Politically High-Tech
A podcast with facts and opinions on different topics like politics, policy, technology especially AI, spirituality and development! For this podcast, development simply means tip, product and/or etc. can benefit humanity. This show aims to show political viewpoints and sometimes praises/criticizes them. He is a wildcard sometimes. For Technology episodes, this show focuses on products (mostly AI) with pros, cons and sometimes give a hint of future update. For Development episodes, the podcast focuses on tips to improve as a human spiritually, socially, emotionally and more. All political, AI lovers and haters, and all religions are welcome! This is an adult show. Minors should not be listening to this podcast! This podcast proudly discriminates bad characters and nothing else.
Politically High-Tech
252- Unpacking Media Bias and Middle Eastern Conflicts with Ayana Lokhandwala
Humanitarian architect Ayana Lokhandwala joins us on Politically High Tech, bringing a refreshing perspective on Muslim representation, architecture, and human rights. Her journey highlights the often-overlooked narratives of diversity and inclusivity, rooted in genuine engagement rather than superficial claims. Ayana's passion extends beyond blueprints, influencing her advocacy for equality and education, and challenging misconceptions about Islam and Muslim culture prevalent in Western societies.
Our conversation shatters stereotypes, exploring how cultural practices—not religious doctrines—shape erroneous perceptions of Islam. We dispel myths on women's rights in Islam, tracing a historical arc that reveals progressive tenets advocating for equality long before modern movements. By dissecting media portrayals and biases, especially in geopolitical conflicts like the Israeli-Palestinian situation, we highlight the need for a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of these complex issues.
Additionally, we explore the evolution and significance of the hijab, unpacking its role beyond a simple religious symbol to a personal and cultural statement. Through personal anecdotes and robust discussions, we emphasize the shared beliefs uniting different religions, stressing the importance of mutual respect and understanding. This episode is a call to embrace diverse perspectives, fostering an open dialogue that transcends cultural and religious barriers.
Follow Ayana Lokhandwala at ...
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/ayana_is_flower/
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayanalokhandwala/
If you want to be on my podcast, join PodMatch by clicking on the link provided
https://www.joinpodmatch.com/politically-high-tech
Follow your host at
YouTube and Rumble for video content
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUxk1oJBVw-IAZTqChH70ag
https://rumble.com/c/c-4236474
Facebook to receive updates
https://www.facebook.com/EliasEllusion/
Twitter (yes, I refuse to call it X)
https://x.com/politicallyht
Welcome everyone to Politically High Tech with your host Elias, and this episode finally achieved it Finally have at least a small piece of Muslim Islam representation. I've been trying to get this for a while. Hasn't been easy. I had Jewish guests come to me and tell me their stories. Of course I accept them and I want to do the same as well, and I want this to be a pro-Zionist podcast or even like a pro-Muslim. I want to be as fair as I could be and, trust me, I am pursuing more Islam, muslim oriented guests. So this is just the beginning and I've opened up some more podcast networks so I can achieve that goal.
Speaker 1:As nice as pod matches, they're still limited on that option. They're limited, and to me it's not. You know they tried, but I think they need to do this a little better. Sorry, alex, I'll be a little critical when you're there. Maybe I gravitate towards that, but anyways, I'm actually embarrassed. I didn't buy a little learning name. Is it Ayana, or? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. If it's, your name Is that Ayana, ayana.
Speaker 1:And I know the last name. Feel free to correct me is it Lopanwala?
Speaker 2:Yep, you've actually said it right. Lopanwala, Many people don't, but you've said it right.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm actually shocked. Yeah, viewers and listeners, I did not practice this. I normally butcher names. Divine presence is here. That's all I'm going to say, because I normally butcher it.
Speaker 1:I normally butcher it it's a miracle so before I'd like to do a little monologue. And she's going to, of course, just talk about not alone, especially the woman from the woman's perspective. I mean, of course it's fair. I mean you're not going to have me talk about the woman's perspective. And I mean, of course it's fair, I mean you're not going to have me talk about the woman's perspective. It's like, well, who is he? He's just a crazy guy. What's wrong with him? Is he a little crazy up there?
Speaker 1:I don't blame you if you think that that's why I'm just more of a listener, a guy, and just a facilitator, just a guy to conversation. That's it. Because, look, we need to be. We need to not just say diversity, we need to even practice it. It's easy to say, it's really easy.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I'm diverse, diverse. So we put some of them to the test. No, they go back to their old habits. Oh, I like to hang out with this certain someone because I'm comfortable. I like this one more than the other one. No, you're not for diversity.
Speaker 1:Me, I got to say I'm proud to have friends on multiple sides of the aisle, even different faiths, different political opinions. I try to practice it. I'm not going to advertise, act like. Sadly, I'm going to criticize some of the left. Oh yeah, diversity, equity, yeah, until your opinion is challenged, and then you want to be just as exclusive as the people that you claim to dislike. But anyways, I'm not going to bash you that hard. So with that, I want to introduce you to someone who is literally the other side of the world. She's living tomorrow compared to America's time zone, and from our perspective, we are living in yesterday. I mean, that's how far apart the time zones are. So the first Australian-based guest I have is probably my fifth at this point. So, for all of them, wonderful and pretty diverse there too, that's all I'm going to say. But let me be quiet. Let me introduce her. Let me get this conversation going. Let's introduce Ayana. And what do you want the listeners and audiences to know about?
Speaker 2:That I'm an architect, a humanitarian and always standing up for human rights.
Speaker 1:And that's it Okay.
Speaker 2:Just wanted to keep it short for you.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, no, no, elaborate, elaborate. Feel free to elaborate that would be.
Speaker 2:I'm a bit shy to elaborate, but, yeah, like well, right now I'm doing my master's, but I see it to be an after-act, a humanitarian after-act to be precise, and I'm sort of creative, but I also am driven by purpose, doing things that I'm meaning to have purpose. So I always stand up for either humanitarian causes, engage with them, or human rights. And beyond that, I love traveling. I just love travel, learning about different cultures, opening myself up to different things. That's pretty much me.
Speaker 1:I think I'm going to put this as the shortest intro, because people just love to brag and talk about themselves. This is, so far, an example of being humble. Just short, straight to the point. Well, I've been knowing us for 10 years. If you feel offended previous guests, oh well, it's been knowing us for 10 years. If you feel offended previous guests, oh well, it's the truth. You know who you are. You're probably like the third very humble guest. That just short, straight to the point. I'm personally not used to it because I'm used to yappers, but that's not an attack on you. You're just different that way, and sometimes that's good, because people just love to go on and some of them leave me telling me oh, they take too long on the intro.
Speaker 1:I don't care, but I'm also fairly young, maybe you've got to guess.
Speaker 2:I'm at the start of my career and journey. I don't have, maybe, a big portfolio, but still I'd be very humble even though I did, because I find it quite embarrassing to go on about and take up people's time yapping about myself.
Speaker 1:Okay, fair enough. Well, let's start with this and then we'll see where it goes from here. I want to start with Islam because I think I say I have some knowledge of it. I'm not going to claim to be an expert. I can say that I'm clearly lying If I ever say I'm an expert In Islam In the future, especially not now. I'm out. Wait for a time, but if you click me, take me out of context. I will call you out, but I will never claim that.
Speaker 1:So I'm here to learn as well, listeners and viewers, and let's get right into it, because there's a lot of misconceptions. Let's start with that. Yeah, you know, men are oppressive. They got multiple wives, even with some truth to it, I'm sure not all men practice in it, and you know, I just keep that wives, you know, just being a housemaid, and they can't do a lot of things without man's permission. And I have to learn this. I did learn more about Islam history, so I got some knowledge, but I always like to learn from someone who is a Muslim and who actually lives. I've been through that, me. I can never grasp on that entirely because I don't live it. Let's be honest. But what are common misconceptions that people in the West let me just frame it that way what kind of things we misunderstand?
Speaker 2:and just assume about Muslim people in general. Let me just start with the one you just mentioned that men are oppressive and you know women are just housemaid. I think the first thing I'd like to say is that a lot of it is driven by culture, and this is I'm. If you look at my background, I'm Indian, and even in the Indian traditional background years ago, even maybe in some parts today and throughout the Middle East, when the regions of Islam is practiced culturally in those regions, whether you're Muslim or not a Muslim, this is the kind of thing where men are told. Men can be oppressed, especially not now because there's more education and awareness to it, but there are some pockets like that that exist. And let me repeat, repeat this is not driven by religion. It's driven completely by culture, and the culture defines how people should behave, act and and conduct themselves. So, um, if you look at islamic perspective, it actually does not allow men to oppress women, because it considers men and women to be equal and you know, one of the few things that islam says is that both men and women, first of all, are equal. Both have the right to seek education. Now, I know in some countries, let's say afghanistan, where they don't, they don't let women educate. Now that's again driven by, you know, culture and men are kind of, you know, in those sort of countries like the I mean not just men in those countries around the world patriarchy is a big thing, and so they take advantage of cultural things, mix it up with religion, create their own societal rules and enforce it, and then, as a result, what happens is that islam takes the blame. But when islam doesn't say that, because the first ever university in the world that was created was by a Muslim woman in Morocco, our prophet we believe in Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him his wife co-led a war. So we have women in leadership, we have women who have opened institutions for education, and so people only see one side.
Speaker 2:That's just been, um, let's say, shown on the media which is totally biased, and and when people hear stories from other muslims, they kind of confuse that with the religion when it's. For example, I have lebanese friends that say well, you know, a lot of the men in our community or culture like to have women that work at home. Now, if there are guys that prefer that, that's fine and that's because everyone has preference. If someone wants a stay-at-home wife. There's nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home wife, but if they're going to be like some can be oppressive. And then when I asked them but Islam doesn't allow men to oppress women they're like to me well, it's not really about Islam, it's about culture and how like they have been taught and raised up. So that's just starters. That first of all, when you meet someone who says that, interrogate what culture they're from and how it's been practiced, and also look at the religion side, because religion does not allow that.
Speaker 2:Second misconception is let me from the 9 of 9 11. All the muslims were under the heat even till this date, because now there's a view that muslims are terrorists. But that is what the media has said, because the attacks were carried by people who killed Muslims themselves. So if they were good practicing Muslims, why would they kill other Muslims On a daily basis? In Afghanistan, the Taliban commit rape, commit some murders, harm Muslims more than any other in their region. So you can't then call them, you can't label them as Muslims. And if you look at Islam, it has no place for violence. And we have a saying in Islam. There's a quote that I'm going to strike from Islam that directly says that if you kill one person, whether they're Christian, whether they're Jew, whether they're atheist, whoever they are, it's as if you've killed all of humanity, and if you've saved one person, it's as if you've saved all of humanity. So there is a great sin for killing an innocent person, and so this aspect or these sayings from the Quran are never put on TV, never shared around. But the contrary, muslims are terrorists. Muslims like to kill. This is always shown, and you're from America, you know that. Let's just speak about Americans in America, like the white population in America, have the most like cases of shooting in schools and all that they have. They commit more crimes than Muslims do in America, and I think Muslims have probably really low crime rate there, but that never gets shown to the world. Right, there's only one perspective that does, and that is, you know, muslims. And even in the case of right now between Palestine and Israel, what's happening, israel is getting more favoritism, more coverage, because it kind of suits the West's propaganda, what they're trying to promote, and so Muslims always get sidelined and made us seem like we're the bad people, but no one really tries to look at us or study us, and so these are like part two misconceptions.
Speaker 2:One more thing you said about four wives. Okay, let me clear that out as well. So the reason why the religion had the four-wife rule was back in the days. This is not in context of the recent generation, it's context of the back, where people did not live much longer life, where men traveled long distances, women, if they could not bear a child, then there was no medical treatment, there was no IVF, there was no technologies that would help them, would help the couple, deal with that. And having offsprings was very important to carry the lineage forward. I mean, come on to have the generation going, you need offsprings, right? So then, if one wife was not able to do that, that was a reason for a man to marry a second wife. That was a reason for a man to marry a second wife. And if, for example, he went to another city or state, staying there for months and months, then he might also get a wife for that region if he has business trades.
Speaker 2:And fourth was that there were not enough men to women ratio. There were more women and less men and, moreover, there were women that were divorced, that, no, no one would want to marry, their fathers would not want to take, because they, because people were dying at a young age. They were dying from diseases, they were dying from wars, so there were so many women that were just on the streets and and they had no one to provide for them. And so that's when this came in, that men can take care of at max four women, and you can't just go and marry four if you want to.
Speaker 2:There is a strong saying in the Quran that if you can take care of your first wife, provide for her, and then only you should get second. But if you can't treat her well, you cannot financially take care of her or you're struggling. You are not allowed to get a second wife. And if you have multiple wives, they all need their separate homes. You need to distribute your wealth with them equally. You need to treat them equally. You cannot be biased with one and the other, and which itself is very hard to do.
Speaker 2:In this generation, people can't even run one home properly. Think about four. So it's not easy, as it seems, for men. For their own reason, you know, for their own good break these sort of rules and ignore the fact that he has to treat the others equally the first one equally, second one equally. So there were reasons back in the days why things used to happen. Now it might not be as relevant, but again, there are societies that are very small and they're still struggling the way it happens and it makes sense. But yeah, that's just new misconceptions, I think, and if you have any I'd like to. I'm happy to kind of talk about it.
Speaker 1:I did study the Quran a little bit and in that text you said about man to treat the first wife, second wife up to fourth wife. Well, I said, well, the Quran says the man needs to treat all these wives equally. And that's hard because, look, if he can't manage the first salsa woman, she didn't get to manage the second, third and the fourth one. And it's very tiring for the man. I just get chuckled with that. So I just say, well, they have to size that. So I don't know what all this barbarity and misdemeanor will make To your point. It's a good thing I never lose all of them, because it's just like saying all Latinos are good at salsa dancing. Well, I am good. I'm not a good example of that, but there's young generations that don't know how to do salsa dancing. They're Latino, they just be on the smartphone. You throw a stereotype like that or they're players. That's another thing they throw in there. But I'm not going to get too much into the Latino thing too. That's why it's just not stirred. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Back in the days women were okay with it because they know they're getting a roof to live under or they're going to become a slave. So they they because prisoners of war and stuff. So these were things that used to happen, because if you have no roof, you have no father, no husband, you're basically out on the streets ready to be eaten alive by you know others. So women were content with that and they they kind of they, they went on with it like nowadays things are, so it doesn't apply as much nowadays, but yeah, and I think one more thing I think I forgot to add is not just to this, but the part where Islam is unfair to women.
Speaker 2:I think Islam was the first religion that said that women can go get a divorce if they're not happy with their husbands. If the marriage you've tried and it's not working out, you're not forced to be in that marriage. Get out. If your husband is abusive, get out of the marriage like you don't. You're not forced to stay in a toxic environment. Women has the right to walk out in, whereas in 1400s that wasn't 1400 years ago, sorry, that was not the case that when in whether there was, whether, whatever religion you were, you cannot, women could not walk out like that yeah, you hear this.
Speaker 1:So it's culture that tainted some of the words. I mean that's. I think that's the theme is culture, that's that you know. And, to be quite honest, it's not good culture. You know there's examples of not good culture in America, you know destroyed families and all that. So culture does do a good job of tainting the integrity of any religion, not just Muslim Judaism there's plenty of examples of that. And Christianity there's a lot of examples of that as well. And Hindi and all the other organized or small groups, because I do, I have interviewed a few sheik, which I was amazed I was able to find a sheik before a Muslim thought I was never going to find that, but here they are. Yeah, I just think. Yeah, misconception, media bias. That's why I'm very critical of the media, because they just switch the stories and focus on one angle, forget about the rest. Support that narrative, don't forget, oh, block that Muslim that's trying to help the Jew.
Speaker 1:No, no no no, oh, blowing up, oh, just blow the hospital. Oh, focus on that. You know they're still, it's still pretty prevalent, even in entertainment. You know I love Paris with Love. One of the main antagonists was a Muslim woman who was planning to blow up an embassy in Paris. And she was a Muslim woman, so good movie. But I have to call it see in Paris. And she was a muscle woman, so good movie. But I have to call it out for supporting that terroristic point of view, that stereotype that sadly stains the mustache of Arab war. So you know I liked it, but I do recognize that. So you know, not all muscles, but I do recognize that. Yes, you know, not all Muslims are like that. I mean, go to New York City. There are plenty of good Muslims out there. They just work hard, try to find a living and survive in this expensive city. Okay, just like everybody else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1:So there is reality versus expectation. Tv gives you expectation. Reality is different. Just remember that Reality versus expectation. Sometimes expectation is bad or good, but reality is going to normally debunk it. It's going to disappoint you or might shockingly make you.
Speaker 1:I know this is enlightening. I'll be listening to this. It's going to disappoint you or it might shockingly make you angry, it depends. But no, this is enlightening. I hope you're listening to this, listeners and viewers, because, trust me, tv is not your best teacher, unless you watch really educational stuff, stuff that could be cited with great academia, integrity or a lot of good anecdotal stories that shatters the stereotype biases that we carry, because if we're not paying attention, we just watch TV just for fun. We absorb those beliefs rather than we don't believe it or not, but we absorb it and admit it. So just be more cognizant of that. I'm not trying to lecture you, just be more alert. Awareness is key. That I'm not trying to lecture you, just be more alert. Awareness is key.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, you already touched on the women in Muslim faith to be able to tell how progressive it was, because even the Bible during its time was just saying oh no, the relationship has to be really bad, and it was, I'll say it was mostly equal. But culturally, the cultural tables there, the men, it was very patriarchal, no doubt about it. All the tribe leaders were men. The society was definitely patriarchal, not going to deny that. But God also favors women too. But that's not cultural bias that taints the integrity of the purity of the organized religion. Actually, the organized religion is actually taint, actually. Let me just correct myself there. If you know our religion, it's a real religion, not organized, because it can be manipulated and twisted just like any other religion. Alright, so look at that. You gain the bond. If you just leave.
Speaker 1:All women are just forced to wear burqas, just, I don't know, deactivate the primal senses of men. You know which ones I'm talking about. You know I don't wear it by choice. About choice, I mean Dr Phil did that and he said oh, I'll just work your job because I want to. So most of them actually said that, and Dr Phil is a very popular TV program. So there's a few American programs that are trying to do that. I can't say now, you know some Americans. We try, of course there's those. I obviously don't case by case. Let me stop talking anything else you want to add about. Of course there's those. I obviously don't Case by case. Let me stop talking Anything else you want to add about misconceptions, or even add about the women role of Islam? I think there's a lot of misconceptions of that within itself.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Let's start from, I think, the beginning of when Islam came, one of the first things it kind of did when it was introduced, and so Islam was kind of introduced to a prophet by the angel Gabriel and incrementally he was being taught over the years. So one practice that used to happen in, I think, saudi Arabia is that, by polytheists, that they would, if daughters were born in their family, they would bury them alive, because everyone faded son, and so when Islam came, god had told Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him that you need to tell your people to not bury daughters. Girls are as equal as guys and they're equal. You know, in fact, girls are kind of compared to diamonds, like, if you look at it, like if you have a daughter, like Islam says, if you have a daughter in your family, that means there's a lot of. I don't know, I know the Arabic word, I don't know the English word, but there's a lot of blessings that come upon your family. I think that's right. Yeah, blessings that will come and fall upon. The more daughters you have, the more blessings your house will be. So it was. You know, having a daughter was compared to a blessing rather than something that you bury. So that's number one, like it's very equal religion to both genders and it really came to kind of support and elevate women from the kind of state they were in Second hijab.
Speaker 2:A lot of people think that hijab we're forced to wear. Hijab is something that's part of our religion and everyone wears it because it's a part of religion. Yes, hijab is part of religion. But again, going back to context, when Islam was introduced, everyone in the Middle East, whether they were Jews, christians or polytheists, they were all wearing a form of hijab. Even back in the days, everyone had some form of head covering. It's not that Muslims do it. Muslims just have continued to do that practice because Islam has said so.
Speaker 2:But prior, before Islam, everyone every woman, women that came from noble families used to have a head covering that go from the back, go into the back, but the chest won't be covered. So when Islam came, there's one specific verse that says draw your khimah, which is the cloth you wear on your head, and cover your chest. That's the only thing it said, because women were already wearing the headpiece. The only thing they weren't covering was the chest. It just said destroy it across your chest as well, and the thing was at that time, noble women were wearing hijab and so, and the bathrooms weren't in and toilets weren't in their homes, so to go to the bathroom and stuff they would have to go away from the home, and so the distance between the home and the bathroom in the village in the Middle East, and people like looters, or men or rape women, loot women on the way, but if they knew that the woman has worn hijab, they know, oh, she comes from a powerful or a noble family, if I, you know, do something to her, I I'm gonna get in trouble. And there were also women that did not do hijab and that came from like there were lower classes.
Speaker 2:So to protect women in general, islam said well, tell all the believing women to cover their hair and wear hijab so they don't know who comes from which families, which, which women comes from a noble family and which doesn't, so that ultimately protected women from being raped and looted on the way to the toilet away from their home. And also it's about modesty, you know, maintaining your modesty as a female, because there's a beautiful saying where someone said if you had hundreds of thousands of dollars of notes, money which is really valuable to you? Would you stick it on your clothes? Would you just have it out and just you know? Look how rich I am. If you have wealth, you put it in a locker. If you have gold, you put it in your locker. You put it in your wallet, you cover it up and you hide it because you don't want what's precious to you out for everyone to come take it. So it said that women need to protect their beauty, their modesty, for themselves, for their husbands, and no one else is supposed to see that. And so we are told to cover for multiple reasons, and that's one of the reasons.
Speaker 2:Second is protection, and third is Islam is a religion that likes modesty and women that obtain modesty and don't show off their beauty to other people, and that sort of also protects us from, you know, men, because I've had I started wearing hijab two years ago and you know, when you don't wear hijab, men think that they can just come up to you and sit next to you and say whatever they want to say to you, and I've had creepy experiences. But after wearing hijab it kind of eliminates like all that, because they know she's not going to be attractive. She's not. You know, she's a muslim who wants to talk to her. You know so that that already puts me in a protective zone and I've experienced that firsthand.
Speaker 2:And second of all, hijab in the middle east is now cultural. So I have a friend who does hijab, but but she's like oh, ayanna, it's a cultural practice. I did not do it because of religion. You know how in Indian culture we wear sari. That's culture. But you can't say sari is because you're a Hindu. That's very wrong to say, because that's a cultural thing. So hijab has also become a bit of a cultural thing as well.
Speaker 2:So not every hijabi wears it because they are religious and practicing Muslim, because, you don't know, you can't judge someone's look. They could be wearing it because their mums have done it, their grandmas have done it. All the seven generations in the past have done it. So it's not about religion and about force. No aspect of Quran, no aspect of Islam. Sorry, you should be forced upon. So Islam clearly says do not force the religion on anyone. It's not a religion of force, it's a religion of peace. Introduce it to them Peacefully, tell them about it. If it's your family member, if your daughter, your sister doesn't wear hij, them peacefully, tell them about it. If it's your family member, your daughter, your sister doesn't wear hijab, tell them about it. If they're not going to wear it, that's up on them and don't force that on them. Accept their about, whatever their beliefs and values are.
Speaker 2:So these are things number one, like because when you wear hijab, that's the first thing people think about. Like why you're wearing it and this and that. And, to be honest, I wear it because it makes me more closer to God and I don't get wrong sort of attention anymore. And also like when I have to pray in public or when I have to be, because as an architect, we're always working with people from other professions. I can't drink, I can't do certain things. As soon as I'm in the circle, they know she's not going to do this, she's not going to do that. So they make space for me, they make adjustments. You know they are adapt to my requirements and that makes it very easy for me to hold my faith than not wearing it, especially in the west, because here people are from all faith and belief groups. So that's a few things. And in terms of education and stuff, a lot of people get shocked when they see a Muslim woman taking up or really becoming a pilot, doctor, engineer. It's like you.
Speaker 2:Women were supposed to be oppressed. How are you coming out now? Are you guys revolting or something? But it's, it's really. Islam always supported women to be the best version of themselves. Yes, the traditional world, traditionally men are the providers of the home, they are the leaders and caretakers of the home, and women are to give birth and to look after their homes, make their homes. But it does not say that women can't be doctors and engineers and can't be architects. Definitely they can be.
Speaker 2:And if you look at our Prophet's wife, she was a very wealthy businesswoman, wealthiest in that era in the village, and Prophet was a shepherd, so he was not rich, she was rich and she was older than him by 15 years. So nowadays the society is kind of, you know, accepting the fact oh, you can marry women much older, like, let's look at priyanka niktronis. It's 11 years gap. Now. This is like. Now people have to come to terms with it, are accepting, accepting it. But back then it was normalized Like you can marry someone who's a widow. In fact, there's more blessings upon a man if he marries a widow, yes, a widow, or someone who's, I think, older, but it's, you know it kind of offered women protection because you know being alone is always a bit risky in those times. And so these are some misconceptions about women and I hope I've cleared them out well for me, I can speak personally.
Speaker 1:um, I definitely learned something because I kind of hold some of them because sadly that's what some of the west society just goes. Okay, these women are oppressed. They can't be pilots, they can't be, businesswomen, they can't be. But yet when I see certain images, I say why these women are looking successful. You know, some wear good jobs and there's just those that don't. I know that's a cultural thing, yeah. It might be the Quran. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2:But also, in being all these things, our number one priority, according to Islam, is that you should not sacrifice your family, because if your husband married you to be the breadwinner, he wants someone at home that he can go to, or there's someone who's going to build his home. So if you can be a doctor but also manage your home and your children family and don't sacrifice that, then be that. But if you can't look after your family, you can't raise your children, your husband's coming home, there's no food, then you might have to sacrifice that, because what's the point of him marrying you if you can't fulfill your primary duties? And I think nowadays both men and women come to terms like okay, I'll cook you clean. If you come to that agreement, that's also fine. Traditionally, women have these rules that they must prioritize first, and men have roles of being the protector that they must prioritize first.
Speaker 1:Yep, definitely, that's definitely very traditional. Even Christian has a lot of similarities, especially when it comes to Christianity. If you get rejected, the exact quote is dust your feet, move on, stop forcing either. That's why, when people force the Bible or any other religious book, I say what the heck are you doing? You're ruining the integrity of it. That's why some people say oh look, this Christian is crazy. These Muslims are terrorists. Oh, these Jews are scam artists. Why not Merle? Buddhists are also scam artists. I don't want that they throw in.
Speaker 2:There's one thing Go ahead. You said religion. I just wanted to clarify one thing that, if you don't know, actually Islam is a religion that came after Judaism and Christianity and we are a religion that keeps belief in Bible, Because in Quran, God said that we sent down Bible and we sent down Torah so they complete and add more elevations as a continuation and completion of the religions in the past. And so, whatever the Bible and the Torah said, it's all some from the same God that has come down, it's not from different God. That's why you're going to see similarity.
Speaker 2:However, in our text, the only reason we're told to follow Islam is that because many versions of Bible have been created, Many versions of Torah have been created. There's some follow this version, some follow that version. And so then God said you guys are essentially changing the Quran, the Bible, the Torah, the Gospel that we're sending down, creating these versions. So when it came to the Quran, he said I will be protecting this one, and so no one changes that. But essentially, what Islam said? The same thing Bible had said, the same thing Torah said and the same thing started from Adam has been said. So there should be no difference no, yeah, no.
Speaker 1:I I'm happy that that you said that, because I have seen that connection. A few years ago, torah, they came, the bible and verse was after that. No, that's absolutely right. If it's that spirit, fake news. Just because you don't like it, it doesn't make it untrue. It is statistically easily proven. It's been documented trillions of times. Okay, just because you're uncomfortable with it, just because you don't know it doesn't make it untrue or inaccurate. You don't like that. And you know I'm going to say that's too bad. Get educated or just get out, really, because I just want to unite good people, rational people. I don't need whack jobs, anti-christian, anti-muslim, anti-jew, anti-whatever, anti-theist, anti-lgbtq, whatever. I don't need you. I do discriminate against bad, count, that's my problem Go ahead.
Speaker 2:We can't even be anti-Jew and anti-Christians, because Jesus is our prophet, so is David. They're all our prophets. The Quran talks the most about Jesus and Mary in the Quran than any other person. So for us, if you know, in the Olympics recently they kind of disrespected Jesus. That was disrespect to me as a Muslim, because you just disrespected my prophet. So I, you know, so don't like. I just want to clarify that we don't hate other religions. We cannot. You know, um, it's, it's also against Islam to hate others or disrespect others sadly, the bad actors get the attention.
Speaker 1:Of course people absorb that. So you see, this is why I hate Muslims. This is why I hate. I'm justifying it. But this is how these things happen to people. People, should I say? The importance of God is more important. As a 37-year-old man, I believe God needs to be restored. He needs to be included. I don't care if you follow the Muslim way, jew way, christian way, whatever, as long as God is included. Because I see what's happening with how we are losing our way, going back to our evil, barbaric human nature, something that I'm sure we all know what that is. We can think about all the bad examples, but I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1:This is mostly just a debunk where misunderstandings, especially my Western audience have. They're mostly West. I do get some fans from India as well. I'm sure some of them are happy. Maybe a few of them are not. It doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter because I want the best people here. I want intelligent people. You're the ones that disagree with me. Be here. I welcome you.
Speaker 1:Disagre, disagreement doesn't equal hate. That's one of my lines. Disagreement does not equal hate. It just means we have a. You know, we're just battling out with opinions, that's all. You have different ideas and that's okay. You know I'm not gonna speak a young enough thing, exactly like me. That's crazy. Or vice versa. Oh, we both got different experience, different experience that we reform in our opinions and the way we see and view them. Yeah, that's what I'm going to say about that. I'm actually going to leave a little bit of time about just your opinion on the Israel versus Hamas, versus Lebanon versus Iran versus Yemen. Sadly, you couldn't tell the Middle East at this point versus Lebanon versus Iran versus Yemen. Sadly, you know of the Middle East at this point. We'll show our opinion on that.
Speaker 2:For sure. The reason why Muslims are very enraged is that people in the West or the media is highlighting so much on 7th of October, 6th or 7th of October when Hamas sent, I think, people and balloons to Israel and stuff. But the thing is the problem did not start there. Imagine there's a line and you start in the middle of the line and create an issue out of that line. It started way back 74 years ago, I think 74 or 75 years ago, exactly precisely when Palestine, part of Palestine, was given to the Jews that were not native to that land, that came from all parts of the world to have an Israel state. And that wasn't because the Palestinians said yes, I mean it was because British said that Britain was part of that, and they created that distinction. They gave that land, part of that land, to Israel and Israel grew. So what happened as a result is that the people that were in that land, they were kicked out, and people that were natives generations were raised on that land were kicked out, whether they were Muslims, whether they were Christians, and they were probably the only people that were favored with the native Jews. But again, even if you now speak to native Jews, they're not happy with what's happening, because they liked the old Palestine, because they were part of that culture, that fabric, that fabric that had all cultures living together. And Palestine is a very significant land for all three Abrahamic religions Extremely important for three of them Because they're three Abrahamic faiths and there's a lot of history that happens in all three religions in that location and people have been living there for years in peace with each other. And people have been living there for years in peace with each other.
Speaker 2:But as soon as the British got involved, they gave the land that was not theirs. I mean, they gave the land to the Jews from other nations, to them, and it was not theirs. For example, my auntie's friend. She was a Jew from India. She said I've just now got a permanent residency in Israel because I'm a Jew. A land that was supposed to be someone else's, a home that she's now going to occupy was someone else's home, that they've been living in for hundreds and hundreds of years. And not only that, it's. You know, it's not fair that people from other countries can live on a land that was owned by you, your father, your grandfather and your generations for over and over years and you're just suddenly told get out, it's not your land. Where are they supposed to go? That is your land, that is your. That's who you are. Who has the right in this world to come up to you and say get out? That's not fair. And so what's been happening is that israel was given a part of the land. That grew, israel grew and palestine became smaller and smaller and smaller. And that's because this is all part of the plan.
Speaker 2:In 1915, I actually came across a post recently this guy had laid out a whole plan to create an Israel state, all Israel state in Middle East, that doesn't just start in Palestine, but that goes into Lebanon, that goes into Egypt, that goes into all the neighboring countries, all the way until Saudi Arabia. They want all of that land and they want all of that to be owned by Jews and it's all for Jews. So if you think that you know they're going to stop by just occupying all of Palestine and kicking out the Muslims and Christians and who are the native to the people out of our land and think they're going to stop there, they're not going to stop there. They want the whole region to themselves. And what I'm talking about here are not Jews, are Zionists. Let me clarify that I'm not talking about Jews, zionists. I have nothing against Jews. I have peace, and peace be upon them. But because there are Jews out there, they like no.
Speaker 2:What's happening in Palestine is wrong, and so what the world right now is, so you know, so invested in, is that it's the 7th of October, but before 7th of October, so many Palestinian lives have already gone, so many bombs have already been into Gaza and Rafah and other parts of Palestine for 75 years. That same father that today carries a bag of the bones of its children carried the same bag 50, 74 years ago. It's been happening all these years. No one stood up for the Palestinians, no one took a like stand for them, and I think now that people are starting to realise and see what's happening, there's a lot more voice for Palestine, especially in Melbourne. But the media and the West and when I say the West, the politicians are just so focused on 7th um, on the 7th of october. And let's suppose like it's like, if you attack me and my family, do you not expect a response back? If you're gonna attack me and kill for 75 years of my family and my people, and on my land that is not even yours. Do you just expect me and my people to just accept it and not kind of do something to hit back? Anyone would do that. That's how wars start. If you hit into our city, we hit into your city. So what Hamas happened was a response to all these. The 7th of October was a response to all these years of genocide, of killings of the Palestinians that were moved to camps and were living in horrendous conditions and were being bombed. And let's look at an equal response. Okay, let's say Hamas was strong and let's agree to that for this scenario.
Speaker 2:They kept some people from that, I think, festival as hostages. Right, they have hostages, but what Israel did was an unequal response. You could have done the same. You could have taken out the same number of hostages. You could have just gone in and conducted a silent. You know, like when they had to kill Osama bin Laden, america did a silent thing where they sent a guy and he just executed the guy they wanted. You could have just gone and executed the members of Hamas. You could have sent your spies. You could have just gone and executed the members of Hamas. You could have sent your spies. You could have done that. You didn't have to kill and destroy so much land and people. You don't need to do that much destruction when you could have just gone and executed those certain people and I don't think it's hard for them. They have all the information, they have the highest technology in the world. Of course they could have done that. There was not an equal response, first of all from Israel's side, and they continue to drop the bombs for one year now and they've been doing it for way less like 1 plus 34, 75 years. For one year. They have not stopped. Kids are dying, kids and adults and everyone. Like.
Speaker 2:It's heartbreaking when you see the content that's coming out, and so I don't think you know. It's very clear. It's a difference between black and white. If you don't see it, then that's because you have bias and you don't want to open your eyes to it and because you never kind of open yourself that Arabs could be good, because Arabs have a really bad reputation. Arabs are terrorists, arabs are oppressors, arabs are this, arabs are that. That is just an impression that people have, and even what's happening in Lebanon and what's happening in Syria.
Speaker 2:So they killed one of this member of Hezbollah and to do that they had to throw so many bombs into Lebanon, so many bombs, when again you could have sent a guy, a sniper, a sharpshooter, spies. Find out where he is, shoot him. You're done. That's it. Get out. If you wanted one guy, why are you killing thousands of people for that one guy? That does not make sense to me and that does that. That's the exact thing that doesn't make sense. And people kind of starting to realize that. Why are you going and hitting, creating so much terror and destroying lives of people, people who were about to get married, people who just started school, kids? You don't need to destroy other people's life for one person or the actions of a few people.
Speaker 2:Muslims sort of know that Palestinians are going through these struggles and a lot of countries have acknowledged it. India has acknowledged it back in the 1940s or something, where Gandhi said that India will always be with Palestine. Now I can't say, because our current politician, moti, has different views. He sort of, I think, secretly agrees what Israel is doing because he wants to do the same. But that's another topic and a lot of non-Muslims are now kind of waking up when they saw that there's an unequal response. So many people I'm sure that Bassan and Peter I don't know what was the name of the other guy, bassan.
Speaker 2:The interview that went viral. It was all over the news. It was quite humorous actually, and the way he said it, the points were really good. Now those non-Muslims, people coming from all other backgrounds, atheists are starting to realize yes, understand that this has happened. There's an unequal response and so there's more enragedment in the crowd for that, and I actually came across a document that israel is. You know, israel could have easily done what her master said was stop bombing gaza, we give back your hostages simple trade. How hard is it to do that? Even people in israel themselves have started protesting in Israel like all you have to bloody do is stop bombing and they will give back the hostages and the hostages that are coming out of from the Hamas, whatever camps they're keeping them in.
Speaker 2:They did not complain that they were mistreated. If you can find all, I urge you actually I request you to go find all the comments from all the hostages and see if they were mistreated. You'll know that a lot of the comments are like we weren't mistreated at all. And so again, they found 16 babies dead and in the bodies and stuff there was no proof of that? Find the proof. That's the thing. If the media is claiming all that that, find the proof. That's the thing. If the media is claiming all that, where is the proof? What we're talking about, what I'm kind of standing up for, is based on what I've seen, and there are proofs for that. The hostages themselves are a proof.
Speaker 2:How, then, why do you need what else? Do you need to not believe something? I think Israel is driven by religious motives and also political motives. Religious, because I think there's something in Torah that they need that land for the, I think for Antichrist or something, something like I don't know, for their Messiah that's going to come. They need a land for that. So there's a religious thing with renovations. And I think it's political, because the Middle East has oil, it has power, it has resources they need. You know, I think I just discovered that under Gaza, one of the cities, there's a lot of oil reserves that just got discovered. So there's yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, you said a lot of one, a lot of interesting and wonderful points, and there are parts of American population that actually sympathize and know what you're saying. Actually, this is where I'm going to actually back some of those politicians. I'm normally very critical of them. I bash them, ridicule them on a regular basis. So people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, like the progressive Democrats, they will agree with you almost wholeheartedly. That's part of the American politicians that will actually agree.
Speaker 1:Some of them got voted out because AIPAC got involved. They threw a lot of money and they got rid of some of these candidates. Two of them in particular Jamal Baldwin and Cori Bush. They were free Palestinians. This is very wrong. They were very vocal. They spent money to put more moderates that support Israel. They were gone, they were gone. They spent money to put more moderates that support Israel yeah, they were gone, they were gone. One of them, I think Jamal Bowman, even though I'm criticized of a lot of things. I say he was going to lose regardless of AIPAC money, because he did a lot of dumb stuff. But Cori Bush, I think, would have stood. But they spent a lot of money on AIPAC.
Speaker 1:This is the big Jewish lobby group that funds pro Israel, even pro-Zionist Actually, I'm not going to say pro-Zionist that's where they really are. It's like you said. I love that distinction. You see here. You think, oh, she Muslim, she hate all Jew, all Jew bad. No, that's not what I heard. That's how I heard it all, and if that was the case, this interview would have never happened.
Speaker 1:Let's be honest. So stop picking whatever you want and just clip it just to make it seem like she's a terrorist, or I mean the terrorist sympathizer. He's a terrorist, or I mean the terrorist sympathizer. You could do that, but I'm going to let you do that, because once I put this whole video out, it's going to easily debunk it. I'm going to pick a clip. This is what she meant and there's a context to it. This is what I meant and there's context to it. Okay, so do your worst, and so forth. She's been very rational and it's okay for her to be passionate and even emotional. It's allowed people to use it for manipulation, but it is a very unequal response. This is why the Israel reputation is down the tubes in the UN.
Speaker 1:Before they were getting support that declined as time went on. Killing so much. I mean a death toll was definitely more women and children than even Before they were getting support. That declined as time went on. Killing so much, I mean a death toll is definitely more women and children than even the intended target yeah, much more. I think like 99, almost like 99% of this plane deaths is just innocent women and children, I mean. And I did ask that question when Jewish guys said, can he just do what America did? We did precise Strikes. We only targeted the root cause. We just got Osama Alana and whoever will support you. That's it, even though, don't get me wrong, america's Bombed and killing innocent people. At least when we know how to Be precise, we did it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go ahead. No, no, sorry, I'll just cut you there. I just want to say that you know Israel is backed by US, and so there's no way that you know they couldn't have done what America had did with Osama bin Laden. There's smart people in that position that know that they could have just done a precise attack and got it done with, and it's just something to wonder upon why didn't they not just do a precise attack?
Speaker 2:on the people and why did they go for an enlarged, unequal response and why is America supporting? This is a question I think you should all wonder. Why was there a large response? What's the motive behind it? And that's for the audience out there.
Speaker 1:That's your homework question right there. Put it in the comments. There's a comment section for that Active participation right there. I think that Is it to get more land Eradication, to achieve genocide, or was it osculation? Or let me just do the devil's advocate, let me just turn this around. This is all a lie. Okay, put whatever kind of sex you want, just put whatever. You will be really cute eventually. And I don't believe in camps, like stupid. I just believe in doctors, like stupid. See this comment right here by Alon123. He's an Israel good. They deserve what they get Because they have all better kids. That's not the point. Like there's radicals in every Alright, you know there's radicals In every. You know there's radicals that are just going to do crazy stuff. Russians got them, jews got them, of course, but that's not all people, not even the majority. That's like the minority or just extremists, and they are built on Rage, frustration. They got tired of being attacked like the minority or just extremists, and they are built on, you know, rage, frustration and they got tired of being attacked. So they're going to retaliate. They're going to retaliate.
Speaker 1:This is just years of what she said, over 70 years, especially when the UN decided to buy the land between. I don't care if you believe it, it's a fact, facts can be proved. It doesn't need to be Okay. And I said and when I look into this I wanted to get a better understanding, because I know Fox News, cnn, wasn't going to tell me their perspective, they was going to skew it just to strengthen their narrative, their be, their perspective. They was going to skew it just to strengthen their narrative, their bias story. I said yeah, I said wow, british, this is actually your fault. I love you, british, as a country, but some of your people, y'all messed up. Y'all messed up At least. It is just a symptom of bad international policy. And look at disrupted family traditions. It's been going on for hundreds of years, especially with the Jew app.
Speaker 1:If you just want to put in the Muslim lands, but you want to go deeper, put the Christian lands, jewish lands, jewish lands, I mean this all has that same lineage. To our point, we have that same connection. There's that common denominator. Alright, it's just people blow up, keep pushing, poking, poking, poking, poking. You're going to get attacked. We need a peaceful solution. We need to be more thoughtful, even the way they divide it. It's like Palestine's kind of like split two lands in a way, because Israel got that one strip that covers it. I mean it's insane the way they split it. I mean, who in their white mind would have split it that way? Think about that, just look at it, just study it one day, or tell a friend that's knowledgeable, just to show you what I'm talking about, because even that creates conflict. Okay, palestine's got to pass a certain part of Israel. Just get to the other side. I mean, come on, come on, and not bashing on all Jews here. But there are those who are stealing more land. They're taking advantage of this chaotic situation. They're taking more land little by little, by little by little.
Speaker 1:This did not just start on October 7th. It started years ago. It's just blowing up again. There's another blowing up again. It's just another explosive, manifested conflict and it's going to keep on continuing until we find a solution. Don't be surprised. It's not the last one, especially the way we are handling it. We're just going to go October 7th, that's it. That's where it started. It's much deeper, much, much deeper.
Speaker 1:Okay, you gotta do your research, or talk to someone who's knowledgeable. Okay, that's all I'm gonna advise you. So just jump into conclusions and believe whatever the TV tells you. Because whatever TV tells you, they only give you a small piece, very small piece, and then you think you know everything. That's when you're an idiot. If you think you know everything, you're an idiot. But, ironically, if you don't know much, you're willing to learn, you become wiser. If you think you know everything, you're an idiot. You just told me that you're an idiot. Oh yeah, no, I know everything about them. They're doing their thing. They kill their babies. All that, yeah, they gotta do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, does it take bombing cities and villages just to level them and killing people that have nothing to do with the conflict? A normal person would say that's unjustifiable. Okay, that's why, south Africa, they said no, israel should be locked up for their decision. Yeah, there's some arrogance. South Africa, that's a part they're combining to their history of white people. I mean, I understand where South Africa is coming from. Alrighty, before I wrap this up, is there anything else you want to add before I wrap this up?
Speaker 2:I just want to say it was really grateful for the opportunity to come and speak and share my opinions to you and I think you have been very accepting and very open and it's really great when your host is someone who's non-biased and is willing to listen and cooperate and I think it was a great experience having you as a host and thank you for inviting me. And I think I was a great experience having you as a host and thank you for inviting me, and I think I've said all I have to say in the podcast.
Speaker 1:No, you're not. I thank you for actually agreeing, because some of them were afraid. I mean, some of them were afraid oh no, I saw you at these people. They didn't tell me that exactly, but I could kind of tell them that you missed an opportunity. That's why I got critical and said us all that you missed an opportunity. That's why I got critical, said well, we missed the opportunity. Here I try to invite you, but no, I don't want you. I don't want you, you're a terrorist. They're not gonna understand. I said no, no, I need to get more voices here and listeners. You're gonna even hear more pro-lgbtq voices, because so far this punk isn't slandering more anti-lgbtq, and that not my intention. But that's just some of the guests, or at least their point of views, or it could be the same thing.
Speaker 1:I want to maintain balance. Why do you think my logo is purple? Because I don't want to be too left-wing. I don't want to be too right-wing either.
Speaker 1:Because many perspectives are sponsored. It's a mix of the two, just like my politics. I socially agree with the liberals, democrats whatever you want to call them or leftists. When it comes to money issues, I agree more with the conservatives, traditional people. I'm like a politically high. I don't think it's a rivet. I think one party's better for this issue, one party's better for that one. I think both think it's a rivet. I think one party's better for this issue, one party's better for that one. I think both of them are dumb.
Speaker 1:When it comes to immigration, I think both of them, but I'm not going to get into it, because we need a balance. We want good migrants to come, but we don't want the bad ones to come with them. That's just one example. I'm really independent, because both American political parties are crazy. One wants to close up the border completely and just shoot down, and the other one, if they got their way, they'll just keep it open and let anybody, even the real terrorists, come in, except that the real terrorists, not labeled or received terrorists, real terrorists, the ones that have to kill people. So that's all I'm going to say about that.
Speaker 1:So, alright, I'm going to wrap this up because it's been a great conversation. I definitely learned some things. You confirmed some things that I thought. As I said, there's a lot of commonalities with these three faith groups. That's why I'm going to call them faith groups. I think that's more convenient. Alright, I hope you learned. That's what we call faith groups. I think that's more fitting and appropriate. All right, I hope you learned something as well. Listeners, put your opinions in the comments section. What do you think? If it was good, if it was bad, if it was okay, just put it down. I like to engage you. I occasionally read comments and I'll respond if I think it's worth it, all right. So whenever you listen to this podcast, you have a blessed day, afternoon or night. Thank you.
