Why did you leave Islam

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Reply #30 - July 23, 2014, 02:14 PM

For me, my desire to be more pious and learn more about Islam led me to discover Islam’s endorsement of sex slavery, which was a huge shock, and then came all kinds of nasty revelations about Mo’s character and deeds.

It all started to sound made up after I’d read about various Islamic beliefs, which were plagiarised from Christianity, originally being aspects of Roman/Egyptian mythology (the virgin birth and most of the Jesus story). At that point, I tried to ignore it and continued believing begrudgingly out of fear that it might be true despite feeling like it didn’t add up and being disgusted by Mohammed. I was reading about the various creation myths when I had my “aha” moment where it became apparent that the Abrahamic creation myth was unremarkable and made about as much sense as all the other creation myths. I finally realized that Islam was just one of a long list of mythologies that didn’t stand out as true in anyway.
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Reply #31 - July 23, 2014, 02:14 PM

I read that those not exposed to Islam would either go to heaven or just turn to dust.
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Reply #32 - July 23, 2014, 02:27 PM

Quote from: Naerys on July 23, 2014, 02:13 PM
Not exactly. Can't be bothered with looking up the hadith, but the people who were never exposed to Islam will still be thrown in Hell, except that they will not burn (kinda like Abraham when he was burned by the infidels in that one story) and will not feel the heat of it. THEN I suppose they are sent to heaven.

Whatever Islam says actually happens to them, hell first then heaven, turn to dust, doesn't matter, they are still not being judged by their character, their actions.
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Reply #33 - July 23, 2014, 03:01 PM

There were too many things wrong with the Quran, which is why I left, personally. Should have clicked all the boxes except personal issues, although I guess the state of the ummah is another reason to leave islam.

My other reason was that Islam doesn't provide a valid framework for Muslims to live a reasonable life in the modern world, in spite of claims of being an all encompassing "deen".

Quote from: yeezevee on February 11, 2016, 02:05 PM
how fuck works without shit??

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harakaat, friend, RIP
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Reply #34 - July 23, 2014, 07:28 PM

I also left after a quick few weeks. I think my reasons are similar to everyone else. My first being the way women are treated in Islam. I quickly shrugged that off though and got too lazy to research more, come these summer holidays where I was more intrigued. It was mostly the contradictions; if god is all-knowing, doesn't he already know what would become of us? Also, if he's all knowing, then do humans really have free will? The punishments seemed unnecessary seeing as it's coming from an all-merciful god and then there was also the issue of plagiarism and inconsistencies throughout. The quran is pretty repetitive, hard to read, and vague and gave me more questions than answers. In fact, I got no answers. Reading the hadiths got fucked up because of the violence and literally everything went against my personal views. Maybe god shouldn't have given us free will to think for ourselves, huh. I would also much rather do good in my life out of the kindness of my own heart instead of doing good deeds in order to join the VIP section of god's disco party up in the skies.

"A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke."
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Reply #35 - July 23, 2014, 09:00 PM

Didn't even get through hadiths myself. Halfway through reading a translation of the Quran with tafsir, I just realized this wasn't the work of anything "above and beyond" our limited human understanding and was in fact bound by a rather primitive human one.

Quote from: yeezevee on February 11, 2016, 02:05 PM
how fuck works without shit??

Let's Play Chess!

harakaat, friend, RIP
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Reply #36 - July 23, 2014, 10:16 PM

Growing up in a liberal, western household I coveted the perks that I knew would eventually come to me when I was an adult; such as staying up as late as I want, sleeping in on the weekends, eating what I want, wearing what I want, blasting my music in the car, drinking, and smoking.

When I came to Islam, and especially after I married I felt these freedoms were being taken from me and I was reverting back to a child like existence due to all the stupid rules in Islam. Being a women made it more difficult and I knew that if I stayed with my husband there would be so much pressure on me to be the good Muslimah when at heart I wasn't.

I got tired of only eating halal food and refused to read food labels to see if they contained any of the dreaded E numbers.

Basically, I wanted to live like a normal person again.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

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Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day Give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish!
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Reply #37 - July 24, 2014, 12:56 AM

Quote from: Nour on July 23, 2014, 10:16 PM
Growing up in a liberal, western household I coveted the perks that I knew would eventually come to me when I was an adult; such as staying up as late as I want, sleeping in on the weekends, eating what I want, wearing what I want, blasting my music in the car, drinking, and smoking.

When I came to Islam, and especially after I married I felt these freedoms were being taken from me and I was reverting back to a child like existence due to all the stupid rules in Islam. Being a women made it more difficult and I knew that if I stayed with my husband there would be so much pressure on me to be the good Muslimah when at heart I wasn't.

I got tired of only eating halal food and refused to read food labels to see if they contained any of the dreaded E numbers.

Basically, I wanted to live like a normal person again.

Tell me about it...I've never really tasted freedom...and feel very much like a child even at the age of 30. The only reason I had a little bit of freedom was when I went to medical school...that's basically why I went...so I would be able to live at the university and finally live my own life...but it didn't work out of course...because I did it for the wrong reasons...so now I'm treated not only like a child but also an idiot incapable of being able to take care of myself....the only way to leave is to get married to a nice Muslim Lebanese man my parents will approve of. I see my parents constantly using Islam as the reason why I can't do certain things...so that is what prompted me to look more into it...and I realized it's all crap...I read the Quran cover to cover in high school...and didn't understand how this book was thought of as something a human couldn't write...in Islamic school I was told thousands of humans have tried to replicate the Quran and were unsuccessful because it's impossible for a human to do. After reading that book I realized it was all complete crap...if a lie is told enough times people will start believing it. I also didn't agree with how women were allowed to be treated. I showed the verses to my mom and I was treated like some sort of horrible person for even thinking the Quran was saying that women are less than. ...of course that's not what it really meant...it was just interpreted wrong...that's the excuse for everything that doesn't sound good in the book.

"You're time is limited. Don't waste it by living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your own inner voice. -Steve Jobs
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Reply #38 - July 24, 2014, 01:31 AM

Other:
I was going through a major depressive episode that had me thoroughly down to the floor and felt like I couldn't move because of the paranoia that I felt for five years.

I mean I was nine years old when I started to become depressed.

Sorta intro I've never shared:

I will never forget the day that I saw that tall girl at the airport in New York.

For the untrained mind she seemed normal, perfectly normal, but for me she was a revelation. Who ever that girl was, an absolute stranger that I did not even get the chance to see her face, she changed my life.

I no later than five minutes left my flight from Istanbul to New York, and I was on American soil for the first time in my life. All those who have been on my flight were either other immagrants or average Turks, who did not dress or look too different than myself, but the airport was something else.

You can see the clash of the cultures coming through this port of the world, but this girl that I saw for no more than ten or so seconds opened my eyes.

It may sound silly, but I've never seen a real girl, a grown girl, wear shorts in my life before. This girl was wearing a pair of black shorts and a red tank top, looking as absolutely unconsirned about it as I've ever seen a person. I was nine years old, and I wasn't even allowed sleeveless shirts and here was a girl that was so much in contrast.

The first thing I thought was that she's going to hell for that. That voice in my head was strong and resolute, but it wasn't alone. There was another, smaller quieter voice. I wish I was her.

It was small and impossible, but that moment, at nine years old, I took the first step on a road I was not aware I was on to self actualisation.

Thanks girl in the black shorts

Just like Johnny Flynn said, the breath I've taken and the one I must to go on.
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Reply #39 - July 24, 2014, 02:58 AM

Yep, I find that whenever someone finds anything negative in the Quran/hadith, the excuse many people use is that verses are taken out of context. Heard it too many times!
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Reply #40 - July 24, 2014, 03:04 AM

Quote from: rizla88 on July 24, 2014, 02:58 AM
Yep, I find that whenever someone finds anything negative in the Quran/hadith, the excuse many people use is that verses are taken out of context. Heard it too many times!

Yeah...but what does one say to that? It's so frustrating with my parents....

"You're time is limited. Don't waste it by living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your own inner voice. -Steve Jobs
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Reply #41 - July 24, 2014, 08:13 AM

That god shouldn't have given context led commandments?
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Reply #42 - July 24, 2014, 09:07 AM

Quote from: Wiselyskeptical on July 24, 2014, 01:31 AM
Other:
I was going through a major depressive episode that had me thoroughly down to the floor and felt like I couldn't move because of the paranoia that I felt for five years.

I mean I was nine years old when I started to become depressed.

Sorta intro I've never shared:

I will never forget the day that I saw that tall girl at the airport in New York.

For the untrained mind she seemed normal, perfectly normal, but for me she was a revelation. Who ever that girl was, an absolute stranger that I did not even get the chance to see her face, she changed my life.

I no later than five minutes left my flight from Istanbul to New York, and I was on American soil for the first time in my life. All those who have been on my flight were either other immagrants or average Turks, who did not dress or look too different than myself, but the airport was something else.

You can see the clash of the cultures coming through this port of the world, but this girl that I saw for no more than ten or so seconds opened my eyes.

It may sound silly, but I've never seen a real girl, a grown girl, wear shorts in my life before. This girl was wearing a pair of black shorts and a red tank top, looking as absolutely unconsirned about it as I've ever seen a person. I was nine years old, and I wasn't even allowed sleeveless shirts and here was a girl that was so much in contrast.

The first thing I thought was that she's going to hell for that. That voice in my head was strong and resolute, but it wasn't alone. There was another, smaller quieter voice. I wish I was her.

It was small and impossible, but that moment, at nine years old, I took the first step on a road I was not aware I was on to self actualisation.

Thanks girl in the black shorts

That's a powerful image you paint there!
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Reply #43 - July 24, 2014, 09:10 AM

Quote from: KoalaBear on July 24, 2014, 03:04 AM
Yeah...but what does one say to that? It's so frustrating with my parents....

This video (from our CEMBadmins channel) deals with the "It's taken out of context" and "It's metaphorical" - arguments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJrD2V7nZWw
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Reply #44 - July 24, 2014, 10:08 AM

Quote from: south on July 23, 2014, 02:27 PM
Whatever Islam says actually happens to them, hell first then heaven, turn to dust, doesn't matter, they are still not being judged by their character, their actions.

Sure, but it's not like I was contradicting your point in my post or anything

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Reply #45 - July 24, 2014, 10:21 AM

Yeah, i know, sorry, I just feel very strongly about that.
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Reply #46 - July 24, 2014, 10:23 AM

Sudanese apostate is now in Italy!! So happy for her!
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Reply #47 - July 24, 2014, 03:54 PM

I got a little smile today when I saw that on CNN. Good for her!!!

Just like Johnny Flynn said, the breath I've taken and the one I must to go on.
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Reply #48 - July 24, 2014, 04:53 PM

Quote from: Lilyesque on July 24, 2014, 10:23 AM
Sudanese apostate is now in Italy!! So happy for her!

Yay!

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

The sleeper has awakened - Dune

Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day Give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish!
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Reply #49 - July 24, 2014, 08:48 PM

Personally, I always thought that God was bad because there were people dying and he couldn't do anything even if he had a power. WhenI grew up I started question myself about the people who came before Islam. Why should they go to hell? I really didn't like God as they described him and I started to have more doubt about the Creation of the world and the porpuse of it. Why would Allah create some imperfect being? Why would he create us to worship him when he has thousand and thousand of angels praying for him the whol day?
ALso the fact that poor native American they didn't know about Allah, all of them are going to burn in hell.
Another thing that I didn't like is how Islam really is a sexist religion (as all of the religion in the world). I have yet to find a religion that doesn't saythat women are inferior to men and that she's not impure during her period.
Another thing is the story written in the quran. They really seem like Brother's Grimm fairytiles. And the idea of Paradise existed way before Judaism.
Soo after alot of thinking I decided that religions are made up by human( as Ludwig Feuerbach says). I can't prove that God exist so I'm agnostic,
I thought about a lot of other stuff too. But the post will be really too long

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Reply #50 - July 24, 2014, 09:12 PM

The thing is, you can say anything in life justifies god's supposed actions. If there were no evil there would be no good, we wouldn't enjoy the sunshine if we didn't know the dark of night, we need sorrow to make joy sweet, etc. Let's try it another way. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do children die? Why do we lose those we love? As in many things, South Park has the answer.

Sometimes god takes those closest to us because it makes him feel better about himself. He's a very vengeful god and he's pissed off about something we did thousands of years ago. He just can't get over it, so he doesn't care who he takes. Children, puppies, it doesn't matter to him so long as it makes us sad. Now you might ask then why does god give us good things? Look at it this way. If you want to make a baby cry, first you give it a lollipop, then you take it away. If you never give it a lollipop to begin with, then it would have nothing to cry about. That's like god. He gives us life and love and health just so he can tear it all away and make us cry, so he can drink the sweet milk of our tears. You see, it's our tears that give god his great power.

Can you disprove what I've just typed?

`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
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Reply #51 - July 24, 2014, 09:17 PM

Quote from: Quod Sum Eris on July 24, 2014, 09:12 PM
You see, it's our tears that give god his great power.

Yep, Most High, Merciful and Really Strong is He.

He sure show'd us humans who da boss!
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Reply #52 - July 24, 2014, 09:24 PM

You just reminded me of this.

`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
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Reply #53 - July 24, 2014, 09:27 PM
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Reply #54 - July 24, 2014, 10:05 PM

Alksin... Really

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Reply #55 - July 24, 2014, 10:35 PM

The adventures of Jesus and Mohammed. It would make an awesome tv show.

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Reply #56 - July 24, 2014, 10:51 PM

I'm more interested what "Goat buyer" says about buying goats, and why Mo is reading it.

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Reply #57 - July 24, 2014, 10:58 PM

Contradictions in the Quran and the 2nd class treatment of women in Islam definitely triggered my questioning of the religion that was taught to me as being 'perfect' and 'complete'. It was obviously not. Ultimately, though, why I left Islam was because I simply realized it was a belief system made up by men, just like all other religions. Islam teaches a lot of critical thinking about other religions, dogmas, ideologies. But its elders and teachers are afraid of anyone turning the same critical thought to their own cash cow/power button, Islam. Once you look at Islam as critically and thoughtfully as Islamic teachings encourage you to look at Christianity, polytheism, capitalism, etc., you realize Islam is just as artificial as any other man-made system of beliefs and practices.

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Reply #58 - July 24, 2014, 11:00 PM

Quote from: Cornflower on July 24, 2014, 10:51 PM
I'm more interested what "Goat buyer" says about buying goats, and why Mo is reading it.

Oh you know, my dear cornflower, you know.

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Reply #59 - July 24, 2014, 11:02 PM

Quote
Ultimately, though, why I left Islam was because I simply realized it was a belief system made up by men, just like all other religions.

This.

What really helped shake my faith was taking an ancient civilizations course in highschool with a passionate teacher. After learning the rise and fall of different religions throughout history and how each religion was influenced by the culture and political factors in the region it originated made me see the entire concept of religion from a different perspective.

I wasn't able to see Islam as any different than the rest.

And I got hooked on Richard dawkins documentaries around the same time I was taking the history course so those two influences really helped let go of islam .

In my opinion a life without curiosity is not a life worth living
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