I'm so glad you made this thread, IsLame. I've only 'come out' to a couple of my liberal Muslim friends who already accept that Islam is a flawed religion and kind of expected my apostasy. But I really need a solid response for when my orthodox Muslim friends find out.
Simple - just say after a lengthy process of study and reflection I decided it wasn't for me. Or just say 'I take a dim view of sex mad warlords who claim to be role models for humanity'
I started to Think For Myself instead of letting others do my Thinking.
Depends on how much time you have to explain and where you guys are. If it's at a party or something, I just say "It's a long story" and give them my e-mail to talk about it later. But if we have a lot of time in our hands, then we engage in a lengthy discussion.
"God led me astray" and quote 16:93.
I haven't used it yet though, but I guess it should work.
These are brilliant suggestions, guys. Will definitely consider them when the situation arises.
A lot, if not most, Muslims think that apostates only leave Islam because they were too lazy and weak to adhere to the 'Islamic' lifestyle, and just need to rid themselves of a guilty conscience in order to justify their sins. So I would definitely address that characterization, since it definitely wasn't true at all in my case.
Here are some responses I'm considering:
- Well, I don't support the torture of human beings under any circumstance. Once I realized that in the Quran, Allah commands the believers to torture their fellow beings (point to 24:2 as one example), I concluded that such a god could not qualify as the Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful, and certainly is not worthy of worship.
- To me, human rights and the rights of the child are inviolable. Once I found out that torture and child marriage are part of the Sunnah (point to relevant sahih ahadith concerning stoning and the marriage to Aisha), I realized that the Prophet's moral example is far from perfect, and leaves much room for improvement. There are certain aspects of his life that humanity is better off by not emulating and rejecting outright.
Let me know if these are any good. They seem kinda long and awkward, but I want to avoid antagonizing whoever's asking and return a respectful question with a respectful answer.
Topic: The Million $ Question