Bonus: A Muslim, a Dad, an American
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 July 2025
⏱️ 4 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this political moment where hostility towards immigrants and outsiders is openly espoused, one of our own colleagues has released a book about growing up as a Muslim-American in the post-9/11 era—and raising his own kids now.
Guest: Aymann Ismail, Slate staff writer and author of “Becoming Baba: Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America.”
This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey Slatsters, it's Mary. |
| 0:02.7 | You hear that music and you know that it's Friday and this week we've got something extra special. |
| 0:08.3 | We always have something special on Friday because it is Slate Plus Day. |
| 0:11.6 | But this week, more special, specialer because Aiman Ismail is here. |
| 0:16.8 | He is one of Slate's fantastic reporters and like a favorite guest of this show. |
| 0:22.3 | He also, yes, number one favorite, Amen. |
| 0:26.1 | Like, really? |
| 0:26.5 | Yes. |
| 0:27.0 | I think the words I've used with my producers is we never regret having Amen on. |
| 0:32.4 | Like if it's an option, just like, Amen and... |
| 0:34.5 | Aw. |
| 0:35.7 | Anyway. |
| 0:36.1 | Aiming it up. |
| 0:36.8 | Aiming it up. |
| 1:11.0 | Ait also has a book out right now that we need to, like, tell you all about. So Amon's here. We're going to talk about the book. We're going to talk about all kinds of things. But we'll start with a book, which is called Becoming Baba, Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America. Hi, Aman. What's up, Mary? You ready to amen it up? I'm ready. I was born ready. Okay, I'm going to be honest. We're also going to diverge a little bit and talk about some of your reporting in New York City. You've been like following Zoran Mondani since like before, before everyone knew his name. Since he was a baby. No, |
| 1:11.1 | I'm kidding. |
| 1:11.4 | Since he was a wee baby politician. |
| 1:13.1 | I'm kidding. |
| 1:13.9 | We usually give ourselves like 15 minutes on the clock. Often we violate that, but we just like to have goals. Goals are good. Hit me. Goals are good. Even if you don't meet them. Goals are good. Even if you're asymptotically going towards them. |
| 1:26.0 | They're good. |
| 1:26.9 | At the least, we can have a goal to have a goal. |
| 1:29.6 | Have a goal. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.