hello everyone!
I'll try to keep it short and not bore you to death

I found the forum through KafirGirl blog (anyone has any idea if she's okay?). what an amazing place this is! i'm so happy I found it
I'll cut to the chase. I'm a non-muslim girl, brought up catholic. I'm 100% agnostic now, leaning strongly towards atheism. I was in a stormy relationship with a muslim guy. I'm 25 and he is 23 if that matters to anyone

he is iraqi but spent fair share of his life in saudi, where he now lives. He lived in UK for 5 years and you'd think he is fairly westernized but I don't think so anymore.
Our relationship was secret from his friends because as he said: i would get nasty looks. Obviously what he was doing was against his religion.
But soon he confessed he loved me and he would want me to become his wife but... i need to convert (at least he was honest!).
First, I told him to go to hell but then emotions won. I started my quest for understanding Islam and to see whether I could actually convert. And there was a point in my life that I actually thought I could become a Muslim *sigh*. I think what drew me most was how peaceful they looked! At least those ladies I met. I was craving peace of mind and some kind of static point I can always refer to... I don't know, what I was thinking. Needless to say that I'd get to be with the guy I fell in love with, quite an added value

So I started digging and it's easy to find a lot of sites debunking Islam. Later I started reading the Quran and commentaries. Emailed Muslim women to tell me what they think about polygamy, wife-beating, hijab, 'uncomfortable' hadiths and verses from the Quran. These were all convert women or married to muslims for a long time and living in the Middle East (he wanted us to live in kuwait).
I also confronted him about these issues and got one of two responses:
1) glossy image and explanation available on islamic sites
2) i heard that i'm full of hate and ignorant and just 'don't want to see the truth and beauty of islam'.
He thinks that quran is PERFECT. there are no contradictions, it's pure and it teaches love, compassion, kindness and elevates women (!). Well, i don't agree.
Any argument about religion with him would end in a massive fight. It's like he loses the ability to think logically when it comes to islam, quran and muhammad in particular. I tried to show discrepancies or refer to the verse which says that Allah guides whom he wills but he said that my prayers are insincere and i don't do the supplications right *sigh*
I don't think he is a bad guy... I'm just appalled how he can read verses in the quran and say: perfection, perfect moral standards, guidance. To read men excel women, all the violence, incitement to violence, constant reminder of hell fire, threats and making people fear fear fear and think: perfection!
I guess my questions are:Is this what brainwashing does to you? Can it be undone?
How can people simply believe that? Can't they feel is wrong?
He can't see how divisive his thinking is, how is it possible?
What happens to 'no compulsion in religion'?
I find it so so hard to reconcile that i've been with someone who seemed so great he actually thinks that under some circumstances he can discipline his wife physically. That Mo is the mercy to humanity. How can he reconcile it. How can I do it? How do I deal with it?
I thought that maybe I'm deluded but then I read the quran again and it just makes my heart sink and tears fall down my cheeks. How can he read it and actually reassure himself in being muslim?
I guess that somewhere deep down I wanted to drive him away from islam, but I failed. Because islam trumps everything, love and dedication means nothing when we are talking about afterlife *super sigh*
As Ch. Hitchens said: once again religion poisoned everything.
Apologies for super long intro and thank you for any insightful comments you might wish to post (i hope they will help me understand and move on with my life:). BIG BIG THANK YOU
