New Ex-Muslim - My story
OP - April 13, 2011, 12:33 AM
I am 19 years old and converted a little under three years ago. I feel almost embarrassed about this fact - I was fooled. When I expressed an interest in Islam I was bombarded with encouragement and offers of help and guidance. Islam and the community seemed so warm, welcoming and everything seemed to make sense.
Fast forward about 18 months to 2 years and I see the mistake I made. The once warm community had disappeared. When I used to go to the Mosque all I see are expressionless, cold faces, angry, shouting Imams and a mixture in the congregation of those that didn't really want to be there, and the zealots and enthusiasts at the front. The latter had no real answers when ever I asked about Islam, they just seemed cold, stiff and full of anger about something. Around the world I only saw cruelty in Muslim nations. Cruelty unheard of in this day and age in the west, the west that was being portrayed as immoral and full of error to me and so many like me. I used to tell myself that the culture of anger, of misogyny, intolerance, of anger, the stone-cold masses inside the Mosque and the aggressive, in-your-face zealots were not Islam, but just the acts of individuals and the norms of various foreign cultures that I knew little about. Yet again, how wrong I was. I began, for the first time, to study Islam with an open, non-bias mind, a mind willing to both praise AND critique where necessary. A mind willing to look a bit further and scrutinise. What I found horrified me. The following shocked me to the core and made me realise Islam is NOT a religion of God:
1) Slavery tolerated. The ''prophet'' himself said Allah does not accept the prayers of a run away slave. Wow, how dare a man pursue his freedom (sarcasm)
2) A woman's word only worth half a man's word in court. So horribly misogynist.
3) There is no grounds for a man to marry Aisha, a small child.
4) A non-Muslim can not testify Vs a Muslim in some cases in Sharia law. How can you have a just society when large parts of the population are excluded from the justice system? It is also a logical blunder, as it would place Muslims above their very own laws. A slave is also not allowed to testify in court.
5) The genocide committed by Mohammed against various tribes in Arabia, backed up by Quran.
6) Being able to pay COMPENSATION to walk FREE from a murder you were convicted of. I later read that this rule is manipulated in many Islamic nations to avoid punishment for honour killings. How can an all-wise God's law be so easy to circumvent?
7) The contradictions in the Quran. The one that springs to mind is the amount of times Quran contradicts itself about Satan. One minute he is a jinn, next he is an angel.
8 ) Islam forbids fornication, but NOT sexual slavery. The Quran clearly states you can have sex with the women ''your right hand possesses''.
Of course, before leaving Islam I approached many people for answers about the above and other points. I asked Muslims on line, in Mosques, normal Muslims, young Muslims, elder Muslims, Imams and scholars in online services. It was all the same, Muslims seemed split into many types. The zealous Muslims gave aggressive responses and irrelevant criticism of the west. The more extreme Muslims gave shocking justifications, like, for example, that having a slave is ok as long as you promise to feed and cloth them, and that when the Prophet defeated tribes, he took the few survivors as slaves to ''look after'' them, which, basically, means that GENOCIDE is okay as long as you feed, cloth and shelter the survivors whilst you enslave them. How sickening!. Then there were the moderate Muslims who, really, didn't know much about Islam and simply didn't know. Then there were the Muslims who were not really religious and weren't interested in finding or giving answers. All in all, it became clear to me that Muslims did not have the answers, and that the foundations of many Muslim's faith was based more on culture and assumption than actual knowledge of Islam. Muslims did not have the answers because the list above can not be answered, it is unacceptable, and it became clearer and clearer to me that Islam is NOT the religion of God.
Now my mind is free, since I left Islam, I feel like I have got myself back. I DO believe in God, but am not keen on religions. I feel a new lease of life since leaving Islam and would advise anyone to NEVER convert, the Muslims and the Dawah experts are mere car salesmen - talking up and glorifying that which is clearly a heap of junk!
Sorry if my testimony is long, I just felt I had to tell the WHOLE story and reason. I wish to join CEMB as I feel it is a great organisation to help protect and support people in a situation similar to my own.
Topic: New Ex-Muslim - My story