King of the World Bonus Episode: Listener Calls

10/06/21 • 11 min

Rifelion Media and American Muslim Project present King of the World, a seven-part series about a Pakistani-American Muslim who comes of age in a post 9/11 world.

Bonus Episode: Listeners of King of the World share their own experiences post 9/11 and what the series means to them.

Check out the Rifelion blog. Also visit podinbox.com/kingoftheworld to send us an audio message, some of which will play on future episodes.

For more information on King of the World, visit our website.

Previous Episode

King of the World Episode 5: Watch Us, Listen to Us—Surveillance

Rifelion Media and American Muslim Project present King of the World, a seven-part series about a Pakistani-American Muslim who comes of age in a post 9/11 world.

It’s 2008 and Shahjehan has just booked a one-way ticket to Pakistan. He moves in with his best friend and Kominas bandmate in Lahore, where new musical and social highs are interwoven with drug relapses, encounters at gunpoint, and Al-Faida conspiracy theorists. News from his hometown mosque in Wayland reveals that a childhood friend has been convicted of terrorist activities, which brings to question government-orchestrated spying and just whom the First Amendment applies to.

The Muslim Justice League’s Amira Al-Subaey and real-life victim Asad Dandia break down the Obama-era Countering Violent Extremism program, based on a since-debunked radicalization theory, which in reality counters little except faith in our leaders and one’s neighbors. This post-9/11 period of more anti-nationalist criticism, regular airport profiling, and legitimized discrimination only seems to be dividing communities and making Americans less safe.

For more information on our guests in this episode, check out the Rifelion blog. Also visit podinbox.com/kingoftheworld to send us an audio message, some of which will play on future episodes.

Next Episode

King of the World Episode 6: Recovery, Rebirth, and Resilience: Trump USA

Rifelion Media and American Muslim Project present King of the World, a seven-part series about a Pakistani-American Muslim who comes of age in a post 9/11 world.

Shahjehan takes us along on The Kominas international tour, where a career pinnacle at the BBC coincides with a critical relapse into substance abuse. The consequences are dire but lead to a sincere shot at recovery with a lovable sponsor. After the Boston Marathon bombing and targeted expletives cast from a carful of dude bros, Shahjehan speaks out, this time without the cover of the band. Islamic law expert Sumbul Ali-Karamali walks us through the definition of sharia and the multimillion-dollar Islamophobia Network that appeared around that time. The band reunites at the same time Trump’s campaign to ban Muslims, build walls, and grab p*#@!^$ gains ground. In the ultimate juxtaposition, Trump comes to town and holds a rally in the exact arena where, just one year prior, Bill Nye the Science Guy was delivering Shahjehan’s commencement speech to hopeful do-gooders. In a move we still don’t understand, Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States, as lawyers, artists, friends, and covert disrupters join us to talk about how they fought back.

For more information on our guests in this episode, check out the Rifelion blog. Also visit podinbox.com/kingoftheworld to send us an audio message, some of which will play on future episodes.