Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the video. It seems like most of the controversy so far has come from the first 10 minutes or so of the video, so I'll use this space to address that. I just sent an email to a pastor who (gently and respectfully) took issue with my claiming Islam, Christianity and Judaism shared the same god, and also (even more gently and respectfully) took issue with my calling the Abrahamic story a myth. A lot of other people have said the same thing. I thought I'd post my response to the pastor here to address those issues: I'm open to a dialogue showing that I'm wrong, but this is my view. I think what's happening is that the people making these claims are close to the subject, and when people are close to a subject they have a magnified view of small differences in beliefs between groups. So perhaps the best thing to do is zoom our perspective out by looking at a different god and different culture entirely for the sake of an example. Let's say we're talking about ancient Greece, and I said various groups around ancient Greece believed in the same god: Zeus. We might all accept that, but different groups around Greece might say 'no our Zeus is different because we believe Zeus had a daughter and appeared on Earth at X time, etc' while another group might have different beliefs about Zeus and say something similar. But looked at broadly they all do believe in the same god: Zeus. It's just that different groups have different beliefs about the same god. They may conceive of him differently, worship him differently, but it's just different interpretations of the same god. That's what I think is happening with Jews, Christians, and Muslims. They all share the same god: the one who they believe spoke to Abraham, but have differing beliefs about how to conceive and worship that god, and different beliefs about what that god did or didn't do. With the word 'myth,' my usage has no necessary bearing on whether or not it's true. It's the traditional meaning of a myth, meaning a story that holds foundational value in a culture which is held above question. I used the word because I considered it the most accurate word in English for what I was describing. I hope that cleared things up. Judging from the comments, it seems like the other most controversial claim in the video is also from that section, which said that 'the Quran is full of contradictions, making it difficult to discern its precise divine intent.' That offends a lot of Muslims, and they will readily tell you that most Muslim scholars say that there are no contradictions in the Quran. But most Muslim scholars are themselves Muslim, and Muslims don't typically come from a tradition of attempting to present subjects neutrally, as I try to do here. When I said there are many contradictions in the Quran, I'm talking about just the plain words themselves. To claim there are no contradictions requires interpretation. One must say 'this statement here was in X context, so it should be understood with its significance windowed down to Y, so it therefore does not contradict Z' and so on and so forth throughout the Quran. Whether or not that interpretation convinces you is up to the listener. I wasn't referring to the interpreted Quran, just the Quran itself. It's probably also important to mention that the speaker in the Quran actively argues that the speaker is in fact God (the one who spoke to Abraham and the rest of the Judeo-Christian prophets). One argument the speaker makes is that the Quran has no contradictions, and the lack of contradictions proves it is the work of God. So it's important to Muslims to demonstrate that there are no contradictions, because according to the logic of the Quran itself if there were contradictions then it is not the word of God. That also means it would be considered heretical for a Muslim (scholar or not) to say there was a contradiction in the Quran, since it's a universal tenet of Islam to believe that the Quran is God's speech. If you followed all that, it means that according to their religious principles, Muslims (at least in their current popular forms, including Iranian Shias) cannot acknowledge or believe that there are contradictions in the Quran. This isn't to weigh in on whether or not there are contradictions if it's interpreted 'correctly,' but only to defend that if you look at the plain words there are clearly many. I highlighted one in the section of the video that spoke about it. In other news, if you want a glimpse into what's coming up, I'm going to stick with the Middle East for a bit before moving elsewhere. I'm working on Zionism as the subject for the next main channel video, and making a private members/Patreon video in the coming weeks on Islam and Khomeini. - Ryan
Perfectly acceptable explanation. I'm a part of the Christian tradition and have never heard anything different than the Abrahamic religions interpreting the same historical event, ergo worship the same God. However true or not true theologically that statement is, it is certainly true as a sociohistorical statement. And have no issue with the more technical usage of myth.
One people's religion is another's myth. Since people are literally killing each other because they are sure that theirs is "true," I think it's best - and closest to "true" - to call them all myths.
If Christians consider that they believe in the same god that Jews believe in, then it is not up to Jews to decide that the Christian god is a different god.
Your definition of 'myth' is abusive and misleading to the definition itself. 'Myth' implies unverifiable or untrue stories. Your particular definition, which can be applicable in some circumstances, does not apply in your own context. It is the equivalent of "the myth of racial superiority", "the myth of science", or "the myth of Shakespeare". In modern English, the use of the word "myth" affords no value to a sentence unless there is verifiable and provable evidence that said myth is actually false. The proper word would have been something that does not carry such heavy bias. The word "story" would have been much more appropriate, and a more accurate portrayal, of Abraham. While I myself might not say it, calling your entire video "a 100% regurgitation of one myth after another, with not a single statement being anything other than pure myth". It would be true, using your own strict, and accurate, definition of the one subset of the definition of myth, but it would also be damnable and inflammatory to anyone that cares. I used "regurgitation", above, in the same abusive manner. It technically is true, that you stated nothing that hasnt been said by many, a thousand times before, but the word suggests derogatory accusation to the fundamental assertions of your argument, when there is no justification for such claim.
for westerners who don't know, nowadays here in Tehran there's a lot of women that just don't wear Hejab at all(and some barely wear it with half their hair out)and I'm proud of these girls because they're taking risks, this is some serious ballsy feminism
@@mr.x817 it's not a western thing to not wear hejab, in fact in pretty much all countries everywhere people don't wear hejab, maybe go read a book and educate yourself instead of talking out of your ass
You're not Iranian, no Iranian outwardly wants their government to fall right now given Israel wants to see Iran plunge into civil war. No Iranian, inside of Iran, wants foreign interference or war. Do not comment again.
@ciaronsmith4995 I am a holder of an islamic republic passport and am from Iran. I also did not mention, that i want foreign interference and war, although no change will come without them and that's just the truth. The regime is too oppressive to be changed with peaceful protest. And thirdly i will comment as much as i want and you can respectfully stick your opinion up your rectum.
@@hellrayzerr Don't comment again. The only people that post those slogans are people who advocate for war against Iran. Nobody in Iran wants unrest right now.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is on the brink of collapse-it's only a matter of time. This regime is deeply unpopular, both domestically and internationally, with the vast majority of Iranians opposing it. Islam itself is losing its influence in the country, largely due to the atrocities committed by the Islamic Republic since its rise to power. I'm writing this from Tehran, Iran, and I can see public sentiment is shifting toward a regime change.
@@silentwatchingvideos why is there no lobster when I order lobster from the abandoned, dilapidated building that years ago housed a Foot Locker and Adult Video Store?
Really?. Women in islam were given their rights way before the west. The right to- . Divorce . Inheritance . Halal work . Halal education . Marry who they want . Own property . A mother comes before a father in islam for her role as a mother. And a daughter is considered a blessing. Islam does not prevent women getting rights. Rather people like you asociating islam to that is wrong. As for women not wearing the hijab in a country which has strict law punishing it. It is stupid. It may be wrong or right. But they could have prevented it from happening. And no I dont support women being abused for not wearing it.
@@realryanchapmanThe video was actually about the history of Iran. Which wasn't wrong, but it was half the truth. The same repetitive words, but in reality, the analysis of Iran's internal conditions is much more complicated than these words.
@@realryanchapmanFor example, if you go to this same UA-cam, you will see that currently there is practically no compulsory hijab in Iran. Although some strictness is still applied, especially in big cities. But practically there is nothing special.
The Islamic republic imposes morality where it's never needed. Picture this: How do I, as an Iranian woman, harm anyone by having no hijab? How does morality play into this? They merely propagate religion by calling it "morality" to indicate superiority. Iranian women have bravely fought against the enforcement by refusing to wear hijab in everyday life but since it is punishable by law, they are traumatized daily by the hijab police. Just look up "Iranian women punished by hijab law" to see how it can escalate to receiving a death penalty by the Islamic court for it. Thank you so much for this video. It was incredibly well-researched. I’m happy people like you take the time to spread information about parts of the world that are culturally isolated from the west.
who gives a fuck on what cloths women wear or whats iranian culture,,,,,,,,,,the only matter is western satanic are bent on killing millions on all over the world.......have u seeen gaza ,,,,,,,,,the face of west
this is the first time i have actually learned about muslims and how their society is structured and came to be. really insightful and easy to understand. thanks a lot. we should all work to understand each other
Religion, in today’s day and age is an extremely flawed concept. It is controversial to say this, however, people of current times should not base their laws, styles of governance, and societal construct on literature created hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Not only are they outmoded, but these values indicate little on how a modern country should run. In addition idealizing a certain figure, so much so that his word becomes gospel, is not healthy for any society and individual for that matter too.
It really depends what one considers religion, I guess. Certain “religions” teach some really good things: like Taoism. However considering current mainstream religions, their flaws must be taken into account.
Thank you lol, I was speaking mostly about Islam though. Some people hold very strongly onto their belief system though, therefore certain people might not understand or disagree with the view.
People will always find differences to fight over. Racism and "Race superiority" being just one. It's stupid to think religion is what causes chaos. People are inherently evil
I‘m glad you‘re dropping again, just make sure to take a break when needed, it seems that there‘s a lot going on in your life and even tho i‘m really thankful for all your inputs your health and well being is the most important thing. (Greetings from Switzerland)
People go insane when you criticise religion. They don't see the insanity with playing pretend and it affecting real lives, costing real lives. How can something argued, not real, tangible, affects so much, especially if others don't believe it? If someone killed someone because they didn't believe in something they said, it would be a crime. Yet here we are.
15:03 - "Islam quickly became the predominant religion in Iran." Maybe you're just referring to the leadership, but I want to point out that the Iranian population did not become majority Muslim until probably the 10th century. Up to that point there were multiple movements from Zoroastrians against Islam and Islamic leadership, such as the Khurramites and the Ziyarid Dynasty.
It became the predominant religion quickly in the sense that it broke Zoroastrian's power base and never gave it back. It was the religion of people in power, even though it did take some centuries to convert the majority of Iranians. Iran was more than half nomadic I believe all the way up until the Qajar period, when that started to change. So the nomads were probably hard to convert, but also were probably relatively irrelevant to the religious conversations Muslims were having. I was painting history in quite broad brushes in that section, basically in 1000 year blocks, and couldn't go into details like that. Perhaps I could have worded it better though. I'll think about writing a correction.
While it’s true that Islam didn’t become the majority religion in Iran until the 10th century, I think your characterisation of the process and the movements you cited oversimplifies the historical context. From what I’ve seen, evidence suggests that Islam wasn’t imposed on Persia in a systematic way, and while forced conversions may have occurred, they were likely rare. Instead, Islam grew organically through cultural integration, economic incentives, and the contributions of Persian scholars who played a key role in shaping Islamic civilisation. As for the Khurramites and the Ziyarid Dynasty, they weren’t necessarily Zoroastrian movements against Islam and Islamic leadership. The Khurramites, for example, were more of a socio-political rebellion against Abbasid rule, incorporating elements of Zoroastrianism, Islam, and other local traditions. Similarly, the Ziyarid Dynasty wasn’t a Zoroastrian uprising but a local Iranian dynasty that coexisted with Islamic practices, rather a reflection of Persian autonomy within the broader Islamic world. These movements were more about resisting Arab political domination and injustices than outright rejecting Islam as a religion.
@@zaidahmedkhan4103 Its almost necessary for some persian pre-Islamic fantasiser to gloat about Islam as some form of takeover. Truth is Persian Sunni Islam was so culturally rich and engraved in the society, it lead to its own persian golden age.
Islam is not Christianity ppl were not forced into it , islam is the religion of the state and it has laws in it , and all other religions don't have state laws , and don't confuse the western colonialism with our history, and why we are low now and Muslims run away from their countries ? Because imperialism didn't leave When the borders between these manufactured states disappear then you can talk about our situation
as a Black Christian woman in America, I sympathize with the Iranian people, especially the women. This video was so informative, I feel blessed to have learned so much.
I really appreciated your thoughtful commentary and tone throughout this video. It comes across as genuine and informative without any bias. I appreciate the topics you have previously covered and look forward to seeing more content you post in the future. Cheers 🍻.
Im a muslim from the neighbouring state of Pakistan where the situation is similar. This is extremely well researched and nuanced. Im surprised at how he has analysed everything so well as someone who doesnt belong to the culture
As an Iranian, I want to begin by appreciating your attention to our country and the challenges we face under Islamic totalitarianism. However, I’d like to point out aspects of your otherwise excellent video that I believe need revision. Interestingly, both of these points contributed to the main factors that shaped the Islamic regime after the revolution. The first is regarding the nationalization of oil under Mosaddegh. While it is true that Iran’s share was only 16%, it should also be noted that all the efforts to extract, process, and export the oil were carried out by British oil companies. Mosaddegh, as a highly populist figure, completely ignored this fact, and the sudden nationalization at that time led to terrible inflation and economic hardship for Iranians. Also, the Ajax project and the coup d'état that followed, though they were planned, were not the reason for his fall from power. According to the latest evidence, before the coup d'état, the Shah ordered Mossadegh's dismissal and Mossadegh himself actually signed the dismissal letter he received, the day before 28 Mordad (that is known as the day coup d'état happened). The second point concerns the role of leftists and the alliance between leftists and Islamists that ultimately led to the 1979 revolution. Many anti-Western sentiments within the political thought of Islamic factions in Iran were directly shaped by the dominance of Marxist ideology among intellectuals at the time. Additionally, there was a branch of influential intellectuals, such as Jalal Al-Ahmad, Shariati, and Golsorkhi, who combined elements of both ideologies-Shi'ism and Marxism. The last thing I want to mention is that, during one of the hardest times in Iran’s history, not only my generation but also later ones look back at the Pahlavi dynasty as the golden age of Iran-a period that could have led the country to the greatness it deserves. In the 10 to 20 years before the revolution, Iran was on the path I am describing, and the scale of the downfall we have experienced since then is unimaginable.
Hi, thanks for the comment. Your notes strike me more as elaborations than revisions, but they do add helpful context to the video, and for the most part my research aligns with yours. I tried to heavily imply some of that (like talking about the rise of the Tudeh Party and showing all the leftist groups that were part of the revolution), but time constraints kept me from going into any of that. I originally planned on briefly explaining the rise of Marxist influence in Shia thought (which would have brought in Shariati) but thought it was too much in an already quite dense video. The only point I wasn't aligned on is the evidence regarding the dismissal letter. That would have been great to include, and I would have had I known. I'll look into it. Regarding the coup, is controversial how much the Americans/British actually did to make the coup happen, or how necessary the coup actually was, but the fact was they did orchestrate the coup and they bragged about it afterwords. That made Iranians widely hate them (namely Americans) and blame them for the autocracy that followed, which was the point I needed for the purposes of this video.
@@realryanchapman Hi Ryan, I’m happy to see your reply and also glad your research aligns with the points I raised in my comment. As you mentioned, the relationship between Islamism and Marxism, along with some of their significant similarities, definitely warrants extensive exploration. As you probably already know, the contemporary history of Iran provides one of the best cases for delving deeply into this subject. I hope you plan to create more content on this in the future. The story of Mossadegh, the oil nationalization, and especially the coup d’état, along with their implications for Iran’s political atmosphere, is one of the most intricate topics in contemporary Iranian history. Unfortunately, the version of this story familiar to most academics and politicians-even in Western academia-aligns with the accounts of Marxist historians like Yervand Abrahamian, whose books, as you might expect, are riddled with biases. In contrast, historians and researchers such as Mohammad Ali Movahed and Ali Mirfetros have produced far more detailed and less biased works. However, their research has not yet been translated into English, and only the Persian versions are available. The prevailing narrative surrounding Mossadegh often relies on simplistic theories, such as the idea that the coup d’état created a deadlock for democratization in Iran. This view overlooks the fact that many of Mossadegh’s actions, as well as those of his close associates, were far from democratic. At the end of those turbulences, the Shah's autocracy became unavoidable due to the Cold War climate and the growing strength of the Tudeh Party, which was aligned with the Soviets. It is also important to note that both acts of terror and attempted assassinations were common among factions such as the Tudeh Party and the Fadayan-e Islam in those times. Also While I don't agree with the idea that Mossadegh was the primary cause of anti-American sentiment in Iran, he undoubtedly contributed to the intensification of such sentiments. These sentiments became one of the strongest tools for both Islamists and Marxists in their anti-imperialism efforts. One of the clearest examples of how his ominous legacy continue to influence the Islamic Republic’s approach to governance, is the Islamic Republic’s efforts to nationalize various industrial sectors. Among these efforts, the push for the nationalization of nuclear power also stands out as another well-known example.
One of the best documentaries I have watched. It gives nuance to such a misunderstood situation in a way that is so captivating. Love the background music too, if anyone knows the name of the bgm do share thanks!
I’m a huge fan of your well researched, well structured, well presented, easy to access, unbiased, and highly educational work. Thank you for what you do!
I can’t help but be reminded of Communist China. A thousands of years old Chinese civilization which adopted a foreign ideology wholly alien to its history and adapting Marxism Leninism to its specific Chinese characteristics. In a way in Iran, Islam is adopted with “Iranian characteristics” and brutally enforced upon the populace in the name of achieving stability just like in China with communism, given how both civilizations were victims of foreign intervention and internal turbulence. The question is, unlike China which is still heavily influenced by native ideologies such as Confucianism and has its own ethnic Han identity which is in such overwhelming numbers that it can form a homogeneous society by acculturating numerically inferior cultures around it, if you remove Islam as the dominant unifying ideology off of Iran, with what can you replace it with? Zoroastrianism doesn’t have the same hold in Iran as Confucianism still has, and Iran as an ethnic composition is much more diverse and multicultural than the numerically overwhelming Han. Heck, the supreme leader himself is part Azerbaijani and part Persian and possible inter-ethnic conflict forces the state to be in constant alert and hence adopt a heavy handed method of governance justified under a radical form of Shia Islam. It truly is fascinating to observe how civilizations with polar opposite ideological viewpoints nowadays have so much in common.
I think the IRGC would be a fully functional secular military dictatorship if the Guardian Council magically disappeared one day. They would have the same legitimacy issues as other military governments.
bingo, we have our own year zero and everything. history stops with the revolution and the days of confusion starts. history before that year is a myth for some a tail of darkness and Ahriman for others it sounds like golden ages of man in garden of eden, it's too far from our reality to be able to really consider it a history that really happened, something different, too different to be possible because change is unbelievable, at least it was like this when I was a kid.
Pluralistic constitutional democracy is what modern societies use to overcome the bigotries of homogeneity. The modern world will always seem confusing and destabilizing if we try and control individual morality at the granular level with the power of a state. The alternative to coexisting is not acceptable in the era of modern industrial powers and weapons of mass destruction. Cults of morality and cults of personality are existential dangers in the modern world.
Hey, I'm a Saudi Arabian with a Shia family that used to visit Iran every now and then (im no longer a muslim tho) I just want to say that this is an unbelievably excellent video, 10/10 no notes oh and your pronunciation of Arabic words is spot on.
@@okamiguyy Yeah, afterlife is not real, no disrespect to your religion just please leave me alone, I'm tired of religious people getting in my business, I want peace in my life and less people trying to convert me.
#RyanChapman -- I'm so glad to see you continue your educational videos. Thank you for informing the public, and doing so as impartially as you can. -- Sincerely.
One of the scariest thought of whats going on in Iran is that Christian nationalist would be perfectly fine with morality police in the US as long it wss christian law
The slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Women, Life, Freedom) originates from the Kurdish liberation movement, rooted in Jineology, a feminist ideology developed by Kurdish activists over 20 years ago. It reflects the Kurdish struggle for gender equality, freedom, and societal transformation, led largely by Kurdish women. In recent years, the slogan has been adopted by Persian movements, especially after Mahsa Jina Amini’s death, but media narratives often erase its Kurdish origins, portraying it as Persian. This misrepresentation marginalizes Kurdish contributions, ignores the feminist framework of Jineology, and reinforces patterns of Kurdish erasure in regional politics. Recognizing the slogan’s true origins is vital for honoring the Kurdish struggle and maintaining historical accuracy.
Oh wow, I frequented the r/NewIran subreddit during the peak of protests (which was filled with folks of various backgrounds from Iran) and unfortunately I never encountered this information, only of Mahsa Jina Amini’s Kurdish heritage that’s often glossed over Thank you so much for sharing this further crucial context Though I’m from nowhere near Iran, I’m rooting for Iranian/Persians’ wellbeing because the country I grew up in is also a Muslim majority that’s waning every decade or so into religious theocracy Something that I sometimes worry will mirror Iran’s political shift, with even lesser likelihood of any organic change of political oppression due to the simple reason that we’re way less educated than Iranians in general
@Shawalkordi thank you for this comment. In Düsseldorf Germany for example there are a lot of interconnected & funded groups creating a "persian nation narrative" hegemonie and systematicly erasing kurdish traces (mostly monarchists groups tend to do this activly; others also do it passivly a lot of times)
Unfortunately, feminists never stood with us. They were saying the Iranian regime helps Palestine, so Western feminists saw no point in supporting woman, life, freedom movement
@@Yazdegerdiranyar i can assure you that the only space i could collaborate with are exactly those "western woman" so i disagree completly with you on this part
@@YazdegerdiranyarEuropean left groups had sympathies for arab socialist groups of various sorts. I think Hamas, once they gained power, took part in clearing out secular groups.
Then you need to protest against the people who want it to be mandatory for the 10 commandments in all schools cause that's just the beginning if you let them them get there way and erode the separation of church and state the us will decend into this kind of dictatorship
As a comment to the opening, written statement, I have great faith in your work and honesty! You run one of my topmost channels on a range of topics that I understand is very well researched. I will read your pinned correction-comments, but I believe that most of the videos you post are quite well researched, and without much errors. I really apprised your work Ryan!
Bro your videos are so good! Thank you for all of your hard work and sharing this with the World. Excited to view your entire catalogue of videos past, present and future!
Excellent video Ryan, I am really glad you touched on this fascinating, yet not often talked about, topic. As a half-Iranian, thank you! PS: I noticed several times in the comments, that you did not want to elaborate on certain topics or issues, because of time constraints. Thats totally understandable, but perhaps you could make some supplementary videos or shorter context-adding videos for your UA-cam members, which would be supplementary to your main channel content:) Just a thought:)
Ryan, foi maravilhoso encontrar hoje no UA-cam essa aula que eu tanto procurava, minuciosa e tão bem explicada com legenda em português. Com grande alegria, agradeço 😊
Kierkegaard spoke of faith beautifully where it is unconditional. You can take everything from me, do anything to me, but the one thing that you cannot take is the faith. It is not that I had a bad day and therefore do not believe or happened upon some luck that I do, it is unconditional. I think this is why many oppose faith as a concept as there is indeed a dangerous component underlying where there is no sense of compromise. Faith and politics should be separate and if anybody is of faith I don’t see why one would want to dirty such things with the messy world of politics. A person’s faith can lead to lots of pro-social actions, noble actions, selflessness, but place that faith element in a “sick” mind boy can it go wrong.
Faith and politics have never been separate. Any set of beliefs that tells you how one should/shouldn't live their lives has political implications. A country can avoid writing religious doctrine into law, but their politics will always be heavily influenced by the people of various religions. Many people believe religion should dominate politics exactly for the reason you said, it's cut throat and messy.
Apart from not pointing out the degree to which people in big cities have become secular and irreligious, a very unbiased and accurate synopsis of Iranian history 💯
I've known many "devout" muslims in the US and witnessed even more in their own lands. Their piety is incredibly false. It is just a way to maintain power, much as racism is here in the US.
No dictatorship more oppressive than a theocratic dictatorship. And when you're talking about Abrahamic religious government that's always gonna be horrible for women. This is fascinating. Free women everywhere ♀️🫶💪🤜
how much attention does anything get? thinking that there's some coverup of what's happening in Iran is pure stupidity. how much does a person in Vietnam know about Iran? is Vietnamese media in on this conspiracy too?
@ I live in a major western city and we have huge protests every single weekend in our central business district for the free Palestine movement. It seems that certain events absolutely receive a lot of attention. However, Iranian women being shot in the eyes doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar. No jews, no news I guess 🤷♂️
What I will never understand is why religious people, especially muslims, care so much about how other people choose to live! Like follow your religion, live as you wish and believe in what you wish but ffs LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE ALONE! Like what do you gain if you beat & torture someone into following your cult? If your life is so perfect and you're so loyal to your cult, why can't you just keep doing that instead of sticking your nose into others' business? I already know the official reasons for this bs "God says so", but I'm interested in such psychopaths' personal reasons. Like why can't y'all live and let others live too ffs?
Love your videos and always look forward to them! I appreciate the time and effort it must take you to put together your videos including your sources. It's because of you my book list has increased tenfold🙂
The challenge in the modern world is freedom versus morality. Every culture and tradition has its version, but Western values make the same claims to the universality of both morality and freedom. The threat of nuclear weapons, economic sanctions, and global media influences is the means to making these false claims seem true to its vulnerable victims that seek an alternative to political and economic subjection by bullies .
Hmm… ‘freedom versus morality’ is the challenge ? Would it not be the highest expression of morality when the people can live free and without coercion and violence against each other? Would not a civil society in which people are the most free to make voluntary free choices about who to interact with, who to associate or not associate with, trade and exchange with, share and learn from, speak and listen to, hire and work for, … a society in which people live and let live, produce and let produce, thrive and let others thrive, prosper and let others prosper… all on a basis of people making free and voluntary choices amongst each other without coercion and force … would such a society not be a highest order of both freedom and morality ? Do freedom and morality not actually go together? So, I would not express the challenge today as one of freedom versus morality, but one of the reality of existence that there are the many humans who simply want to live and let live and get along versus the few human beings who have lust and urge to impose their own will and control and rule over others by force -
Amazing video, but it's crazy that we just glossed over the other content shown on-screen at 45:49... specifically a back and forth regarding the execution of a pregnant woman.
why did you remove my previous comment ? as an Iranian, Islam is the biggest threat to humans right now. it is every person's duty to shed light on this issue.
I did not delete your comment. I just checked and there have only been three comments held by UA-cam moderation so far. Two just said 'fuck Islam' and the third was just a long string of emojis. None of them were from you. Maybe you didn't post it or lost track of it?
@@realryanchapman thanks for clarifying 🙏 it was probably due to the the vpn since youtube is blocked here. Also, thanks for the detailed description of the events. You covered the topic just as an Iranian would.
@@realryanchapmanyeah, sometimes the vpns we use might cause this (most Iranians use free vpns because of the economy rn). I am from Iran. I think you could have also mentioned some of the inhumane methods used by the morality police to arrest the citizens, like using leashes designed to catch dangerous animals!! Or the frequent physical violence (you showed some footage of it). Either way, thank you
Hi Ryan. I really enjoyed this video, but I'm wondering if you could speak to your heavy use of AI images? It seems to me that there is potentially a problem in using doctored images in the context of discussing historical events. I don't think that there is anything in this video that is brought into question by their use, but it may be a good opportunity to begin a discussion about this. Thanks.
Hi, I used AI images in my ancient Greece video and a little in my Thomas Jefferson video but decided to stop using them and haven't used them since. There are no AI images in this video. I do upscale the resolution of almost everything you see, so maybe the artifacts from that are making you think it's AI.
There are photos - the one at 22:58 for instance - that bear the hallmarks of AI generated images. It makes sense that the upscaling process would do this, though. I guess that's one more thing I'll have to keep in my media literacy toolkit. Thanks for the clarification, and thank you again for the video. I'm really enjoying your work.
The first 12 minutes was eye opening for me; knowing how important law is to Islam helps to understand (partially) what makes radical/conservative Muslims tick. Why they make stern rules. Also, the video's title was a bit of a misnomer IMO. It's really a history of Iran in general, but I learned a lot anyway. Thank you Ryan!
Thank you for this. Two things I realized were just how much Britain’s meddling has caused problems in the Middle East, and how we need current day’s morality to not be dictated by the morals of a man that lived 1500 years ago
Don't think you understand how fused Iran's culture is. Shia Islam is hugely influenced by Zoroastrianism (and in turn Mithraism) which is one of the most conservative religions ever.
56% of the worlds population adheres to an abrahamic religion and 84-85% of worlds population adhere to a religion overall…so no, clearly most people aren’t over the “my magic book is better” narrative
Compare that with magic books of pseudo-religions like marxism, national socialism, progressive liberalism and their dogmas. You will be happy to revert back to Abraham.
A great video. It was very comprehensive for the length of the video. There are of course lots details and nuances that are worth mentioning and discussing that could not simply fit in this video. What I would have liked to see more highlighted here is the recent developments within Iranian society, which are still ongoing, and understandably, difficult to research for a non Iranian. Although the 2022 movement was mentioned earlier in the video, I would say this video captures the image up until the early years of khamenei's rule, specifically if we want to describe the Islamic government as stable as you did at the end. But now the situation is far from stable. The divide between the people and the regime is ever increasing. The society has been changing from traditional patriarchy, the modern liberal values are accepted and popular more than ever, the approval of Islamic clergies are lower than ever and people have become less religious. These changes are even more pronounced in the younger generations and specifically in Gen z, in contrast to the government run by the much older generations. the government is suffering from very deep corruption that has lead to various economical, energy, environmental, societal crises that it is simply unable to handle. The economy is failing due to mismanagement, corruption and sanctions, and their foreign policies have failed as their allies and proxies are falling in the region. It's increasingly evident that this regime in its current form can not continue to exist for much longer and the question is what will happen and how. There are various possibilities, including another revolution and a democratic regime change, regime change in case of a war with the US and Israel, reform happening from within after the death of the current Supreme leader, and so on. the future is very unclear now, but one thing is for certain. Iran will be a secular society and hopefully a democratic one.
I want people who call Islam "evil" and "repressive" to understand the basic fact that no religion in itself is malicious, rather the people who weaponize religion as a tool to secure power and push repressive ideology are the ones who are truly evil and misguided. Religion has always stemmed from a place of benevolence and guidance on how to be a moral, kind, human to both other humans and the world around us.
I agree - thanks for taking the time to eloquently explain a basic truth . Many people ( like the presenter on this video and most of his followers ) are happy to move in a pack and lack the empathetic ability to realize their bias .
It’s interesting how we can have dichotomies from the West and the East. In the west we have excess debauchery, in the East we have limiting freedom of thought and expression.
Wonderful and wonderfully timely video; however, there was some misjudgment about Pahlavis probably due to your research via ideologically motivated & propagandist “academic” texts on the Pahlavi era that purposefully or not, categorically misrepresent Iran’s monarchy & downplay the incredible development of the nation under the two Pahlavis.
As Hegel said: “In Persia first arises that light which shines itself and illuminates what is around... The principle of development begins with the history of Persia." Personally, I believe that as long as Iran will be in struggle, the world at large cannot become a better place. Much love and respect to Iran from Europe!
Definetley not Islam in general, maybe Islamic fundamentalism - just like any religious fundamentalism. You have to know nothing about Islamic history to propose that Islam “in general” stifled intellectuality and cultural expression.
i honestly started this one thinking i wouldnt be very interested, but you've managed to lay a good foundation for understanding such a unique topic. great video
Ryan, with all due respect and appreciation for the excellent work you've done on your UA-cam channel, I feel compelled to address some concerns about your section on Islam. First, from an Islamic perspective, depicting prophets, angels, and other sacred figures is considered deeply offensive. Out of mutual respect, it's important to be mindful of such sensibilities when discussing any faith tradition. As I'm sure you'd agree, it's entirely possible to critique ideologies and religions without resorting to actions that might be perceived as disrespectful. I was surprised that this point didn't come through during your research or in consultation with practising, knowledgable Muslims. Including depictions and caricatures in your video could easily be interpreted as provocative and offensive. Second, the concept of jihad, whether in its "greater" or "lesser" forms, is not controversial within Islamic discourse. The way it was presented in your video seemed to rely on a misconstrued or straw-man interpretation. Additionally, your statement that "the Qur'an is a long text, and is full of contradictions, making it difficult to discern its precise divine intent" (9:40) appears to conflict with the consensus of scholars and interpreters of the Qur'an. One prominent academic argument for Islam's rapid spread I came across once (I'd need to look up who said that) was pointing out that it was due to Islam's simple and accessible message, much of which can be derived from the Qur'an itself, even without the Hadith tradition. Finally, I'd appreciate clarification on your claim that the Qur'an is "full of contradictions." This seems unsubstantiated (at least according to what you presented) and stands in contrast to the Qur'an's own assertion (which might be a direct challenge to your claim): "Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’ān? If it had been from [any] other than Allāh, they would have found within it much contradiction." 4:82 I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these points and hope that we can have a productive discussion. Oh, and FYI, I can recommend Wael B. Hallaq's works around the topics of Islamic Governance, Sharia, etc. (He is a Professor at Columbia with Palestinian Christian Roots).
Hi, thanks for the respectful and well-written comment on a touchy subject. To respond, most of the issues that you're raising here, I think, come from a standpoint of you wanting me to present Islam in a way that is friendlier, even more deferential to Islam and Muslims. But that's not what I do here. When I present my subjects, I do my best to present the subject neutrally, regardless of the subject. For an example I'll take your issue with my showing Muhammad's face. I don't think there was anything disrespectful in how I portrayed him in any way in this video, including my showing of his face. I only used it appropriately as he was discussed throughout the piece, and only used historical portrayals by actual Muslim artists. It's the same I'd do for any subject. If Muslims (in this present moment in time we're in) want me to present the subject in a way that's friendlier to them by obscuring his facing, I don't really see that as my problem. I don't see myself as being disrespectful or overly respectful in that regard. Instead - I think - I've arrived at a presentation that's as neutral as I can achieve. To broaden the conversation from Islam for a moment, Jews and Christians could (and did, many times in the comments) take the same issue with my calling Abraham's story a myth. But if you look up what a myth is in the dictionary, it's the most accurate (i.e. precise) word I think I could have used there. It's to me, therefore, the correct word, and it's the word I used in the piece. If people take issue with it, it's, as far as I can tell, because they want the presentation to be friendlier to their personal beliefs, but I again don't see that as my problem. It's (if I'm doing it well) just part of the messy process of presenting subjects neutrally that people are used to seeing in a friendlier light to their beliefs. I think the only issues that may not address is your claim that the meaning of a jihad is not controversial, but I presented in the way I did precisely because many claim it just refers to an expenditure of effort and is not necessarily violent or aggressive. Yet many others see it as specifically violent or aggressive. The different passages in the Quran led to those different interpretations. Which brings me to your other issue, which is in saying there are no contradictions in the Quran according to most Muslim scholars. Yes, it's true most Muslim scholars say there are no contradictions. But most Muslim scholars are themselves Muslims, and do not come from a tradition of presenting subjects neutrally. So they - in my view - seem to uniformly present Islam and the Quran in a way that's friendly to Muslims. If you look at more neutral scholars (typically not Muslims themselves) many will readily say yes there indeed contradictions. So many that it takes an expert to make sense of all of it (hence the tradition of Muslim scholars interpreting it for regular Muslims). One of which I highlighted regarding God's stand on aggressive violence. To say there are no contradictions requires interpreting the text in a particular way, so you have to believe the interpreter to believe that there are, in fact, no contradictions. But what is the interpreter interpreting? Contradictions that are inherent, even obviously inherent, in the text. That was my point. Not to present it according to any particular interpreter. I hope that cleared things up. - Ryan
@@realryanchapman Hi Ryan, thank you for your thoughtful reply, and for taking the time to respond so promptly. I appreciate the respectful tone. To address your first point about my wanting you to present Islam in a friendlier manner: that might be true, and I won't deny it. However, my primary intention was to suggest that: considering the sensibilities of other cultures or ideologies can facilitate softer fronts and enable more productive dialogue in the long term. With that approach in mind, I'd argue that it might reduce the likelihood of alienating parties right from the outset. That said, I do appreciate your effort to present the subject neutrally, even if I have some differences of opinion on what constitutes neutrality. E.g., your characterization of showing depictions of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) as "appropriate" seems to stem from specific (liberal) premises about what is or isn't acceptable. In my view, this is less neutral than it might appear because it reflects a particular notion of appropriateness rather than one grounded objectively or aligned with Islamic perspectives. My suggestion: a potentially less contentious alternative could have been to depict the Prophet's name in calligraphy, which is widely regarded as respectful in Islamic tradition. I hope this doesn't come across as overly picky or deconstructionist - it's just a suggestion to consider for future cases. Considering changes to your video in that regard is, of course, entirely within your purview. As for your use of the term "myth", I didn't take issue with it. I understand that in academic and anthropological contexts, "myth" is a common term and often carries no pejorative connotations. For someone operating outside an Islamic paradigm, it's entirely reasonable to use language that is more precise within the discipline of study. Regarding the term jihad: I take your point about its diverse interpretations. However, it might be helpful in future discussions to include how Muslims themselves approach and contextualize the term, f.e. by referring to the Prophetic tradition. Omitting the Islamic discourse on the spiritual and ethical dimensions of jihad, as well as its more narrowly defined militaristic applications, could reinforce misleading narratives, such as the Fox News portrayal of Muslims as synonymous with terrorists. And just to clarify a misunderstanding: I didn't say "there are no contradictions in the Qur'an according to most Muslim scholars". While that does reflect the mainstream Muslim position, my statement was that your claim of contradictions in the Qur'an "stands in contrast to the Qur'an's own assertion". There is no need to open up this particular discussion now, although I'd be genuinely interested in hearing what "inherent contradictions" you mean. Although, I have explored this issue and haven't found anything that aligns with your evaluation "full of contradictions". **(Edit:) I just saw how where the confusion might have come from: when I referred to the consensus of scholars, this point was particular to your characterization "making it difficult to discern its divine intent". I should have been more clear in my articulation. Thanks again for your response and the effort you've put in, with the video, but also with our exchange. - Harun
Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed the video. It seems like most of the controversy so far has come from the first 10 minutes or so of the video, so I'll use this space to address that.
I just sent an email to a pastor who (gently and respectfully) took issue with my claiming Islam, Christianity and Judaism shared the same god, and also (even more gently and respectfully) took issue with my calling the Abrahamic story a myth. A lot of other people have said the same thing. I thought I'd post my response to the pastor here to address those issues:
I'm open to a dialogue showing that I'm wrong, but this is my view. I think what's happening is that the people making these claims are close to the subject, and when people are close to a subject they have a magnified view of small differences in beliefs between groups. So perhaps the best thing to do is zoom our perspective out by looking at a different god and different culture entirely for the sake of an example.
Let's say we're talking about ancient Greece, and I said various groups around ancient Greece believed in the same god: Zeus. We might all accept that, but different groups around Greece might say 'no our Zeus is different because we believe Zeus had a daughter and appeared on Earth at X time, etc' while another group might have different beliefs about Zeus and say something similar. But looked at broadly they all do believe in the same god: Zeus. It's just that different groups have different beliefs about the same god. They may conceive of him differently, worship him differently, but it's just different interpretations of the same god. That's what I think is happening with Jews, Christians, and Muslims. They all share the same god: the one who they believe spoke to Abraham, but have differing beliefs about how to conceive and worship that god, and different beliefs about what that god did or didn't do.
With the word 'myth,' my usage has no necessary bearing on whether or not it's true. It's the traditional meaning of a myth, meaning a story that holds foundational value in a culture which is held above question. I used the word because I considered it the most accurate word in English for what I was describing.
I hope that cleared things up.
Judging from the comments, it seems like the other most controversial claim in the video is also from that section, which said that 'the Quran is full of contradictions, making it difficult to discern its precise divine intent.' That offends a lot of Muslims, and they will readily tell you that most Muslim scholars say that there are no contradictions in the Quran. But most Muslim scholars are themselves Muslim, and Muslims don't typically come from a tradition of attempting to present subjects neutrally, as I try to do here.
When I said there are many contradictions in the Quran, I'm talking about just the plain words themselves. To claim there are no contradictions requires interpretation. One must say 'this statement here was in X context, so it should be understood with its significance windowed down to Y, so it therefore does not contradict Z' and so on and so forth throughout the Quran. Whether or not that interpretation convinces you is up to the listener. I wasn't referring to the interpreted Quran, just the Quran itself.
It's probably also important to mention that the speaker in the Quran actively argues that the speaker is in fact God (the one who spoke to Abraham and the rest of the Judeo-Christian prophets). One argument the speaker makes is that the Quran has no contradictions, and the lack of contradictions proves it is the work of God. So it's important to Muslims to demonstrate that there are no contradictions, because according to the logic of the Quran itself if there were contradictions then it is not the word of God. That also means it would be considered heretical for a Muslim (scholar or not) to say there was a contradiction in the Quran, since it's a universal tenet of Islam to believe that the Quran is God's speech. If you followed all that, it means that according to their religious principles, Muslims (at least in their current popular forms, including Iranian Shias) cannot acknowledge or believe that there are contradictions in the Quran.
This isn't to weigh in on whether or not there are contradictions if it's interpreted 'correctly,' but only to defend that if you look at the plain words there are clearly many. I highlighted one in the section of the video that spoke about it.
In other news, if you want a glimpse into what's coming up, I'm going to stick with the Middle East for a bit before moving elsewhere. I'm working on Zionism as the subject for the next main channel video, and making a private members/Patreon video in the coming weeks on Islam and Khomeini.
- Ryan
Perfectly acceptable explanation. I'm a part of the Christian tradition and have never heard anything different than the Abrahamic religions interpreting the same historical event, ergo worship the same God. However true or not true theologically that statement is, it is certainly true as a sociohistorical statement. And have no issue with the more technical usage of myth.
Thank you for not folding to the hyper religious people who don’t accept facts about their religion.
One people's religion is another's myth. Since people are literally killing each other because they are sure that theirs is "true," I think it's best - and closest to "true" - to call them all myths.
If Christians consider that they believe in the same god that Jews believe in, then it is not up to Jews to decide that the Christian god is a different god.
Your definition of 'myth' is abusive and misleading to the definition itself. 'Myth' implies unverifiable or untrue stories. Your particular definition, which can be applicable in some circumstances, does not apply in your own context. It is the equivalent of "the myth of racial superiority", "the myth of science", or "the myth of Shakespeare". In modern English, the use of the word "myth" affords no value to a sentence unless there is verifiable and provable evidence that said myth is actually false. The proper word would have been something that does not carry such heavy bias. The word "story" would have been much more appropriate, and a more accurate portrayal, of Abraham. While I myself might not say it, calling your entire video "a 100% regurgitation of one myth after another, with not a single statement being anything other than pure myth". It would be true, using your own strict, and accurate, definition of the one subset of the definition of myth, but it would also be damnable and inflammatory to anyone that cares. I used "regurgitation", above, in the same abusive manner. It technically is true, that you stated nothing that hasnt been said by many, a thousand times before, but the word suggests derogatory accusation to the fundamental assertions of your argument, when there is no justification for such claim.
for westerners who don't know, nowadays here in Tehran there's a lot of women that just don't wear Hejab at all(and some barely wear it with half their hair out)and I'm proud of these girls because they're taking risks, this is some serious ballsy feminism
A small fraction. Won’t change Iran. If they want to be westerners move there.
@@mr.x817 it's not a western thing to not wear hejab, in fact in pretty much all countries everywhere people don't wear hejab, maybe go read a book and educate yourself instead of talking out of your ass
Feminism is when hijab
@@mr.x817 That's not how countries work, or how political change works.
👏 gotta start somewhere 💚
As an Iranian, I'm so happy this topic keeps getting more attention. DOWN WITH THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
You're not Iranian, no Iranian outwardly wants their government to fall right now given Israel wants to see Iran plunge into civil war. No Iranian, inside of Iran, wants foreign interference or war. Do not comment again.
@ciaronsmith4995 I am a holder of an islamic republic passport and am from Iran. I also did not mention, that i want foreign interference and war, although no change will come without them and that's just the truth. The regime is too oppressive to be changed with peaceful protest. And thirdly i will comment as much as i want and you can respectfully stick your opinion up your rectum.
@@ciaronsmith4995bruh where did he mention foreign interference, your bias is showing
@@hellrayzerr Don't comment again. The only people that post those slogans are people who advocate for war against Iran. Nobody in Iran wants unrest right now.
Then what? I invite you to come to San Francisco and have a look at what’s going on here and then we’ll talk again.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is on the brink of collapse-it's only a matter of time. This regime is deeply unpopular, both domestically and internationally, with the vast majority of Iranians opposing it. Islam itself is losing its influence in the country, largely due to the atrocities committed by the Islamic Republic since its rise to power. I'm writing this from Tehran, Iran, and I can see public sentiment is shifting toward a regime change.
Wish you all the best brother. Stay safe.
Good luck brother. May you guys finally achieve peace and freedom from this tyrannical regime.
Islam is incompatible with Persian culture
Stay safe.
Be safe🙌
This is EXACTLY what happens when a state allows a religion to violate or straight up erase women's basic human rights.
There is no such thing as objective human rights.
@@Brooks.was.here9024yes there is, аbdооI
@@Brooks.was.here9024 why there is no such thing as objetive human rights when it comes to women's basic human rights?
@@silentwatchingvideos why is there no lobster when I order lobster from the abandoned, dilapidated building that years ago housed a Foot Locker and Adult Video Store?
Really?.
Women in islam were given their rights way before the west.
The right to-
. Divorce
. Inheritance
. Halal work
. Halal education
. Marry who they want
. Own property
. A mother comes before a father in islam for her role as a mother. And a daughter is considered a blessing.
Islam does not prevent women getting rights.
Rather people like you asociating islam to that is wrong.
As for women not wearing the hijab in a country which has strict law punishing it. It is stupid. It may be wrong or right. But they could have prevented it from happening. And no I dont support women being abused for not wearing it.
"so what do you think about Iran's morality police?"
Ryan: so, after the big bang happened...
Bro that is so funny
@@realryanchapmanwhy did you lie that Qur'an refers to men as "You" and women as "they" , when Qur'an talks to women its says "you" to them as well
I'll consider that for my next one: 'What are traffic stops?'
@@realryanchapmanThe video was actually about the history of Iran. Which wasn't wrong, but it was half the truth. The same repetitive words, but in reality, the analysis of Iran's internal conditions is much more complicated than these words.
@@realryanchapmanFor example, if you go to this same UA-cam, you will see that currently there is practically no compulsory hijab in Iran. Although some strictness is still applied, especially in big cities. But practically there is nothing special.
The Islamic republic imposes morality where it's never needed. Picture this: How do I, as an Iranian woman, harm anyone by having no hijab? How does morality play into this? They merely propagate religion by calling it "morality" to indicate superiority. Iranian women have bravely fought against the enforcement by refusing to wear hijab in everyday life but since it is punishable by law, they are traumatized daily by the hijab police. Just look up "Iranian women punished by hijab law" to see how it can escalate to receiving a death penalty by the Islamic court for it.
Thank you so much for this video. It was incredibly well-researched. I’m happy people like you take the time to spread information about parts of the world that are culturally isolated from the west.
Excited to watch this... thanks Ryan!
ikr bro always delivers
who gives a fuck on what cloths women wear or whats iranian culture,,,,,,,,,,the only matter is western satanic are bent on killing millions on all over the world.......have u seeen gaza ,,,,,,,,,the face of west
Could you do a vid about Iran?
True, but only half the truth. The reality is that analyzing Iran's internal conditions is more complicated than these words.
Cringe countryballs youtuber
as a guy living in iran watching this was HARD just imagine this shit show being you everyday life
Same
Don't worry, life is rubbish everywhere in the world.
@@grahamt5924 not even close
I am from Turkey, though not ad close to your situation, we have similar stuff here too. I feel you bro
@@bordedup546 Is there somewhere that is good?
Trying to comprehend this culture seems daunting at first, but with your methodical and educated approach, it’s very clear, Ryan.
He got so much shit wrong my guy
Its because you're clueless about us that this video seems methodical
@@siavoushavesta5324what did he get wrong?
@@siavoushavesta5324then correct.
@@9000Hillsnothing he is just mad
@@9000Hills He criticised the culture. That’s what he got wrong. They don’t like that
this is the first time i have actually learned about muslims and how their society is structured and came to be. really insightful and easy to understand. thanks a lot. we should all work to understand each other
Always excited to watch a new Ryan Chapman video!
who cares ......the world got bigger prob,,,,,,,,,ohhhh iranian wear cloths
I’d like to know the background music used in this wonderful video. Really caught my attention
Religion, in today’s day and age is an extremely flawed concept.
It is controversial to say this, however, people of current times should not base their laws, styles of governance, and societal construct on literature created hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
Not only are they outmoded, but these values indicate little on how a modern country should run.
In addition idealizing a certain figure, so much so that his word becomes gospel, is not healthy for any society and individual for that matter too.
I think that is more of a problem with religious fundamentalism than religion in general.
that is the most lukewarm reddit take ever not thing controversial about it
It really depends what one considers religion, I guess. Certain “religions” teach some really good things: like Taoism. However considering current mainstream religions, their flaws must be taken into account.
Thank you lol, I was speaking mostly about Islam though. Some people hold very strongly onto their belief system though, therefore certain people might not understand or disagree with the view.
People will always find differences to fight over. Racism and "Race superiority" being just one. It's stupid to think religion is what causes chaos. People are inherently evil
I‘m glad you‘re dropping again, just make sure to take a break when needed, it seems that there‘s a lot going on in your life and even tho i‘m really thankful for all your inputs your health and well being is the most important thing. (Greetings from Switzerland)
Thank you! I will try to balance everything as best I can.
@@realryanchapman Wish you all the best!
Kan ada real GK, daddy
Mim hates fat girl
Ffrr too
So i become a b*"""""
Lololol
Apalah aku hanya batu tak guna
People go insane when you criticise religion. They don't see the insanity with playing pretend and it affecting real lives, costing real lives. How can something argued, not real, tangible, affects so much, especially if others don't believe it? If someone killed someone because they didn't believe in something they said, it would be a crime. Yet here we are.
Of course it’s real. And it affects everything.
15:03 - "Islam quickly became the predominant religion in Iran." Maybe you're just referring to the leadership, but I want to point out that the Iranian population did not become majority Muslim until probably the 10th century. Up to that point there were multiple movements from Zoroastrians against Islam and Islamic leadership, such as the Khurramites and the Ziyarid Dynasty.
It became the predominant religion quickly in the sense that it broke Zoroastrian's power base and never gave it back. It was the religion of people in power, even though it did take some centuries to convert the majority of Iranians. Iran was more than half nomadic I believe all the way up until the Qajar period, when that started to change. So the nomads were probably hard to convert, but also were probably relatively irrelevant to the religious conversations Muslims were having. I was painting history in quite broad brushes in that section, basically in 1000 year blocks, and couldn't go into details like that. Perhaps I could have worded it better though. I'll think about writing a correction.
@@realryanchapman That makes sense, I appreciate the reply
While it’s true that Islam didn’t become the majority religion in Iran until the 10th century, I think your characterisation of the process and the movements you cited oversimplifies the historical context. From what I’ve seen, evidence suggests that Islam wasn’t imposed on Persia in a systematic way, and while forced conversions may have occurred, they were likely rare. Instead, Islam grew organically through cultural integration, economic incentives, and the contributions of Persian scholars who played a key role in shaping Islamic civilisation.
As for the Khurramites and the Ziyarid Dynasty, they weren’t necessarily Zoroastrian movements against Islam and Islamic leadership. The Khurramites, for example, were more of a socio-political rebellion against Abbasid rule, incorporating elements of Zoroastrianism, Islam, and other local traditions. Similarly, the Ziyarid Dynasty wasn’t a Zoroastrian uprising but a local Iranian dynasty that coexisted with Islamic practices, rather a reflection of Persian autonomy within the broader Islamic world. These movements were more about resisting Arab political domination and injustices than outright rejecting Islam as a religion.
@@zaidahmedkhan4103 Its almost necessary for some persian pre-Islamic fantasiser to gloat about Islam as some form of takeover. Truth is Persian Sunni Islam was so culturally rich and engraved in the society, it lead to its own persian golden age.
Islam is not Christianity ppl were not forced into it , islam is the religion of the state and it has laws in it , and all other religions don't have state laws , and don't confuse the western colonialism with our history, and why we are low now and Muslims run away from their countries ?
Because imperialism didn't leave
When the borders between these manufactured states disappear then you can talk about our situation
Appreciate the research and effort for the video as well as addressing some of the aggressive comments.
Thank you! For the donation and the decidedly unaggressive comment.
as a Black Christian woman in America, I sympathize with the Iranian people, especially the women. This video was so informative, I feel blessed to have learned so much.
How are you, a Christian woman in America, facing and sharing the same/similar issues as the wwoman in Iran? Unless you meant you sympathize?
@spicylemons8557 oh yes i meant sympathize let me change that.
I think a woman in America should take this a big wake up call😢
@@donnasloan894yes, the ones who riot & scream for Hamas should take note.
I really appreciated your thoughtful commentary and tone throughout this video. It comes across as genuine and informative without any bias. I appreciate the topics you have previously covered and look forward to seeing more content you post in the future. Cheers 🍻.
I agree 100%
Im a muslim from the neighbouring state of Pakistan where the situation is similar. This is extremely well researched and nuanced. Im surprised at how he has analysed everything so well as someone who doesnt belong to the culture
As an Iranian, I want to begin by appreciating your attention to our country and the challenges we face under Islamic totalitarianism. However, I’d like to point out aspects of your otherwise excellent video that I believe need revision. Interestingly, both of these points contributed to the main factors that shaped the Islamic regime after the revolution.
The first is regarding the nationalization of oil under Mosaddegh. While it is true that Iran’s share was only 16%, it should also be noted that all the efforts to extract, process, and export the oil were carried out by British oil companies. Mosaddegh, as a highly populist figure, completely ignored this fact, and the sudden nationalization at that time led to terrible inflation and economic hardship for Iranians. Also, the Ajax project and the coup d'état that followed, though they were planned, were not the reason for his fall from power. According to the latest evidence, before the coup d'état, the Shah ordered Mossadegh's dismissal and Mossadegh himself actually signed the dismissal letter he received, the day before 28 Mordad (that is known as the day coup d'état happened).
The second point concerns the role of leftists and the alliance between leftists and Islamists that ultimately led to the 1979 revolution. Many anti-Western sentiments within the political thought of Islamic factions in Iran were directly shaped by the dominance of Marxist ideology among intellectuals at the time. Additionally, there was a branch of influential intellectuals, such as Jalal Al-Ahmad, Shariati, and Golsorkhi, who combined elements of both ideologies-Shi'ism and Marxism.
The last thing I want to mention is that, during one of the hardest times in Iran’s history, not only my generation but also later ones look back at the Pahlavi dynasty as the golden age of Iran-a period that could have led the country to the greatness it deserves. In the 10 to 20 years before the revolution, Iran was on the path I am describing, and the scale of the downfall we have experienced since then is unimaginable.
You did an amazing job with this comment. Thanks
@@hamidmoradi1340 I'm glad you thought it was a good representation, Hamid Jan.
I love the respect you approached this with and the quality of your thoughts. Thank you for sharing them.
Hi, thanks for the comment. Your notes strike me more as elaborations than revisions, but they do add helpful context to the video, and for the most part my research aligns with yours. I tried to heavily imply some of that (like talking about the rise of the Tudeh Party and showing all the leftist groups that were part of the revolution), but time constraints kept me from going into any of that. I originally planned on briefly explaining the rise of Marxist influence in Shia thought (which would have brought in Shariati) but thought it was too much in an already quite dense video.
The only point I wasn't aligned on is the evidence regarding the dismissal letter. That would have been great to include, and I would have had I known. I'll look into it. Regarding the coup, is controversial how much the Americans/British actually did to make the coup happen, or how necessary the coup actually was, but the fact was they did orchestrate the coup and they bragged about it afterwords. That made Iranians widely hate them (namely Americans) and blame them for the autocracy that followed, which was the point I needed for the purposes of this video.
@@realryanchapman Hi Ryan, I’m happy to see your reply and also glad your research aligns with the points I raised in my comment. As you mentioned, the relationship between Islamism and Marxism, along with some of their significant similarities, definitely warrants extensive exploration. As you probably already know, the contemporary history of Iran provides one of the best cases for delving deeply into this subject. I hope you plan to create more content on this in the future.
The story of Mossadegh, the oil nationalization, and especially the coup d’état, along with their implications for Iran’s political atmosphere, is one of the most intricate topics in contemporary Iranian history. Unfortunately, the version of this story familiar to most academics and politicians-even in Western academia-aligns with the accounts of Marxist historians like Yervand Abrahamian, whose books, as you might expect, are riddled with biases.
In contrast, historians and researchers such as Mohammad Ali Movahed and Ali Mirfetros have produced far more detailed and less biased works. However, their research has not yet been translated into English, and only the Persian versions are available.
The prevailing narrative surrounding Mossadegh often relies on simplistic theories, such as the idea that the coup d’état created a deadlock for democratization in Iran. This view overlooks the fact that many of Mossadegh’s actions, as well as those of his close associates, were far from democratic. At the end of those turbulences, the Shah's autocracy became unavoidable due to the Cold War climate and the growing strength of the Tudeh Party, which was aligned with the Soviets. It is also important to note that both acts of terror and attempted assassinations were common among factions such as the Tudeh Party and the Fadayan-e Islam in those times.
Also While I don't agree with the idea that Mossadegh was the primary cause of anti-American sentiment in Iran, he undoubtedly contributed to the intensification of such sentiments. These sentiments became one of the strongest tools for both Islamists and Marxists in their anti-imperialism efforts.
One of the clearest examples of how his ominous legacy continue to influence the Islamic Republic’s approach to governance, is the Islamic Republic’s efforts to nationalize various industrial sectors. Among these efforts, the push for the nationalization of nuclear power also stands out as another well-known example.
One of the best documentaries I have watched. It gives nuance to such a misunderstood situation in a way that is so captivating. Love the background music too, if anyone knows the name of the bgm do share thanks!
I would also like the bgm
I’m a huge fan of your well researched, well structured, well presented, easy to access, unbiased, and highly educational work. Thank you for what you do!
Fantastic. My brain thrives on videos made like this, and I understand the time and effort it takes to make them. Thank you. 💚
I can’t help but be reminded of Communist China. A thousands of years old Chinese civilization which adopted a foreign ideology wholly alien to its history and adapting Marxism Leninism to its specific Chinese characteristics. In a way in Iran, Islam is adopted with “Iranian characteristics” and brutally enforced upon the populace in the name of achieving stability just like in China with communism, given how both civilizations were victims of foreign intervention and internal turbulence. The question is, unlike China which is still heavily influenced by native ideologies such as Confucianism and has its own ethnic Han identity which is in such overwhelming numbers that it can form a homogeneous society by acculturating numerically inferior cultures around it, if you remove Islam as the dominant unifying ideology off of Iran, with what can you replace it with? Zoroastrianism doesn’t have the same hold in Iran as Confucianism still has, and Iran as an ethnic composition is much more diverse and multicultural than the numerically overwhelming Han. Heck, the supreme leader himself is part Azerbaijani and part Persian and possible inter-ethnic conflict forces the state to be in constant alert and hence adopt a heavy handed method of governance justified under a radical form of Shia Islam. It truly is fascinating to observe how civilizations with polar opposite ideological viewpoints nowadays have so much in common.
I think the IRGC would be a fully functional secular military dictatorship if the Guardian Council magically disappeared one day. They would have the same legitimacy issues as other military governments.
Exactly unlike capitalism a foreign ideology in America that only gave the native Americans hugs and kisses and definitely did G-side them.
bingo, we have our own year zero and everything. history stops with the revolution and the days of confusion starts. history before that year is a myth for some a tail of darkness and Ahriman for others it sounds like golden ages of man in garden of eden, it's too far from our reality to be able to really consider it a history that really happened, something different, too different to be possible because change is unbelievable, at least it was like this when I was a kid.
Pluralistic constitutional democracy is what modern societies use to overcome the bigotries of homogeneity. The modern world will always seem confusing and destabilizing if we try and control individual morality at the granular level with the power of a state. The alternative to coexisting is not acceptable in the era of modern industrial powers and weapons of mass destruction. Cults of morality and cults of personality are existential dangers in the modern world.
Exactly! No wonder Iran has latched on to China while severing diplomatic relations with the west. Birds of a feather and all.
Amazing video man. I'm looking forward to going through your previous catalog
I really appreciate your depth and ease with which you board complex topics, thank you very much for the work you do
Hey, I'm a Saudi Arabian with a Shia family that used to visit Iran every now and then (im no longer a muslim tho) I just want to say that this is an unbelievably excellent video, 10/10 no notes
oh and your pronunciation of Arabic words is spot on.
No such thing as Shia or Atheist Saudi. Also it’s not Saudi arabian it’s just Saudi.
@@Hello-uk5xp What are you talking about? I'm real lmao
so what do you believe in? Are you an atheist who doesn't believe in the afterlife and we are all came from monkeys?
@@okamiguyy Yeah, afterlife is not real, no disrespect to your religion just please leave me alone, I'm tired of religious people getting in my business, I want peace in my life and less people trying to convert me.
@@Ali-hasToRun Nothing like everyone trying to gatekeep your experience lol... it's almost like your very existence summons the state propaganda 🤣
What a masterpiece of a video, learned more history here than all these years studying in Iran's schools. Great work!
#RyanChapman -- I'm so glad to see you continue your educational videos. Thank you for informing the public, and doing so as impartially as you can. -- Sincerely.
The best chanel for political/histprical comentary. It shows that you make an effort to be unbiased and your videos always have interesting insights
One of the scariest thought of whats going on in Iran is that Christian nationalist would be perfectly fine with morality police in the US as long it wss christian law
You are correct
The slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Women, Life, Freedom) originates from the Kurdish liberation movement, rooted in Jineology, a feminist ideology developed by Kurdish activists over 20 years ago. It reflects the Kurdish struggle for gender equality, freedom, and societal transformation, led largely by Kurdish women.
In recent years, the slogan has been adopted by Persian movements, especially after Mahsa Jina Amini’s death, but media narratives often erase its Kurdish origins, portraying it as Persian. This misrepresentation marginalizes Kurdish contributions, ignores the feminist framework of Jineology, and reinforces patterns of Kurdish erasure in regional politics. Recognizing the slogan’s true origins is vital for honoring the Kurdish struggle and maintaining historical accuracy.
Oh wow, I frequented the r/NewIran subreddit during the peak of protests (which was filled with folks of various backgrounds from Iran) and unfortunately I never encountered this information, only of Mahsa Jina Amini’s Kurdish heritage that’s often glossed over
Thank you so much for sharing this further crucial context
Though I’m from nowhere near Iran, I’m rooting for Iranian/Persians’ wellbeing because the country I grew up in is also a Muslim majority that’s waning every decade or so into religious theocracy
Something that I sometimes worry will mirror Iran’s political shift, with even lesser likelihood of any organic change of political oppression due to the simple reason that we’re way less educated than Iranians in general
@Shawalkordi thank you for this comment. In Düsseldorf Germany for example there are a lot of interconnected & funded groups creating a "persian nation narrative" hegemonie and systematicly erasing kurdish traces (mostly monarchists groups tend to do this activly; others also do it passivly a lot of times)
Unfortunately, feminists never stood with us. They were saying the Iranian regime helps Palestine, so Western feminists saw no point in supporting woman, life, freedom movement
@@Yazdegerdiranyar i can assure you that the only space i could collaborate with are exactly those "western woman" so i disagree completly with you on this part
@@YazdegerdiranyarEuropean left groups had sympathies for arab socialist groups of various sorts.
I think Hamas, once they gained power, took part in clearing out secular groups.
May those immoral morality police stay far away from us.
Then you need to protest against the people who want it to be mandatory for the 10 commandments in all schools cause that's just the beginning if you let them them get there way and erode the separation of church and state the us will decend into this kind of dictatorship
Expect us Zio. Iran is coming.
This propaganda changes nothing.
Remarkable and much needed work! Excellent production quality and an extremely balanced representation. THANK YOU!!!
Keep up the amazing work, your videos are just so mind blowing. A big hug from Mexico 🇲🇽!
This is unrelated to the vid. But I love Mexico I want to go one day lol. Hugs from the US 🇺🇸💪🏾
Great video as always! One of the most interesting yt channels
As a comment to the opening, written statement, I have great faith in your work and honesty! You run one of my topmost channels on a range of topics that I understand is very well researched.
I will read your pinned correction-comments, but I believe that most of the videos you post are quite well researched, and without much errors. I really apprised your work Ryan!
as an irainian and exmuslim thx for this
Bro your videos are so good! Thank you for all of your hard work and sharing this with the World. Excited to view your entire catalogue of videos past, present and future!
as of this week the islamic republic passed new laws that would lock up women who don't wear hijab up to 20 years, such a great religion we have lol
Dude, you did a great job! Seriously, excellent, excellent, lecture. I specially liked when you showed quoted text.
Excellent video Ryan, I am really glad you touched on this fascinating, yet not often talked about, topic. As a half-Iranian, thank you!
PS: I noticed several times in the comments, that you did not want to elaborate on certain topics or issues, because of time constraints. Thats totally understandable, but perhaps you could make some supplementary videos or shorter context-adding videos for your UA-cam members, which would be supplementary to your main channel content:)
Just a thought:)
Ryan, foi maravilhoso encontrar hoje no UA-cam essa aula que eu tanto procurava, minuciosa e tão bem explicada com legenda em português. Com grande alegria, agradeço 😊
Kierkegaard spoke of faith beautifully where it is unconditional. You can take everything from me, do anything to me, but the one thing that you cannot take is the faith. It is not that I had a bad day and therefore do not believe or happened upon some luck that I do, it is unconditional.
I think this is why many oppose faith as a concept as there is indeed a dangerous component underlying where there is no sense of compromise. Faith and politics should be separate and if anybody is of faith I don’t see why one would want to dirty such things with the messy world of politics. A person’s faith can lead to lots of pro-social actions, noble actions, selflessness, but place that faith element in a “sick” mind boy can it go wrong.
Faith and politics have never been separate. Any set of beliefs that tells you how one should/shouldn't live their lives has political implications. A country can avoid writing religious doctrine into law, but their politics will always be heavily influenced by the people of various religions. Many people believe religion should dominate politics exactly for the reason you said, it's cut throat and messy.
This was an incredibly well researched documentary. Thank you for providing the insights .
Ryan with another high-effort and elucidating banger. Well done friend.
Apart from not pointing out the degree to which people in big cities have become secular and irreligious, a very unbiased and accurate synopsis of Iranian history 💯
Great video, man. I really appreciate your clinical, unbiased explanation.
Iran is a fascinating country with a long history. Even the Islamic Revolution is both, fascinating and scary.
I LOVE THIS VIDEO STYLE!!! dunno how this doesn’t have millions of views
Awesome content as always
Thanks!
I've known many "devout" muslims in the US and witnessed even more in their own lands.
Their piety is incredibly false. It is just a way to maintain power, much as racism is here in the US.
Wtf
@@fatimaabdulkadir9291
Well argued 🙄
Just so you don't feel too bad,
Islam is racist/tribalist too.
It has all the same trappings of any other religion, but it's not inherently any worse than any other religion
@@CalamityJay-ez2mq oh, didn't mean to imply worse. This is a video on Islam, so that's what I commented on.
Iran is quite advanced.
No dictatorship more oppressive than a theocratic dictatorship. And when you're talking about Abrahamic religious government that's always gonna be horrible for women. This is fascinating. Free women everywhere ♀️🫶💪🤜
Women were free in Soviet Union.
@@kairysisKrantasyou’re certainly against women being free
@@antonugnivenko5521 why so?
@@antonugnivenko5521 we don't want to be free from god
@@kairysisKrantas nobody was free in the Soviet Union
Thanks!
Looking forward to this, downloading now. Merci 🙏🏼
An hour long Ryan Chapman video!! Absolutely love it.
Crazy how little attention the struggle of the Iranian people receives in western media. It’s almost as if there’s a cover up.
how much attention does anything get? thinking that there's some coverup of what's happening in Iran is pure stupidity. how much does a person in Vietnam know about Iran? is Vietnamese media in on this conspiracy too?
@ I live in a major western city and we have huge protests every single weekend in our central business district for the free Palestine movement. It seems that certain events absolutely receive a lot of attention. However, Iranian women being shot in the eyes doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar. No jews, no news I guess 🤷♂️
Does your BIG WESTERN CITY support iran or financialy aid it NO but you know who is iZreal so of course there's a protest and boycotts
@@KING-bt1tmwell… one is a genocide that your government specifically supports and supplies. The other is another North Korea, china, Russia.
@@dragonmaster3207 Because Gaza is such a liberal and innocent place.
Thanks Ryan for fulfilling my request, ❤
What I will never understand is why religious people, especially muslims, care so much about how other people choose to live! Like follow your religion, live as you wish and believe in what you wish but ffs LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE ALONE! Like what do you gain if you beat & torture someone into following your cult? If your life is so perfect and you're so loyal to your cult, why can't you just keep doing that instead of sticking your nose into others' business? I already know the official reasons for this bs "God says so", but I'm interested in such psychopaths' personal reasons. Like why can't y'all live and let others live too ffs?
"proud misandrist"
Live and yet live, was it
@@Brooks.was.here9024ironic really, they made a good point but being a proud "-phobic" or sexist is pretty rubbish
Love your videos and always look forward to them! I appreciate the time and effort it must take you to put together your videos including your sources. It's because of you my book list has increased tenfold🙂
FINALLY a new upload.
Really fascinating video, enjoyed the deep dive on Iranian history, Islamic history and Iran being brought into modernity. Great video!
Great presentation and quite informative.
Thanks for covering this
The challenge in the modern world is freedom versus morality. Every culture and tradition has its version, but Western values make the same claims to the universality of both morality and freedom. The threat of nuclear weapons, economic sanctions, and global media influences is the means to making these false claims seem true to its vulnerable victims that seek an alternative to political and economic subjection by bullies .
Hmm… ‘freedom versus morality’ is the challenge ? Would it not be the highest expression of morality when the people can live free and without coercion and violence against each other? Would not a civil society in which people are the most free to make voluntary free choices about who to interact with, who to associate or not associate with, trade and exchange with, share and learn from, speak and listen to, hire and work for, … a society in which people live and let live, produce and let produce, thrive and let others thrive, prosper and let others prosper… all on a basis of people making free and voluntary choices amongst each other without coercion and force … would such a society not be a highest order of both freedom and morality ? Do freedom and morality not actually go together? So, I would not express the challenge today as one of freedom versus morality, but one of the reality of existence that there are the many humans who simply want to live and let live and get along versus the few human beings who have lust and urge to impose their own will and control and rule over others by force -
You’re so good at this dude!!
Amazing video, but it's crazy that we just glossed over the other content shown on-screen at 45:49... specifically a back and forth regarding the execution of a pregnant woman.
Ryan as persian we love you.
Thank you for the video
Phenomenal piece of work I’ve ever seen 💯💯
why did you remove my previous comment ?
as an Iranian, Islam is the biggest threat to humans right now. it is every person's duty to shed light on this issue.
Unless you said something truely extreme i highly doubt mr chapmaan himself removed it. Moat likely youtube bots flagged it for one reason or another
I did not delete your comment. I just checked and there have only been three comments held by UA-cam moderation so far. Two just said 'fuck Islam' and the third was just a long string of emojis. None of them were from you. Maybe you didn't post it or lost track of it?
@@realryanchapman thanks for clarifying 🙏 it was probably due to the the vpn since youtube is blocked here. Also, thanks for the detailed description of the events. You covered the topic just as an Iranian would.
@@realryanchapmanyeah, sometimes the vpns we use might cause this (most Iranians use free vpns because of the economy rn). I am from Iran. I think you could have also mentioned some of the inhumane methods used by the morality police to arrest the citizens, like using leashes designed to catch dangerous animals!! Or the frequent physical violence (you showed some footage of it). Either way, thank you
As always, magnificent work
Hi Ryan. I really enjoyed this video, but I'm wondering if you could speak to your heavy use of AI images? It seems to me that there is potentially a problem in using doctored images in the context of discussing historical events. I don't think that there is anything in this video that is brought into question by their use, but it may be a good opportunity to begin a discussion about this. Thanks.
Hi, I used AI images in my ancient Greece video and a little in my Thomas Jefferson video but decided to stop using them and haven't used them since. There are no AI images in this video. I do upscale the resolution of almost everything you see, so maybe the artifacts from that are making you think it's AI.
There are photos - the one at 22:58 for instance - that bear the hallmarks of AI generated images. It makes sense that the upscaling process would do this, though. I guess that's one more thing I'll have to keep in my media literacy toolkit.
Thanks for the clarification, and thank you again for the video. I'm really enjoying your work.
Thanks
Babe wake up new Chapman video just dropped
Thanks for waking me up, honey. Let's watch together.
Freakin love you Ryan! Keep doing what you are doing.
The first 12 minutes was eye opening for me; knowing how important law is to Islam helps to understand (partially) what makes radical/conservative Muslims tick. Why they make stern rules.
Also, the video's title was a bit of a misnomer IMO. It's really a history of Iran in general, but I learned a lot anyway. Thank you Ryan!
It was a history of the state morality control in Iran and its origins, although admittedly needlessly long.
Amazing video 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼. Hadn't learned this much in a single hour for a while
Thank you for this. Two things I realized were just how much Britain’s meddling has caused problems in the Middle East, and how we need current day’s morality to not be dictated by the morals of a man that lived 1500 years ago
Don't think you understand how fused Iran's culture is. Shia Islam is hugely influenced by Zoroastrianism (and in turn Mithraism) which is one of the most conservative religions ever.
It is not dictated by any man. Who told you this?.
Thanks Ryan!!!! A gift
All Abrahamic monotheistic religions belong in the annals of a museum.... Most people are so over the " my magic book is better than your magic book "
Not just Abrahamic all religions
56% of the worlds population adheres to an abrahamic religion and 84-85% of worlds population adhere to a religion overall…so no, clearly most people aren’t over the “my magic book is better” narrative
Compare that with magic books of pseudo-religions like marxism, national socialism, progressive liberalism and their dogmas.
You will be happy to revert back to Abraham.
Love your content mate thanks for your hard work
I FUCKING LOVE THIS CHANNEL!
A great video. It was very comprehensive for the length of the video. There are of course lots details and nuances that are worth mentioning and discussing that could not simply fit in this video.
What I would have liked to see more highlighted here is the recent developments within Iranian society, which are still ongoing, and understandably, difficult to research for a non Iranian. Although the 2022 movement was mentioned earlier in the video, I would say this video captures the image up until the early years of khamenei's rule, specifically if we want to describe the Islamic government as stable as you did at the end.
But now the situation is far from stable. The divide between the people and the regime is ever increasing. The society has been changing from traditional patriarchy, the modern liberal values are accepted and popular more than ever, the approval of Islamic clergies are lower than ever and people have become less religious. These changes are even more pronounced in the younger generations and specifically in Gen z, in contrast to the government run by the much older generations. the government is suffering from very deep corruption that has lead to various economical, energy, environmental, societal crises that it is simply unable to handle. The economy is failing due to mismanagement, corruption and sanctions, and their foreign policies have failed as their allies and proxies are falling in the region.
It's increasingly evident that this regime in its current form can not continue to exist for much longer and the question is what will happen and how. There are various possibilities, including another revolution and a democratic regime change, regime change in case of a war with the US and Israel, reform happening from within after the death of the current Supreme leader, and so on. the future is very unclear now, but one thing is for certain. Iran will be a secular society and hopefully a democratic one.
*BABE RYAN CHAPMAN JUST DROPPED*
I want people who call Islam "evil" and "repressive" to understand the basic fact that no religion in itself is malicious, rather the people who weaponize religion as a tool to secure power and push repressive ideology are the ones who are truly evil and misguided. Religion has always stemmed from a place of benevolence and guidance on how to be a moral, kind, human to both other humans and the world around us.
First the Quran say women are less than men, literally in passage 228
I agree - thanks for taking the time to eloquently explain a basic truth .
Many people ( like the presenter on this video and most of his followers ) are happy to move in a pack and lack the empathetic ability to realize their bias .
It’s interesting how we can have dichotomies from the West and the East. In the west we have excess debauchery, in the East we have limiting freedom of thought and expression.
Great report Ryan! ❤
Thank you for covering Iran
New subscriber here: Well done. I love learning history that I’m not familiar with.
3:38 “A business man” you are full of it mate.
Interesting on how upset this video makes people. Was an interesting one, thank you for making it!
Wonderful and wonderfully timely video; however, there was some misjudgment about Pahlavis probably due to your research via ideologically motivated & propagandist “academic” texts on the Pahlavi era that purposefully or not, categorically misrepresent Iran’s monarchy & downplay the incredible development of the nation under the two Pahlavis.
another excellent video by the august Ryan Chapman.
As Hegel said: “In Persia first arises that light which shines itself and illuminates what is around... The principle of development begins with the history of Persia."
Personally, I believe that as long as Iran will be in struggle, the world at large cannot become a better place.
Much love and respect to Iran from Europe!
Excellent even-handed historical summary.
21:57 it’s almost as if sharia law and islam in general stifles intellectuality and culture
Definetley not Islam in general, maybe Islamic fundamentalism - just like any religious fundamentalism. You have to know nothing about Islamic history to propose that Islam “in general” stifled intellectuality and cultural expression.
i honestly started this one thinking i wouldnt be very interested, but you've managed to lay a good foundation for understanding such a unique topic. great video
Ryan, with all due respect and appreciation for the excellent work you've done on your UA-cam channel, I feel compelled to address some concerns about your section on Islam.
First, from an Islamic perspective, depicting prophets, angels, and other sacred figures is considered deeply offensive. Out of mutual respect, it's important to be mindful of such sensibilities when discussing any faith tradition. As I'm sure you'd agree, it's entirely possible to critique ideologies and religions without resorting to actions that might be perceived as disrespectful. I was surprised that this point didn't come through during your research or in consultation with practising, knowledgable Muslims. Including depictions and caricatures in your video could easily be interpreted as provocative and offensive.
Second, the concept of jihad, whether in its "greater" or "lesser" forms, is not controversial within Islamic discourse. The way it was presented in your video seemed to rely on a misconstrued or straw-man interpretation. Additionally, your statement that "the Qur'an is a long text, and is full of contradictions, making it difficult to discern its precise divine intent" (9:40) appears to conflict with the consensus of scholars and interpreters of the Qur'an. One prominent academic argument for Islam's rapid spread I came across once (I'd need to look up who said that) was pointing out that it was due to Islam's simple and accessible message, much of which can be derived from the Qur'an itself, even without the Hadith tradition.
Finally, I'd appreciate clarification on your claim that the Qur'an is "full of contradictions." This seems unsubstantiated (at least according to what you presented) and stands in contrast to the Qur'an's own assertion (which might be a direct challenge to your claim): "Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’ān? If it had been from [any] other than Allāh, they would have found within it much contradiction." 4:82
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these points and hope that we can have a productive discussion.
Oh, and FYI, I can recommend Wael B. Hallaq's works around the topics of Islamic Governance, Sharia, etc. (He is a Professor at Columbia with Palestinian Christian Roots).
Hi, thanks for the respectful and well-written comment on a touchy subject. To respond, most of the issues that you're raising here, I think, come from a standpoint of you wanting me to present Islam in a way that is friendlier, even more deferential to Islam and Muslims. But that's not what I do here. When I present my subjects, I do my best to present the subject neutrally, regardless of the subject. For an example I'll take your issue with my showing Muhammad's face. I don't think there was anything disrespectful in how I portrayed him in any way in this video, including my showing of his face. I only used it appropriately as he was discussed throughout the piece, and only used historical portrayals by actual Muslim artists. It's the same I'd do for any subject. If Muslims (in this present moment in time we're in) want me to present the subject in a way that's friendlier to them by obscuring his facing, I don't really see that as my problem. I don't see myself as being disrespectful or overly respectful in that regard. Instead - I think - I've arrived at a presentation that's as neutral as I can achieve.
To broaden the conversation from Islam for a moment, Jews and Christians could (and did, many times in the comments) take the same issue with my calling Abraham's story a myth. But if you look up what a myth is in the dictionary, it's the most accurate (i.e. precise) word I think I could have used there. It's to me, therefore, the correct word, and it's the word I used in the piece. If people take issue with it, it's, as far as I can tell, because they want the presentation to be friendlier to their personal beliefs, but I again don't see that as my problem. It's (if I'm doing it well) just part of the messy process of presenting subjects neutrally that people are used to seeing in a friendlier light to their beliefs.
I think the only issues that may not address is your claim that the meaning of a jihad is not controversial, but I presented in the way I did precisely because many claim it just refers to an expenditure of effort and is not necessarily violent or aggressive. Yet many others see it as specifically violent or aggressive. The different passages in the Quran led to those different interpretations.
Which brings me to your other issue, which is in saying there are no contradictions in the Quran according to most Muslim scholars. Yes, it's true most Muslim scholars say there are no contradictions. But most Muslim scholars are themselves Muslims, and do not come from a tradition of presenting subjects neutrally. So they - in my view - seem to uniformly present Islam and the Quran in a way that's friendly to Muslims. If you look at more neutral scholars (typically not Muslims themselves) many will readily say yes there indeed contradictions. So many that it takes an expert to make sense of all of it (hence the tradition of Muslim scholars interpreting it for regular Muslims). One of which I highlighted regarding God's stand on aggressive violence. To say there are no contradictions requires interpreting the text in a particular way, so you have to believe the interpreter to believe that there are, in fact, no contradictions. But what is the interpreter interpreting? Contradictions that are inherent, even obviously inherent, in the text. That was my point. Not to present it according to any particular interpreter.
I hope that cleared things up.
- Ryan
@@realryanchapman Hi Ryan, thank you for your thoughtful reply, and for taking the time to respond so promptly. I appreciate the respectful tone. To address your first point about my wanting you to present Islam in a friendlier manner: that might be true, and I won't deny it. However, my primary intention was to suggest that: considering the sensibilities of other cultures or ideologies can facilitate softer fronts and enable more productive dialogue in the long term. With that approach in mind, I'd argue that it might reduce the likelihood of alienating parties right from the outset. That said, I do appreciate your effort to present the subject neutrally, even if I have some differences of opinion on what constitutes neutrality.
E.g., your characterization of showing depictions of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) as "appropriate" seems to stem from specific (liberal) premises about what is or isn't acceptable. In my view, this is less neutral than it might appear because it reflects a particular notion of appropriateness rather than one grounded objectively or aligned with Islamic perspectives. My suggestion: a potentially less contentious alternative could have been to depict the Prophet's name in calligraphy, which is widely regarded as respectful in Islamic tradition. I hope this doesn't come across as overly picky or deconstructionist - it's just a suggestion to consider for future cases. Considering changes to your video in that regard is, of course, entirely within your purview.
As for your use of the term "myth", I didn't take issue with it. I understand that in academic and anthropological contexts, "myth" is a common term and often carries no pejorative connotations. For someone operating outside an Islamic paradigm, it's entirely reasonable to use language that is more precise within the discipline of study.
Regarding the term jihad: I take your point about its diverse interpretations. However, it might be helpful in future discussions to include how Muslims themselves approach and contextualize the term, f.e. by referring to the Prophetic tradition. Omitting the Islamic discourse on the spiritual and ethical dimensions of jihad, as well as its more narrowly defined militaristic applications, could reinforce misleading narratives, such as the Fox News portrayal of Muslims as synonymous with terrorists.
And just to clarify a misunderstanding: I didn't say "there are no contradictions in the Qur'an according to most Muslim scholars". While that does reflect the mainstream Muslim position, my statement was that your claim of contradictions in the Qur'an "stands in contrast to the Qur'an's own assertion". There is no need to open up this particular discussion now, although I'd be genuinely interested in hearing what "inherent contradictions" you mean. Although, I have explored this issue and haven't found anything that aligns with your evaluation "full of contradictions".
**(Edit:) I just saw how where the confusion might have come from: when I referred to the consensus of scholars, this point was particular to your characterization "making it difficult to discern its divine intent". I should have been more clear in my articulation.
Thanks again for your response and the effort you've put in, with the video, but also with our exchange.
- Harun