Akram winston says: April 9, 2013 at 8:10 am
Hello readers,
I take an opportunity to describe the reasons that forced me to leave this religion.
I am often asked, why I left Islam? As absurd as it may be, some Muslims cannot even allow themselves to think that leaving Islam is an option, or even possible. They would rather think that those who leave Islam are paid Jewish agents than accept the fact that people have freedom to think and some may even think that Islam is not for them. The following are my reasons:
Until few years ago I used to think that my faith in Islam was not based on blind imitation but rather was the result of years of investigation and research. The fact that I read a lot of books on Islam, written by people whose thoughts I approved of and delving into philosophies that were within my comfort zone, emphasized my conviction that I had found the truth. All my biased research confirmed my faith. Just like other Muslims, I used to believe that to learn about anything one has to go to the source. Now you may think that the source of Islam is the Qur’an and the hadith. That might be so in theory. But in practice few Muslims read these books to understand them. Muslims get their information about Islam by reading the books written by scholars of Islam. These are apologetic books that deceitfully try to portray Islam in the best light, showing that Muhammad was a holy man and the Qur’an is a “scientific book.” Therefore, I felt no need to look elsewhere in order to find the truth, as I was convinced that I had already found it. As Muslims say “Talabe ilm ba’d az wossule ma’loom mazmoom.” The search for knowledge after gaining it is unwise.
Now I realize this was a mistake. What if we want to learn the truth about one of these dangerous cults? Is it enough to depend only on what the cult leader and his deluded followers say? Wouldn’t it be prudent to widen our research and find out what other people have to say about them? Going to the source makes sense only in scientific matters, because scientists are not “believers.” They do not say something because they have blind faith. Scientists make a critical analysis of the evidence. It is very different from the religious approach which is based entirely on faith and belief.
I suppose it was my acquaintance with the western humanistic values that made me more sensitive and whetted my appetite for democracy, freethinking, human rights, equality, etc. It was when I reread the Qur’an that I came across injunctions that were not on a par with my newfound humanistic values. I was distressed and felt uncomfortable to read teachings like these:
Q.3:90
But those who reject Faith after they accepted it, and then go on adding to their defiance of Faith,- never will their repentance be accepted; for they are those who have gone astray.
Q.16: 106
Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters Unbelief,- except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith – but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty.
One may think that the dreadful penalty mentioned here pertains to the next world. But Muhammad made sure that these people received their penalty in this world as well:
9.14
Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you (to victory) over them, heal the breasts of Believers,
There are also Hadiths that clearly say ” So, wherever you find them, kill them, for there will be a reward for their killers on the Day of Resurrection.”
Elsewhere we read:
Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 260:
Ali burnt some people and this news reached Ibn ‘Abbas, who said, “Had I been in his place I would not have burnt them, as the Prophet said, ‘Don’t punish (anybody) with Allah’s Punishment.’ No doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet said, ‘If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.’ ”
I found many tales of brutality of Muhammad like this story:
Sahih Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 261:
Eight men of the tribe of ‘Ukil came to the Prophet and then they found the climate of Medina unsuitable for them. So, they said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Provide us with some milk.” Allah’s Apostle said, “I recommend that you should join the herd of camels.” So they went and drank the urine and the milk of the camels (as a medicine) till they became healthy and fat. Then they killed the shepherd and drove away the camels, and they became unbelievers after they were Muslims. When the Prophet was informed by a shouter for help, he sent some men in their pursuit, and before the sun rose high, they were brought, and he had their hands and feet cut off. Then he ordered for nails, which were heated and passed over their eyes, and they were left in the Harra (i.e. rocky land in Medina). They asked for water, and nobody provided them with water till they died.
And from partial translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud Book 38, Number 4339
Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu’minin:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) Said: The blood of a Muslim man who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle should not lawfully be shed except only for one of three reasons: a man who committed fornication after marriage, in which case he should be stoned; one who goes forth to fight with Allah and His Apostle, in which case he should be killed or crucified or exiled from the land; or one who commits murder for which he is killed. -Akram winston
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What a pity, Islam’s root and conditions all that, if whatever your wrote is true how come Muslims don’t amend the rules now, as the situations have changed?
To understand Islam, you must understand the harsh circumstances into which the religion was born. The Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad (b.570 AD) was a barren and desolate region with a scorching sun and oppressive heat by day, and a chilling cold at night. There was little vegetative growth, and the nomadic inhabitants lived between jagged rocks and sifting sand dunes.
While Europe and much of the Middle East was transitioning from the Roman to the Byzantine Empire, with roads, irrigation canals, aqueducts, and a culture that included philosophical discourse and theater, the Arabians lived short and brutal lives in warring tribes with very little to offer the rest of the world beyond their own harsh existence.
This explains the inherent hostility in the Qur’an to music and art, which some extremists, such as the Taliban, take quite literally. The religion does not encourage the pursuit of knowledge outside of itself, and it has sometimes been referred to as “the religion which has produced nothing but religion
from Oriana Fallaci, The Rage and the Pride)
The inhospitable climate protected the peninsula from conquest and cultural influence, although the Persians did manage to impose a written language along the coastal edges of the region, which is the origin of Arabic. No foreign army felt that sheep and goats were worth taking from the desert fighters and the area was remarkably isolated. The renaissance of knowledge that the rest of the world had been experiencing since the Greek revival was largely missed out on by the Arabs, whose entire energies were devoted to daily survival against the ruthless environment and other tribes.
For these people, morality was dictated merely by necessity, and obligations did not extend beyond one’s tribe. This is a critical basis for the development of the Islamic attitude toward those outside the faith, including the moral principle that the ethics of any act are determined only by whether or not it benefits Muslims.
There were pagan traditions in Arabia, particularly among those based in the trading centers, such as Mecca and Medina. Kaaba, the cube-like structure at Mecca that houses a black rock, was worshipped by certain tribes with a circling ritual that was later borrowed by Muhammad’s followers (there were at five other such structures in Arabia at the time). Likewise, Allah was the name that had been given to the moon god, many centuries before Muhammad’s time.
Muhammad later created Islam based on these crude pagan practices as well as basic theological elements of Christianity and Judaism according to his own (often inaccurate) understanding. His erroneous interpretation of Christianity, for example, is often attributed to an early experience with fringe cults in the Palestinian region (then known as Syria).
Early Life at Mecca
Muhammad was born around 570 AD in Mecca. He grew up poor and orphaned on the margins of society, which was controlled by tribal chiefs and trading merchants. He worked for his uncle, Abu Talib, as a camel herder. Although his uncle had some standing in the community, Muhammad himself did not rise above his lowly station until he was 25, when he met and married a wealthy widow who was 15 years older.
His wife’s business gave him opportunity to travel and acquire knowledge that was not quite as accessible to the local population. He would later use this to his advantage by
incorporating it into his “revelations” from Allah, particularly the tales from other religion.
Having now attained a comfortable lifestyle and the idle time that wealth affords, Muhammad would wander off occasionally for periods of meditation and contemplation. One day, at the age of 40, he told his wife that he had been visited by the angel Gabriel. Thus began a series of revelations which lasted almost until his death 23 years later. The Qur’an is based on the oral traditions of these revelations. The Hadith is a collection of narrations of the life and deeds of Muhammad. The Sira is his recorded biography. The Sunnah is the said to be his way of life.
With his wife’s influence and support, Muhammad began trying to convert those around him to his new religion – an amalgamation of Judeo-Christian theology and pagan tradition that grew more sophisticated over time. In the beginning, he did his best to compromise his teachings with the predominant beliefs of the community’s elders, such as combining all 300 of their idols under the name “Allah.”
Preaching and Persecution at Mecca
According to Muslim historians, the Meccans did not mind Muhammad preaching his religion, nor did they feel threatened by it. This changed only after the self-proclaimed prophet began attacking the local religion, including the customs and ancestors of the people (Ishaq 167). This was enough to stir up the resentment of the influential leaders of Mecca, who then mocked his humble background against his pretentious claims.
Still, Mecca at the time was a tolerant society. Muhammad was allowed to attack the local customs for thirteen years, even though the town’s economy depended on the annual pilgrimage attended by visiting pagans.
At first, Muhammad was only successful with friends and family. After thirteen years, “the street preacher” could boast only about 70 determined followers, who called themselves called Muslims.
Relations with the Meccans turned particularly sour after an episode known as “the Satanic Verses,” in which Muhammad agreed to recognize the local gods in addition to Allah. This delighted the Meccans, who generously extended their welcome. But Muhammad soon changed his mind after seeing his own people begin to lose faith in him. He claimed that Satan had spoken through him, and he rescinded recognition of
the Meccan gods (Tabari 1192).
The locals intensified their mockery of Muslims and made life difficult for them. Although Muslims today often use the word “persecution” to describe this ordeal (justifiably, in some cases), it is important to note that the earliest and most reliable biographers (Ishaq and Tabari) do not record the death of a single Muslim at the hands of a Meccan during this period.
This fact is a source of embarrassment to Muslims, since Muhammad was the first to use deadly force… and at a later time, when it was unnecessary. As such, sympathetic narratives of the early Meccan years usually exaggerate the struggle of the Muslims with claims that they were “under constant torture.” This is highly unlikely, however, since the only Muslim to die was an older woman who “fell prematurely” from stress, not physical torture (Muhammad’s own daughter would die in the same fashion from harassment by Muslims soon after his death).
Modern storytellers and filmmakers (such as those behind 1976’s The Message) have been known to invent fictional victims of Meccan murder, either to dramatize their own tale or to provide justification for what followed. But, in fact, the only Muslim whose life was truly in danger was that of Muhammad – after 13 years of being allowed to mock the local religion.
The Hijra – Flight from Mecca to Medina
The death of his uncle, Abu Talib, in 619 left Muhammad without a protector against the Meccan leaders, who were losing patience with him. The true agitator in this situation, however, is quite clearly Muhammad himself, as even Muslim historians note. Note this account of what happened at Abu Talib’s deathbed, as the Meccans implored him one last time for peace with his nephew:
Abu Sufyan, with other sundry notables, went to Abu Talib and said: “You know the trouble that exists between us and your nephew, so call him and let us make an agreement that he will leave us alone and we will leave him alone; let him have his religion and we will have ours.” (Ishaq 278)
Muhammad rejected the offer of peaceful co-existence. His new religion was obviously intended to dominate all others, not be on equal standing with them.
His search for political alliance led him to make a treaty of war against the Meccans with the people of Medina, another Arab town to the north (Ishaq 299-301). This was too much for the Meccans to take, and so they finally sought to capture Muhammad and put him to death.
Although this sounds harsh against Western standards, it is important to note the contrast between their reaction and that of Muhammad, when he had the opportunity to deal with perceived treachery in Medina at a later date.
The Meccans limited their aggression to Muhammad himself. This is quite clear from the episode in which Muhammad escapes his home by using his son-in-law, Ali, to trick his would-be assassins into thinking that they had him cornered (Ishaq 326). No harm was done to Ali or his wife, both of whom remained in the city for several days to complete Muhammad’s business transactions.
Compare this to the episode of the Banu Qurayza (detailed below), in which Muhammad slaughtered an entire tribe of people based on their leader having switched loyalties in a conflict in which they didn’t even participate.
The year that Muhammad fled Mecca for Medina was 622, which marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
Medina and the Origin of Jihad
Stinging from the rejection of his own town and tribe, it was at Medina that Muhammad’s message began to become more intolerant and ruthless – particularly as he gained power.
To fund his quest for control, Muhammad directed his followers to raid Meccan caravans in the holy months, when the victims would least expect it. Revelations were conveniently provided to him, which allowed his people to murder innocent drivers and steal in his service. The people around him gradually developed a lust for things that could be taken in battle, including material comforts and captured women and children.
Often the people captured in battle would be brought before the self-proclaimed prophet, where they would plead for their lives, arguing, for example, that they would never have treated the Muslims that way. The Hadith are quite clear in portraying Muhammad as largely unmoved by their pleas, and ordering their deaths anyway, often by horrible means. In one case, he orders a man slain, telling him that “hell-fire” will take care of the poor fellow’s orphaned daughter.
The raids on caravans preceded the first major battle involving a Muslim army, the Battle of Badr. This was the spot where the Meccans had sent their own army to protect their caravans from Muslim raiders. Although, Muslims today like to claim that they only attack in self-defense, this was clearly not the case in Muhammad’s time. In fact, he had to compel his reluctant warriors with promises of paradise and assurances that their religion was more important than the lives of others.
The Consolidation of Power
Muhammad defeated the Meccan army at Badr, which emboldened him to begin dividing and conquering the three local Jewish tribes at Median, which had made the mistake of accepting his presence but rejecting his claims to prophethood. These were the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Nadir, and the Banu Quyrayza. How each of these tribes met their fate is insightful into the Muslim mindset, which employs an inherent double standard in relations with those outside the faith.
To try and gain their favor, Muhammad briefly preached that Christians and Jews could attain salvation through their own faith. In fact, he changed his followers’ direction for prayer from Mecca to Jerusalem, which prompted the Jews’ tolerance of him while he worked surreptitiously for the power to dominate them. These earlier concessions and teachings were later revoked by Muhammad, since the Jews ultimately refused his religion. The rare early verses of tolerance in the Qur’an are abrogated by later verses such as 9:29.
The Qaynuqawere driven from their homes and land on the pretext that one of their own had harassed a Muslim woman. Although the offender was killed prior to this by a Muslim, the Muslim was also killed by Jews in retaliation for the first murder.
After laying siege to the entire community and defeating the tribe, Muhammad wanted to put every male member to death, but was talked out of it by an associate – something that Allah later “rebuked” him over. The Qaynuqa were forced into exile and the Muslims took their possessions and property, making it their own. Muhammad personally reserved a fifth of the ill-gotten gain for himself.
The episode helped ingrain within Islam the immature principle of group identity, whereby any member of a religion or social unit outside of Islam is just as guilty as any of their peers who insult or harm a Muslim – and just as deserving of punishment. Muhammad’s punishments usually did not fit the crime.
Members of the second tribe, the Banu Nadir, were accused of plotting to kill Muhammad, even though no one lost their life. For this, Muhammad laid siege to their community, forcing the people to surrender. Like the Qaynuqa, these original inhabitants of Medina were then banished from their homes and land by the Muslim newcomers, who again took as much as they could for themselves.
In a critical example of how deception is sanctioned under Islam, a surviving contingent of the Banu Nadir (under Usayr ibn Zarim) was tricked into leaving their fortress by promise of peace talks. The contingent of Muslims sent by Muhammad to escort them, however, easily slaughtered them once the victims let down their guard .
The Qurayza Massacre
By the time the Banu Qurayza met their fate, Muhammad was wealthy and powerful from his defeat of the other two tribes.
The Jews of the Banu Qurayza tasted Muhammad’s wrath after a portion half-heartedly sided with Meccan armies during a siege of Medina (the Battle of the Trench). More than likely, those who did were trying to preempt Muhammad’s designs against them after seeing what he had done to the other Jews.
Although they later surrendered peacefully to the Muslims, Muhammad determined to have every man of the tribe executed, along with every boy that had reached the initial stages of puberty (between the ages of 12 and 14). He had a ditch dug outside of the town and had the victims brought in several groups. Each person would be forced to kneel, and their head would be cut off and then dumped along with the body into the trench.
Between 700 and 900 men and boys were slaughtered by the Muslims after their surrender.
The surviving children of the men became slaves of the Muslims, and their widows became the sex slaves of their own killers. This included the Jewish girl, Reihana, who became one of Muhammad’s personal concubines the very night that her husband was killed. The prophet of Islam apparently “enjoyed her pleasures” (ie. raped her) even as the execution of her people was taking place.
Women were much like any other possession taken in battle, to be done with however their captors pleased. Muhammad ordered that a fifth be reserved for him, many of who became his sex slaves, in addition to his twelve wives. Some of these he doled out to others.
At one point following a battle, Muhammad providedinstructions on how women should be raped after capture, telling his men not to worry about coitus interruptus, since “Allah has written whom he is going to create.”
Following the battle against the Hunain, late in his life, Muhammad’s men were reluctant to rape the captured women in front of their husbands (who were apparently still alive to witness the abomination), but Allah came to the rescue with a handy “revelation” that allowed this. (This is the origin of Sura 4:24 according to Abu Dawud 2150).
The Origin of Islamic Imperialism
The tribes around the Muslims began to convert to Islam out of self-preservation. Those that didn’t were gradually defeated in battle in a pattern that became the blueprint for the successful establishment of Islam as a world religion. Typically, the enemy’s trust would be gained by non-intrusive measures in which the Muslims would insert themselves into the foreign community while professing their respect for local traditions and political structures. As they began to gain power, however, they would divide loyalties and exercise violence to acquire local hegemony.
The excuse for military campaign began to shrink to the point that it hardly existed at all. Muhammad told his followers that Muslims were meant to rule over other people, and this seemed to be the drivingforce behind Jihad.
This is demonstrated most plainly by the brutal conquest of the people of Khaybar, a peaceful farming community that was not at war with the Muslims. Muhammad marched against them anyway, taking them by surprise and easily defeating them. He had many of the men killed, simply for defending their town, and enslaved the women and children.
Muhammad suspected that the town’s treasurer was holding out and had his men barbarically torturethe poor fellow by building a fire on his chest until he revealed the location of hidden treasure. Afterwards, the prophet of Islam beheaded the man and “married” his wife on the same day that she became a widow (she was forced to first pass through the hands of one of his lieutenants). Given that the woman’s father was also killed by Muhammad, it isn’t much of a stretch to say that true love had very little to do with this “marriage.”
A Life of Hedonism and Narcissism
Muhammad’s personal life became the picture of hedonism and excess, all justified by frequent “revelations.”
The man, who earlier in his career had justified his claims as a prophet by sayingthat he “asked for no reward” from others, reversed course and began to demand a fifth of all booty taken from conquered tribes. According to his biographers, he became fatfrom living off this enormous share of ill-gotten gain.
In the span of a dozen years, he married eleven women and had access to an array of sex slaves. When he wanted a woman, even if she were the wife of another man, his own daughter-in-law, or a child as young as 6, he was able to justify his lust and inevitable consummation with an appeal to Allah’s revealed will for his sex life- which was then preserved forever in the Qur’an, to be faithfully memorized by future generations for him whom it has no possible relevance.
(For the Muslim faithful, it must surely be a source of embarrassment that Allah evidently had more interest in Muhammad’s personal sex life than he did about tolerance. There are also far more open-ended verses that advocate “fighting in the cause of Allah” than in showing love for all people. Allah encourages sex with slaves as well)
Muhammad also had personal critics executed, including poets. One of these was a mother of five children, who was stabbed to death by Muhammad’s envoy after a suckling infant was removed from her breast. Other innocent people were killed merely because they were of a different religion).
The double standards of Islam that are so recognizable today were ingrained by the prophet of Islam during his lifetime. An example would be the death of Um Kirfa, a middle-aged woman who had the bad fortune to be the aunt of a tribal leader who raided one of Muhammad’s caravans (in the same fashion that Muhammad raided others).
Missing the apparent irony, Muhammad did not take kindly to having done to him what he had been doing to non-Muslims. He had the woman’s legs tied separately to two camels, then set the camels off in opposite directions, tearing the woman’s body in two. He also killed her two young sons – presumably in gruesome fashion – as well.
Today’s Muslims inherent this legacy of self-interest and disregard for those outside the faith. They may or may not agree with terrorist attacks on non-Muslims, but they are nearly united in their belief that the victims have no right to strike back, even if it is in self-defense.
The Taking of Mecca
Though many of the Arab and Jewish tribes were eliminated and absorbed through military victory and forced conversion, the city of Mecca required a different sort of strategy.
In 628, six years after fleeing, Muhammad’s followers were allowed to re-enter the city under an agreement whereby he set aside his title as “Prophet of Allah.” This was a temporary ploy that enabled him to gain a political foothold in the city through the same “fifth column” activities that are still used today by organizations such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which use their host’s language of religious tolerance to disguise an ulterior agenda that includes systematic discrimination against non-Muslims.
Many of his followers were disappointed that Muhammad had made concessions to the Meccans, not understanding how it actually fit perfectly with his ultimate agenda of domination. It was during this time that he led the campaign against the Khaybar, to assuage their lust for blood and looting.
Technically, Muhammad was the first to break the treatywith the Meccans when he violated the portion of it that restricted him from accepting members of the other tribe into his camp. Although he had no personal obligation to it himself, the prophet of Islam held the other party to the letter of the law, particularly after he amassed the power to conquer in overwhelming fashion.
The excuse that Muhammad eventually used to march his armies into Mecca was provided when a tribe allied to the Meccans conducted a raid on a tribe allied with the Medinans. Although a true man of peace would have heeded the fact that his enemy did not want war, and used non-violent means to resolve the tension while respecting sovereignty, Muhammad merely wanted power and vengeance.
This became the pattern of Islam’s dramatic expanse following Muhammad’s death. Muslims would conquer a region and sign “peace treaties” with new neighbors. Then, when they were confident in their military strength, the Muslims would look for an excuse to provoke a conflict and renew aggression.
Following Mecca’s surrender, Muhammad put to death those who had previously insulted him. One of the persons sentenced was his former scribe, who had written revelations that Muhammad said were from Allah. The scribe had previously recommended changes to the wording that Muhammad offered (based on some of the bad grammar and ineloquent language of Allah) and the “prophet” agreed. This caused the scribe to apostatize based on his belief that real revelations should have been immutable.
Although the scribe escaped death by “converting to Islam” at the point of a sword, others weren’t so lucky. One was a slave girl who was executed on Muhammad’s order because she had written songs mocking him.
In what would also become the model for future Muslim military conquests, those Meccans who would not convert to Islam were required to pay a tax (the jizya) and accept third-class status. Not surprisingly, almost the entire city – which had previously rejected his message – immediately “converted” to Islam once Muhammad came back with a sword in this hand.
To this day, people of other religions are barred even from entering Mecca, the city where Muhammad was free to preach in contradiction to the established religion. Islam is far less tolerant even than the more primitive faiths that it supplanted. A person preaching the original Arab polytheism on the streets of Mecca today would be quickly executed.
Jihad and Jizya
Tellingly, some of the most violent verses in the Qur’an were handed down following Muhammad’s ascension to power, when there was no threat to the Muslim people. The 9th Sura of the Qur’an exhorts Muslims to Jihad and dominance over other religions:
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.” (9:29)
The verse that follows curses Christians and Jews by name and says “May Allah destroy them” (as with other sections of the Qur’an, it is unclear whether it is Allah or Muhammad speaking).
Muhammad ordered 30,000 men to march on Christian lands (which were Byzantine at the time). It is possible that he believed false rumors of an army amassed against him, but there is absolutely no evidence of such a force having been assembled. Instead, Muhammad subjugated the local people and extorted “protection” money from them – something that has come to be known as the jizya(a tax that non-Muslims pay to Muslims).
Another episode from this period that offers insight into the legacy of Muhammad is the forced conversion of the al-Harith, one of the last Arab tribes to hold out against Muslim hegemony. Muhammad gave the chief of the tribe three days to accept Islam before sending his army to destroy them.
Not surprisingly, the entire people immediately accepted the Religion of Peace!
The Legacy of Islamic Imperialism
Muhammad died of a fever at the age of 63, with his violent religion now firmly rooted in the Arab lands. Through his teachings, his followers viewed worldly life as a constant physical battle between the House of Peace (Dar al-Salaam) and the House of War (Dar al-Harb).
Over the next fourteen centuries, the bloody legacy of this extraordinary individual would be a constant challenge to those living on the borders of the religion’s hegemony. The violence that Muslim armies would visit on people across North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and into Asia as far as the Indian subcontinent is a tribute to a founder who condoned subjugation, rape, murder and forced conversion in the cause of the spread of his religion.
In Muhammad’s words: “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’ And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them…” (Bukhari 8:387)
It is certainly the basis not just for modern day terror campaigns against Western infidels (and Hindus and Buddhists) but also the broad apathy that Muslims across the world have to the violence, which is an obvious enabler.
As Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir recently put it, “If the West wants to have peace, then they have to accept Islamic
I totally agree. The verses of the Quran had been revealed during specific conditions so when you come across a verse on wars etc please research the sitiuations when they were revealed and then make your opinions
Reply at https://www.interfaithshaadi.org/?p=5304
I am longing for the day that humanity becomes united and we embrace each other as brothers and sisters. However, religion is often the cause of disunity and Islam is the greatest obstacle. But its end is nigh.
Many modernist Muslims have become desperate and to save their faith, they blame the Mullahs and believers for not practicing the “true Islam”. That is whitewashing the truth. Such posture may be politically correct but is intellectually dishonest. We have to expose Islam and show that the tree is rotten from its roots.
Look around yourself! See those Iranians who have rejected Islam now love the entire world, and see how they respect the rights of the people who have different beliefs. See how they respect the Baha’is, the Zoroastrians, the Christians, the Jews, the Hindus, the agnostics and the atheists, the very people that they hated while they were blindly following the Messenger of hate. By rejecting Islam they have set themselves free of their religious hate. Now they see themselves as humans and feel united with the rest of humanity. All the prejudices and religious hate is gone. Then look at those who are still caught in the claws of Islam. See how they spew venom at everybody. If we get rid of Islam, we will get rid of our hate against each other and we can be a united nation again and build a hate-free world.
Our responsibility is to expose Islam. We have to aim at the heart of this beast. Don’t buy the western cliché that people’s beliefs are sacred. That is a fallacy. People are sacred, their beliefs are not. If a belief preaches hate that belief is not sacred. It should not be respected but denounced and repudiated. You have to fight it even if its followers are offended. Nazism was never a sacred belief, even if millions of Germans believed in it. Pay Muslims with their own coins. Muhammad desecrated the holy places of the pagans of his time and demolished their idols. Let us pay them back in kind and demolish their idols. Albeit, unlike Muhammad who used sword and spilled blood of innocent people, we use our keyboards and love them.
When Gandhi praised Muhammad, he either did not know the truth about Islam or as a politician he could not say the truth, which would have fueled the animosity between the Muslims and the Hindus. As a Hindu it was not his business to criticize Islam anyway. But we know the truth and we are children born in Islam. It is our responsibility to open the eyes of our fellow countrymen and women and save our motherland from this monster.
The fight against Islam should not stop once we eliminate the barbaric regime of Iran. At that time we have to intensify our fight. The Muslims will do all the tricks in the book to stop us. They would ask us to leave them alone. They would plead, “to you your religion, to me mine”. But we should not give them any truce. We should use all the media in our disposition, we should write as many books as we can, we should spread knowledge as much as we can until Islam is eradicated completely.
Islam is a religion of Ignorance. It thrives through ignorance. When you fight the ignorance, Islam will die. Islam is the religion of darkness; the light of knowledge will dissipate it.
The first step is to establish our freedom and the freedom of speech. Then, it is possible to eliminate Islam in one decade. Few will remain but they will be ashamed to declare their religion publicly. The Mosques will be deserted and many of them will be converted to museums, libraries and music halls for our kids to practice and perform. They will be the most beautiful libraries in the world. Finally our majestic Iranian architecture will be in the service of our culture, knowledge and art.
Hundreds of books and articles will be printed refuting Islam and the Muslim scholars will be challenged to answer them. The weakness of Islam will be exposed and its death will be ascertained. Just as the Islamic fanaticism from Iran spread to the neighboring countries, the massive denouncing of Islam will also affect the intellectuals in the entire Islamic world. The scholars in other Islamic countries will start to debate. For the first time the Muslims will see the real face of Islam. People will grasp the power and rule of the Mullah and religious authorities will end. Islamic countries will compare the progress of other non-Islamic countries to their own and see how Islam has hold them back from progress and has reduced them to poverty. Within a generation (less than 30 years) Islam will be a dead corpse. There will be nothing left of it except a sore memory and a bad name.
This is the greatest change that is going to take place in our (Islamic) world in the coming decades. It will be the renascence of the Islamic countries. The intellectuals and the freethinkers of this world have a tremendous responsibility. It is up to them to make sure that this renascence is not derailed by violence. The renascence must take place in our minds and social clashes must be completely avoided.
Islam teaches violence. Muslims would seek every opportunity to use violence and defend their religion by violence. They will call for Jihad. They will use terrorism. This is the way that Islam has grown and this is the way that it has maintained its grip for 1400 years. Islam’s strength is in violence. Violence is the method of choice for Muslims. It is encouraged in Quran and the Mullahs will call for it again. We should not let that happen. We should not give them this victory. We should avoid situations where they may be tempted to use violence. We have to avoid personal confrontations. The clashes are the clashes of ideas. We fight against Islam, not Muslims.
Islam must be attacked from two fronts. One is Muhammad himself, his immoral character is an eloquent proof that this man could not possibly qualify to be a messenger of God. His weak moral fiber must be exposed. There are plenty of Sahih hadiths that reveal the less-than-holy personality and conduct of the messenger of Allah. The second front is Quran. We have to make everyone see the errors and the absurdities of this book. No one can ever write a book more damaging to Islam than Quran. The Masses of Muslims who read that book daily, do not understand it and are unaware of its barbaric nature. Those who know it are vaccinated against reason. They have taken small doses of this poison every day for so long that now they are immune to any logical and rational thinking. They see with their own eyes the fallacies of Quran, its errors and its barbarism, but are unmoved, unaffected, untouched. It is inconceivable that any human being with a grain of conscience read the absurdities of Quran and not be aghast.
Once this ideological revolution takes place among Muslims, the effects of that will reverberate in other parts of the world and the thinkers of other religions will see the absurdities of their own Faiths and will come down hard at the irrational beliefs of their own fathers. Fundamentalism in one religion feeds the fundamentalism in other religions. It is as if there is a competition and people of all religions vie with each other to be more fanatical. When the Taliban issued the Fatwa that the Hindus in Afghanistan should wear distinctive badges, immediately a terrorist Hindu group that calls itself Hindu Unity issued a warning that they will start killing the innocent Muslims in India if Hindus is Afghanistan are harmed. This senseless competition has brought the world to the verge of a catastrophe of unimaginable consequences.
However, the reverse of that is also true. Once the bigot fundamentalists of other religions see Islam is dying and it is under attack by the intellectuals of its own; once they see that Muslims themselves have risen to slay this beast, they will have no reason to exist. To fight with other fundamentalist is the raison d’ etre of the fundamentalists of any religion. When there is no one to fight with, there is no reason to be.
Once I was active in an Internet based discussion group, a Hindu used to come and read my anti-Islamic material to use as ammunition against his Muslim opponents. One day he sent me a surprisingly refreshing email. He thanked me for opening his eyes. He said that my criticism of Islam has made him question his own religion and made him see that there are similar flaws in it too. He confessed that he is no more a Hindu but a Humanist. It’s important to note that I had never said a word against Hinduism and I don’t know much about it. Isn’t it wonderful? By fighting the dogmatism and superstitions of our own beliefs we are fighting against dogmatism in general and we are bringing about the world unity! 🙂
This is an exciting time to be alive. You and I and ordinary people like us, can actually change the course of history. We can kill the monster of religious hate, liberate its victims and not only usher them into a new age of enlightenment but ease the tension between Muslims and the rest of the world and establish universal peace in this planet.
Peace, love and unity will reign in this world when we eliminate hate and ignorance. Islam is the biggest source of hate.
The islam is an incurable decease indeed.
They are people who have a very change look at life.
Muslims don’t respect other cultures, they also do not respect there superiors, us.
Muslims, and espessialy arabic muslims only care about there own people, they are racists who hate other races.
Also the ones that live in are country, and spread there decease into our nations, our people.
This is a virus, like amadeus said, and a strong one to.
European studies learned that if it goes on like this for decades further, half of europe will be a muslim.
This is partially caused by the number of kids they make, they often have very big familys, 4-6 children is normal for them, and white Christian family’s do not give birth to so much children any more.
That is one of the reasons why the population of muslims grow so fast.
These people, with the kind of believes they have, have to be stopped by any means necessary.
Because if there population in Europe is to high to stop, they will get there Jihad in western civilitation, and if we can’t stop it, we will have a shariah here.
Nostradamus predicted a war from muslims against our society in 2011, which will reach it’s climax in 2014, when terrorist are going to attack the Vaticaan.
And then the pope is going to declare war against all muslims, and a place where much muslims go will be destroyed..
I can’t wait to see it happen
Vist:
http://www.usislam.org
http://www.muslimconverts.com
to know about stories converting to islam
Hi every body,
Removing pubic hair is one of the parts of the fitrah (natural disposition). The Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) has said:
“The fitrah consists of five things: circumcision, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails, plucking the armpit hairs and shaving the pubic hairs”
(Al-Bukhari and Muslim.)
For pubic hair removal, shaving is most utilized. Whether you’re a male or female, get a fresh razor and follow these steps to avoid in-grown hairs and infections which feel itchy and appear as painful bumps.
Sit in a chair with your feet up above your waist and legs spread apart.
Trim your Pubic Hair
To make this process easier, trim the genital area before applying the razor! You’ll save blades this way. Electric razors, clippers (with safety guards) or scissors work well. To get a closer cut and avoid unwanted nicks, pull the hair up then trim away.
Soaking
Take a long, warm bath beforehand. This softens coarse pubic hair and makes it easier to shave.
Lathering
Apply shaving cream or gel to lather the pubic area. A thin layer of petroleum jelly will help with a closer shave. Soap doesn’t make the best lather for pubic shaving. Note that some people may have allergic reactions to certain shaving cream.
Shaving
It is recommended to shave the same way the hair grows. Avoid constantly stroking the same area during the shave because this may irritate the skin. Aim for two to three short strokes. Do stretch the skin to reach the difficult hairy spots.
Attention First-Timers! The pubic area is sensitive and may take time to adjust to the razor. Don’t worry about a smooth shave the first month.
Exfoliating (Removing dead skin)
It’s important to clean your skin after shaving. The best way is with a “loofa sponge” and your normal body soap. Due to sensitivity of this area, rub lightly with the sponge to prevent skin irritation. This will help remove anything that may clog the pores.
Moisturizing
Rinse, dry and moisturize the freshly shaven pubic area. Baby oil and Aloe Vera work well. It’s best to avoid moisturizers that contain fragrances and colors, since this may cause irritation. You may also want to use baby powder for comfort.
Hygienic Maintenance
Wash your shaven genitals on a daily basis. This helps remove unwanted oils and sweat. Moisturize and powder the area daily to avoid irritation. If you keep the hair short, you’ll avoid stubbles, which causes itching. Try to wear cotton underwear and to stay away from tight fitting cloths pants. The lack of air circulation and friction of tight cloths may lead to in-grown hairs.
A Few Warnings
For some people, pubic hair is always easy. However, for many other people it presents problems. When the genital hair begins to grow back, itching often occurs. Red bumps and ingrown hair may appear. To relieve the irritation, you can apply cortisone cream. If these symptoms cause you stress or don’t go away, see a doctor.
People who are allergic and react to some shaving creams. This area seems to have heightened sensitivity. Furthermore, if it does react, your natural sweat and the natural abrasion this area receives will most likely make your life miserable (temporarily). Use hypoallergenic shaving creams or consider avoiding shaving all together (try another method).
Some women have noted genital sensitivity during menstruation. If shaving becomes uncomfortable for women during their periods, they should time pubic shaving around their menstrual cycle.
If shaving does irritate your skin, waxing may not cause as much irritation or in-grown hairs.
Dear readers, I too left Islam.
”There are many reasons to leave a religion.
There are many reasons to disbelieve in gods. Doing either doesn’t necessarily mean one will jump straight into bed with a replacement. It can also be liberating life experience. It doesn’t have to leave a religion shaped hole that needs filling. It can set you free to just explore yourself and the universe and take it as it comes. To expand and breathe life unchained.
Some people don’t even have any kind of emotional attachments to religion, instead having practical or social attachments. Any of these kinds of attachments can be replaced. But you’re not going to put much thought into finding a replacement if they are still holding your attention.
Islam never really held my attention.
I always found myself out of synch with it. Praying was boring, fasting was uncomfortable, the structured rule set was frustrating and claustrophobic, often ridiculously arbitrary.
When I asked questions, my curiosity was met with trite answers that left me unsatisfied, left me wanting, left me cold. Programmed platitudes, clichés and canards that rang insincere and hollow to me. And that was on a good day when the answers were somewhat constructive.
It was more often than not a harsh, impatient and stifling condemnation of the mere idea of questioning such things.
The divine directives just didn’t sit right with me either. I saw the abuses and injustices that were a manifest result of them, not only to me but to others, and this vexed me. Like a splinter in my brain.
All this was compounded by the overbearing masculinity of Islam. This is a man’s religion. This last point troubled my conscience perhaps most of all. Long before I actually did any reading or investigation into the rationale of how things came to be this way for me.
I wouldn’t describe my deconversion as an emotional expulsion of religion. I think it was a practical, sensual thing. Islam smelled like bullshit and the trail of evidence pointed away from Islam. You start doubting one thing and it starts a chain reaction. It’s like a game of Jenga – you start removing blocks and eventually the little tower becomes so unstable that it collapses. I was an unbeliever even before I realised what one was, simply by ongoing practical deduction. But there was no “Eureka!” moment. There was no BOOM! I am an Atheist! It was a complete non-event – the end of an organic, gradual process. The result of largely an unconscious effort. A by-product of being a student of life. Of being curious. Of being unwilling to stop thinking.
Some people are just not born to be Muslim. Some people have a wilder lust for the world and an animal ‘fear of the trap’ that makes resistance to systems of life like Islam part of their very being. And that’s perhaps more typical of adolescence than adulthood. Maybe I got out just in time, before I made a terrible compromise to my existence. I can’t really speak for emotional attachments in this case, but I can maybe explain why Islam is not even remotely attractive to me except maybe as a chew toy when I’m bored.
First, the theological claims of Islam have been proven to be false again and again by people much more informed and eloquent than me. Simply by its own internal inconsistencies and fallacies as a work of literature, the Quran is self-refuting. Poorly written, poorly structured, profoundly lacking in original insight and depth, contradictory to the point of needing its own ad hoc system of abrogation, it is a featherweight compared to equivalent works in other traditions. Keep in mind that the Quran is allegedly the unaltered words of a god, verbatim. So sure are Muslims of this that they have fetishised the Quran to the point of becoming a self-parody. To the point of having an existential crisis (and sometimes even to the point of violence) if it is defaced or disrespected.
The Quran only makes matters worse for itself by being such an arrogant work. Making bold claims of perfection, challenging its reader to find better; “Whoever denies it, let him produce a similar one.” The human authors of Islam painted themselves into a corner by proclaiming it to be no less than the Final Testament from the God of Abraham, and further, that Mohammed was the seal prophet, appointed to confirm, correct, complete and give closure to the prophesies that came before. It’s an incredibly conceited and short-sighted thing to do, but quite understandable when you take into account the apocalyptic doomsayer culture it was born from, authored by those who thought the world would end ages ago, perhaps even in their own lifetime. And of course, it didn’t end. And so, the supposed measure of divine wisdom revealed in the Quran uncannily resembles the superstitious and ignorant views of the men of that period, frozen in time.
The authors of Islam have essentially tied their own hands and, by extension, the hands of future Muslims – trapping them in a rigid narrative prison with only limited source material to draw upon. This is the price to pay for writing the final words of God in the dark ages. Slim pickings indeed.
Hence why so many Muslim careers have been made on spin and mitigation, bogus philosophy and pseudoscience, trying to find or manufacture hidden meaning behind exhausted and defunct lines of text that have simply not aged well, trying to exploit the wiggle room in its more ambiguous verses. We end up with the so-called scientific miracles of the Quran, various strained numerology attempts and desperate pattern seeking. It’s all so forced and contrived.
A sad and pitiful attempt to keep the Quran relevant in a world that’s already moved on.
Maybe millennia ago when books were simply not available the Quran might have stood out as the most profound and pertinent thing heard in that region, but what are people’s excuses these days? You can walk into any library or bookshop and take a random book off of the shelf and prove this point: the Quran has not stood the test of time. It has been outshined, outclassed, outmatched by superior written works. Superseded and even preceded by great poets and orators who have already said any of its meaningful content a thousand times in a thousand ways, and conveyed it more eloquently and succinctly.
In the grander scope of the world stage, the Quran relies almost entirely on its exotic and foreign flavour to lend it any mysterious power. And this exotic allure has been taken hostage by Muslims. God, apparently, only speaks in Classical Arabic now. The Quran cannot be translated. It is no longer the Quran once translated.
The Message for all people and for all time, the perfect and Final Testament of God, that shines clear and evidently true to all, unaltered since its original revelation, on which the fate of our immortal souls rest upon, can only ever be understood in an ancient Middle-Eastern regional dialect. This is layer upon layer of absurdity.
What exactly is the Message? What could be so important that the Grand Architect of the Universe took time out of its schedule to communicate with humanity for the very last time? What’s all the boasting about?
Never before has one boasted so much about so little.
A mediocre oral tradition, at best, which pertains only to a small province of a single planet over a narrow span of time, that cannot even remain relevant in that short timespan without abrogating itself.
Annals of petty local feuds, regional drama, and the defunct tribal taboos of an ignorant culture that thought the earth was flat. Randomly interspersed with reworked myths. Doubling as an instruction manual for holy war and a constitution for the mundane micro-management of a growing empire and future conquest. Marketed primarily to secure the interest and loyalty of fighting men, wherein it divides spoils of war in great detail, blesses the taking of sex slaves, screws women over for eternity, ultimately promising a paradise men’s club for the obedient and diligent, tempting them with superficial material prizes and wealth and, of course, puts a little extra aside for the main player, Mohammed.
Now, I love a good myth. A good saga. Larger than life characters, heroes and villains, champions and monsters, love, honour, bravery, tragedy, deceit, epic swashbuckling human drama. Good old fashioned storytelling really lights me up. In Islam, mythology is a cheap knock off. What the authors of the Quran have managed to do, in the process of plagiarising and cannibalising every tradition that came before, is to ruin great myths. And its biggest crime is surgically removing any modicum of humour from them. Sterilising them to fit in with The Plan.
It has a complete inability to laugh at itself. Islam is where great myths go to die. It is a graveyard of broken myths. One seeking true adventure would do well to follow the trail of breadcrumbs back to the originals it has stolen from. See for yourself the hatchet job those ham-fisted bastards did. This plagiarising is common to its sibling Judeo-Christian religions too. But at least the Christian mythology has the trippy, malaria-fever odyssey of the Book of Revelation. And the Gospel According to John (KJV) kinda reads like a fireside story if you squint your eyes a bit.
What about philosophy in the Quran? Here is what I can write about the philosophy in the Quran: Nothing. There’s nowhere to start. Islam is philosophically sterile. It’s almost as though philosophy didn’t even exist as a great tradition hundreds of years earlier, almost like Islam evolved in a philosophical vacuum. The measure of its failings is revealed when any analysis of the Quran is cross referenced with superior works, some even older. Side by side, we see a child’s finger painting next to the Mona Lisa. It’s almost funny. What a pathetic, infantile stab in the dark at philosophy Islam offers us. What kind of unfortunate and simplistic proto-mind can be satisfied by it? What appetite do I have that otherwise intelligent and respectable Muslims do not? It is a mystery to me. I am literally baffled at the hold these desert fairy tales have over people to this day. How amazing it would be if something so vapid and mundane would placate my wondering mind.
As a system of life Islam takes so much from you. It takes from you and gives back nothing you can’t drink elsewhere from cleaner streams. You’re diving for pearls in poisoned waters. It traps Muslims in a rigid spiritual prison.
A good, subservient, observant Muslim has her or his spiritual journey restricted by the ruleset of Islam. It is not only restricted, but ruthlessly policed by an all seeing eye. There is the overbearing knowledge that you will be judged according to a specific and set standard. You are held back. You are compelled in some cases to fight against your own good conscience, do things no good person should do, for no other reason than: it says so in a book I think is awesome. Like the wise man Jason Bourne once said, “Do you even know why you’re supposed to kill me? Look at what they make you give.”
As an institution, Islam is systematically responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in the world. It is no coincidence. These things don’t just happen to be occurring in Muslim nations. These are the logical conclusions of the directives of Islam, the divine will of a fantasy war god that ancient clerics and superstitious folk decided to name “Allah.”
These things are the cornerstones of its tradition: subdue, suppress, assert, aggress, spread, dehumanise opposition, demonise dissent, sustained by the unwavering and chauvinistic faith in the ascendancy and supremacy of a chosen people. And the sum of all this is vomited out into the world as a political and social movement that opposes democracy and liberal, free-thinking and freedom of expression, with the sole aim of replacing it with an unquestioned and unchallenged totalitarian ideology. This is something I would not want to believe in, support, or swear allegiance to, even if it were miraculously and irrefutably revealed to be of divine behest. Even if Allah himself descended from his throne and wrote proof of his existence across the sky, I’d distance myself from the ponzi scheme as a matter of principle.
I honestly don’t think I ever did manage to rationalise the immorality in the Quran. As soon as I actually found out about Mohammed and his sleazy, violent, entitled and indulgent life, the spell was broken. Utterly and irreparably. How anyone with a working conscience, a love of humanity and want for equality and respect can read about the life of Mohammed and remain impressed – or worse, in full awe of the man – is a mystery to me. Especially as a woman. The more I learned about the Prophet, the more I found him repulsive even for a man of his time. That, and reading the Quran itself. So many obscene verses and unjustifiable commands that it’s impossible to remain enchanted once seen. Magnified a thousand times in the context of an abusive environment, experiencing first-hand the fruits of that toxic manual. I don’t think it ever occurred to me to rationalise it, only to dream harder, make plans for my own destiny and escape that physical and emotional prison.
I flirted with Islam again when I was a little older. With the mindset that, while disgusting and polluted and anathema to real humanity, perhaps there is some deeper truth missed by the misogynist, the supremacist, the predator, the charlatan, who use that book to such great effect. This was at a point when I seriously needed spiritual and moral guidance. But there was none to be found in Islam. Spiritual guidance in Islam is only to be found in those unique individual Muslims who have a very generous and selective interpretation of its traditions. Ones who put being a good person first before being a good Muslim. Good despite Islam, not because of it.
So ultimately, I was faced with that choice of being a good person or being a good Muslim. A human being cannot be both in my eyes. These two things are at opposite ends of the scale for me.
To be an obedient, observant Muslim, you must sacrifice your humanity. You must surrender to a divine will, swear honest fealty to it, without doubt, without questioning. To be a good person you must not only renounce many of the central tenets of Islam, but you must also openly oppose them, wherever they manifest in the world. Then, and only then, can you claim to be a good human with me.
Or, you can compromise – live some kind of half-life, a contradictory creature, torn between faith and your own conscience, drifting this way and that amid your own confused and unbalanced inner equilibrium, fooling yourself that you are free, and valued, and precious to non-existent higher power.
You can pretend that you love an unlovable god, pretend that such a hateful god could ever love you, try to salvage some validation and purpose, some salvation from a book that gives you a little and then takes a lot more. All the time harbouring a self-loathing, a deep rooted knowledge that you are a slave to that same higher power, with your mind shackled and your heart held back from true human interaction, under his ever-present gaze and scrutiny.
That’s no life for me. That isn’t living.
The more I pulled away from that hideous Abrahamic concept of a supreme god, the more alive and vital I was in this gorgeous universe. I was free to be me, the person inside, perfect with all my flaws, comfortable in my own skin, no longer a mind-slave to the dark age ideologies imagined up by sadistic and insane monsters of history, no longer led along by the nose like cattle, no longer living according to the dogma spelled out by long-dead fools whose ideas belong in the graveyard of failed human endeavours, throwbacks to the infancy of our species. The umbilical cord that holds back the ascendancy and mastery of our own spirits and minds must be cut. We’ve crawled along on our belly for too long under religion. We should be walking on our own by now, running by now. We could even be flying by now.
There are better role models in this beautiful world than the so-called Prophet. There are better contributions to the knowledge of the world than the cancerous, poisoned chalice known as the Quran. There is better wisdom out there to find, to add to your own spiritual alchemy, better philosophies, better revelations, better discoveries, better poetic and artistic expression, better hopes and dreams to be had, better love and passions, a much richer, fuller existence – all eclipsed while you are under the black cloud of Islam. Better religions, even.
Everything good that is in me is from elsewhere.
There were times when I almost hated Islam for the life it denied me for so long, never knowing my potential as a member of the human race. I know that potential now. I can taste it, feel it, appreciate it like never before. I penetrated that black cloud like the chick breaking out of the egg. It was like opening my eyes for the first time to a whole new alphabet of feeling and emotion. Like seeing in colour after a lifetime of black and white.
I reject Islam wholeheartedly. I made my choice. I chose to try and be a good person instead of trying to be a good Muslim. The main symptom of doing so was feeling the weight lift off as each and every facet of Islam fell away from me. I have learned I no longer have to surrender my body, mind and soul to the god of the Prophet’s desires, dreams and delusions, and I have realised that I wont be punished for made-up crimes in an imaginary afterlife if I choose not to surrender.
I’ll never go back to Islam. Never. I would be a fool to even entertain the idea. I’ve shed my skin already. My journey has only just begun, my journey of life, with new blood running through me, new verve, new growth, new days, and new hope for the first time – true, tangible hope and possibilities. And with Islam in my rear-view mirror, I have no shame for who I am. No pity for myself, no more fears, no more tears and no regrets. Tried, tested, built to last. The sum of my parts.
This journey of life I am forever grateful for and I can’t begin to describe how excited I am. I can only show those close to me, those making the journey with me. And to those who accept me for who I am and what I am, I will share myself; naked, unashamed, with arms wide open.”
Like Ishina, like me, like hundreds of women, all Muslim women should leave Islam. There are hundreds of reasons to leave Islam. There is not a single good reason not to leave it.