The excellent site Wiki Islam has a series of very interesting statements from Ex Muslims, some of whom speak about why they left Islam.
It was interesting to see the page on Ex Muslims to see that although some Ex Muslims listed chose Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and in one case Judaism, many others chose atheism or agnosticism. It seems that within the Islamic world and also in the Islamic diaspora there is a great yearning to be free of Islam and to cast off the chains wrought for them by Mohammed and his followers.
Here is the link to testimonies from Ex Muslims
http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/People_Who_Left_Islam
Also here is a very interesting account from someone who converted from Judaism to Islam but left to take up ‘Judaic monotheism’.
http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Elwathaniyy_(former_Muslim)
There appears to be trouble in the ‘paradise’ that is dar al Islam as in the UK alone 200,000 people have left Islam, some for Christianity or other religions and some for agnosticism and atheism.
To those who boast that ‘Islam is the fastest growing religion’ I’d say look at your ‘churn’ figures. If nearly quarter of a million British Muslims have left, and with many others who would like to leave it wasn’t for the fear of Islamic violence, the claim of ‘fastest growing’ starts to look a little hollow.
With the fear of Islamic violence quite high you could probably add quite a few onto that 200k figure as not everyone who leaves Islam is going to feel they can be public about it in any way.
Ex Muslims are being persecuted by Islamic communities and individuals in the United Kingdom and it is scandalous that we tolerate these attacks on people who are only exercising their rights to change their religion, a key right in free societies.
See this article http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Persecution_of_Ex-Muslims_(United_Kingdom)
The problem with Muslims, especially so called New Muslims, leaving Islam has been recognised by some parts of the Islamic establishment. There is an interesting article and debate on this subject at the site below:
http://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thought/5823-why-are-new-muslims-leaving-islam
This piece is a standard ‘why are they ‘leaving Islam, maybe converts should have more support?’ article written from an Islamic perspective (likewise some of the comments). However there is a cracking comment from one Ex Muslim which I have pasted below:
“Ex-Muslim position
written by John, October 30, 2012
If you really want to know why we leave I’ll give you a few reasons.
Even though many of us truly fear Allah swt and love his apostle we are usually pushed away for these reasons.
1. Arabism can be defined as the devotion to Arab interests, culture, aspirations, or ideals. It is common in Arab culture to view being Arab or from a particular region with superiority. The religion also takes on this character in everything from scholarship to the acts of following Sunnah. Arabs culture is given precedents which feels like ethnocentrism being forced down your throat. Why can’t I pray in English? why is modern arabic important when it is not like Quranic arabic? Why is eating with your hands a blessing yet eating with cutlery or chop sticks is somehow less blessed? This leads to the demonization of every culture that is not Islamic and the praising of Arab culture. They seem to think Islam is their culture when there is a difference between arab culture and islam. It is obvious that they do deviate from religion and their culture is older then their religion. Further political positions and marriage to Arab women is reserved for arab men. Which leads me to my next point.
2. Arrogance – The domination of Arab culture isn’t the only subtle racism in the community. Even other cultures who have embraced Islam view themselves above others. This is the case so much so that when ever a revert argues a topic the “born muslim” always has a kind of instant credibility as if religion is something inherently more understood by some people then others. How many times has some easterner told you that your thinking like a westerner (Implying you should think like him or that their cultural perspective is inherently in line with Islam). Further more your status as a convert/revert is held against you, you are a known as a sinner and a risky person to get to close to or marry. So be prepared to not speak, not mingle and not marry. if you struggle with this you will be viewed as the arrogant one, when indeed it is Asians (this includes Arabs, the middle east is not a continent, sorry) that have a sense of entitlement to religion.
3. Alienation – from all communities. Becoming a muslim alienates you from your culture and the muslims are divided by theirs leaving us with no one.
4. The inability for Islam to solve social issues. (self-evident)
All of my points have to do with people. Unfortunately people can’t be avoided so it impacts our faith. Constantly being alienated from people and the religion itself by having others tell you Islam belongs to them pushes you away. It means that you have to have so much faith that you struggle for God in every way and you have to fight the good fight with practically everyone around you to justify your identity as a muslim.
So when I read comments saying it’s not the muslims fault, they were not true believers or it’s Allahs will. This is a lame cop-out to not critically analyze yourselves or admit that there are problems in the community (denial that there is racism is the largest delusion among believers). No instead just as the facists in first world countries expect imigrants to act like them completely the Asians also expect all the muslims to be like them.
The truth the vast majority of muslims are being used as a pawn of shatan to mislead people from the right path. Most muslims will burn as the worst people in existence, because they are hypocrites.”
Also this one:
“I KNOW THE ANSWER
written by Mohammed, October 25, 2012
Simple answer: Islam , the koran and mohammed are frauds.
Proof: The koran says the earth is flat and the sun turns around it. That mountains were built to prevent earthquakes and that semen comes from behind the rips. Everybody knows all this is wrong, yet the koran claims to be god’s word.
This is the best proof islam is a fraud, the koran is not god’s word and mohammed was a *********.
All muslims are thus worshiping an idol and will burn in eternal hell fire.
I feel sorry for you.”
From reading some of the comments it seems that there are quite a lot of people who convert to Islam and then go ‘WTF have I got myself into?’
I know a few people who have converted to Islam and they were all ‘damaged’ in some way, either they were abuse victims or they were looking for a replacement family, or were lonely and wanted something to belong to (FFS How lonely does a person have to be to make Islam look more attractive than joining a club or taking up a hobby or something or even chatting to randoms in a pub).
Islam’s problem is that if they tell people all about Mohammed then non-Muslims think ‘what a nasty paedophile violent c**t he was’ so the Dawa crew’s don’t tell the potential convert just what a bastard Mohammed was. Also unlike Christianity and Judaism where the potential convert needs to know and understand the bible, in Islam the Koran reading comes after the conversion a lot of the time. Hence the existence of those former Muslims / Ex Islamic converts who only find out what a crock of shit Islam is when they eventually start to read and study the Koran in-depth.
There are a huge number of people who are still enslaved by Islam. Help them get out, free the slave, free the Muslim from Islam. Many want to get out but need support.
