I had a pretty interesting afternoon trying to figure out why so many Muslims have turned Atheists. They seem to come out more now, and don’t care. You would think, that out of all the religions, a conservative one such as Islam, you would not have such a lack of faith.
A few weeks ago, when I learned that my cousins turned Christian, I was a bit dumbfounded. It is disappointing; however, it would have been worse if they completely lacked the faith of a higher power. At least they still believe in God, right?
In general, this lack of faith has a lot to do with where they are currently living, or what they are exposed to. Also, more and more Muslims are reading too much into their religion, and see how others are slowly destroying the image of it. Western media is trying to destroy it slowly. Muslims are lacking faith and don’t want to live this life, and are turning into a complete and opposite direction. I feel like we are back over 1400 years ago at the time of Jahiliyyah. I thought we ended this era. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case at all in such an exposed technology driven world.
[source]
I am not a Muslim scholar, or have the right to preach about any religion. All I know is that we are all raised a certain way. However, we all grow up to chose what is best for us. Some of us seem to lack faith, effected by media, or just read too much into a very simplistic religion. Why can’t people learn the basics of a religion? If everyone does that, no one would use religion in violent manners, to oppress others, or to manipulate other’s thoughts.
Also, what’s up with Muslims that say they are Muslims, but don’t follow the religion at all? What does it matter what others think of you religiously, if you don’t follow it or care enough to learn about it?
NOTE! Please, if you want to reply to this post, avoid talking about science, evolution, or the story of Adam & Eve. I don’t have time for never ending debates, and stick to the point of this article. Muslims that turned Atheists, or people who lack faith in their religion. Thank you.
Why are Muslims turning Atheists?,
@Mais
Hey Mias, I am really sorry; I know my previous comments were a bit harsh and sharp
I really didn’t mean it. ;D … This is topic is just really frustrating.
I know that you said it doesn’t make sense, but you also said we shouldn’t trust any scholars. So basically I just told you the Quranic verses are very simple and direct, you don’t need a scholar to explain it to you. Not to mention its not only the scientific verses but also laws that have obvious mathematical error. Did you check the link?
My point was there is nothing in the Quran that proves it’s the words of God. Also Islam never had any remarkable influence that proves the uniqueness of this religion.
a) Nop, I’m sorry I have to disagree with you. Arabs came from different ethnic backgrounds; they never had a similar culture. For instance look at the Levant region known in Arabic as Belad-El-Sham (The homeland of Damascus), it was a significant trade center in the world. It was way advanced and modernized compared to Arabi lifestyle in the Gulf region. Arabi used to go there every summer to trade with them, Arabi admired the civilization of the levants. It’s a fact that both women and men in the levant used to work together as merchants or farmers, i.e. both men and women were equally productive, that brought prosperity to the region. Moreover, don’t forget there were Christians Arabs; they also encouraged morals and respect to women.
The pre-Islamic lifestyle mentioned in hadith/Quran and other documents that have to do with religion is merely regarding the lifestyle of Arabi in the Gulf region. They did not mention any other regions. Now, what caused a “common†culture to expand among ALL Arabs and Arabi that come from different cultural backgrounds, its Islam, under the rule of the caliphas. The Common culture that evolved is based on the Islamic teachings. The language, culture and Islam came together to those people, so evidently their culture is based on the teachings of Islam.
So from where the concept of Hijab and barku came. Well, simply examine the environment of Arabi women. Their lifestyles was very harsh; they had to move constantly due to sand-storms or if they were invaded by other tribes..etc So its known that women back then use to cover their hair for protection from dirt and sand. Some even use to cover their face. Both men and women used to were robes. Can you see how the teachings of Islam suites and matches the lifestyles of Arabis? So in Islam people also follow the actions of the prophet and his lifestyle, so that’s how the concept of burku came. So the Islamic scholars later on just chose the color black to hide women’s body figure.
B) of course it has to with education and freedom. With knowledge comes intelligence, rationality, and wisdom. And with freedom comes experience and social intelligence. Dont you agree?
Islam has allot of rules that restricts women’s freedom, she’s highly controlled, that’s why she will never develop mentally, socially or emotionally. Now, these attitudes of Islamic women, their behavior and victim mentality has indeed passed from one generation to another. Think about it, when you live in a closed society with a very strict mentality and lifestyle, you wont have any other option, that’s their education, that’s how they were raised. Their societies continue to encourage their lifestyle which is indeed based on the teachings of Islam. That women are weaker and less intelligent than men, and men should be respected and allowed to interfere in every aspect of your life. So why do you expect them to be any different? Okay, you said it, you cant blame them for it, but you have to address the root cause of such behaviors and mentality. Many women in those regions have never been exposed to any alternative lifestyle; they did not have the opportunity to be educated, or to observe both sides of it to decide on their own. You happen to be fortunate, all Arabs who are financially stable happen to be fortunate to escape those massive social religious prisons.
You mean the poor countries that happen to be able to “function very well, in social matters? If yes, then those countries do not have religion such as Islam that oppresses women and paralyzed half of the workforce. All Islamic countries with no exception suffer from high rate of illiteracy among women and inequality. Evidently, the source of such behavior is religion. Don’t forget that such lifestyle exists from the caliph time till today, so its isn’t because those people aren’t follow their teachings.
C) If you read all the points that I have stated regarding the oppression of women, you will notice that I have mentioned the hadith like twice. I was mainly addressing the verses in the Quran, the laws stated and the heaven’s rewards. Whether the hadith might be flawed or not, it doesn’t matter nor does it justify anything. What matters is the teachings of the Quran and the lifestyle of Muslim since the old age till today which is influenced by the teachings of Islam.
Um beside those hadith were crystals clear. The one that say women have deficiency in intelligence. Is it possible that there is any other interruption? Although it’s a proven hadith, the verses may be flawed but you cant argue that there must be different interruptions, correct?
If those teachings and social attitudes were really against Islam, don’t you think muslim scholars, imams and sheiks will be the first to preach people about it and to help in dismantling such destructive backward attitudes? Simply they cant, with what anyways?? The teachings of Islam clearly prove that women are meant to be inferior to men and they should respect that. That’s when they started saying to cover it up – oh women are so damn precious, they are the diamonds of our societies, whe should protect them and guide them ..and so on. So women felt gd about themselves and started repeating such ideologies.
That’s the problem with religion, it should be PERFECT if its true, you cannot ignore certain teachings, you cannot pick and choose what matches your own perspective. You should address the whole teachings as one package. Lets say if you reading a book and the author mentions few illogical things and absurd statements, you’ll simply dismiss the whole book and author will be considered unreliable and uncreditable. How about if this author was God?? How can God make such social, scientific, mathematical, and historical errors? You believe Allah is the magnificent creator, yet you underestimate his powers/abilities? Why?
D) Interesting to know
Also economic wise, its known that women are more financial l independent and reliable to pay back their loans, that’s why micro-credit schemes targeted women mainly.
So why have Islam degraded women and why its not mention anywhere that women status will change if she was ever given an opportunity? The Quran never stated that some if the teachings presented will become invalid, so its okay to “ignoreâ€â€ it? So how come we can make such assumptions? I’m sorry, its hypocritical indeed, because the Quran says that Muslims have to flow all its teachings, so you cant just follow some teachings then go on to complain about those who happen to be more committed and thus follow the whole teachings, as its required by faithful Muslims.
e) My pleasure ;D
However most Arabs do not know this fact. Plus it has to do with how the Arabian race was born and how our culture evolved, so I had to mention it.
f) Wasn’t God able to realize the potential of his creation? Why isn’t it mention wether in the Quran or hadith, that Islamic teachings will not make sense later on, clearly the teachings of Islam was presented in the Quran a way that it came to ALL people at that time and to the generations to follow.
“’Religion don’t make sense anymoreâ€â€ – exactly, then why do you follow it and defend it?? Do you need a religion to have gd morals or to be decent? No, just look back at it as a source.
What – are you serious? “â€You never wrote the Quran..? What kind of argument is this? Well, you claim God wrote it, then how come its full of errors and contradictions. Then you go on to defend it!!
I am NOT angry at you or at those backward Muslims, I cant and wont blame them, actually I stand for them. I simply don’t get the intelligent Muslim who happens to be educated and fortunate to be able to see both sides of the world, yet they go on complain about them and their culture, ignoring their circumstances, and dismissing the critical historical facts and religious teachings.
G) So Taliban is corrupted and are abusing Islam further more. What does this has to do with rest of Islamic population? They don’t all live under such corrupted authority. This a universal culture among women, with Taliban or without, they still have same cultural attitudes, which is again influenced by Islam. The ones who speak out , are only speaking about the extra- extremeinism . Even if Taliban is over thrown, do you think their lifestyle will be significantly better? Men will continue to have authority over women. Anyways, did Islam in any way give any considerable status to women? It’s a fact Muslims live the same lifestyle since the calipha and prophet time, nothing have changed, the culture is in fact Islamic.
H) Read what I posted as a reply to a commenter here. The fact that the bible described Jews as the fathers of all lies and the Talmud as the synagone of the Satan, also the Quran sated that we should not trust jews, proves that people back then were aware of their insane teachings, filthy books and sickening behavior of the jews. These statements are far more objective, its not generalization. If anyone truly believes in such teachings, it indicates that they lack human morals and do not deserve our respect. Similarly they cant just dismiss or ignore it!! After all how can they ignore some teachings by such a insane filthy author and then go on to respect and follow the other stuff that he wrote?? .. Oh NO, people wont agree with me regarding jews because of the Palestinian conflict, this is just ONE example. People simply read about the Jewish faith and their books, they also examine historical documents that exposes the actions of Jews throughout history. Such conclusion comes for research and pure knowledge.
Trust me, I am Arab, I know how destructive generalization and stereotypes are?? I would NEVER do that to other people? Similarly how I research about Islam and my own history, I make sure I read enough about other cultures and faiths before drawing any conclusions.
As I have said in my previous posts, the problems in the Muslim world are related to BOTH cultural and political factors. I only addressed the cultural aspects, because I don’t think we’ll disagree on the political aspects. Since you mentioned, I have no other option.
Again, regarding this situation, you have to address their history and how they reached such level of poltical and economical coruptness? How did it develop throughout all those years and why they weren’t able to stop it or to improve. Evidently, their political history comes hand-in-hand with their cultural history!!
The Calipha and the Othman empires (Islamic empires) were indeed prosperous and powerful, but only political and military, NOT economically, socially or culturally.
Since Islam was spread by sword, they occupied many lands and garnered its wealth and its abundant resources during the process; this caused a sudden boom and prosperity in the region. However, the trick here, how long will this sudden wealth will last?? If they continue to use and spend it, while their people were not productive enough o produce what can replace it al least, then automatically the sate will collapse in the same rate in which it was created.
During the period of Islamic empires, not only half of the workforce (being women) were paralyzed, but also allot of this wealth was spent on the military, whether for equipments, training or building camps..etc Moreover, the tons of young men who joined the military were completely productive, and were a burden on the government and the economy. Are you adding this up. Let says 15% of men joined the army, and 15% of males are children, then a total of 80% of the population were completely unproductive !!!
This is pure economics, for any state to be able experience “â€extendedâ€â€ prosperity and progress, then they should have a strong productive economy with productive, experienced and skilled workforce. After all, governments feed on the people, through taxes, trade and the circulation of money in the economy.
Moreover. the main aim of those Isalmic states were completely political, they went through two stages:
1) Conquering as many land as possible
2) Maintaining what they have already conquered by both keeping their people under control and preventing foreign power from attacking. So allot of their wealth was spent on the army rather than the people
Now, after the collapse of those empires, the people were extremely weak and backward, not only military, but also economically and culturally. This all played a role in make them an easy target for greedy superpowers around the world who were way advanced than the islmic empires in all aspects. Basically they competed to conquer those regions, their political strategy was “â€Divide and Conquerâ€. This was far more destructive on the current people and the ones to follow because of the unequal distribution of wealth and resources across this region. Those foreign powers enslaved the people and abused their resources.
The Arabian and Islamic regions was conquered for centuries lastly by Europeans, this all helped to drain their resources and poisoned them in their societies unaware of the progress going on around the world. They had nothing but religion to hang onto. Regarding the current leaders, to keep it short, they are all puppets brought to power by their ex-occupiers who funded their campaigns. So in exchange for resources, the westerns offered aid and political support to those wanna-be leaders. With time, those elected/chosen leaders turned into dictators, because they had no other choice, to maintain their seat they need to keep the people oppressed and controlled, to be able to dismantle any possible rebellion.
All in all, the FOUNDATION of those ex-Islamic empires is responsible for all those economical, political and cultural problems in the Arabian and Islamic world. If the Foundation of any system is flawed and ineffective, no matter how hard you try to bridge the gaps, it will remain flawed and it will result it worse circumstances if it continued to be ignored, unless of course you addressed the source.
Moreover, since nobody is even considering to analyze the root cause of this setback, all those factors will continue to overlap and add up on each other, with each passing generation it will be harder to combat or even to improve. A time will come where it will reach to a disastrous extent, everything will explode, and who are the victims AGAIN – the people!!’
I stand for the people, if religion happens to be the root cause, then I cant help it !
Well, well, I respect your opinions of course ;D
Soo lets do it the Arab-style – Lets Agree to disagree!
After all were soo damn good at it, aren’t we? lol
Btw, I’m just curious, from where are you?
Oh, and I’m really sorry if you felt that I was like screaming at you. I absolutely did not mean it. I just care about my people. As we say in Arabic “Aslek wa faslekâ€â€.
I love this quote: “Identity is Destinyâ€â€™
Its really frustrating to see your own people are living in war zones,poverty and backwardness. What’s worse, the educated and fortunate people are not helping and are even making it worse by blaming a clueless population and unrevelent factors.
@Mona
Yeah, thats what i do the best
Check out the links. Dont you love science?
If just more people become aware of those gentic studies that proves Palestinians are the orginal people of the land, since they decsend to the Cannites, and they only became Arabized through the adoption of th arabic lanaguge -Isreal will be exposed in NO time.
Maria, go write a book! Get on it, seriously! =)
Im mixed iraqi, turkish, and syrian..so im like a fruit cocktail.. ha ha
I live in england btw, going into my 3rd year of uni doing intl. law.
But seriously I hope you got damn good grades for youre IB I just double checked everything you said and it turns out to be true. So since its been fact checked, write a book.
Except the part about culture, culture within the muslim world varies widely. But I understand in the context you were talking about the muslim culture which filtrated through every country that was ruled by the caliphs.
I feel bad (even worse) for all the people stuck in bad situations and justifying theyre suffering .. I guess religion is the most effective way to subjugate and control the masses! As I always say in the western world media and politics is used but with the media+politics you always have someone to answer to. With religion, who are you going to argue with, god? So god is much more effective.
Im not completely worried though because a muslim ummah would never work since :
-Women
-Christians
-Jews
-Other non muslim faiths
-Children
(Thats about 90% of people)
Are all going to be considered 2nd class citizens. So it wouldnt work in todays world.
Plus the Western world is more advanced :
-politically
-scientifically
-technologically
-socially
-economically
-environmentally
And every other way imaginable. I cant imagine arab men standing up to men in japan that work 16 hours a day and are responsible for all the technology they use. Can you imagine what would happen? The japanese would just refuse to build technology =D ha ha ha What would they do then? The muslim world is highly dependent on the Western world for :
-Aid .. financial
-Technology
-Scientific advances
-Economically
So even if the muslim world expand, it’ll just be in numbers. Other than maybe violence, which is rampant in the ME. Muslim/Arab men are not leading the world in any field, not economics, or science, or technology, or politics, or socially, or environmental protections…and its likely that it wont happen so long as govt and social structures remain the same. I think that if the Muslim world keeps stagnating for the next 100 years, the Western world might just build a great wall, like the great wall of China. Because when Muslims are unhappy it usually leads to violence, and theres only so long people are willing to deal with that before they cut you off. I really do because historically whenever someone is continuously a threat to youre development and prosperity you get divided. Even recently with the Iron wall between East and West Germany. That was only dismantled in 1990.
Plus, Maria, Ive asked alot of muslims questions about the environment and many genuinely believe god is the gift that keeps on giving so theyre placing 100% responsibility on god for theyre land not to go to shit. Really. -___-
@Mais
Oooh nice mix – so which disalect do u use -Iraqi or Sryian?
– I’m goin to England in mid of September = )
I can see already you’re gonna have a bright future.
I know a girl from Pal studying in Cardiff int law as well. –you guys never give up!! ;p
Yeah, I did get some damn gd grades
Hehe, write a book -with what – my advanced Shakespearean English :p
—–
Exactly, i don’t mean the traditions. That varies of course. But the mentality, lifestyle and the status of men and women are all the same. Although some countries have changes, so basically there won’t be cultural barriers in the capital city and few cities nearby, but cultural corruption does exists in rural and remote areas, where people follow the teachings “accuratelyâ€.
Good point. The western world is no different when it comes down to controlling the masses. They live in an illusion that they have freedoms especially freedom of speech, when actually their media being the most effective tool in which the public can be informed is totally controlled. This was obvious with 9/11, when people were demanding investigation, and many engineers and architectures were challenging the story that the government offered, not only the government refused but those people had absolutely NO voice. The internet was the only way in which they were able to inform Americans.
If you think about it, this has allot to do with our background and foundation. To us religion united us as one population, and thus religion had a great impact and created a common culture and mentality. No one can deny that it did have great influence and helped people back then, but the system wasn’t totally effective, it was flawed, that’s why if we continue to follow, all those negative consequences will just accumulate till it reach a catastrophic degree.
So due to the strong connection people have with religion, its more effective to abuse this factor to control the people.
However to westerns like USA, what brought them together as one population it’s the desire for freedoms and democracy. So its more effective to abuse this factor to control the masses.
No, In Arabian countries in the Levant region (Mashreq) and Egypt where there are Arabian Christians, they are not considered 2nd class citizens. The majority are Muslims, so if anything is flawed with the majority group it will affect the whole economy and the whole population.
Why NOT – damn girl you have an Arabian mentality too :p
Why are we always negative??
I honestly think if the people were motivated from children to men and women, and every individual in our society felt that they are being effective and are contributing then things will change indeed. Everybody needs a motivating spirit and encouragement to get things going. The Arabian motivation and spirit was long crushed as a result of all those years of political and cultural corruptness, that’s all part of the current Arabian mentality. So again we need to activate the whole economy (men and women), we have the resources, we will no longer need to depend on aid from foreign countries, and with a powerful economy we will have a powerful democratic government. Don’t forget poor countries with ineffective economies always lead to dictatorship, due to the unequal distribution of income and wealth, so to control the masses and to dismantle any possible rebellion; they resort to fascism and dictatorship.
Dude, the violence in the ME is purely political corruptness not religious. Religion is only used to divide the people, and thus it will be easier to control them =“â€Divide and Conquerâ€â€ strategy.
Read what I wrote to Adam earlier.
Those political movements only cause chaos in their OWN countries; they aim to control their land and resources and thus to become absolute leaders. They have absolutely NOTHING to do with prosperity and development of the west. If you mean the terrorism going on around the world, then you need to do some research, its proven those were inside jobs and false-flags, Arabs and Muslims were framed, to justify future-wars in the region.
Moreover, they western powers NEED this chaos that is going on in the ME, and they even further nurture it, because they feed on it. Since they have huge military industries, which makes a huge sector of their economy. They need WARS to be able to sell them, if they just accumulate those equipments, with time it will affect their economy and it will become worthless. However, they cant just stop producing those military equipments, because the image of the US as a super power comes from both its political and military powers, so they have to maintain it, and thus to maintain their position as a superpower.
That’s WHY, the US throughout history created FAKE wars and FAKE enemies, to be able to activate that sector in their economy. So not only do they fund both sides of the war, they also abuse the resources of the country that they attack – like they are currently doing in Iraq !!
The weapons that those Islamic movements use are made by America or other countries which have American-owned factories – they are NOT from Iran like they claim.
Now, do you know WHO were behind those so-called Islamic terrorist attacks and international violence???
1)Israel
2)Mossad – their Motto: “â€By Way of Deception, thou shalt do War’
3)The Zionist lobby controlling America’s government, media. Economy and banks
Do you know the American Federal Reserve that prints the US dollars is a PRIVATE institution, and its owned by Zionist Jews.
The motive for Israel doing 9/11, 7/7, US liberty attack, lavon affair and Mumbai attacks are obvious enough — its simply a trick used to invoke a wave of anger and hatred towards Arabs around the world, gain more manufactured sympathy, as well induce the Western powers to take part in wars against Israels enemies.
Lets take one example now -9/11 -being the biggest trajedy
9/11 was a master plot, concocted by a handfull of Israelis and dual passport Americans and carried out by the resources of the Mossad.
Here is a collection of links I gathered few months ago.
CHECK OUT ALL 3 SITES FIRST
Link (1): http://zioncrimefactory.wordpress.com/israel-did-911/
Link (2): http://how911wasdone.blogspot.com/
Link (3): http://800poundgorilla.100webspace.net/geeklog//staticpages/index.php?page=911
——————————-
What really happened(dot)com : The history the government hopes you DONT learn.
1) 9/11 ALL in one chunk:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/9-11BasicQuestions.html
2) 5 dancing Israeli arrested on 9/11:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/fiveisraelis.html
3) The Pre-9/11 Shut Down of Arab &Muslim Web Sites. If you are going to frame someone, you have to make certain they cannot speak in their own defense.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/fbishut.html
4) 9/11 & Anthrax: Framing Arabs:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/framingarabs.html
………………………… ………………..
A Documentary that shows the FULL truth (Missing Links)
Watch it all here: http://www.911missinglinks.com/
—————————————
MORE on 9/11:
1) 103 Suspected 9-11 Criminal Coconspirators:
http://www.whodidit.org/cocon.html
3) http://911research.wtc7.net/
FOCUS —on the evidence section (Destroyed, Missing, and Surviving Evidence of the September 11th Attack) and the Misinformation section (Red flags) and finally the (Aftermath section).
A MUST READ:
1) FAKE TERROR created by the US government throughout history:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ARTICLE5/index.html
2 America, the real terrorist?
http://www.fractalenlightenment.com/2008/06/america-real-terrorist.html
3 Dual Citizenship (Israeli+American) — Loyal to Whom?
http://www.viewzone.com/dualcitizen.html
4 Israel FAKING Al Qauda:: The Media Calls him Al Qaeda, but his Jewish Father calls him Adam Pearlman::
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8271 /The-Media-Calls-him-Al-Qaeda- but-his-Jewish-Father-calls-hi m-Adam-Pearlman-
5 Mohamed Atta in OK city -September 11:
http://www.wtprn.com/Last_Nail.html
6 The Israeli origins of Bush II’s war
http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/snieg_isrorgs.htm
7 Israel Confirm Assassinations Used as a policy: http://www.angelfire.com/rant/ truthaboutpalestine/assas.html
I’m not sure where to begin. Your post exemplifies the problem with religion – not Islam, not christianity, not hinduism, but religion in general.
You have been taught not to question, not to read too much into religion. And thus you didn’t. Thus, had you been born in India, you would have probably been a Hindu. If you were born in America, you would probably be a christian. You just happen to be muslim because you were born to muslim parents. The fact that you never questioned your religion, and deeply looked into it, has a lot of implications. Had you been born to Hindu parents, you would’ve never questioned your religion, you would’ve been happy knowing just the basics, and thus, you would’ve never found Islam (which I’m sure you think is the “right” religion – if there is such a thing)
You call Islam a “simplistic religion”, yet the Quran contains 114 Surahs. I’m not sure what your definition of simple is, but 114 Surahs many containing more than a hundred ayas, is definitely not my definition of simple.
Let me ask you this – have you ever read the Quran and tried to actually understand it? Or have you just blindly believed what your parents and friends told you about the Quran?
I can assure you that muslim-turned-athiests didn’t turn into athiests because they think ‘muslims are terrorists’, they’re much more intellectual than that. In fact, you’ll find so many muslim-turned-athiests who are hardline Palestine supporters, strictly against the Iraq war and prefer Hamas over Fatah (and hate both).
I really do suggest you start thinking outside the box – and start questioning religion. If you are truly a devout person, questioning Islam and finding the answers to your questions would only make you more faithful. Then again, there is the probability that you stop believing. But if you stopped believing, then you probably saw the flaw with Islam (or religion in general).
Also, I do suggest you think seriously about evolution
@BeyondTheBorder
i really like you answer, especially when you advised her to look into all religions not just Islam.
I am a former Muslim who is now an atheist because it is the logical thing. The problems, the contradictions and mistakes of the Quran do not hold up to real scrutiny. You call for us to have just a simple understanding of the religion. With Muslims that means do not ask questions, not about mistakes in the Quran and not about the character of Muhammad and the sahaba and not about fiqh and Shariah. I can’t live that way.
If other people can, that is fine, as long as they understand that their right to believe does not mean that they can intrude upon my right to not believe. And my right to not believe includes my right to LIVE freely as an ex-Muslim – a right I did not have in my Arab country and why I had to leave. I could never, ever call upon people to “just believe” knowing that many of my fellow Muslims would kill a person for declaring their lack of belief in Islam and calling it for the honour of the prophet or the honour of the tribe or what Allah commands. If people are leaving Islam it is usually due to their own intelligence and there is no need to blame the west, as usual. We know between us as Muslims, we will talk about all of the bad behaviour, the atrocities that Muslims inflict on one another. For some of us, that clear lack of evidence of the Quran and Sunnah’s claims of Islam on a person’s behaviour and character drives us to dig deeper and examine the alleged source of the deen, that’s all. If people choose to remain Muslim, khayr. The best thing for you to do is to work on the problems of those who remain in the deen, not wondering why the west has driven us away from it.
Lakum deenakum wa liya deen.
I thought being an atheist is not a religion. So ily deen, wa inty la2. Sa7? Just trying to clarify that point.
Also for that forum that you posted your dissatisfaction to this post to, I am not from the middle east. I am in Canada. So learn more about me then making up stories. Ok?
Thanks.
Everything in Islam is open for questioning. I am sorry that you did not have someone to help you stay on the right path towards Jenna, I think you owe it to yourself to give Islam another chance and have an open-minded sheikh or anyone else that is knowledgeable answer everything you wanted to know. Where are the contradiction and mistakes in the Quran?
@Mathurine
i just think that we should question all religion because there are becoming obstacles to our way of living. I am a christian but does not mean that i should be a slave of christianity. moreover, some people are starting to use religion to push their own agenda. That’s where complications come in. I do understand why some people might get upset with their religion and revert to being just atheists. Religion should teach love and respect for one’s opions and happiness…What are all these ingredients?
@Mona
Actually Deen does not mean Religion. Arabs today use it to refer to religion indeed, but when reading the Quran and any text written in the old standard arabic you should look for its actual defintion.
Deen in Arabic means a way of life/code of life i.e. your perspective of the principles of life and your system of belief. Religions gives you a specific way of life, thats why its referred to as deen.
In short whether you believed in any religion or not, or had your own principles of life, we ALL have a Deen.
@Maria
Each person interprets things the way they please. It also has to do with the way we are raised and taught. So your interpretations are different then me.
@Mona
Oh no, I mean that Quranic verse “â€Lakum deenkom wa leya deenâ€â€™
It doesn’t mean you have your religion and I have mine
It means you got “’your way of life/system of beliefâ€â€™ and I got mine.
So this verse does not only apply on those who believe in religions (specific way of life) but also atheists and agnostic as well. It is a deen but its not a relgion.
@Maria
I never heard of that interpretation before. Oh well, I wouldn’t know since I don’t live in an Arabic country or know Arabic grammar and meaning well enough.
@Maria
Thats the defintion of the arabic word “deen”.
@Mona
, because they use modern standard Arabic or their informal Arabic dialect. In those two forms, deen is used mostly to mean religion. However when one interrupts the meanings of the Quran or any old text, you should be knowledgeable of the old definitions in the old standard Arabic, and the changes and progress in the Arabic language. Thats why today arabs also read arabic translations of the Quran.
Even most Arabs do not know it
I’m a muslim that has left islam totally.
I dont like the idea of being told how to live my life..especially by a book that was written 1400-2000 years ago.
To all the muslims who still believe.. good for you, hope theres a heaven waiting there for you. i really do.
For those who left, you’re not alone.
So, to be an atheist, one must desire sin and vice? I resent that assertion. I am an atheist, married, do not drink, and am a vegetarian. Happiness is not pleasure, but rather virtue. We must act with reason and logic, rather than tradition; sincerity, rather than honor; and courage, rather than compromise. The ruling and acting based on primitive honor is a road to immorality. The peoples of liberty are entitled to their hatred of kings and royalty, and hatred of religious dogma. It is not a matter of racism, and it is not a matter of prejudice. The fact is, the teachings and assertions of the religions of the world are simply humanity’s first attempt to explain cosmology, physics, and morality. The teachings of the Koran, and the prophet, were enlightened and forward thinking for the 8th-9th centuries. We are in the 21st century. The sad fact is there is no more evidence for God/Allah then there is for unicorns or the goddess of reason. The best that has been presented is fear, threats of violence, a 1500 year old book, and intimidation. Shouldn’t the truth stand up to honest and sincere doubts?
Hi have u read the blog “carmens web”…i wonder what happened to her
Hi Mohamed. I have no idea..
If you’ve officially left Islam, aren’t there lots of Muslims out to kill you?
What’s more profound if that converts practice Islam with fervor right in the melting pot of fitna. The worst “Muslims” are who say they are but do everything that is forbidden. Who has respect for them? Not I!
What’s more profound if that converts practice Islam with fervor right in the melting pot of fitna.
‘avoid talking about science, evolution or the story of Adam & Eve’ – why?? can’t you handle anything other than your Islamic fairy stories??
I am an Atheist from a Christian background. I have recently been learning a little more about Islam. Mostly, this is because I have been around muslims since high school (30 years ago), but never really looked into the religion.
I have been disgusted by attempts by the media to portray Islam as an ‘evil’ religion, and Muslims as ‘evil’ people. All of the Muslims I have met have been people of high moral character, even though one or two of them were atheist/ agnostic and drank alcohol.
I was surprised to learn that there were Muslims that drank alcohol, although as a Muslim friend explained ‘Christians aren’t supposed to lie, but they sometimes do.’
I had thought that Islam was a religion that degraded women as well, until I learned that women were more highly regarded in the Qu’ran than they were in the Arabic tribal/ pagan society or even Christendom AT THAT TIME. Muslim women can divorce their husbands simply by saying “I divorce you’ three times. Also, some of the treatment of women has more to do with the traditions and culture of the country than it does with Islam. No one forces muslim women to wear a head scarf or a burka. A friend of mine who is also a former Catholic says she has a friend who is a stunningly beautiful woman, who simply chooses to wear a burka because she doesn’t like being hit on by guys everywhere she goes.
It’s also a foolish stereotype to think of Muslims and/or Arabs as uneducated/ uncivilized. The Middle east is where civilization began! There are more people in Arabic countries with PhDs than there are most western countries, especially the United States.
One of the differences between Christianity and Islam I am noticing right now is that Christianity tries to appeal to your emotion, while Islam appeals to your intellect.
Christianity says things like ‘Jesus is God, and God is Jesus. Jesus is his own father and son, he crucified himself to himself to save mankind from committing what he considered a sin to begin with’, then…expects you not to question it. “Jesus loves you! Jesus is peace!’ etc.
Islam on the other hand, asks you to consider things skeptically. “See how the Qu’ran describes the development of the foetus, four hundred years before it was proven so. What other rational explanation is there, except hat the Qu’ran is the word of God.”
I am not saying ‘Christianity is false, Islam is true.’ I don’t believe in God, except perhaps the God of Spinoza. What I am saying here is that Islam assumes you are an intelligent skeptic, Christianity is hoping to tug on your heart strings.
AS for why Muslims are becoming Atheists? I don’t know. I suppose because it’s hard? From an outsiders perspective, it looks as though it takes a lot of discipline to be a muslim, or a GOOD muslim anyways. There must be a lot of pressure to conform, especially when living in a western society. Science may have something to do with it too. There might be some contradictions in the Qu’ran as well. I don’t know.
I was actually hoping to come across some Muslims that have become Atheists. True, I have some Atheist muslim friends, and some ‘believer’ Muslim friends, but I generally don’t talk about religion with these people. The atheists say ‘Look it’s all Bullsh*t’, and the Muslims say ‘the Qu’ran is truth!’ I am mostly interested to learn why Islam values critical thinking skills more than Christianity does.
I think many of those who choose to leave Islam for Atheism or Agnosticism do so due to a lack of education in how Islam works. Very few Muslims anywhere seem to understand how Islamic law and theology are derived, for instance, and what Muslim scholarship of the past consists of when it comes to discussions on Islam. In particular, many Muslims seem to have very little understanding of hadiths and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS). While they may know some things about the Qur’an, they have trouble understanding how the Qur’an is to be applied from a practical standpoint.
For those who don’t know, the Sunnah represents how the Prophet (SAWS) interpreted and implemented the Qur’an in practice. It’s also important to note that Muslims compiled thousands and thousands of hadiths of the Prophet (SAWS) but much less than half of them actually meet the criteria for being considered authentic (such as the narrators being known for trustworthiness, no break in the chain of transmission back to the Prophet, etc.) as opposed to fabricated. Many people (including some of those who are quite respected in the Muslim community) have misinterpreted what the Prophet (SAWS) practiced and taught due to not realizing the difference between sound chains of narration and weak chains of narration when it comes to hadiths. As a result, many of the incorrect practices that go on today in the Muslim community are grounded in hadiths that were in fact fabricated and don’t meet the standards of “sahih” hadiths.
Organizations like the al-Maghrib Institute in the West are doing a good job of teaching Muslims about their Deen by teaching them not only about the Qur’an but also the authentic Sunnah. More young Muslims in the West need to attend courses offered by organizations like these to have a proper grounding in how the Qur’an is meant to be interpreted. Otherwise, they may succumb to the temptation to stop practicing a religion that they don’t really understand.
One person who has done a good job of answering my questions, and who was an Atheist and then became a Muslim, is Dr. Laurence Brown. He is an Ophthalmologist who has studied religion in his spare time for many, many years. His research has culminated in four books which, when read in order, provide a huge amount of enlightenment to anyone who is interested in religion – God willing:
http://www.leveltruth.com/books.html
mariya
can i hv ur email id pls ,i like to know some more abt ur view