Who Wrote the Qur’an, Why, and What Does it Really Say? 

Debunk what parts? Be specific.

And within the Islamic Tradition, any Imam's intepretation is essentially equally valid. Its a very egalitarian concept but, as you pointed out, can also be used and manipulated to justify pretty henious acts.

You said "modern rational society " I was always amazed when Hitchens had such faith that humans would invent another better religion that would replace these older religions. Are humans capable? There is no god so man made god now man wants to be God. What would that look like?

This is not true. In sunni Islam, there is a concept called ijma- meaning consensus. Majority opinions take precedence, outlying opinions are automatically discredited as outliers ​@@occhams1

sorry but terrorism is not an islam issue. its israhell and usa comitting genocide now in gaza and occupied Palestine and russias war with Ukraine. horros of holocaust by christian/ secular europeans and nazis and ww1 2 ,vietnam ,korea banana republic wars all faught in the name of secularism or christian or jewish names. and now the scapegoat of muslims is used to justify invasion and war of terror ( a never ending war profiteering) so please study more before you just puppet what the corrupt media and zionist and anti islamic rhetoric

Peter Hitchens

Peter > Chris.

hitch is never off topic, more people need to know he existed no idea what these other people are saying about peter THAT is off topic

@@Drunkbobnopantss Peter > Chris.

Hitchens was not an intellectually honest man.

Quran was revealed to the prophet Mohammed pbuh. It had direct impact to his circumstance at the time. You have to look at the time period of revelation to understand the context. Merely quoting the translation isn't sufficient

@@21972012145525so are you implying that it does not fit well in this modern world?

@@21972012145525yes however this verse is still active. I haven’t heard that because it was written for that time, it has now been annulled.

You have to have condemnation of hate or violence for your quotation to not get deleted. Quotation without condemnation is just promotion.

Yes, very clear. I have read the Quran in Arabic and can say that it is written in a very simple - almost simplistic - and straightforward manner, it was written so that even illiterate bedouins could understand it and memorize it. Just like all the other holy books, you don't need scholars to explain the texts but rather to justify the many contradictions and weird teachings that even the simplest of minds struggles to accept.

From a psychological/evolutionary perspective, yes. Like why does it not exist? Is there an inherent impulse? Can it manifest politically; is this the same impulse that makes people join cults? And so on.

I’m an atheist and studied comparative religion to try and understand my fellow humans. When he mentions that the Koran believes and mentions Moses and Jesus and Mary, it is THE perfect example of syncretism in which a ‘new’ religion borrows from the current or past religions in order to validate and promote the new religion. What I mean is that religion just as culture, evolves out of another religion. There are many many examples, for this for instance, Christian holidays overlap the European traditional indigenous religions. The idea of Jesus sacrificing himself was familiar to the people at the time because sacrifice rituals had gone back centuries before. I’m interested in religion in its historical and cultural and anthropological context.

​@@scarba I have studied world religions too. And mythology. They are all framed on one single template. That is why they are similar. Myth and religions all share that same template. The template is based on the life of a human and is mentally interactive once interpreted. It is The Buddha's path, but nested in a genre that provides Big brother as religion, or adventure such as Greek Myth. It's conceptual. See if you can spot this pattern in the background. Moses from Exodus and Jason from the Greek Argonautica. 1. Chosen - Both singled out as children and saved 2. Cyclical pain - Phineas's food is defiled daily by the harpies and he gets no relief. Plagues rock Egypt and they get no relief. 3. Struggle to leave past - Jason and Island of Old Gods. Moses and Pharaoh. Both leave, but are then chased after. 4. Supernatural aid - Jason gets help from Goddesses along the way. Moses gets his magical staff on Mt Horeb. 5. Crossing the Threshold - Jason sails through the Clashing Rocks with aid from a goddess. Moses runs through the Red Sea with Gods help. They both barely make it. Etc. They are huge. Think modern media from 2,000 plus years ago. These can all be dissected. I've been working at interpretation full time for several years now. They shake out to that template, which is a path to enlightenment carried in a thousand different looking boxes or Arks. Many carry, few see inside. It's metaphor. 100%. Marduk, Moses, Arjuna, Jason, Job, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jesus, King Arthur, The Buddha, Lao Tzu, and many more are all framed on one template packaged differently. They all require interpretation, but it is a simple process. The interpretation plays out in the psyche and only for the one who both finds and uses the template. Lets say I have something unresolved from my past. We know these bother us, cycle out, get triggered, and hurt our life if we can become that aware. So, I am hanging on to a memory that hurts me. This will fit into cycles of pain. I can nest my message by saying, "An anchored ship cannot sail free." The parts of the verse are analogs for me. I am the ship. My unresolved issues is the anchor. I am not free of it as long as I remain anchored or rather, leave it unresolved. So, cycles of pain are part of the lessons and they hide them like this, 1. Buddha - If a man has had an evil thought, pain follows like the wheel of the ox that draws the carriage. 2. Lao Tzu - Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. 3. Moses - You will continue to have increasing pain in childbirth. 4. Jesus - Do not judge or you will be judged in the same manner. They are all analogous and all interpret in the psyche to the same place once we finish working it through our minds. They are all cause and effect based in a memory and unresolved emotional state. Then we flow in a collective in life based on the quality of what we harbor in our sub-conscious mind. Forgiving the aught against our brother and having rewards in secret as a result alludes to this. That's like casting off the anchor. It's all word play. All of it. Jesus was called as the only son of God, had supernatural power, traveled with hand picked disciples and seeks the Kingdom of Heaven Within. Arthur was called as the only one who could get Excalibur, had Merlin for supernatural power, traveled with hand picked knights and seeks the Holy Grail. Not many can read between the lines and see something in the background. You're seeing it.

@@scarba It's critically important to note, all the terms are analogous. Desire does not mean conscious desire. It means I have something I am not letting go of. An evil thought is not conscious thinking. It is what I harbor that is evil to my life. I may have been a victim but the anger I hold is the evil. Like that. Naked means uncovered. We start in Eden as self aware kids, happy, no issues. First sin represents naming, judging or just having normal judged life. It will now hurt when it emerges but we got covered right after sin. It represents hiding something inside. We are covered, when being naked is desired as an analog. It's why Noah was buzzed off his wine and naked after the flood. That's us on a cleansing or healing journey. We feel good and have removed a cover. But our other parts, called our children but are further iterations of us, covers us back up. It's a journey, not a step. It is many steps. The Bible rolls through these templates in this verbal clue manner. When we turn inward to heal, there will be few of us, (called) it will be due to cyclical pain, we will struggle to leave it behind, we must have knowledge of how to mentally interact with our memories for healing, (Think psychology, self imposed, guided by the nested steps in the stories? And cross the threshold or turn into the narrow gate. We turn inward. Rumi - I have been standing on the lip of insanity, knocking, knocking. The door opens. I have been knocking from the inside. It's all there in the background for anyone who can break through the puzzles. It has to be well known in secret. It is incredibly prevalent.

Doesn't mean they need to be on this show RU-vid is full of religious preachers anyway

It's hard to be Skeptical about something that you reject at its most basic foundation.

You're programed by your culture. Your culture is programed by it's environment. If you dig you find Mother Earth is aptly named.

Ahhh maybe you give too much credit to people.. it's possible and pretty likely these kinda people are neither intelligent or rational..

@@phukrnd840 Even many eminent scientists (Nobel Prize winners no less) profess a belief in supernatural belief, i.e. religion. There seems to be something deep in the human psyche that almost compels belief in most people.

@@jonnieinbangkok there was a paper written once by some college professor about how the biggest threat to our society is actually stupid people and our inability to recognize them. They are well educated and in respected positions with alot of power in society.. stupid is by no means a limit to a person's level of success or achievement..

You are not an atheist, you just think you are

Female circumcision is extremely rare in non Arab/African Muslims, suggesting it's a cultural phenomenon predating Islam. I actually don't know anyone who is circumcised, but have heard it's more common among Somali/yemeni populations. Male circumcision is mandatory

It is not

I mean your citation of the Hadith in of itself refutes female circumcision. Basically, don't cut severely = not mandatory

such people are laughable because? do you understand hadith and tafsir and sciences of the Quran. Or do you laugh because you dont understand much? or do you pretend to know everything and laugh because you think it’s impossible for God to exist? Why do you laugh ?

@@readbooks777 i laugh at a group who worship a pedo... i laugh at people who worship iron age gods still...

@@readbooks777i laugh at people who think these books are more than they are.... lol sciences of the quran? gimme a break

@@phukrnd840 its more than what you think my friend they devoured philosophy logic literature and scientific method because the quran commands people to learn. the quranic scholars developed systematic rules for proper interpretation( exegesis )and learning from quran, they developed from the quran grammatical knowledge, and then structured the language to enable free thought and a vast vocabulary. They practiced proof based knowledge and reasoning based on injunctions in quran. learn about the holden age ehen the west were up in trees burning women for learning the islamic enterprise emancipated them. Anyways ignorance can be bliss so its up to you to learn or rant

@@phukrnd840 I'll second that. But in my experience in directly talking to, or debating them right here on youtube, is that most religious people are completely cemented into their faith--and to such an extent that there is no rational discussion to be had. I had thought about directly challenging this fellow as you did. But, that impulse lasted about .2 seconds. There is no point in most instances in debating people who make these kinds of comments. Belief in a deity and devotion to an ideology are powerful drivers of behavior and a person's world view.

female genital mutilation is not part if Islamic teachings at all

@@themistersmith I'm talking about male genital mutilation

We both know which religious books Shermer will never talk about.

He would do a good job voicing those thoughts and engage in a debate, no?

@@theinnerlight8016 Have you never watched one of the *dozens* of God debates Shermer has engaged in? He's pretty vocal about it. I don't think he viewed this particular podcast as a good venue to do so, as he was mainly discussing the author's new book.

@@fullmatthew I have seen some of his debates. He's no Christopher Hitchens though, but his books are great. If he doesn't criticize the scourge of humanity, that is Islam, he's basically giving the Imam advertising space. He did the same thing with that crazy feminist lately. If you don't like it, that I don't appreciate this not very sceptical way of Shermer recently, that's too bad.

@@theinnerlight8016 What can I say man, you don't have to watch the show if you don't like Shermer's style

Not a real critique though. Most atheists don't really have an argument at all.

No he is not. He does not know a thing about Islam. He is laughable at best.

The guest answered all questions posed to him. You didn’t like them is something else.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Please share some of it here as well. Or you are just farting from mouth.

Come on random commenter lets not talk about slavery, otherwise your whole white western civilization will be guilty forever!

That is incorrect. However, yes the Quran was revealed throughout the life of the prophet Mohammed pbuh and thus it is important to analyze it in context of revealation if you're attempting to understand Islam. Pork is forbidden because it's considered unclean meat. No different than Judaism or Christianity, no?

Quran was not written down during Mohammad 's time. It was written during caliphate in Baghdad (bin Marwan)

@@SamhizawaNot correct. It was written during the time of Prophet but compiled during First Caliph time.

I'm guessing it's to instill a wonder and esteem for the scripture to get you hooked before you realise what the words you are saying actually mean.

Thanks - That makes sense but it amounts to mental conditioning in advance of understanding. Brain washing in fact.

Indoctrination.

No. Many Muslims know how to read Arabic but cannot understand it. ​@@KrwiomoczBogurodzicy

Muslims believe Arabic is a holy language, thus the revelation of Quran in Arabic. The Quran and Arabic is quoted throughout physical prayer (salah) and dua (prayer in the Christian sense of asking God ). Every letter recited, let alone memorized, is a form of salvation and erasure of sins.

He has written two books. He can not academically survive writing something historically wrong and come up his own version of Islam. As a matter of fact he is planning for a third book. Get rid of bias and search for truth.

august 17.

1400 years ago.

Is that how you judge a person? Seem shallow.

Islam specifically believes in prayer though. That is unique among other religions

Well, I may be boasting here a bit, but I think that my farts are rather, ahem, heavenly smelling! Strangely, no one within nose-shot of my perturbations ever agrees with me on this point. People just don't get me. Maybe I'll start a religion.....and one day be interviewed by Shermer. I'll fart into the microphone as a form of prayer or a blessing. On a serious note, I am a bit puzzled by Shermer for interviewing this particular fellow. I could not even get through the whole discussion. It was hardly worth even that small amount of time I listened in, and it certainly was not worthy of a Shermer interview. I'm disappointed.

Yup, ask no more!

That's what he said

Yes, totally unlikely. It's more part of the myth-building, like with his prophet.

I'm not a cognitive psychologist but I have common sense. He did not memorize a whole book before he understood the language.

Most of the Quran memorizers are basically none Arabic speakers. So they memorize Quran without knowing the meaning of the text.

more than 10 mil muslim can memorize and recite the whole al quran.

Actually, I don't think Harris would have even bothered. I'm honestly puzzled why Shermer even bothered with this fellow. I tried to be open minded, but I could not even finish listening to the whole discussion. It seemed somewhat out of place for someone like Shermer to do, and as much as I tried to take an interest, I had heard more than my fill. I suppose it's because I am so done with religion in any form.

So do not listen or trust this guy. But search for truth in an unbiased manner. Try to find out 1. From where we have come. 2. What is our purpose in this world. 3. Where we are going after this world. Answer to these questions is important for us.

@@user-ht9xg4vk2i 1. We evolved by natural selection like all other living things on this planet. 2. Asking what is our purpose is the wrong question. You should be asking what is our function as conscious, modern apes. 3. When we die, we rot and our minds cease to exist. We are material beings that become recycled nutrients for the planet.

wow, your religious dealer even told you people would find his claims unbelievable, he must've been a prophet😏

All things Abrahamic say that. It's part of the sheep with arrogance building process.

If someone is hungry and the society or state has not provided the opportunity to earn then it is not allowed by Sharia to cut the hands of a thief. Try to learn and ask people before making an opinion.

@@user-ht9xg4vk2i look at my name ht9xg4….. Don’t tell me I don’t know about Sharia. I certainly know more than you. I lived through it. Have you ever seen stoning videos of Taliban? You are in your fantasy Reality is something else

Yes, indeed. They're all peddlers of hogshit.

Exactly. I have no idea why Michael gave him that microphone for his mambo jambo propaganda

I think they were written with good intention to pass on knowledge that was understood in their time. Centuries of misinterpretation have made that knowledge difficult to find. In our time it's been basterdised to the point they're just used as a propaganda tool. I take comfort in the fact every living creature will die.

I agree .

Woke? Michael is about the farthest from woke as they come.

@@fullmatthew You wonder why the New Atheists attacked Islam so hard. Now we see they divided atheism between radical feminism/DEI/woke/Humus supporters and rationalists.

Never. I've read his work for almost two decades

If anything he is anti-woke

The people around him at that moment include who can write.

@@user-ht9xg4vk2i Read the hadith.