I'm speaking to Ash, an Iranian blogger, translator, and podcaster who works on philosophy, translating banned books and politics of the MENA region on the protests that have swept across Iran. People are protesting the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Morality Police for removing the hijab. Please tune in and listen to this insightful conversation.

Ash's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz3S...

Ash's other channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7oQ...

Ash's blog, etc: https://linktr.ee/ashkan_roshan

Youtube version of this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4XwCFkSt0o

In today's episode Gondal and I continued with our response to @Farid Responds.

Youtube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/eEKf_s2Y8GY

Timestamps:

0:00 Introductions.

2:10 Debunking Lie #16 - Pretending to respond? Hiding slides.

9:30 The game of miracles - discrepancy between the Quran and the hadith on the frequency of miracles.

17:00 Sam Harris’s take on the game of miracles in Christianity.

21:03 The game of miracles (continued) - Farid believes in other miracles in the hadith, so why is he rejected this one?

29:36 Is Waqidi really unreliable?

35:01 Debunking lie #17 - The reference for Muhammad’s mom hallucinating, does it even exist?

41:52 Was it just a dream or did she see the light when she gave birth to Muhammad?

47:50 Debunking lie #18 – Farid does not understand hypnopompic seizures.

53:05 Debunking Lie #19 - Farid does not understand the epigastric rising aura. 

57:06 Debunking Lie #20 - Muhammad’s chest splitting incidents. Editing a 10min discussion on chest splitting incidents into a 1min clip.

1:09:40 Debunking Lie #21 - Anas was born 36yrs after the first chest splitting incident so he cannot be an eyewitness!

1:17:50 Debunking Lie #22 - Chest splitting incidents supposedly occurred multiple times….why do we only have witnesses to just one incident?

1:22:35 Debunking Lie #23 - Heavy camel or fainting? The burden of revelation or dead weight effect.

1:32:20 Debunking Lie #24 - Farid Hid many instances of dead weight

1:37:30 Debunking Lie #25 - The dog VS Camel sniffing strawman. Epilepsy and the smell of fear.

1:44:50 Channel announcements

1:44:00 Can camels and untrained dogs detect seizures? Farid’s twisted logic.

1:54:30 Farid makes an apples-to-oranges comparison and his twisted logic.

2:03:15 Comments from the live section.

2:04:36 Farid’s malicious editing - Khasais  al Kubra - Suyuti  on severe trembling during ‘revelations’

2:12:45 The sound of bees is a more precise description of Muhammad’s seizures.

2:21:08 Farid cherry-picking hadith that support a particular narrative/ view.  

2:23:10 Debunking Lie #26 - Trees speaking to Muhammad

2:29:01 How old was Ali when Muhammad started hearing voices?

2:33:55 Can you diagnose via witness testimony? Yes, but with many caveats.

2:35:40 Crazy descriptions of Muhammad’s seizures.

2:36:50 Final remarks.

I was interviewed by a Harvard student on the topic of Islamic finance and why I think it's a scam. I hope you will enjoy listening in.

Gaurav's IG: https://www.instagram.com/gauravtee/

YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/VsKEhsPQMoI

In this episode, the two Abdullahs are back together to review Farid's response to our "Epileptic Prophet" series. We decided to respond because Farid was manipulating our videos by editing them to create the impression that we were ill-informed on the topic and that we were misleading our audience.

Abdullah Gondal and I took our time to go through Farid's claims and pointed out how he was manipulating our videos. We showed how he was editing out explanations, twisting our words, and outright lying just to make it seem like he had countered the arguments we had raised. We even replayed our original videos to show Farid's bad faith rebuttals and hypocrisy.

This was a fun-filled episode as we exposed the intellectual dishonesty and manipulative ways of the Dawah people. I invite you to take a listen!

YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/beoT5YxeBdo

Timestamps:

0:00 Introductions.

5:26 Do people care about facts or do they just defend their faith no matter what the evidence shows?

6:30 Debunking Lie #1 - Secondary sources are useless. Understanding basic research methodologies.

12:15 Debunking Lie #2 - Conflating historical sources with Islamic sources.

17:42 Are hadith primary sources by historical standards?

20:00 Debunking Lie #3 - Gondal was not showing the hadith he used to build his argument?

24:00 Debunking Lie #4 - Gondal only produced 1 primary source. Tabrani is a primary source?

30:44 Did Gondal mislead people about repeating sources?

34:40 Debunking Lie #5 - Weak hadith? Stop lying and distorting.

43:55 Debunking Lie #6 - Islam web lie. Farid dishonestly hides some of the slides to create a wrong narrative.

48:30 Nuances in hadith authenticity and acceptance

53:58 Debunking Lie #7 - Who is Dede?

1:01:55 Debunking Lie #8 - Hiding experts

1:02:36 Debunking Lie #9 - Burahaa does not mean paroxysm? Farid seems not to understand what synonyms are and how they work

1:11:42 Debunking Lie #10 – Hiding the scholars’ translations.

1:19:36 Debunking Lie #11 - Hiding alternative translations for the word paroxysm.

1:25:40 Comments from the live chat - What motivates the two Abdullahs to keep working on counter-apologetics.

1:29:40 Debunking Lie #12 - Karb = Pain? Farid misses the point on synonyms.

1:37:23 Debunking Lie #13 - Almaany dictionary is unreliable?

1:42:24 Debunking Lie #14 - Sun rising back hadith is Sahih?!

1:47:45 Debunking Lie #15 - Why act all surprised about the sun rising again when you already accept that the sun stopped and the moon was split?

1:48:59 Summary of the stream.

1:54:00 Comments from the live chat.

1:58:02 Final remarks

In this episode, I went into detail debunking Yasir Qadhi and Hamza Yusuf's apologetics on the age of Aisha. Both of these men are highly regarded sheikhs in the Muslim community and their arguments are usually used by Muslims.

Although both Hamza Yusuf and Yasir Qadhi agreed that in the present-day child marriages are harmful and must be banned, they both found twisted and contorted ways to excuse Aisha's marriage to Muhammad. They argued that child marriages were the norm back then although there are no other companions who had wives that young. They also tried to recycle some of the usual ridiculous arguments that Muslims use to justify Muhammad's actions.

I also took comments and questions from the audience on this issue. This was a very insightful and interactive episode. I invite you to take a listen.

YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/pQLUgxdBn1c

Timestamps:

0:00 Introductions 

1:20 Are people leaving Islam because of the Islamic teachings or because of bad treatment at the hands of Muslims or other reasons?

7:55 Discretion of Ahmadiyya graves y police in Pakistan

9:20 Aisha’s age and the Sharma controversy.

13:46 The impact of child marriage on the victim and why we should all fight child marriages.

23:00 Islam is not the ONLY reason for child marriages 

26:40 Reacting to Yasir Qadhi’s apologetics on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad.

34:20 Hadith - Aisha playing with dolls and other children.

35:30 Reacting to Yasir Qadhi’s take on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad - Was this an ideal situation for Aisha?

46:28 Why do Muslims revere Muhammad so much when they are the same people responsible for wiping out his whole family?

47:36 What is Ifk?

48:20 Hadith - Muhammad’s dreams about Aisha and Abu Bakr’s reaction

51:25 Why is it only Muhammad and not his companions married a wife that young?

52:44 Reacting to Yasir Qadhi’s take on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad - People matured faster in the old days?

58:36 Comments from the live chat - Why not have a live debate with Yasir Qadhi instead of reacting to his videos?

1:05:23 Reacting to Yasir Qadhi’s apologetics on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad - was Aisha’s marriage a happy marriage?

1:17:00 Comments from the live chat.

1:21:25 Reacting to Hamza Yusaf’s apologetics on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad - was it customary or religious?

1:27:17 Alternative views on Aisha’s age and child marriage in the Quran - chapter on divorcing immature girls.

1:33:24 Reacting to Hamza Yusaf’s apologetics on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad - were the companions extraordinary men?

1:48:40 How did Abdullah justify all the stuff in Islam when he was a Muslim

1:51:10 Technical issues - no audio.

1:52:34 Is it safe for children to have sex before they are mature or physically ready?

1:55:00 Comments from the live chat.

1:57:55 Reacting to Hamza Yusaf’s apologetics on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad 

2:00:00 Comments from the live chat

2:02:12 Reacting to Hamza Yusaf’s apologetics on Aisha’s marriage to Muhammad 

2:10:08 Comments from the live chats

2:11:36 Saudi Children left behind and other contemporary news.

2:17:40 Final remarks

In this episode, I revisit the topic of Aisha and her marriage to Muhammad due to recent events. I also take calls from the audience.

YouTube version of the podcast: https://youtu.be/d-Q231ci9gM

I am going to be speaking to the man behind Arabic Translated Memes (https://exmuslimmemes.com/). Hassan and I will also discuss his journey out of Islam, his work as an Ex-Muslim, as well as battling censorship of his work on various online social media platforms.

I am inviting you to take a listen to this insightful conversation!

Connect with him on IG: https://www.instagram.com/arabic_translatedmemes/

YouTube version of this podcast:https://youtu.be/x8QPZ8M5Duc

In today's podcast, I discuss recent events in India and the controversy that resulted in Apostate Prophet being banned from Twitter. I also take calls from the audience. It was such a lively and interesting show and I invite you to listen in.

YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/1X4HwNT4Q7w

In this episode, I was joined by @Critical Faculty to discuss his path out of Islam. We kicked off the podcast by discussing Critical Faculty’s religious background and how he ended up in Islam. We also talked about how his family molded his views and philosophy when it comes to religion.

Critical Faculty and I then delved into the paradox of free will in Islam. We talked about how free will and the main Islamic God narrative are incompatible yet some Muslim apologists and scholars still find a twisted way to explain it. We also discussed evolution and Scientism.

Later in the episode, we also took questions and comments from the live chat. The questions were from a wide range of topics including Islamic morality, Quran compilation, and preservation as well as Scientific issues in the Quran. 

This was such a lively and interactive episode and I hope you will enjoy listening to the conversation.  

YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/TObHJK0BPrw

Here are the timestamps for the episode:

0:00 Introductions.

1:12 Critical Faculty’s background

5:15 Is the Islamic community becoming more religious or not? 

9:16 The paradox of free will in Islam.

24:55 Evolution.

28:38 Scientism.

30:52 Reading comments from the live chat

33:55 The moon splitting miracle - Is there evidence for such an occurrence?

41:40 Can miracles in the Quran be authenticated? Problems with Pre-Islamic evidence.

46:35 The anthropomorphic God in Islam.

52:40 Channel announcements

53:40 More comments from the chat

57:40 Can you be a Muslim/theist and still accept evolution?

1:00:52 More comments

1:04:40 Can science explain a miracle?

1:11:06 Did Muhammad and Allah forget to mention Allah in the Quran?

1:12:46 More comments 

1:15:40 How the Quran compilation shows that Islam is a human effort

1:17:40 Is Abdullah normalizing the popular Muslim narrative?

1:22:57 Why did Uthman have issues with the Quran being revealed in various dialects?

1:25:37 Did Muhammad not encourage the preservation of the Quran in written form because he believed he was living in the “End of times”?

1:28:14 Parallels between Muslims and Christianity when it comes to the preservation of scripture.

1:30:00 The aqeedah differences and how they led to rifts in the Muslim community

1:31:47 Was Muhammad an epileptic?

1:33:24 More comments

1:38:00 Critical Faculty's current projects

1:39:09 Is there still any relevance in discussing the Scientific miracles argument?

1:41:56 Closing remarks

In this episode, I joined @MythVisionPodcast on his channel to take calls from Muslim callers. This was a very lively and respectful discussion and we explored different topics. Some of the topics include Free will VS determinism, Pagan and Christian influences on Islam, as well as the topic of Apostasy and apostasy laws.

On the topic of Apostasy, we explored the origins of the law, the various hadith, and interpretations from respected scholars. We also took calls from two Muslims who approach this topic differently but both reach the conclusion that apostasy laws are not fundamentally a part of Islam. Also, we discussed the story of Jesus’s crucifixion both from a Christian and Islamic perspective.

@MythVisionPodcast and I then took a call from Miran who wanted to discuss the problem of not having a single authority in Sunni Islam when it comes to issues of Islamic fiqh, hadith authentication, and scholarly advice. The conversation then, later on, moved to the topic of historical Muhammad and the story of Aisha.

I hope you will enjoy this episode.

YouTube version of this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcPSLHTgpBM

Timestamps:

0:00 Introductions

6:22 Islamic apologetic’s reliance on the free will argument. Surah 10.

17:37 The Perfect Dawah - There is no predestination in Islam. Is Isis the true interpretation of Islam?

29:28 Comments from the live chat 

30:34 Victor - Shoutout

31:27 Cush - Crucifixion of Jesus

35:15 Abdullah Sameer’s take on the crucifixion of Jesus according to Islamic teachings.

38:46 The Pagan influences in Islam

40:27 Crucifixion of Jews by the Romans 20 years before Jesus.

41:41 Whysthetruth - 

43:41 Pagan influences in Islam 

47:40 Superchat

48:05 Apostate Prophet - Sheik Yabooty 

57:55 How do Muslims know there was an uncorrupted holy book?

1:00:16 Advice for Muslims who want to leave Islam but are married to Muslims.

1:02:14 The influences of Pre-Islamic Arabia on Islam.

1:03:16 Rashid - Compliments for Abdullah

1:04:50 Nader - The Quran’s position on Apostasy. Surah 4: 137 

1:25:23 Superchats - How is it possible that Pharoh was able to speak perfect Words

1:27:10 Muhammad was a dictator who wanted total submission.

1:31:10 Comments from the super chats

1:32:56 What is the ruling on the apostate?

1:39:55 Muhammad was a fascist political leader whose actions created a fascist political-religious ideology.

1:42:02 Rashid - Complements and introductions

1:45:17 Hadith give the impression that it is okay for apostasy.

1:48:49 Why Rashid is Muslim 

1:50:16 Super chat - Other prophet claimants other than Muhammadin the 7th-century 

1:52:54 Was the idea of Muhammad being the final prophet a way to prevent political uprisings after his death?

1:59:40 Muhammad might have been a Christian before Islam - Christian influences on Islam.

2:03:30 Miran - Is the lack of a single authority in Sunni Islam problematic?

2:13:23 Historical Muhammad and the story of Aisha.

2:19:50 Super chats 

2:22:42 Final remarks and channel announcements.