Comments by "Sandy Tatham" (@sandytatham3592) on "Lex Fridman" channel.

@freeyourmind7538 : I don't follow any religious doctrine, though I do like the teachings of Jesus and some other Ascended Masters. I practice Transcendental Meditation and yoga, and I believe in reincarnation. I communicate with the spiritual dimension and Source Creator, though I'm a pragmatic realist for most things relating to our Earthly dimension.
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@NobodySpecial420 : My bias is towards evidence of claims. I've spent hours trying to find evidence that pagan Arabs had the widespread custom of burying alive their healthy girl babies and I can't find anything other than a mention in a poem a few hundred years after the life of Muhammed. If you could provide me with a link to some evidence I would appreciate it. Otherwise I have to assume that it was a 'story' that, when repeated often enough, it becomes believed. This is what we call today an 'urban myth'. Same with your idea that the "legal age of marriage within Islam is puberty". Can you provide me one scriptural references to back this up? No Muslim so far has been able to. Probably because there is none, and Islamic scholars are clear that there is no lower age limit for marrying off your daughter, only that you should ensure her body won't get damaged by sexual penetration when she is still very small. Thankfully, Muhammed was infertile in his older years and didn't impregnate his child bride, prepubescent Aisha, otherwise she might have died giving birth. Today in countries like Iran, Yemen and Afghanistan it is often preferred that a girl attain the age of puberty in the house of her husband so he can be sure that he is the only one who is having sex with her. She also becomes more malleable when married off before attaining sexual maturity, and less likely to be disobedient. If Arab women were "not allowed to inherit", can you tell me how Muhammed's first wife Khadija became a wealthy businesswoman? And these things that Muhammed supposedly revealed to improve the life of Arab women was a pretty low bar to set because other cultures in the surrounding areas of today's Israel, Jordan and Egypt had much better standards of rights for women. Even Aisha said "I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women." [Sahih al-Bukhari 5825] Did I mention anything about a veil? How Muslim women or any other women dress doesn't really bother me. The Bible is a very different collection of writings than the Qur'an, which is believed by Muslims to be the literal word of Allah as revealed to Muhammed. The Bible is a 'descriptive' book which tells of certain covenants made by certain people for a certain time. If the Qur'an was the same, then Muslims could reject a lot of things that don't sit well with them in the 21st century. But we all know that straying even a tiny bit from the words of the Qur'an, or the Sunnah of Muhammed, is haram.
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@islammohamed7375 : Subjugating people doesn't mean converting them to your faith. It means making them lower-class citizens, under your control, ie. #dhimmis. If there's no compulsion in religion, why is it reported that Muhammed said "whoever changes his religion, k*ll him"? And why do at least nine Islamic countries today have the death penalty for anyone who commits #apostasy from Islam? Why can't a person born into Islam in Egypt, for example, convert to Christianity and have that noted on his ID rather than him being forever a Muslim? So much for "no compulsion..." Why do Muslims agitate for their own religious requirements, such as Islamic prayer times, halal food, sharia courts for divorce, blasphemy laws, multiple wives, child marriage, etc. if they agree to "follow the law of the land they live in" when they come to the West? Why do around 25% of Muslims leave Islam when they come to live in the West? #PewSurvey My 'agenda' is to promote FREEDOM for everyone to believe whatever they want, so long as they don't hurt anyone else.
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@dopaminegaming3052 : I agree that many Muslims memorise the Qur'an, or parts of it, but I know from personal discussions with many Muslims in South Asia that they don't understand what they are saying as they don't speak Arabic. Most of the Muslims in the world are from outside the Middle East or North Africa. Apostasy from Islam today carries the DEATH penalty in at least nine countries, and harsh punishments are applied in many others, either by governments, or by families and communities. I'm less interested in the historical application of Sharia, and more focussed on what Islamic countries and cultures DO TODAY. And I'm getting a little tired of that fairly meaningless phrase "no compulsion in religion" which Muslims are so fond of quoting. I was invited by Muslim friends to become a Muslim, hence my initial reason for studying your scriptures. I discovered that if I had accepted Islam, I might not be able to freely leave the faith (which was starting to seem more like a cult). Then I found out that the rights for women and girls were horrible. Also that there is no freedom of speech, no freedom to critically analyse the doctrine. That's why I speak out when I see people like Sheikh Omar Suleiman who only present the 'sugar-coated version' of Islam. Your English is great. Well done for being fluent in three languages!
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@M1KeHD : Exactly.
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@islammohamed7375 : Can you give me any scriptural evidence that Qur'an 34:4 limits the punishment as "hit her ONE time with a light stick"? Or are you just joking around with me? For the last 15 years I've lived mostly in the Muslim-majority world and I've listened to countless people tell me how their father hit their mother, or how Islam permits physical punishment of wives (ie. it's halal), etc. I've seen domestic violence of females in Yemen and Damascus, Syria, also child marriage. It's VERY difficult for a wife to obtain a divorce in Islam, she will likely lose her children in divorce, and she has few options for surviving, so don't give me any of that RUBBISH either. The West is not perfect, but we have laws to protect women who are in bad marriages. Allowing men to marry multiple wives reduces females to 'commodities' and sets up the wives and their respective children in competition for one man's affection and his financial resources. It's well-known that cultures which permit men to marry more than one wife all sit at the lowest level for human rights for women and children.
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@goshbaby8531 : It's widely known that these practices are both PERMITTED (halal) in Islam. There is NO concept of a wife's consent being required for sex in an Islamic marriage. He can rape her. And a man is allowed to physically strike his wife, even if he only 'fears her disobedience' [Qur'an 34:4]. Females are commodified in Islam. Thankfully, the vast majority of Muslim men today have better morals than 7th century Islam.
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@EAGLE29-TIME “But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness.” Author, Sir Winston Churchill
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@EAGLE29-TIME : This is silly. We can't be sure if Muhammed was even a real person! The earliest biographies come decades later and are based on oral tradition, rather than on direct historical accounts. It's all conjecture. But there is hard evidence of what Islamic invaders did in the centuries since the founding of Islam. And a lot of it included wielding a sword, and enforcing sharia and Arabic language and culture on the people in invaded territories.
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@muhammedmar : Like I said earlier, most Muslims have better morals than Islam. The problem is that there are still plenty of Muslim men today who believe that Qur'an 34:4 gives them the right to be guardians over their wives and daughters, and that they are permitted to BEAT their wives even if they only fear their disobedience. A culture that permits men to have multiple wives will ALWAYS commodify the females in that culture. Being able to divorce women easily only adds to the insecurity of those women. Multiple wives and their offspring will always have to compete with that one man for his financial and emotional resources. While it might have had a place in the warlike Bedouin Arab culture of the 7th century, it's a horrible practice to continue in the 21st century. And you mention that Aisha might not have been a prepubescent nine year old when her marriage to the prophet was consummated. So how do you explain Quran 65:4 which permits men to marry, have sex with, then divorce girls who have not menstruated? Doesn't that bother you?
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@fnd-vw6zq : My opinion is not important. The fact that these ‘horrible men’ as you call them believe they are following a justifiable and valid interpretation of the Islamic texts is all that matters. And even if only 5% of Muslims follow this literal interpretation of the texts of Islam, that can mean millions and millions of hardline Muslims in the world today. And if you study the biography of the prophet Muhammed, you already know that he was a warlord whose traditions are still followed today. It was only after the prophet of Islam received ‘revelations’ allowing his mujahideen to keep war booty and sex slaves that he gained a large following and the tradition for invading and conquering the territory of Infidels began.
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@fnd-vw6zq : You say “No where in the Quran states murdering of innocent loves (lives?) is fine.” So how do Muslims define innocent? If someone is openly critical of Islam and Muhammed, are they still innocent? If a Muslim wants to leave Islam and he tells people about his loss of faith and refuses to comply with practices such as fasting during Ramadan, is he innocent?
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@jcj1942 Well said…🙏
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@mahyargharehdaghi9383 : There's plenty of "death penalty" mentions in the Islamic scriptures and the traditions. Around nine Islamic countries have the death penalty TODAY for leaving Islam, including Afghanistan, Maldives, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates where apostasy is considered a 'hudud' crime. The "no compulsion in religion" verse is for non-Muslims. You can't force an unbeliever to become a believer. But if a person has been born into a Muslim family, he can't get out of the religion, unless he moves to a Western country where we have man-made laws which include freedom of religion and freedom of speech. What country do you live in?
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@mahyargharehdaghi9383 : I'm not "making a claim". I'm stating LEGAL FACTS. Here's the list of ten countries which have the death penalty for male apostates from Islam today: Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. I don't believe this penalty comes from the Quran (many verses were lost). It comes mainly from Sahih Bukhari, Hadith No 84:57, where Muhammad said, “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.” I don't care who comes to this conclusion, or how they make this interpretation, but you could easily pursue this question with Islamic organisations who offer free advice. I only care because Muslims have little freedom in the world. In most countries a person born into a Muslim family cannot convert out of Islam without being killed or punished severely. This is from Humanists International and the-right-to-apostasy-in-the-world... "In many other countries apostates face social stigma or are actively discriminated against or persecuted by the state... even when there are no official laws stating that ‘apostasy’ is illegal. For instance, in Kuwait, apostates can lose certain rights, like the right to inherit property from Muslim relatives. Moreover, the government does not issue documents stating a change in religion or belief, unless the person has converted to Islam, making apostasy de facto illegal." I know that in Egypt it is IMPOSSIBLE to legally or officially leave Islam if you've been born into a Muslim family. That means that your children, and their children, and their children will all remain Muslim no matter what they believe. It's a closed system which prevents Islam from losing any members. And if a person is known to have left their Islamic belief they might have trouble getting a job, or having work done on their home, or they will lose many other privileges which are taken for granted by the Muslim community. If an ex-Muslim speaks openly about not believing in Islam they will quite likely be jailed for a period of time, because it is said to cause "disruption in the land" if someone is believed to be critical of the dominant faith of the country. I've spoken to young men in both Morocco and Egypt who fear this. They said I must never tell anyone in the community about their lack of faith in Islam. They live in fear of being discovered and punished or shunned by their family and community. I hope this helps you. What country do you live in?
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@hepticity : I'm only one third through but it's just a dawah session so far. I would challenge the rights that Islam grants to girls and women. Child marriage is disgusting (Qur'an 65:4 permits marriage to girls who have not yet menstruated, and Omar Suleiman has put out a video on this). Islam permits wife beating, non-consenual sex in marriage, multiple wives, inequality in divorce, guardianship of women, etc. I could go on and on.
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The concept of god in Islam is VERY different to that of the Judaism and Christianity. Islam's goal is to have all humanity submit to its god, or be subjugated to those who follow its god. Plus Islam is not compatible with the human rights values that the majority of the world upholds.
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Please look at the wider perspective. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 by the Allied Powers, the Arab occupants of the Middle East Ottoman land were given self-rule over 99% of that land. These countries today are Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The #indigenous Jewish people were given the chance to reconstitute their ancestral home of Palestine, which is LESS than 1% of the Ottoman land. And they share it with 21% Arabs who have #equal rights with Jews. In 1948 the surrounding Arab countries attacked Israel intending to massacre all of the Jews, but they were defeated. They then refused to grant citizenship to the displaced Arabs from Palestine, and a UN organisation was specifically set up to hold these displaced Arabs as *perpetual refugees*, which has not been done anywhere else in the world. They are being held as geopolitical weapons against the Jews. Thankfully, with the Abraham Accords, the cold peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt, and various other back-channel agreements, it is all changing. If the Arabs of Palestine could be given citizenship of an Arab League country, then Israel may be able to give them long-term residence visas in Israel so they can have equal rights, access to education, health, employment, etc., but not national voting rights. If they continue to be hostile towards the Jewish state of Israel, as citizens of another country they could also be deported. Wars have consequences, especially when you are on the side of the party which started the war and was then defeated, like the Ottoman Empire, and the subsequent wars that the Arab countries started against Israel, and lost. The Palestinian Arabs do not want peace with Israel. They want ALL of Palestine for themselves. They tell you this very clearly. A greater number of Jews were exiled or expelled from their generational homes in the Arab countries than Arabs from historic Palestine, but today those Jews have been resettled on they are getting on with their lives. Why, out of all the MILLIONS of displaced peoples over the last 100 years, is it only the so-called Palestinians that still get so much support, publicity and funding?
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