042 – Interview with A Pakistani Exmuslim Anti-Theist
Discussing with a 45 year old Pakistani anti-theist today who left Islam 2 years ago.
The YouTube version f this podcast can be found here: https://youtu.be/xCXu3yOlvLo
Here are the timestamps for this podcast:
0:00 Introductions
1:11 Super Sufi’s background – How he alternated between being a very conservative Muslim and being a nominal Muslim. How he became Ultra conservative in the last ten years. How Super Sufi convinced his wife to convert to Islam.
11:45 How Super Sufi used to perform Dawah to his students in Russia – proselytizing during English classes.
13:15 The direction of the Qibla – Is it even a real thing since the earth is not a circle as mentioned in the Quran? “Sacred city” by Dan Gibson and how it sparked the questioning process for Super Sufi. How Super Sufi’s beliefs began to unravel as he was trying to prove his religious beliefs right only to get evidence to the contrary.
19:50 Islamic rituals borrowed from other cultures e.g. Zoroastrianism. Problems with the hadiths and their origins. How Muslims imposed their cultures and traditions on Iranians.
24:20 The door of heaven in Pakistan? Worshipping saints and creating shrines – This is a common practice used to make money in different religions. Buddha and his teachings – was he a revolutionary?
31:40 Is the need for religion an intrinsic characteristic of humans? How political elites – Constantine in Christianity and Caliphs and Imams in Islam – crafted religions around influential people to their benefit using very similar rituals.
37:30 The Noah’s ark story. How the abhorrent practice of incest is common in all the major religions – Is the story of Adam and Eve even true given what we know about genetic tracing and speciation?
45:00 Is the number of hadiths memorized by Bukhari true or realistic? How is it that most of the hadiths were revealed to Abu Hurairah only and not the other Sahabas? The flaws in the process transmission of the hadiths.
51:30 The miracles in the Quran and hadiths – splitting the moon, going to the seven heavens, going to Jerusalem overnight – was this all a scam?
54:00 Super Sufi’s belief about God being conscious energy (Deistic God). The god particle.
1:00:50 What happens when we die? Is there a soul? – What scientific studies have shown in cases of head trauma or diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
1:05:09 Was Buddha really against the caste system?
1:06:45 The similarities between Super Sufi’s position as a Deist and Abdullah’s position as an Atheist. The hypocrisy of criticizing Islamic teaching but also accepting Christian teachings can be refuted by the same criticism against Islam.
1:09:20 Political religions like Islam hinder the progress of society and suppress minorities.
1:21:47 So what happens now that Super Sufi is a Deist in Pakistan. Why will he never become an atheist? – Pascal’s wager.
1:25:00 The seventy-two virgins – how this teaching is used to inspire Jihad.
1:28:35 Where does Abdullah live?
1:28:50 Why is it God had to create billions of galaxies just for mankind?
1:31:20 What are Super Sufi’s future plans and projects he is working on? How religions take advantage of the illiterate masses. The paradox of educated people believing in silly religious teachings.
1:41:23 Final remarks.
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