Name: Abdul Samatar
beliefs - Anti-theist
location - England
brought up as - sunni muslim
top 3 reasons why I left islam
1) Asking myself why god would create imperfect humans and then decide to punish those who don't obey him with hellfire
2) There is no evidence to state any religion as truth, and any argument for it can be ccountered with a convincing rebuttal
3) The boundaries that Islam sets around individuals that inhibit the construction of an ideal 21st century society that provides equal opportunities for people of all walks of life regardless of there sexual orientation, gender, belief or even lack of belief.
My story
I was raised in a muslim family. My mum and dad weren't like the typical deeply religious parents who tirelessly worked to ensure their kids had a strong spiritual upbringing. However Islam did have a significant impact on my life, and this was mainly due to my mother. She is a devout muslim who used to tell me stories about the "great" prophets of islam before bed time. She always told my siblings and I to fear god, pray five times a day and focus on our studies. This meant that we didn't really spend much time making friends in our neighbourhood and we were sent to an islamic school. Islam is at the centre of all success, therefore it is supposed to help us succeed in school without any academic support at home. My mum usually reacts to missing prayers with consistently stating their importance and the punishment god will provide to those who don't obey.
I started to really question my faith once I had left home to got to university 2 yrs ago. I had finally worked my way to a place where I could at last think for my self not having to worry about any influence from home apart from the frequent phone calls which were a small consolation. I found my faith to be having a profound affect on my life. It had mainly to do with fear of what god would do to me if I didn't pray five times a day and fulfilled all of the other requirements of Islam. After having lengthy moments of secluded thinking I ended up becoming an atheist towards all religions. Now I just want to make the most of this precious and beatiful life by experiiencing the wonderful things this world has to offer with special people that also see the beauty that can be found without any of the feuds, back-stabbing and inequality that is sadly part of so many cultures today.
I'm sad to say that I'm currently living a double life where I pretend to be a muslim at home but when I'm at uni I try to mix with all sorts of people and consider myself someone who doessn't believe there is a god up there to be feared and whom you should submit your unique life to. My reason for not revealing to my parents about my current belief of non-belief is because I simply am quite certain that they wouldn't understand and they will persevere to get me back on the "right" track. I often have moments when i hate myself for not having any courage.
Hello! I am in the same position as you, I have left Islam and I'm leading a double life. I really hate it, but for the time being I feel it's necessary, and I wouldn't know how to declare my apostasy anyways!
Welcome to the forum, I hope this place helps you. I feel a lot better after reading a lot of the threads; knowing it doesn't have to turn out all bad =)
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