Was Iran Better Off Before Islam?

Hinzugefügt: 2026-04-29

[00:00:00]Is it true that Persia was better off before Islam, without Islam?

[00:00:04]>> Persian empires, there was a strict cast system, heavy taxation, continuous wars with the empires. You know during the Palawi dynasty, what did you have? You had nakedness in the streets. You had class injustice, political injustice, social injustice, economic injustice.

[00:00:19]>> Was Persia always Shia? Did Persians adopt Islam willingly or was it forced on them? We believe that Sunnis and Shia should be brothers and sisters. Period.

[00:00:30]And we need the extreme Sunnis to stop basically doing on the Shia 100%. 100%.

[00:00:36]Our future is one. Our nation is one.

[00:00:39]Our dean is one. Our book is one. Our prophet is one.

[00:00:46]Everybody. Welcome back to the Rewired podcast. Over the past year, Iran has been in the news a lot, especially as Trump has been trying to replace that regime with the Palavi regime. And we've seen the tension between those who believe in an Islamic Persia and those who believe in a pre-Islamic Persia. So today, we want to go into the history and unpack that tension. Is it true that Persia was better off before Islam? What role did Persians play in the Islamic Golden Age? Was Persia always Shia? In fact, how did Persia become Muslim? So stick around to the end and we're going to ask that question of well, was Persia forced into Islam and what was the reality around that?

[00:01:31]Welcome back to the podcast. Before we start, you know, these podcasts are jam-packed full of information, but you can't beat a structured program. So, if you are a history buff and you really want to understand Islam civilizationally, please check out the Muslim blueprint program link in the description below. Is it true that Persia was better off as many of the monarchists claim before Islam without Islam?

[00:01:55]>> Well, let's take a look at history and decide together. The Persian Empire, especially at the let's say last 100 years, 150 years, there was a strict a cast system. the king's class and there's basically the the the lords and the wealthy families and then the business the businessmen >> like a feudal system.

[00:02:16]>> Yeah, it's a feudal system and there's basically another a third layer and then there's the peasant and the farmers and the poor and so forth. A stratified society such societies basically have oppression. There's the the majorities oppressed and the the the upper 5% few% basically they lived the life taxation was super heavy especially because of the wars between the Byzantines and the Persians. Who pays for the war? It's the middle class and the lower class. The instability within the families and the dynasties it's a one family rule. Nobody has the opportunity to become uh the the emperor. Nobody has the opportunity to even basically switch between social mobilities almost zero.

[00:03:00]>> So this this is this is the Persian Empire. Yeah. Heavy taxation injustice, class injustice, political injustice, social injustice, economic injustice, uh continuous wars with the empires, uh interign conflict between the members of the same dynasty for authority and and power. So this is the Persian Empire.

[00:03:20]Now, we're not saying basically it was a a jungle, but basically it wasn't well suited for the regular average Persian man and woman.

[00:03:30]>> Why do you think many Persians today are very romantic when it comes to maybe Zoroastrianism or pre-Islamic Persian Empire? Where's that coming from?

[00:03:42]>> That came from the from the colonial powers that have been in the Muslim world for the last, let's say, 350 years. And specifically, you know, the the colonialists wanted to break the link between the different ethnicities and Islam because Islam unified everybody. Like you need to understand this area, you have uh Mesopotamians, you have Kurds, you have Persians, you have Arabs, you have Copts, you have all different types of Armenians, million types of ethnicities living together in peace for hundreds of years. And to divide and conquer, which is the only strategy to basically defeat a nation, you have to break the pieces. You need to break the connection between the pieces. And then you need to create a connection because see the human bond is natural. Somebody like an identity is something that everybody is always looking for. Who am I?

[00:04:33]>> Yeah.

[00:04:33]>> So, you know, Islam used to define that and that's why there's cohesion, social cohesion, harmony. The colonials when they started coming in in the 1700s and the 1800s and 1900s especially in the later days they sent specific you know archaeological missionary work >> to try to you know you can say uh investigate that history >> like the Egyptolog exactly imagine you you're an Egyptian >> and you're a Muslim but you're so proud to be a feronic >> they call ai you know like it's it's crazy >> so similarly basically what happened during the uh the British influence uence on Persia.

[00:05:10]>> Yeah.

[00:05:11]>> They they did a lot of work. It's called political socialization to socialize this population and to link it ideologically or from an from an identity perspective back to the Persian Empire, which is any Muslim wouldn't be very proud of. Anyway, >> interesting. Now, there's a tweet that made the rounds that's kind of linked to this. People say the Islamic Golden Age wasn't real. It was all just Persians.

[00:05:35]Is that true?

[00:05:37]It's a it's a no because at the end of the day what enabled the golden age is not one specific ethnicity. It's all the mosaic of society working together. All the forces of civilization working together. Sure. Maybe the Arabs were more focused on the politics and the business and the Persians maybe were focused more on the science and the and the religious studies and each different and the Turks were f focused more on military affairs and and fighting and their fighters. Even today basically we have Khabib number one fighter in the world you know that's where they come from these these these areas were pretty mountainous but the society what creates what creates a golden age in general which is civilization and human progress is the security and the stability and the peace that enables creativity and cooperation collaboration between the different actors or different segments of society and individuals elements of society to create what becomes a golden age. Now that being that being said, so that's that's the no part. The yes part is that yeah I mean the Persian had a big role in the scientific and the religious Islamic advancements of of the Islamic sciences.

[00:06:47]>> Yeah.

[00:06:48]>> So if we look for example at the hadith sciences the the the greatest six books of hadith >> you know all of them were were by scholars who are you know from the Persian areas.

[00:06:57]>> That's insane. And I think most Muslims would would know Bkari and Muslim. Yeah.

[00:07:02]>> The two those top two are are Persians.

[00:07:05]I did not expect all six.

[00:07:06]>> Well, Bkar Bkari is is from Bkar which is in current daybakistan.

[00:07:11]Muslim is from Nab Abu D. He's from Sajistan. Abu D is basically from an area right now in Afghanistan right now.

[00:07:20]>> You have immmed also basically within these areas from Nessa. Same thing. Imb Kazwini from Kazwin from North Iran today. So all the six of them are actually within these Persian uh areas at least Persian dominated areas.

[00:07:37]>> Ethnically most of them might be Persian some of them maybe you know have Turk descent also from a perspective his teacher imbali he's also from from these areas. So from a mathematics perspective you know the you can say one of the greatest minds of of mathematics of all time the word algorithm came based upon his own name from >> which is in Iran and and so forth. You have the very famous uh poet who was also a great mathematician is also basically one of the greatest minds in mathematics of of that time.

[00:08:17]What what's really interesting to me especially is the fact that many of them were the top scientists in the Islamic sciences and we're going to get to this question later in the episode when we talk about uh were the Persians, you know, subdued or or in any way oppressed by Islam? Well, you see here like the religious sciences were embraced and led by the Persians themselves, which I think is pretty cool.

[00:08:38]>> Not only that, even the Arabic language itself, some of the the greatest names are like Immaw, >> he was also Persian.

[00:08:45]>> That's pretty crazy.

[00:08:46]>> Like the the greatest name in Arabic linguistics is that also in terms of for example eloquence yeah and also imi they're also Persian right so is lots of lots of great scientists in the natural field in medicine Iben Cena and and so the names are so many to to divulge but uh definitely definitely the Persian like you need to understand The Persian were just like maybe the immigrants today in in in the United States. Most of the engineers and the doctors are immigrants, >> right?

[00:09:24]>> Whether basically from the subcontinent or Chinese or Middle Eastern or Eastern European, they make the concentration within these fields.

[00:09:34]>> And then the regular Americans, whether you know, white Americans or African-Americans, they focus more on the business and the politics and the law. It's a social phenomena.

[00:09:43]>> I see. I see. Yeah.

[00:09:44]>> And I think that's like cuz we do see a trend now where different ethnic groups have certain nationalistic tendencies, not just Iranians or Persians, but also you see this with black nationalists and people even Arab nationalists. Both the emphasis on the pre-Islamic history and this sense that like well you know we had a different culture and different personhood that Islam came and imposed itself upon. Right? So I think this is like a great demonstration that no actually these different races and ethnicities embraced and led Islam. So I wanted to speak about another fault line and identity which is the whole Sunni Shia thing. Was Persia always Shia? Was it made Shia? What's the reality?

[00:10:30]>> No actually most of the time Persia was fully Sunni almost fully Sunni. almost there's some pockets of Alb especially in the Iraq areas but also within the what turned the Iran but the majority were Sunni until the Safavidits came in >> and who were they >> maybe there's also a little bit of basically the buin the basically was this dynasty that created a state in northern Iran and spread within Persia they were Shia but they did not convert the masses they didn't basically they were not they didn't force people to convert >> okay >> so they kept the the population as it is and they respected the Sunnis and they influenced the the really kind of took over basically at their time during their time the the rule became just symbolic.

[00:11:19]>> Yeah.

[00:11:19]>> You see what I'm saying? Partly maybe why they didn't do that is is at that time basically it was still the even the was still kind of forming you can say.

[00:11:29]So they were almost like generic Shia at least some sources say but let's say there's for example imams they they didn't try to push that on the people.

[00:11:39]So even while they basically they were there, Iran, current day Iran or Persia continued to be supermajority Sunni >> and maybe the reason they didn't basically kind of oust the Abbas is because in in the Shia thinking they're waiting for Mahi. So the political rule they kept it for the Sunnis symbolically and they really ruled underneath them but had the full say really.

[00:12:02]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:03]>> So at that time there was a little bit of Shia influence within Iran. The population change, the demographic change happened under the force of the isawi in 1501 onwards basically.

[00:12:17]>> And who who were they and what what did they do?

[00:12:20]>> Basically was um he built this this new state based upon his name. The were there from 1299 after the Seljuks. The Seljuks were Sunni Turks. The Seljuks took over from the Boyhin. So they ended the boyid rule within Iran and Iraq and and then the the Seljuks became the greatest empire within it time. After that the Mongols came in and the crusades came in and the Seljuks weakened and then as a result the Mamluks came from Egypt and the Ottomans came as uh you can say the successors of the Turkish influence within that area the Ottomans. Um so 1299 bas that's when they started spreading their their power and they took over Anatolia which is on the borders of current day Persia and in 1501 so a couple hundred years after this dude called Safawi started preaching his med by force taking over building an army and taking over bit by bit starting from if I'm not mistaken and growing more and more within the Iranian space or the Persian space as it is today and forcefully converting the Sunni population through different means.

[00:13:33]>> Did they consider Sunnis Kufar?

[00:13:36]>> Well, I don't know if they do or not, but they want people to convert to their to their ideology. And this is this is repressive really. This is this is sectarian type of thinking sadly. You know, where you see like even if they're not convert, they're deviant enough for them that they deserve salvation through conversion.

[00:13:50]>> Okay?

[00:13:51]>> And conversion came through different mechanisms, economic, political, social incentives to convert. For example, all the the the judges became >> and imi and so forth you know all the positions all the teachers all the madras became teaching and thought >> so the and they stayed [clears throat] for you know over 200 years you know the safids were were ended in 1736 so that's 200 and exactly 235 years that's a long period of time so so so most of the Persian space became Shia then >> and I think that raises the natural next question like okay if they enforced Shia Isism upon the people but what about when Islam came in to begin with so the question is did Persians adopt Islam willingly or was it forced on them >> yeah so sadly most people don't know the the proper answer for this question and look at history the Persians they occupy the Arabs first there's two specific Arab big tribes that we call them basically Arab There's two types.

[00:15:00]>> Yeah.

[00:15:00]>> Soass were in the northwestern part with the they were Christianized. They were with the Byzantines. Almanad were basically with the Persians. So they might have been Zoroastrian. So so probably basically they were influenced by the Zoroastrian or they maybe kept maybe their polytheistic religion. So those were occupied by the Persians. The Persians had full influence and they they dominated them. They also dominated other tribes like Benu Benuan were in the on the outskirts of the northeastern side of the peninsula close to current day Iraq. So also they had influence over them. Current day Yemen basically was a proxy was literally a proxy state for the Persians. The Persians came in and they they fully took over that area and they put an agent a proxy basically uh that reports to to Persia. So this is even pre-Islamic times. It continued during the and most people don't know that actually the Persian emperor told that Yemeni king to send his soldiers to send two guards two soldiers to arrest Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam [laughter] and to bring him two pers who can be executed or imprisoned >> and this is like after Mecca like how when was this?

[00:16:13]>> Yeah. So this is actually this is after.

[00:16:16]>> Okay. Okay. Afterallam basically started communicating with all these kingdoms and then told them to basically kind of back off from their their tyrannical and and imperial projects. Right? See in Islam people people sometimes call the Islamic uh at least these dynasties in Islamic history as empire. So they say the empire or the Ottoman Empire that's that's wrong. Okay. And if it slips as a slip of a tongue is no problem. But if if people really mean it to demean Islam is improper because these Islamic caliphates were not empires.

[00:16:49]>> Well, what's what's an empire?

[00:16:51]>> But an empire is basically the most important thing with the empire is a one family rule let's say that uh focuses on uh colonializing the periphery continuously expand for the sake of domination and for the sake of resources that gets transferred from the periphery back to the center. M two-tier sort of civilization.

[00:17:13]>> Definitely. Definitely. Oh, there stratified societies. There's there's the colonialists and there's the subjects and >> random tangent. I think was it the um that didn't want to include when they expanded, they didn't want to include new populations as Muslims and they kept making them pay the Jiza.

[00:17:31]>> Well, that that's a wrong analogy. And the reason it's a wrong analogy because Jiza is not like taxes. Taxation is when people basically pay a big portion of their income.

[00:17:40]>> Okay. Jiza is just a symbolic collectibles from the from the by the government for the sake of providing services and and by default the poor doesn't pay it. So the difference between jiza or even Islamic zaka or tax in general and the word tax in in human history is that tax gets basically paid by everybody except the nobles.

[00:18:04]Jiza is the exact opposite. The Jiza is taken from the and the equivalent of Jiza for the Muslim which is zaka is collected from the rich and given back to the poor.

[00:18:15]>> So definitely this is totally wrong analogy and then the point of basically not wanting the people of those new areas to end to to become Muslim. This is not because we don't want them to convert because we wanted to we want them to to be given the choice the free will to enter Islam willingly.

[00:18:34]>> Okay. Okay.

[00:18:34]>> Because in Islam we don't we don't there's no such thing as basically forcing any population or any single individual to become Muslim because by by forcing a person to become a Muslim immediately he becomes a a hypocrite which is by definition Islam is a person who's not going to gain salvation. You see I'm saying like the whole concept of forcing people >> it doesn't exist in Islamic philosophical mind.

[00:18:59]>> So how how did Persia become Muslim?

[00:19:01]Were was it not forced?

[00:19:03]>> Great question. When Islam basically entered Persia and entered any other area within its history, the entrance to these places was not for resource grab or domination or subjugation.

[00:19:20]You see what I'm saying? It was actually to spread the justice of the Islamic system so other ethnicities, other people, other races, other nations could prosper and live in peace and harmony.

[00:19:32]See, people need to understand Islam is not a religion. When we see it as a religion, you see it as basically being forced. Actually, the number one rule in Islam is that the religion of Islam and there is such a thing because it's a part of the whole should never be forced upon anybody. People can choose their religion and they if they want to stay Christian they can stay Christian whatever it is whatever the point is but the Islamic system God have sent it to humanity for the sake of social cohesion economic prosperity and political justice okay I'm going to repeat one more time social cohesion economic prosperity and political justice these are the aims of of the of the dean of Islam the system of Islam so when you see tyrannical ical empires smashing their own people and smashing their people around them. Islam basically will always want to give this gift of of justice to other people. So when when Muslims entered Persia, what did they do? It's not like what the United States have done to to to what they're doing right now to Iran. Trump himself said basically, I'm going to go grab the oil.

[00:20:36]The whole oil is is mine. It's ours.

[00:20:39]>> We don't say that's that's unislamic.

[00:20:41]>> That's empire behavior.

[00:20:42]>> That's empire.

[00:20:43]>> Yeah.

[00:20:44]>> That's actual empire. But when the Muslims entered into the same place, we kept the resources for themselves.

[00:20:50]Actually, the the zaka from an Islamic perspective should be collected and spent on the same on the same people >> with >> shouldn't be Yeah. It shouldn't be taken to the to the center.

[00:21:02]>> Interesting.

[00:21:02]>> To the capital. So what did the Muslims do that made people actually willingly and on mass become Muslim? They built schools. They built hospitals. They fed the poor. They fed the needy. They uh educated the the uneducated. They build roads. They build libraries. They built and they and they gave everybody an equal say in choosing their leaders.

[00:21:27]It was Iraq that always basically people used to come and refuse and and and rebel against the governor of Iraq.

[00:21:34]Every single time they rebelled, they rebelled like by by military means or forceful.

[00:21:39]>> With the Persian governor of Iraq, >> the what usually was not Persian at that time after the Muslims came in. It was the Sahabah.

[00:21:45]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:21:46]>> So, so, so many many Sahaba the Persian people of Iraq and Iran used to basically complain when they complain about them multiple times just wish the whole governor. It's like I don't want to put a person that basically doesn't satisfy people's dreams and and intent.

[00:22:03]>> Yeah.

[00:22:04]>> So, that's what Islam brought. I mean since when since when tell me one time in Persian history they say 2500 years where the people of Persia went and complained about the emperor or a governor and that governor was replaced or that emperor was replaced never happened. Islam came and did that something which is unimaginable.

[00:22:27]When people felt that justice and love and peace and prosperity Yeah. and social mobility and education and justice in the courts and in politics.

[00:22:38]They're like, "Yo, I want to be from these people." It's like people want to be American. Many people basically from Africa, Asia, and in Eastern Europe and Latin America, the Middle East, they want to be American. They go to America, they become American, and they try to be as American as it get as it gets.

[00:22:53]>> And I guess partly that's, you know, America did.

[00:22:55]>> I just want you and I want to stress this point >> that you need to understand today there's something called the American dream. Back then the reason people converted by the by the millions on mass is because they saw and they they they lived the Islamic dream but we don't speak about that because there's no Islamic dream. There's only Islamic night person.

[00:23:14]>> Yeah. Yeah. Today unfortunately >> you see >> yeah most people think the Islamic dream means like you know being having the right clothes you know being able to go to the masjid every day or you know having a nice you know say Islamic environment around you but it's it sounds like it's more than that. It was definitely more than that. See, sadly today with with our secular mindset, we only see Islam as just a bunch of prayers and fasting and stuff like that.

[00:23:38]But the understood exactly what the Islamic dream is. That's why they basically lived for it and died for it.

[00:23:44]So talking about the Persians, for example, the sent one of one of them ahabi by the name of and he went and met, if I'm not mistaken or one of the kings of Persia and that dude basically asked him like what do you guys want? Why are you guys coming to try to, you know, mess with us? Who are you guys in the first place, right? Like, do you guys want some? He said, like told him, he told him, "You guys want some food or clothing or we can give you some money? Just get out of here." He says, "No, we're not here people for we're not we're not people for money or or food." God have sent Islam to us. So we free the subjugated human being, the oppressed human being from the subjugation of man to the proper relationship and submission to Allah subhana t alone the most merciful and from the injustice of man-made systems and man-made empires to the prosperity and the justice of Islam.

[00:24:42]>> Subhan Allah. Like what what a big idea.

[00:24:44]And unfortunately most Muslims when they say that they don't recognize like what the Sahabah recognized about the the the expansiveness of this idea.

[00:24:55]>> Yeah.

[00:24:56]>> Kingdom of God. So let's talk about Iran today.

[00:25:00]>> There's this guy right now Reza Palavi people are claiming is the right ruler of Iran against the Islamic regime. What do you think is best for Iran? The Pal the Paloi dynasty, we know it because it ruled already Iran. It's not like as if we we don't know what they're going to be doing. First of all, they are British connected dynasty.

[00:25:21]So they were very modernized. They remind me of Muhammad Alibasha. So this this family is very tied to the western way of life. And you need to understand what what came before the Paloes were the Kajars. And they they took over after you a small dynasty after the Safavids. M >> to the Safavidids. They ended in 1736 and the Kajars came in in 1789 and they continued until the the Palo came over and took over in 1925 by the help of the British. But the British were they infiltrated the Kajars in the first place. Actually the British even had relationship with the Savvid Empire itself.

[00:25:59]>> Oh really?

[00:26:00]>> Yes.

[00:26:00]>> Interesting. So the first interaction was in 1616 where they helped the Savids to take over Hormuz Island and speaking about the Hormuz the Straight of Hormos today.

[00:26:11]>> So the there's an island within the straight of Horus called the Hormuz Island. It was occupied by the Portuguese in 1507.

[00:26:20]The British helped the Safavids to free it from the Portuguese by the help of the British in 1622.

[00:26:27]Okay. And so that's when that's how far the relationship of some of these d Iranian Persian dynasties was with Europe and the British in specific and you know about basically the British Persian company that became BP after right you know influenced everything about Persia >> through the Kajars and after that basically during the Baloies. So the the you know during the Palway dynasty what did you have? You had nakedness in the streets. You had secularism. You have liberal theology.

[00:26:58]>> You had the savv.

[00:26:59]>> It was a repressive rule really is you need to understand colonialists understood that basically occupying other nations is very expensive. So they moved into neocolonialism which is the indirect rule of these of these uh you know lands.

[00:27:17]>> Yeah. So the the British basically said we don't need to be there ourselves necessarily if we have the right people and the right people were the ones who basically kept the population subjugated to the European powers. So that's why anybody who calls for Palowi is an idiot.

[00:27:33]>> Sorry you say it this way because this is a form of colonalization >> and it's so clear with Raza like who's been living in the US for so long and says you know what I I love America. I'm just used to life in America. I'm not sure I'd even want to go back to Iran.

[00:27:48]>> Yeah.

[00:27:49]>> But okay, >> the vast majority of Iranians today are Muslim.

[00:27:52]>> Yeah, >> they love Islam and not everybody is religious religious, but they're Muslim.

[00:27:57]The super vast majority. They're like, "Look, I'm Muslim. I might not be super practicing, but I'm Muslim. I don't want to lose my Islam and my identity." But there's this this 5 10% who are super secular liberalists.

[00:28:10]I mean, like you have to agree with your population. If you really agree with your own philosophy of let's say democracy then you have the 90% they're choosing to live by Islam. Won't you respect that?

[00:28:22]>> So today you have an Islamic republic for them. Is that the answer?

[00:28:27]>> Look the current day republic was based upon Immeni.

[00:28:32]>> Kumini was living in France came over after the Islamic revolution of 1979.

[00:28:37]Does this depict the right Islamic system of governance? No it doesn't.

[00:28:43]Right. It is sectarian. It is nationalistic. Opportunistic. It's not principled.

[00:28:49]>> You know what I'm saying? And that means basically they're they're up they're up to deal with anybody if it's in the interest of the government, for example, or what what drives that sectarian agenda. Do I see it as such? No. But at least at least at least we can say that this government is not fully subservient to the west even though they did deal with the Americans for a long long long time.

[00:29:13]>> You need to understand that before the Kmeni came back first of all lived in France propagating his ideas meaning that the west was fine with that.

[00:29:22]>> Yeah. And the Americans were the ones who trained the army alongside the British during the Palawi time and before the Palo time which is Madak time.

[00:29:32]>> You see what I'm saying? And that means that Iranian generals also just like Palawi had instead of British had American connections. And the Humani basically it is known now basically that was the CIA did help get his content into into Iran and and and help at least in basically not making the the army crush that revolution, right? Because the revolution was peaceful revolution >> at least let's say if not peaceful a popular revolution.

[00:30:02]>> You see what I'm saying? And that's the most important part of it. But the army didn't crush the didn't cr even though they could have. So this this support to enable alumini to come into to power. We understand his history very well. But that's why the opportunistic peace is I'm not saying is is is like a secular American European like no he is a jaffer cleric.

[00:30:27]>> He he was being pragmatic quote unquote.

[00:30:29]>> He was being pragmatic quote unquote. I like to call it opportunistic >> and nonprincipled. And uh maybe some people might get offended here, but this is history. I'm not going to turn a blind eye and say what people like. I want to I want to understand my history so I know how to fix my present and my future.

[00:30:47]>> So Persia has had its ups and downs, >> right? We talked about the oppressive nature of pre-Islamic Persia and the level of discontent and oppression that there was and then it became Muslim and then you can really say it was a golden age and then of course the Safitz came along very nasty stuff happened and then ugly became uglier in the 20th century now >> you don't blame the British don't blame the Bowies only really >> yeah it became ugly then uglier through the British the Palo and now we have the so-called Islamic Republic What do you envision as the future role that Persians can play in Islamic revival?

[00:31:28]>> Iran today is almost 100 million people and it is it is close to the heart of the Muslim world. Okay, it is in the center. We believe that Sunnis and Shia should be brothers and sisters. Period.

[00:31:41]Our future is one. Our nation is one.

[00:31:44]Our dean is one. Our book is one. Our prophet is one. We all love Alb period.

[00:31:50]We we need to stop this propaganda from the Shia side that the Sunnis don't love Alb. We love and cherish Alb. And we need this these extreme Sunnis to stop basically doing on the Shia 100%. 100%.

[00:32:03]We are Musl equal Muslim brothers and sisters. Period. Sure, we might basically disagree in certain things and we think they're wrong. Sure. Doesn't matter. Everybody sins. Everybody has sins. Nobody doesn't have a sin. So what they could do is what every other ethnic uh uh uh let's say mosaic of the Muslim Ummah is to call for unity and to call for brotherhood and to call for for unification and to call for the erasure of the the the intellectual border nationalism and so forth and to really really focus on being one unified social uh harmonious fabric of two billion people. this is what they can and should do. Period.

[00:32:46]>> I think that's a great direction of let's say vision for Islam, Persians and Muslims alike. Just as once you spoke about there were no ethnic categories, right? We were all a Muslim people. So I think that we need to sort of counter that narrative. That is the that is the rand narrative of emphasizing the pre-Islamic nationalism sentimentalism and really come back to who we really are which is based on our idea.

[00:33:15]>> Please subscribe and if you enjoyed this episode and you would like to see a specific topic discussed on this channel between myself and Osa, please leave a comment describing what you would like to see. And don't forget about the Muslim blueprint because as good as these episodes are, they can't beat structured learning. And we have modules that cover everything from modern Islamic history to the prophetic blueprint for Islamic revival. So please check that out and I'll see you there as one of the instructors.

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