Conversion from Islam

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Conversion from Islam
OP - November 09, 2009, 03:03 PM

Are there any ex-Muslims here who converted from Islam to a new philosophy/religion? there are an awful lot of atheists and agnostics but I'm wondering whether anyone got interested in a new religion after leaving Islam.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #1 - November 09, 2009, 03:06 PM

Leaving Islam is difficult, so after leaving it, I think most here have become masters in the art of dissecting religion so no religions tend to make it thorougt the safety net after this stage.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #2 - November 09, 2009, 03:09 PM

Quote from: IsLame on November 09, 2009, 03:06 PM
Leaving Islam is difficult, so after leaving it, I think most here have become masters in the art of dissecting religion so no religions tend to make it thorougt the safety net after this stage.

+1
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #3 - November 09, 2009, 03:11 PM

Quote from: IsLame on November 09, 2009, 03:06 PM
Leaving Islam is difficult, so after leaving it, I think most here have become masters in the art of dissecting religion so no religions tend to make it thorougt the safety net after this stage.

Sounds a bit like after I left Catholicism - except I guess I don't have as much negativity towards Catholicism as some Muslims here have towards Islam.

I'm a deist but I tend to float towards Buddhism in some respects, although the liberal strains of Judaism interest me - whether I'd formally join a religion is an interesting question partially because the idea of being controlled doesn't appeal to me.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #4 - November 09, 2009, 03:14 PM

Quote from: kaiwai on November 09, 2009, 03:11 PM
Sounds a bit like after I left Catholicism - except I guess I don't have as much negativity towards Catholicism as some Muslims here have towards Islam.

I'm a deist but I tend to float towards Buddhism in some respects, although the liberal strains of Judaism interest me - whether I'd formally join a religion is an interesting question partially because the idea of being controlled doesn't appeal to me.

Speak to Jack Torrance - he gives me the imprssion that he is partial to a 'Bit of Buddha'

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #5 - November 09, 2009, 03:23 PM

I like Buddhism a lot, many parts of it. Right after I left Islam (many years ago), I considered myself Pagan after studying Neo-Pagan thought. But I never formally joined any religion after leaving Islam and I don't think I ever can. Though I sometimes really miss the communal aspects, I don't like the hierarchies of most religious groups. Even when I was a Pagan, I considered myself a solitary, eclectic one. Now, I meditate (alone, in nature, in silence) and I study eastern philosophies a lot (Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism etc. - I find there's actually more and very different kinds of wisdom in these non-Abrahamic systems of thought than in Islam and Judaism and Christianity combined.), but I won't be joining an ashram or sangha anytime soon. Islam is such a nasty, control-freak of a religion that takes over every aspect of your life that it tends to ~~ruin the very idea of religion~~ make you very sensitive to the feeling of anyone trying to control you, your mind, your thoughts, your identity out of a sense of unreasonable obligation or groupthink.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #6 - November 09, 2009, 06:42 PM

Quote from: IsLame on November 09, 2009, 03:06 PM
Leaving Islam is difficult, so after leaving it, I think most here have become masters in the art of dissecting religion so no religions tend to make it thorougt the safety net after this stage.

I totally agree. But there seems to be a large number of ex-Muslim Christians(Outside the forum). I wonder how they came to that conclusion, as I can't see any logic in it. Any thoughts?

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #7 - November 09, 2009, 07:31 PM

I can only talk from my own experience. I was dissatisfied with the concept of God, spirituality etc and once these walls had been broken down, then nothing could replace it.

For those who were dissatisfied with Islam (for many of the reasons we regularly discuss on this forum e.g. paedophilia/violence etc) and still believe in an Abrahmic God, then Christianity/Judaism are logical alternatives

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #8 - November 09, 2009, 08:07 PM

Question:
what was the religion of the area of the world you are from (or ancestors were from) before Islam and in what way did people change religion? (forced/unforced).
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #9 - November 09, 2009, 08:17 PM

probably Hinduism to Islam - where's this going

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #10 - November 09, 2009, 08:32 PM

just wondering if people have any affinity for pre-existing religions - the same way people go to paganism - or I read about people worshiping the Greek gods again in Greece.
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #11 - November 09, 2009, 09:03 PM

Quote
wondering if people have any affinity for pre-existing religions

So do and some don't.

Those who do may want to reclaim the cultures that were stolen from their ancestors (like Hinduism for the Muslims from South Asia or Zoroastrianism for the Muslims from Persia, indigenous African religions for the Muslims from various parts of Africa etc.) Some also may embrace all or parts of their pre-Islamic heritage as part of their process of shedding off Islam from the cultures they love and grew up in, to keep some connection to their families and communities without the restrictive and Arabist influence of Islam.

Those who don't, have their reasons too. I think it's a good idea to find out about these things even if one doesn't go and become a Hindu or Zoroastrian. It's about reclaiming that which Islam took away. However, if a person can't find evidence of a god, any god, then they are not likely to just take on the god(s) of other religions, either.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #12 - November 09, 2009, 10:00 PM

Quote from: hupla on November 09, 2009, 08:07 PM
Question:
what was the religion of the area of the world you are from (or ancestors were from) before Islam and in what way did people change religion? (forced/unforced).

Hinduism. Buddhism. Jainism. And countless other off-shoots of Hinduism.

In the Indian Subcontinent it was by conquest...as it was elsewhere.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #13 - November 10, 2009, 09:37 PM

Quote from: kaiwai on November 09, 2009, 03:03 PM
Are there any ex-Muslims here who converted from Islam to a new philosophy/religion? there are an awful lot of atheists and agnostics but I'm wondering whether anyone got interested in a new religion after leaving Islam.

No other. But I have taken up Meditation without the religious baggage.

I have been doing it for years.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #14 - November 10, 2009, 09:39 PM

Quote from: Rubaiyat on November 10, 2009, 09:37 PM

But I have taken up Meditation without the religious baggage.

I have been doing it for years.

So how do you do that?

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #15 - November 10, 2009, 09:56 PM

So how do you do that?
-----------

Meditation is about getting your mind to focus. To stop it from wondering from one thought to another. It is about reducing the mental chatter. When the mental chatter is reduced you feel a calmness.

To reduce the mental chatter you try to focus your mind on a single phrase or a symbol or a sound. When the mind drifts to other thoughts you consciously bring it back to the focus again. And if do this regularly as an exercise, many find that their mental chatter is indeed reduced. There is no religious baggage involved. Just an mental exercise. Like a physical exercise at the gym.

Physical Relaxation Techniques combined with meditation is quite effective in reducing stress. Well it works for me really well :-)

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #16 - November 10, 2009, 10:06 PM

Quote from: kaiwai on November 09, 2009, 03:03 PM
Are there any ex-Muslims here who converted from Islam to a new philosophy/religion? there are an awful lot of atheists and agnostics but I'm wondering whether anyone got interested in a new religion after leaving Islam.

I would love to find something to believe in, but haven't found it yet. I will keep looking, even though I find it hard to avoid Nihilism at times.
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #17 - November 10, 2009, 10:11 PM

Hassan, have you read Neitzsche? He's often confused as a nihilist when he was totally against nihilism. Very misunderstood figure, and highly recommended.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #18 - November 10, 2009, 10:17 PM

Quote from: allat on November 10, 2009, 10:11 PM
Hassan, have you read Neitzsche? He's often confused as a nihilist when he was totally against nihilism. Very misunderstood figure, and highly recommended.

I have read him only second-hand - and have been very impressed - and yes I thought he was basically the originator of Nihilism.
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #19 - November 10, 2009, 10:19 PM

I attend the Torah study (and sometimes the services, cuz sometimes they talk about interesting things when they're not praying) at the local Reform Synagogue, though I have no intention to and highly doubt I will ever consider converting (thought some assume I'm Jewish. meh), it's interesting to learn from/about Judaism, esp. since it's Islam's parent religion.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #20 - November 10, 2009, 10:29 PM

Quote from: allat on November 10, 2009, 10:11 PM
Hassan, have you read Neitzsche? He's often confused as a nihilist when he was totally against nihilism. Very misunderstood figure, and highly recommended.

I second that. I'd recommend reading an introduction about him or listen to some audio about his thought before diving into his books. I have read "Beyond Good and Evil" twice. I hardly understood it the first time and read it again after listening to a lecture series about him. He's very far from a nihilist, but he asks us to examine the morality we have inherited from our belief systems. I've borrowed "Thus Spake Zarathustra" from the library and am gonna be taking a deep breath before reading it.
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #21 - November 10, 2009, 10:37 PM

Quote from: Omaar Khayaam on November 10, 2009, 10:29 PM
I second that. I'd recommend reading an introduction about him or listen to some audio about his thought before diving into his books. I have read "Beyond Good and Evil" twice. I hardly understood it the first time and read it again after listening to a lecture series about him. He's very far from a nihilist, but he asks us to examine the morality we have inherited from our belief systems. I've borrowed "Thus Spake Zarathustra" from the library and am gonna be taking a deep breath before reading it.

He's been on my reading list for a while - I will make sure I get to him next, inshallah (that still pops in my mind whenever I say I will do something lol )
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #22 - November 10, 2009, 10:41 PM

Quote from: Hassan on November 10, 2009, 10:37 PM
He's been on my reading list for a while - I will make sure I get to him next, inshallah (that still pops in my mind whenever I say I will do something lol )

Listen to the lecture series called "Will to Power - Fredrich Nietzsche". Its one of those teaching series lectures. If you PM me I'll let you know where to get it from.
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #23 - November 10, 2009, 11:39 PM

Quote from: Hassan on November 10, 2009, 10:37 PM
inshallah (that still pops in my mind whenever I say I will do something lol )

Me too.

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #24 - November 10, 2009, 11:52 PM

Quote from: awais on November 10, 2009, 11:39 PM
Me too.

Same here.
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #25 - November 11, 2009, 12:06 AM

i used too, but the voices have stopped now

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #26 - November 11, 2009, 10:36 AM

Quote from: Hassan on November 10, 2009, 10:37 PM
He's been on my reading list for a while - I will make sure I get to him next, inshallah (that still pops in my mind whenever I say I will do something lol )

Hassan, I've downloaded "Thus Spake Zarathustra" in audio format. It's a fairly long book and I'd rather listen to it while driving or going for a long run.
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #27 - November 15, 2009, 05:33 PM

Quote from: Omaar Khayaam on November 10, 2009, 10:41 PM
Listen to the lecture series called "Will to Power - Fredrich Nietzsche". Its one of those teaching series lectures. If you PM me I'll let you know where to get it from.

Finally managed to download the lectures and am loving them! Thank you so much! I also just realised that your avatar is the great man himself!
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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #28 - November 15, 2009, 07:59 PM

Which ones have you downloaded and listened to so far?

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Re: Conversion from Islam
Reply #29 - November 15, 2009, 08:56 PM

Listened to the "Intro" and "Nietzsche His Life, Times, Works, and Themes" so far - loving every word!
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