#51 Islam & Christianity: Exploring Religious Unity in the Age of Content Creation

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to another episode of the words for change podcast. I am your host, lionel, and we have a special treat. Today we are joined by the highly esteemed guest, mr Junaid Hamid. Junaid Hamid is a brilliant mind behind the home studio mastery. He's an innovator when it comes to podcasting, speaking content creation, creating home studios and lighting equipment layout. He covers it all. Not only does Junaid help us with creating videos and generating content that strikes with our audience, but he's a celebrated speaker within the content creation world. He is a mastermind in this area. He's also the author of Master the iPhone Video Production and a seasoned host for the fantastic Haxin Hobbies podcast. For more than two decades he has been crafting video production and design in so many fields and we are excited to have his specialty and have his expertise and have for him to share what he knows about these topics. But more important and why we're having this conversation with the words for change podcast is because Junaid is a dedicated Muslim. He practices the faith of Islam. He has been doing that for his entire life and I asked Junaid to come on the podcast and have this conversation with me. As a Christian minister and leader, I'm interested in finding people who may believe a little bit different, but try to find commonalities so that we can move toward making the world a better place. And I think he is the absolute awesome candidate for this mission. And so I want you to buckle your seats, grab your favorite drink of coffee and we're gonna dive forward into this conversation with Junaid. You will learn a lot by listening to Junaid, and if you are a Christian listening to this, you will find that we have a lot in common with our Islamic brothers and sisters. So, once again, I wanna introduce you to the wonderful Maestro himself, mr Junaid Hammond. Welcome to the words for change podcast. Well, what's going on? Everyone on the words for change podcast? This is your man, lionel. I am super excited that we have an opportunity to interview a mainstay when it comes to podcasting, studio development, as well as hacks and hobbies. We got a special guest today. Junaid Hammond is here today to talk to us about a topic that I don't know if he talks about a lot, but you know what our podcast is all about spiritual personal growth leading to social change. So, junaid, how are you doing today, my brother?

Speaker 2: 2:55

Hey, lionel, thank you so much for bringing me on. I am doing really well and I'm really honored and excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Awesome, awesome. So, junaid, I know that you do a lot, just so our audience can get a better understanding of exactly what you do. Junaid is a professional when it comes to podcast studio development. Build out One of his hobbies well, I shouldn't say hobbies, but one of the things that he does is his hacks and hobbies. He does blog posts. We're gonna talk a little bit about that. I'll show you guys some of his sites and all the things that he does. He does coaching as well as helping people to become not camera shy, and so he's definitely had a huge impact. He's done well over. How many podcast episodes have you done?

Speaker 2: 3:52

We just released 537 or we'll be releasing very soon, so 537, around 400, some episodes.

Speaker 1: 4:01

Awesome, awesome. So Junaid is, he's been doing podcasting way before a lot of us even thought about podcasting. But for our conversation today, junaid, we're gonna talk about a topic that you, maybe you don't get a chance to talk about very, very often, and that topic is around spirituality and personal growth. So when I first approached you about this, I was like, hey, I would love to to have this conversation with you, because a lot of people that I talk to they don't really at least our audience. We never really talk about Islam. We don't talk about understanding spirituality from that perspective, which I think is a viable way for us to think about how we can I don't wanna say integrate, but find similarities and differences in those faith group and traditions and practices, because Islam is by far one is an Abrahamic religion, but it's one of the major religious organizations and practices and throughout not only throughout history, but in the world.

Speaker 3: 5:20

And global alliance North and South, east and West that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind. Will you join in that historic effort?

Speaker 1: 5:35

So let's talk a little bit about you know, how did you? Where'd you grow up? What's your experience with Islam? Like you know, cause many people can have a faith I grew up as not in group as a Christian, but I found my faith in that being practicing it as a kid. But talk about, was that kind of your experience that you? Was it an easy get into you? Was it kind of like, oh man, I had questions in doubt about this. Yeah, so help us understand, like, what are the similarities there for you?

Speaker 2: 6:07

Absolutely so. Thank you so much for that question. I mean, I don't talk to it, don't talk about it a whole lot on the public front, but people who are aware and you know, talk to me in private or you know in other circles, know where I stand in my religion and whatnot. So I actually was born into Islam, was born in Karachi, in Pakistan, and I, you know, my parents, my uncles and everybody's Muslim, you know, would come from a Muslim country. In fact, the reason Pakistan was created from the subcontinent was to have a place for the Muslims to live in, easy, to be part of India. So, anyways, grew up in Pakistan, learning about the history. Then, I think when I was around six or seven, we moved to Saudi Arabia, which is again another Islamic country. People from all over the world go to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage. They go to Medina, which is the burial place of our Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So that is a little bit of where I grew up in. Very, my parents, my dad, is very practicing Muslim. We, you know, we would go for the five times of the prayer every single day and he would say, no, we have to go, and then we would walk down the street in Saudi Arabia where I was growing up, and it was really. It was really comforting because the knowledge that I gained from watching my parents and learning about it myself in school and at home it built that strong moral compass inside of me. Tell us a little bit about.

Speaker 1: 7:57

For most of my audience I'm assuming most of my audience they're absolutely familiar with Islam, meaning like the commercialized views of Islam. Right, sure. But you know what I like as a practicing theologian myself, I always like to talk to people about. We have a lot more in common than we have in differences, but for some reason, you know, it always get politicized in very, very different ways. So what I want people to understand is you know, talk about what are some of the a few of the foundational principles that you stand on Islam. Now, before you say that, I will say that I read a few of your blogs pretty awesome stuff. I was really interested in that man because you know, as you said, like what you do is really on the technical side, about technology, and rarely, you know, would I even approached you about something like or you or anyone who wasn't maybe a clergy or priest or whatever the case may be Sure. One of my friends is a mom and I'm a chaplain, so in the Navy as well, but one of my friends is a mom and we talk all the time. He's from the Congo and we try to find differences I mean similarities and we talk about it. So I'm really interested for our audience. They need to know like there is a spiritual growth development process that those who practice this Islamic faith hold very, very dear. And what I found, jeanette, is that man. It almost sounds like the exact same thing in my faith tradition, which is Christianity, but just worded differently. But the goal is exactly the same. So can you talk about maybe, some spiritual growth, like you know what are the ethical values that you hold dear in Islam and why that's important.

Speaker 2: 10:15

Absolutely so. Like I mentioned earlier, having that concept of being able to help others before you help ourselves, and that's what makes us as service, you know, service-focused leaders, and that's one of the number one things that is taught in Islam having care for the people around you, in fact, like one of the founding principles. So, besides the five pillars of Islam, which is there's only one, god, right, we believe in that. The next thing is you pray five times a day. The number third one is you fast for the month of Ramadan. Number four is you pay zakat, which is charity not just charity, but it's basically taxed for the cleanliness of your money. And then the fifth thing is the pilgrimage. So those are the five pillars of Islam, but the one thing that's closer to all of that is to believe that we are here, put on our to do only one thing and one thing alone, and that is to worship God. That's it, and there are many ways that we can worship God. In doing honest, to goodness work. That is worshiping God, and being helpful to your neighbors, to the friends and family. That is worshiping God. Like anything that is close to how nature would have wanted, that is worshiping God. So those are some of the things that I hold really dear to myself.

Speaker 1: 11:53

Yeah, you know, that sounds so, so very, very similar to Christianity, right? Not not? I mean and I know there are differences, because I know my audience is like, well, what about this? What about that? Well, let's focus on the similarities, right? I think that's important One. You said worship God, which is, you know, that's what Christians focus on as well, even though we there's some differences there about the one God versus the Trinitarian doctrine within Christianity and Jenae, you'd be surprised, within Christianity, there's actually a movement called openness doctrine or a oneness. There's a oneness doctrine within Christianity as well that focuses on one God, and so that's a whole, nother conversation for another day. But, but serving, given alms, we call it giving alms and Christianity, which, which? Which is basically the same thing. You talked about a charity, doing charity, right, that's, that's very, very, very important. Let me ask you this question how? How important is charity as it relates to your own spiritual growth and development? Like, do you have an is it? Is it just something that you do, or it is essentially how your faith in Islam is worked out in the world?

Speaker 2: 13:19

I think it's a combination, because there's a and this, I wish I had the image up, but there's a chemical in our minds, right, there's dopamine, there's oxytocin, there's all these these reactions that happen in our, in our mind, based on the activities that we do and giving to others and helping others, and you know, donating and giving charity is a form of helping others and that is one of the triggers to, you know, to release oxytocin in our mind, which enables you to. I got to look it up, no.

Speaker 1: 14:01

I think it is a cortisol. Well, no, not.

Speaker 2: 14:04

Cortisol is the is that's a fear.

Speaker 1: 14:05

That's a fear, it's a stress. Yeah, stress hormone.

Speaker 2: 14:09

Yeah. So it releases that chemical in our mind making us feel good and feel better. And when you feel good and feel better, guess what? You're going to be happier and you want to help even more people. So I think, giving charity, and so much so that you you're almost like reminding yourself that you have the means to support others who don't. I mean, the entire reason we fast 30 days in the month of Ramadan every single year is so we can feel close to people who don't have the means to have a daily meal. Right, so that is the entire reason behind fasting, wow. So expand that even more. You're giving charity to people who don't have the means to get the food. You know, doing donations, giving clothing, giving shoes, giving food Like all of these meat ways are to enables others so that they can worship and they can have a better life to live and not be in poverty.

Speaker 3: 15:42

I may bring faith, that where there is despair I may bring hope, that where there are shadows I may bring light, that where there is sadness I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort then to be comforted, to understand then to be understood, to love then to be loved. For it is by forgetting self that one finds, it is by forgiving that one is forgiven.

Speaker 1: 16:24

You know, for Christians we consider giving, doing good works, as a sign of compassion. You know, I've never heard you describe it the way you just described it, which is pretty interesting. It's how I do scientific side Christians when I talk to people in my faith tradition about works of service, compassion, alms it's more, so that you can have, you know, treasures in the next life. Is that kind of some of the reasons for that in your faith tradition as well?

Speaker 2: 17:08

Not 100%, because the more you give, the more you're depositing in your bank account for the future, for the next life, right? So there was a story where there was a sacrifice they gave away you know, prophet Muhammad or I can't remember exactly but the idea was they gave away all this food to the neighbors. And they're like, if you knew, if you just knew what's in the hereafter, you would give up every single thing that you kept for yourself. Imagine that it's like if you could invest and you could save money away that's going to help you in the next life, wouldn't you do that as much as you can? It's like you're sowing the seeds for a great harvest in the hereafter. It's kind of insane.

Speaker 1: 18:06

Yeah, I mean, that's so, man, you know what this and I think that's a great point I think what separates you know, watching the clock, kid Jenae but I think what separates Christianity from that perspective. And when I say Christianity, man, I mean you got to understand, I don't speak for all Christians, right? Sure it's. So. It's a concept. Yeah, it's a concept, yeah, and the concept is you should give, not for the afterlife, even though there's an implicit expectation that when I do this, I am going to, I'm kind of storing up, and this is what I would love for people to think about, my audience to think about is that you're basically, we're basically getting at the same end result. The language may be different, it may be difficult, right? Because I talk to a Christian and I say, well, you should do that, just because it's the right thing to do. That's what I would say personally, I would say that it's just the right. It's what it's called being a human being right, being a decent human being right. But then they may say, well, yeah, I get that I'm doing it for this reason, but I'm like, yeah, because if you don't do it, then what's going to happen? And they would say something like what you just said right Now. That's not a criticism on my part, right? What I'm simply trying to get people to understand is there are very, very similar ways of seeing things. when it comes to Islam and Christianity and I almost said a name that I probably should not say on this. I'd get in big trouble if I did that but there are some religious leaders in Islam who talk about the similarities in Christianity. How was Christianity presented to you? Let me ask you this honest question, man.

Speaker 2: 20:16

So in Islam and in the teachings that I've learned in this teachings and how the Prophet Muhammad treated other religions right, we are an open society and everybody is free to make their own decision and have their own options, as long as they're living peacefully, in fact, in Medina. So the first. So when the Prophet Muhammad got his appointment, hey, go to the Prophet at age 40 plus. For 13 years they were living in oppression in Mecca. And then there's people going and, leaving Mecca and spreading Islam in other parts of the country, of the world, so much so that after about 13 years, there was a huge community of Muslims in Medina. So they're like now it's time to migrate. And the story is so revealing. Like it was like, oh my God, if he's still there, they're going to kill him. But there was so much respect among people, they're like, hey, we're only after this guy and nobody else. So we have very short time. I would love to tell a story, but what happened is they came to Medina and in Medina, all these people that migrated. What I was trying to get to was in Medina. The Muslims lived there for about 10 years and it was the largest population of people from different religions, so Jews and Christians not Christians, but Jews and other religions lived in the same place. Actually, christianity, yes, too. One more thing, as Christians, jews and Muslims all lived peacefully in this city. So we are very open to other religions and we have that conversation all the time, Because, guess what? We're all following a book that was sent to us through a prophet, right, right. So we are all from the Abrahamic tradition. Or the prophets of the books that were sent to Torah, the Bible and the Quran, they all are messages and word from God. So that's how I believe. And then so we believe that Jesus or Isa is a prophet and a prophet of God, and it's really. I mean, I can go deep, but that's what we believe. About Christianity, we don't believe. So one of the things in Islam that is prohibited or it can kick you out of Islam, is associating anybody with God, right Meaning. There's a surah in the Quran Qulhu Allahu Ahad, allahu Samaad, la Muelid Wa La Muelad Wa La Muelul, kulahu Kufuana Hadzoo. It means that one of the ayahs in there says there is he does not beget and he does not give birth. He is one and only so he doesn't give birth. So that's one of the surahs in the Quran. Another surah in the Quran and that goes about the respecting each other of their religions is a similar surah in the same chapter that goes like Quliayah-i-Lakaafruan oh non-believers, it is okay for you to believe what you believe and for what we believe and what we believe, because in the end, we are all going to answer for what we believe in the hereafter. So these are stories that we read, or chapters that we read on a daily basis in the Quran and in our prayers, and it's a grand reminder of where we come from, where we're gonna go and how to live in this world.

Speaker 1: 24:32

Wow, that's great man, so man. I wish we had more time, but.

Speaker 2: 24:39

I know man, you picked a topic that took a long time.

Speaker 1: 24:42

It does. You know what that means? Junaid had to do part too.

Speaker 2: 24:45

You gotta come back. That's right. Exactly what that means.

Speaker 1: 24:49

All right. So just to round out right, there are a lot of similarities. The language may be different, right, but there are a lot of similarities and, to be 100% fair, there are some theological differences. There's some major theological differences between Christianity and Islam as well, so I'm not gonna act like that doesn't exist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But at the same time, it's most important, I think, for us to think about how we can fellowship, become light workers in the world, if you will, with people who may have different perspectives, but at the same time, we're moving toward making the world a better place, and I think that's what you are all about and what you do, and that's definitely what we are about here for Words for Change podcast. Talk a little bit about what you do, tell us about some of your. I think I have your website coming up here, but there we go. Look at this guy super Junaid. What a website. What is this website about, bro? I see you have blog posts here. How cool is that?

Speaker 2: 25:58

Yeah, thanks, matt. So I've been writing on this blog for, or since 2004, I think, if you go all the way back. So I've written a lot of stuff on here and it's just a place that I go back to every once in a while to teach about what I'm thinking and just write about what is in my mind and what I believe in. So that's been a blog that I've been running for a very long time and it's still not where I want it to be, but it's coming together. It's coming together.

Speaker 1: 26:34

All the different podcasts. Look at you. Here's their podcast. Look at this man. Yeah, gosh, look at it. That's a handsome dude man. Thank you so much. Yeah, over 500, I can't imagine how many podcasts, how many times you've been a guest. Look at this man.

Speaker 2: 26:54

And I still need to go back and update it because I've been on a few lately that I haven't added, so this one's definitely gonna go on there. I've added words of changes and the other ones, and I've also spoken on other places. This is the podcast site. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, it's still. It was a really great journey when I got started podcasting, talking to people. Well, it all started with me documenting my beekeeping journey and Gary Vaynerchuk just told me hey, just document your journey, just document what you're going through, and the stories will come. And guess what Podcasting made me the storyteller that I wasn't.

Speaker 1: 27:36

Wow, how cool is that. And then you have another website. This is your. I think this one is very important your home studio website. So there you can see J'nade as well. Man, he's doing a lot helping people with home studios. And J'nade, I'll be honest with you. I try to people that I talk to, I tell them, hey, pastors and people on that side of creating content, that, hey, it's best that you have somebody to help you to do that, because it's gonna help you get your message out more right Without all of the distractions, and so, yeah, man, I totally appreciate you coming through and sharing with us today, and any last words before you get out here.

Speaker 2: 28:26

We gotta do part two? We definitely do gotta do part two. In fact, when you were talking about you're talking to pastors and you're talking to other clerics, about having a good setup, I actually worked with a local church in Arlington, virginia, where I helped them set up a video feed so that they can do live transformation, zoom calls, virtual meetings, and then I've made really good friends with the pastor there and we talk about different things all the freaking time. So, yeah, it's a very strong topic. It's. I think it's one of the reasons for where I got to be, and having that moral ground, moral compass, in your is so, so important, because you wanna be able to stand your ground in what you believe in and not be easily swayed by all the things that are coming in front of us. And you can totally see that and in fact, there's videos about new products and new services coming out all the time. But if you understand what you really need, you can go so long with hardware that you purchased five, 10 years ago like so easily, because physics don't change. Physics don't change right, it's the technology. Companies are creating new products so that they can continue to grow and continue to bring and continue to make money, but as somebody who's creating content, you don't need the best and the latest to create your content and build your following.

Speaker 1: 30:02

All right, well, man, thank you so much for coming, and. I definitely this conversation deserves another interview with you and I am so appreciative that you had to spend time with us today and our audience, and I know that they're going to start bridging those gaps and connecting with people who are all about making the world a better place, and we do it through our words and through the words we put out in the world, through the content.

Speaker 2: 30:34

That's right so thank you, jenae.

Speaker 1: 30:35

God bless you, man, and a peace be upon you and your family. And I'm going to close off with everyone, man, but we'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 2: 30:42

That's great.

Speaker 3: 31:47

You, you.