082 – Interview with Pakistani Agnostic @bay yaqeen ​

Friendly Exmuslim Podcast - A podcast by Abdullah Sameer

​ @bay yaqeen  is an Agnostic Muslim, originally from Pakistan, now living in USA. Been a Sunni Muslim for 40 years now an Agnostic Muslim. Married with 3 kids 8 10 and 13 discussing topics of religion and philosophy. especially Islam and the struggle of people who have doubts about their religion. Subscribe to Bay Yaqeen's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/bayyaqeen YouTube version of this interview: https://youtu.be/aTytOtR7VIk Here are the time stamps for the interview: 0:00 Introductions.0:47 What does the name Bay Yaqeen mean?1:06 Muslims avoid discussing faith issues with apostates - The incident with the 5 “gladiators”.5:04 Bay’s background.6:35 The “You left Islam to sin” trope.8:27 Bay’s appreciation of Abdullah’s YouTube content and activism.12:36 Bay’s childhood in Pakistan and then later in Bahrain. Moving to the US for varsity.15:16 The first time that Bay heard about Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha, the culture of owning sex slaves, and how it affected him. Bay’s first time encountering an apostate.19:37 The turning point for Bay’s religious journey - having a tour of Jordan and Petra with Yasir Qadhi. How Bay tried to quell his doubts by “overdosing” on Islamic apologetics.24:37 Shout out to ex-Muslims and atheists online content creators who provided material for Bay when he started having doubts.26:20 Bay’s reaction when he started consuming competing content from Muslim apologists and apostates.29:20 Muslim apologist’s arguments are hamstrung by the Quran.32:18 Bay’s consultations with the Sheiks during the time he was having doubts and how he tried to use the Hajj to save his faith.39:03 Starting a Facebook page as an outlet and how it snowballed into online activism.41:41 Bay’s story continued - Visiting Sheiks to clear doubts on Islam.47:10 The logical problems with prayer.51:54 The “Islamophobe” tag as a way to evade legitimate criticism of Islam.54:55 The fear of hell and indoctrination.57:42 Phases that Bay went through as he was processing his loss of faith and apostasy. How to deal with Muslim family members who cherry-pick and quote small portions of religious texts without reading the whole text and understanding it.1:06:46 The Quran (and other Abrahamic religions) divides humanity into believers and nonbelievers.1:08:15 Racism and slavery in Islam.1:10:29 How the Muslim society was very insular during the period of Muhammad. The flat earth theory in Islam and how widespread it is in Salafi Islam.1:16:43 It is going to get hard to defend Islam as more scientific knowledge is revealed.1:18:04 Some profound stuff that Bay learned from other prominent atheists.1:25:00 Dealing with family members and spouses after apostatizing.1:33:19 Channel announcements.1:37:40 Responding to comments in the live chat.1:38:35 Shout out to Urdu ex-Muslim content creators.1:41:09 Final remarks.