Friendly Exmuslim Podcast

Pakistani Exmuslim Tariq Elhaad discuses his journey, the trip to Umrah that changed everything, his divorce and how Islam was used against him and how he went from Sunni Islam to Quranism to Atheism. Watch on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/F0ZcAV78oDI

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'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

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.

In this episode, I was joined by Proud Pakistani Gay Salman. He was born in Pakistan and grew up as a Muslim. His family was Ismaili and then converted to the Sunni sect of Islam. Salman and I kicked off the conversation by discussing his family and religious background. We then went on to discuss minorities in Pakistan and how the government favors Sunnism over other sects of Islam and other religious minorities. Also, we talked about the safety of minorities as well as the human rights situation in Pakistan.   Salman then shared his experiences of growing up in a devout Sunni family while also being gay. He talked about how the religious teachings and subtle messages from his parents led him to develop internalized homophobia. Salman also discussed how he dealt with internalized homophobia and how that opened a door for him to start critically questioning some of the broader religious beliefs he was holding. He also detailed his struggle to hold onto the Muslim identity even as his beliefs were no longer aligning with traditional/mainstream Islamic teachings. We later talked about how he came to the realization that he was no longer Muslim. The conversation then moved to the topic of coming out as gay and coming as an apostate/ ex-Muslim. Salman shared how his relationship with his family soured when he came out as gay. He also talked about how his relations with various family members are improving with time. We also discussed the need for community and being prepared before coming out. I invite you to take a listen to this insightful discussion! YouTube version of this interview: https://youtu.be/Gx2EgXCFdkU Salman's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@proudpakistanigay?lang=en Salman's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proudgaypakistani/ Timestamps: 0:00 Introductions 1:10 Salman’s family background 6:54 Is it safe for Ismailis and other religious minorities in Pakistan?  22:05 The importance of enlightenment values and secularism. Is religion still relevant in today’s society? 30:50 Salman’s religious background and how being gay impacted his religious beliefs. 43:05 Moving out of the family and dealing with internalized homophobia. 49:35 How exploring sexuality helped Salman start questioning some aspects of Islam. 56:50 Are Muslims in the West more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community?  1:05:40 Comments from the live chat 1:06:23 Marriage of convenience. 1:09:56 Salman’s social accounts  and channel announcements  1:12:00 Is being gay normal? 1:13:50 Struggling to hold onto the Muslim identity 1:18:46 Salman coming to the realization that he was no longer Muslim and dealing with the grief of losing a community. 1:22:36 Salman’s relationship with his family - Coming out as Gay compared to coming out as an ex-Muslim. 1:27:40 The victim mentality in the Muslim community. Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry.  1:33:40 The importance of having a network/ community before coming out. 1:39:11 Salman’s goals as an out gay and ex-Muslim. 1:41:50 Salman’s advice for Muslims 1:44:27 Final remarks.

For this episode, I was joined by an Ex-Muslim convert Al-Muealim. Al-Muealim was a pentecostal Christian up to the age of 18 then he converted to Islam for about seven years. He later left Islam and is now an agnostic atheist and he is interested in the academic analysis of the origins of various religions. Al-Muealim was gracious enough to share with us his journey from Christianity to Islam then to losing faith. We discussed the points that make Islam more appealing to Christians, particularly fundamentalist Christians.  Al-Muealim recounted how the idea of a single God and the preservation of the Quran lured him to Islam. We also talked about stories in the Quran that seem to have pre-Islamic origins for example the stories that were circulating in Syriac well before the Quran was written. The discussion then moved to the evolution of polytheism to monotheism. We also talked about theophorics and how it is used to piece together the history of gods. Al-Muealim and I then touched on how Muhammad Muhammad was an apocalyptic prophet and how the concept of the afterlife (heaven and hell), and Satan/Iblis were later on integrated into the Abrahamic religions. We also discussed the parallels between the Christian version of apocalypticism and that found in the Quran. We finished off this conversation by discussing the stories of Dhul Qarnayn and Gog and Magog.  I hope you will enjoy this episode     Al- Muealim's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@al.muealim?lang=en Al-Muealim's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW5_fHLQ2DvGVpCr4Agkz4g List of books referenced:Ehrman, Bart. Forged (Book)Ehrman, Bart. Heaven and Hell (Book)Friedman, Richard. Who wrote the Bible? (Book)Hayes, Christine. Introduction to the Old Testament (Lecture series) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNeyuvTEbD-Ei0JdMUujXfyWiPagels, Elaine. The Origin of Satan (Book)Smith, Mark S. Origins of Biblical Monotheism (Book)Smith, Mark S - The Birth Of Monotheism (lecture): https://youtu.be/PvOT6Kj8Yxk Timestamps: 0:00 Introductions 0:34 Al-Muealim’s interest in academic analysis of the history of various religions. 3:04 What appealed to Al-Muealim in Islam that made him convert from Christianity to Islam.  7:50 Quranic stories that were circulating in Syriac well before the Quran was written. 9:36 The Injil. Jesus in Islam and how this is a selling point for Muslims trying to lure Christians into Islam. 16:10 AI- Muealim’s position on faith 16:32 Comments from the live chat. 18:50 Monotheism - was this always the situation?  23:17 Theophorics and how it is used to piece together the history of gods. 26:12 Comments from the live section 26:40 Exercpt of Mark S Smith speech, Source criticism of the Torah 33:40 Quran makes sense if taken as a text written by seventh-century humans 36:18 Muhammad as an apocalyptic prophet - the Meccan Surahs. Cultish traits of Muhammad and Islam. 40:58 The infancy gospel of Thomas - Forged by Bart Erhman. The Christology of Jesus in the Bible. 46:13 Comments from the Live chat. 48:33 Preservation of Quran  51:47 Comments from the live section 52:46 Why did Muhammad not plan for what would happen after his demise? 53:36 Channel announcements - Al-Muealim’s TikTok and YouTube channel 55:05 Evolution of monotheism 1:02:28 The Afterlife - Heaven and Hell, Satan/Iblis,  Surah 87/11. The books of Moses. 1:14:05 The importance of academic inquiry in conquering religious dogma. Fighting Islamic fundamentalism and extremism. 1:21:11 Converting to Islam for the community. The conditional love and support in the Muslim community. 1:25:43 Apocalypticism - the origins of this concept and how it found its way into Islam. Presuppositionalism  1:31:19 How Al-Muealim lost his faith 1:37:05 Apocalypticism (continued).  1:38:40 Occam’s razor. Dhul Qarnayn. Gog and Magog 1:50:30 Final remarks .

For this episode, I was joined by a Malay ex-Muslim Fairuz to discuss apostasy in Malaysia and his experiences trying to officially renounce Islam. He shared with us his story of growing up as a Muslim boy in Malaysia in a very religious family. In spite of his ultra-religious family, Fairuz started developing doubts and questioning the Islamic teachings he was receiving at a very young age. Fairuz and I also discussed his relationship with a Christian girlfriend and how it created problems for both of them. He opened up about his decision to petition the Malaysian government and the Sharia courts to renounce Islam as this was the only way that his marriage to his Christian girlfriend would be formally recognized. He also shared the ordeals that he went through in Sharia court-mandated counseling and psychotherapy for 4 years, which was one of the hoops that Fairuz had to jump through for him to get the renunciation formally completed. Fairuz was also subjected to intrusive surveillance as the religious by state investigators as they were trying to build a case to block his renunciation of Islam. We then talked about Fairuz’s family and how his parents decided to side with the state over their own son. They even went so far as to testify against him in the court proceedings and they signed off on having Fairuz committed to a detention center for more counseling and psychotherapy. However, Fairuz managed to escape to Sweden with his girlfriend. We wrapped up the show by discussing Fairuz’s asylum-seeking process in Sweden and the hurdles that he is facing. I hope this episode shows you what ex-Muslims in Malaysia and some Muslim majority countries are experiencing. I invite you to take a listen. YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/Awz-M7Xn5fI His twitter: https://twitter.com/rahim_fairuz Timestamps: 0:00 Introductions 2:30 Why is Fairuz sharing his story? 4:28 Fairuz’s religious background  7:34 Leaving Islam as a young boy. Reading hadith and how it made Fairuz question Islam. 16:08 The Arabic/Islamic influence on the Malaysian culture and history. 21:49 Fairuz’s relationship with a Christian woman and his experience petitioning a Sharia court to renounce Islam. 29:08 Responding to comments from the live chats - Why is Fairuz wearing a mask? Racism in Malaysia and Marithir M’s comments. 37:30 Fairuz’s experience petitioning a Sharia court to renounce Islam (continued) 57:10 Being court-ordered to attend religious counseling/ repentance by a Sharia court. 1:11:04 How did Fairuz’s parents respond to his ordeal?  1:15:33 The system of self-policing among community members and friends and the intrusive investigations by the courts 1:18:25 Fairuz’s parents sided with the Sharia officials over their son and how he escaped being committed into a counseling institution. 1:26:04 Seeking assistance from UNHRC and Amnesty International.  1:27:00 Arriving in Sweden and the process of seeking asylum. 1:30:06 Problems with the Swedish asylum system 1:48:55 How Amnesty international declined to offer assistance to Fairuz. 1:52:19 The paradox of tolerance.  1;52:52 Responding to comments in the live chat. 1:53:18 Final remarks.

This episode is the 7th and final installment in the series ‘The Epileptic Prophet’ in which Abdullah Gondal and I tackle the question of Muhammad’s mental health and possible epilepsy. Our aim is to provide an alternative explanation to Muhammad’s supposed prophethood from a neurological perspective. In this episode, we go through famous cases and interviews of people with epilepsy. We kicked off the episode by discussing Dr. Karen Armstrong, a British author and distinguished academic who is also an epileptic. We presented an excerpt from an interview she had with Oprah Winfrey in which she explained her struggles before she was diagnosed with epilepsy. She also explained the symptoms that she experienced during seizures.  Gondal and I went on to present various cases of famous people from different walks of life who have enjoyed success in their respective fields. Some of the famous army leaders and politicians we discussed include  Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt Jr.(both former US presidents), Joan of the Arc, Laura Sandys and Paul Maynard (both members of the British Parliament), and Julius Caesar. We also discussed cases of people in the arts and entertainment industry who are very successful inspite of epilepsy including Lil Wayne, Van Gogh, and Prince. We also discussed Fyodor Dostoevsky’s case and its parallels to the story of Muhammad. The main aim of this episode was to destigmatize epilepsy and show people that epileptics can enjoy high levels of success in life if epilepsy is managed and treated. We wrapped up the show by giving a recap of the main arguments that we raised throughout the series. We hope you will enjoy this episode and share the series with your friends. Support this show: https://abdullahsameer.com/two-abdullahs Full Series Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBhSsGcWqsZ7Z--bKEjzqHlRyD6IhN25d Timestamps: 0:00 Introductions 1:52 Famous cases of epileptic patients - Karen Armstrong 11:55 Alyssa D'AMico - Epileptic poet 13:06 Socrates had epilepsy? 15:10 Caligula (Gaius Caesar) - Roman emperor  16:24 Prince Erik  17:22 Joe Doyle - British politician. 19:00 Neil Abercrombie - Governor of Hawaii (2010 - 2014) 21:28 Tony Coelho - Lawyer to priest to congressman 30:10 Chief Justice John Roberts 32:46 Laura Sandys - British member of parliament 37:12 Paul Maynard 39:19 Elliott Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Former US president), Theodore Roosevelt Jr.(Former US president) 44:46 Lil Wayne 48:28 Prince - a famous musician/music writer-actor 50:33 Edward Lear 52:08 Alfred Lord Tennyson - A genius poet. 53:36 Did Julius Caesar suffer from epilepsy 54:35 Pope Pius IX 55:40 George Inness 56:14 Edgar Allan Poe - Poet and storyteller *57:18 Gustav Flaubert 1:00:18 Machado De Assis 1:02:09 Kumagusu Minakata - Japanese genius devoted to natural history and folklore. 1:03:35 John Nash - founder of game theory,  1:04:11  Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Farid’s strawman. 1:17:24 Emperor Michael IV, Paphlagonia 1:18:04 Joan of Arc 1:22:15 Mirza Ghulam Ahmed - Founder of the Ahmadi Islamic sect. 1:27:20 Richard Doddridge Blackmore 1:28:06 Fyodor Dostoevsky’s case and its parallels to the story of Muhammad 1:32:10 Van Gogh, Lorna Byrne 1:38:32 Ron Hubbard - hypergraphia. 1:39:50 St. Birgitta case 1:43:58 Lies of Dr. Hassan Aziz - Did Muhammad have epilepsy? 1:49:26 The role of psychotic disorders in religious history considered.  1:51:00 A quick summary of the stream 1:53:49 Gondal’s future plans 1:59:46 Channel comments 2:01:22 Responding to comments - Is this series the final nail in the coffin for Islam? 2:03:03 Recap of the series  2:07:30 Is there a clear distinction between demonic possession and psychological problems? 2:16:40 Final remarks List of Resources: Karen Armstrong - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Armstrong

This episode is the 6th installment in the series ‘The Epileptic Prophet’ in which Abdullah Gondal and I tackle the question of Muhammad’s mental health and possible epilepsy. Our aim is to provide an alternative explanation to  Muhammad’s supposed prophethood from a neurological perspective. In this episode, we explore Muhammad’s possible OCD, violence, and hypergraphia. We started the episode by discussing Muhammad’s narcissism. We presented an excerpt of an interview by Dr. Ali Sina in which he explains Muhammad’s narcissistic traits and possible causes for such levels of narcissism. Gondal and I then went on to talk about Muhammad’s delusions of grandeur. The conversation then moved on to Muhammad’s hallucinations including his purported friendship with angel Gabriel. We went through various hadith and seerah which document such hallucinations. Another issue we discussed is Muhammad’s supposed visions and how questionable his claims are. We talked about the hadith in which the angel Gabriel supposedly visited Muhammad and taught him how to pray and perform ablution. Lastly, we compared the hallucinations and visions to those of contemporary epileptic patients who also have OCD and hypergraphia. We ended the conversation on the topic of violence and epilepsy. We discussed how epilepsy patients sometimes have a tendency to be violent or to incite violence. Gondal and I then went through various Quranic verses as well as hadith which document Muhammad’s violence, the vigilantism, and forced conversions of prisoners of war that Muhammad encouraged. We also discussed the Banu Qurayza massacre. This episode was very eye-opening and I invite you to take a listen.  Support the two Abdullahs show at https://abdullahsameer.com/two-abdullahs YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/B1TQsdHBtN0 Here are the previous episodes in this series: Part 1: https://youtu.be/WlO4nZUGVf4 Part 2: https://youtu.be/ZI16w6Sl3DE Part 3: https://youtu.be/fD4FyXSN96k Part 4: https://youtu.be/Z-IgOnBCv3U Timestamp: 0:00 Introductions 3:15 Muhammad the narcissist - Dr. Ali Sina. 13:00 Another chest opening incident - hadith 14:35 Muhammad’s delusions - A green screen covering the horizon, the seal of the prophet? 17:25 The holy spittle, holy sweat, urine, and poop of Muhammad. 25:40 A tree that sees genies? People manipulating Muhammad. 29:10 Talking cows and wolves. The vision of nations in the sky. 31:05 More of Muhammad’s hallucinations - hanging out with Gabriel,  riding during the funeral. 35:13 Comments from the live chat. 37:53 Muhammad reports seeing 12 angels rushing around the mosque - hadith. 39:45 Disappointment after being stood up by Muhammad. 41:22 Sick Muhammad imagines angel Gabriel visiting him, Gabriel came down to lead Muhammad in prayer? 48:58 Allah and Gabriel praise Khadija, Muhammad chocking Satan. 52:44 Muhammad’s auditory and visual hallucinations. 55:00 Genies request Muhammad to stop wiping with bones and dung, communicating with genies 57:13 Muhammad recites Surah Rahman to the genies 59:18 Angels hate onions and garlic? 1:03:20 Comments from the live chat. 1:04:45 Hypergraphia and temporal lobe epilepsy - Dr. Abbas 1:09:13 Psycho Quran - the theme of extreme torture in the first 5 revealed chapters. 1:14:45 Muhammad’s hypergraphia - Dr. Dede Korkut 1:17:26 Contemporary cases of hypergraphia. 1:22:06 The Quranic compositions degraded in rhyme as Muhammad aged - Dr. Abbas 1:27:06 Violence and epilepsy - Dr. Abbas. Massacre of Banu Qurayza. 1:40:36 How challenging delusional patients cause them to be more irritable - Dr. Abbas. 1:42:40 Muhammad the murderer, vigilantism, and forced conversions of prisoners of war to Islam. 1:48:19 Scrupulosity, OCD, and epilepsy. 1:59:54 A quick recap of the stream and preview of the upcoming episode. References: Another chest-splitting incident?

For this week's episode, I am joined by Mookie. He is an American Jew and we will be exploring Mamet's archetype of the allegedly self-loathing Jew who has internalized the world's antisemitism. He's going to defend his intellectual agnosticism, rational criticisms of Israel, and advocacy of global humanism. You can find Mookie on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mookiespitz YouTube version of this conversation: https://youtu.be/KIF-NqNjhss

This episode is the 5th installment in the series ‘The Epileptic Prophet’ in which Abdullah Gondal and I tackle the question of Muhammad’s mental health and possible epilepsy. Our aim is to provide an alternative explanation to  Muhammad’s supposed prophethood from a neurological perspective.  We kicked off the episode by discussing behavioral changes/characteristics attributed to interictal behavior in temporal lobe epilepsy. We compared these characteristics to those of Muhammad as described in various hadith corpus and other Islamic literature. Gondal and I then presented a clip by Dr. Ali Sina detailing Muhammad’s narcissism and how it fits in perfectly with the theory that Muhammad was an epileptic. We also discussed Muhammad’s anger issues and how he would overreact to small provocations. We cited various hadith which report that Muhammad’s face would turn red due to anger even while delivering teachings. In other hadith it is reported that he would get extremely angry when questioned by his companions and at one time he threw a tantrum after missing the angel Gabriel. The conversation then moved on to the topic of Muhammad’s anxiety. We discussed how mundane things like gusty winds, clouds, thunder, and lightning would trigger Muhammad’s anxiety. We also talked about Muhammad’s weird fixation with praying for the dead. We went through various hadith that show Muhammad running to the graveyard sometimes during the dead of the night purportedly to pray for the dead. We finished the episode on the topic of Capgras and how it affects epileptic patients. We went through various hadith and Seerah which show how Muhammad used to confuse Dhiya Kalbi for Gabriel.  We invite you to take a listen to this detailed and entertaining episode. YouTube version of this series: Part 1: https://youtu.be/WlO4nZUGVf4 Part 2: https://youtu.be/ZI16w6Sl3DE Part 3: https://youtu.be/fD4FyXSN96k Part 4: https://youtu.be/Z-IgOnBCv3U Part 5: https://youtu.be/g0-vhNlxJhw Support the show here: https://friendlyexmuslim.com/two-abdullahs/ Timestamps: 0:00 Introductions 2:40 Changes in people suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy - Dr. Dede Korkut 10:40 Muhammad’s narcissism  - Dr. Ali Sina 14:18 Muhammad’s anger issues, yelling while preaching 18:50 Don’t smile around Gabriel. Muhammad’s red face from anger and more anger problems. 43:18 Comments from the chat 50:30 Muhammad had anxiety attacks because of heavy winds, thunder, solar eclipse, and the call to prayer. 59:23 Running off to the graveyard to pray for the dead? 1:06:00 Muhammad found talking to a dead body inside the grave. 1:07:55 Comments from the live chat 1:09:05 Muhammad’s Hyper and hyposexuality - Dr. Abbas 1:33:46 Aisha - A dream come true or child rape? 1:35:50 Revelation under the blanket of Aisha? Sexual triggers? 1:37:35 Descriptions of virgins in Jannah, 72 wives in paradise. 1:39:49 Muhammad married dead women? 1:41:50 Capgras - Impostor syndrome and epilepsy. Muhammad mistakes Dhiya Kalbi as Gabriel 2:09:37 A quick recap of the night journey 2:15:30 The tree that stretches from the 6th heaven to the 7th heaven. 2:23:09 A quick summary of the episode and a sneak peek of the upcoming episode 2:28:17 Final remarks. List of resources: Characteristics attributed to Interictal behavior in temporal lobe epilepsy - Life Alert: The Medical Case of Muhammad by Dr. Dede Korkut 2. Angry and ripping curtains - Sahih Al-Bukhari 6109 bk 78 hadith 136, Sahih Muslim 2107f bk 37 hadith 138 3. Yelling while preaching - Mishkat al-Masabih 1407 bk 4 hadith 808, Bulugh al-Maram bk 2 hadith 368 4. Don’t smile around Gabriel - Musnad Az-Zubair bin al-Awwam p34 5. Red face from anger - Muwatta Malik bk58 hadith 14 6. Turned red like a pomegranate - Sunan Ibn Majah 85 Vol 1 bk 1 hadith 85 7. Muhammad overreacting when questioned - Sahih al-Bukhari 2427 bk45 hadith 2,

For this episode, I was joined by Tarek, an Egyptian ex-Muslim who is now based in Canada. We started off the conversation by discussing Tarek’s religious background in Egypt and the role that religion played in his life. We then went on to discuss how Tarek came across programming through online gaming. Tarek’s programming adventure opened a window of logic into his life and he went on a quest to apply critical thinking and logic to other aspects of his life. Tarek then shared how this sparked his skepticism and then, later on, made him question his religious beliefs. He shared how he started questioning stories in the Quran for example the creation story of Adam and Eve and whether or not Iblis/ Satan was an angel. The conversation then turned on to the questioning of unnecessary suffering. We discussed why it does not make sense for there to be an ‘all merciful’ creator in a world filled with unnecessary suffering. We also talked about the poor evidence for the existence of God. We also discussed evolution and why it is true. We covered how humans have evolved to need community for thriving. Tarek and I then moved on to talk about how we as humans are able to develop better moral systems and how religions have evolved along with humans to provide answers to human beings. Later on, we touched on how the ‘God did it’ explanation keeps on shrinking whenever science comes with an explanation for various natural phenomena.  We closed off the episode by discussing how technological advancements have brought forward new moral questions that are not covered by religious scriptures.  Many thanks to Tarek for sharing his story with us. I hope you will enjoy this episode! YouTube version of this interview: https://youtu.be/hJDQ71CVEuQ His FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074299471362 Timestamps: 0:00 Introductions 1:15 Apostate Brain’s background 8:30 How programming helped Apostate Brain to start learning about logic and truth 15:34 What sparked Apostate Brain to start questioning Islam? 18:40 Why would God provide questionable evidence for his existence? 23:00 The genetic bottleneck in the Adam and Eve creation story - Why evolution is true. 33:12 Doubting the existence of God. 44:40 Is Iblis an angel? 46:22 Analyzing the Quran from an academic perspective. 47:30 The problem of suffering. 51:10 Evolving to survive in a given environment. The beauty of understanding how the environment around us functions  1:03:37 Morality as a product of evolution.  1:05:30 Our brains grapple with understanding technologies - AI, robots, lab meat 1:09:22 How our morality has improved over time. Large numbers and probabilistic phenomena. 1:06:25 Moral questions regarding advancing technology. 1:14:20 Overcoming our animal instincts. What would happen to advanced civilizations? 1:20:40 Does absolute truth exist? What is absolute truth? 1:27:02 The constant need to keep improving. How Humanism maximizes human thriving. 1:32:30 The importance of community for humans to thrive. How religions have evolved with time. 1:36:50 Using the concept of identity to dehumanize ‘outsiders’ 1:38:48 Al-Azhar’s challenge on why people are leaving Islam 1:41:25 Apostate Brain’s experience of having a Jewish friend as a Muslim.  1:42:30 How religion sometimes limits people’s potential. Salafi flat earther. 1:49:10 How the ‘God did it’ explanation keeps shrinking as Science continues to explain more natural phenomena. 1:55:37 Qada qa qadr… 2:02:00 How religion provides a false sense of security and meaning 2:03:53 Channel announcements 2:04:05 God and robots - How AI is transforming religion. 2:05:50 Tarek’s contact details 2:06:09 Human limitations in understanding axioms. The Kalam argument. 2:09:43 Final remarks