Zakaria Belmehdi is an International Politics graduate from Morocco who has been living in Lithuania since 2013. Having graduated both from Vytautas Magnus University and Vilnius University Zakaria has reached a high level of fluency in the Lithuanian languages. Also, he is a native speaker of Darija (a Moroccan dialect of the Arabic language) and a speaker of French and English. 

In today's podcast I and Zakaria discussed the way of life in Morocco, Lithuania, the Arabic and Lithuanian languages, the complexities of Islam, the differences between Sunni and Shia faiths, differing regional values, attitudes towards friendships, problems with fundamentalism and much more.

Timeline:

00:00 - Intro

01:47 - Why has Zakaria chosen to live in Lithuania?

05:18 - What languages does he speak?

10:06 - Why does Zakaria think that Lithuanian is easy?

17:24 - The Arabic language

23:49 - Standard Arabic vs the Arabic dialects

28:52 - Can you use Standard Arabic to communicate throughout the Arab world?

35:49 - Was it easy for Zakaria to adapt to life in Lithuania?

41:20 - Lithuanian values and friendships

47:23 - Moroccan values and friendships

53:04 - 3 types of friends (according to Aristotle)

57:25 - Social complexities and the rise of fundamentalism in Morocco.

1:04:55 - Why are there conflicts between Sunni and Shia Muslims?

1:10:32- Are Judaism, Islam and Christianity compatible?

1:15:36 - Liberal Islam and Eclecticism

1:19:40 - Zakaria's plans for the future

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Want to get in touch? Contact me via a letter or my socials: https://linktr.ee/pauliusjuodis