-like, emotionally direct, and full of Arabic phrases, Qur’anic recitation, and repeated prayers.
18. The format shifts from spoken reflection into the live salat, then returns to closing remarks about the tour, the Caravan, and Zakat Foundation.
19. Listen if you want Islamic theology, social critique, and Brother Ali’s Friday sermon style.
20. Skip if you want a short, non-religious interview with no Arabic or prayer.
