One of the things that I would like to think that this blog does is to inform those who are opposed to Islam that there are, within the realms of Islamic culture, many who would wish to escape from it.   We on the outside of Islam often can find it difficult to understand the pressures and fears on those who question or want to leave Islam.  Sometimes there comes an ex-Muslim writer like Ex-Hijabi who is so stunningly correct in how they illustrate life for those questioning Islam that I find I cannot help but want to feature them and share them with others.

There is a first class article on the subject of a person leaving Islam called ‘My Name Is Muhammed Islam, and I am an Islamophobe’ over at the Harry’s Place blog. Here are the bits that caught my eye.

Harry’s Place said:

“My name is Muhammad Islam and, as my name suggests, I was born and raised a Muslim. I come from a devout religious family in which my sisters wear hijab and strictly observe Islamic rituals whilst my parents do their best to encourage their children to live according to strict Islamic principles. I was also raised in a large Muslim community and so most of my childhood friends and class fellows were Muslim.

I love my parents, my siblings and my many Muslim friends. I respect their right to believe and practise Islam in any way they like but, personally, I hate the religion of Islam. I regard Islam, like other Abrahamic faiths, to be an anachronistic, regressive and damaging force in the world.  I don’t like its teachings, I don’t like its Prophet and I don’t like its holy book. I regard myths dreamt up illiterate and ill-informed stone-age tribal leaders as dangerous, especially if they are adhered to in the 21^st century. As such I am Islamophobic.

I am also communistphobic, fascistphobic, Hinduphobic, Christophobic and phobic of many other political and religious ideologies. I think I have a right to hold this view, and the right to reject and criticise other ideas and belief systems that I don’t like or disagree with. However, I am a strong believer in equality and liberty, I believe all humans should be given the same legal, civic and human rights and no discrimination on the basis of creed, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation should be tolerated.

I have increasingly felt the need to clarify my personal views on religion because every time I have criticised the religion of Islam in recent years, I have been accused of Islamophobia, in many cases by non-Muslims. I have often responded to such accusations by saying ‘yes I am Islamophobic and phobic of many other ideologies and belief systems that I think stunt intellectual growth and human progress’.”

Any reasonable person would support his desire to be free of what he sees as oppressive ideologies.

It was interesting to see that this particular ex-Muslim has a particular downer on how the word ‘Islamophobia’ is used.

He said:

“The usage and popularisation of an inaccurate term like ‘Islamophobia’ has led by people being maligned merely for expressing an opinion about a belief system. This is an extraordinary and bizarre set of circumstances where people of a Muslim background are not able to criticise and open express views about a religion that has influenced their life.

The use of Islamophobia as a tool to stifle anti-religious and anti-theocratic dissent is a very deliberate strategy used by Islamists and sections of the far-left as well as activists within the anti-racist scene. When used by Islamists the intention is to brand all criticism of Islamist politics discriminatory in nature whilst all criticism of Islam as a faith is deemed bigoted since it is inspired by hate. When used by non-Muslims the intention is to use Muslim causes to drive through an anti- capitalist agenda in which Muslims are the new victims of western imperialism. In the process, short-comings of Islam and extremism within Muslim communities must be over-looked because, in the grand scheme of things, the leftist struggle against the right and the forces of evil capitalism are the greater enemy.

This grand-strategy also has very real implications for the Muslims that leftists are supposedly interested in defending. It means gender inequalities and gender-based discrimination within Muslim communities is not adequately tackled. It means practises such as FGM, forced marriage, honour killings and forced veiling are able to proliferate because western liberals who are supposed to care about these issues chose to ignore them out of fear of losing the support of reactionary Islamists. It means hate preachers are free to roam British university campuses and openly promote homophobia, anti-Semitism and the death penalty against free-thinkers like me.”

Read the rest at: http://hurryupharry.org/2014/03/11/my-name-is-muhammad-islam-and-i-am-an-islamophobe/

Bloody well said!  Shills of Islamist groups who scream ‘Islamophobia’ at this, that and the other, like the Tell Mama organisation, must surely be aware that, as Mr Islam says, the use of the word ‘Islamophobia’ is part of the reason why hate preachers and other similar dross are walking our streets.  Hiding behind the word ‘Islamophobia’ is a whole stinking universe of things that should never be allowed in the United Kingdom, things such as FGM, forced veiling, terror promotion and I would add, the worrying ‘Islamic master race’ mentality that so often manifests itself.