Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: March 29, 2024, 10:44 am

Thread Rating:
  • 2 Vote(s) - 3 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
My Story On How I Left Islam
#1
My Story On How I Left Islam
I am from Lebanon, I was born and raised as Muslim, as a young boy my father started taking me to our local mosque and taught me how to pray to Allah, here when the indoctrination started. My parents along with the Imam, told me many things, that just did not add up, that women who show skin are condemned to hell, I asked myself as a 5-year-old “These women are not harming anyone, then why would Allah punish them?” I also asked my parents: “Who created God?” They replied: “You are not allowed to ask this question, it will make step towards hell.” Imams also taught me about hell, it really scared me, and I got nightmares because of it, the concept of hell in Islam as described by most Imams would make an awesome horror movie. Ever since I was little boy, I am an individualist, I do not like people telling what to do and intervening in my personal freedom, I still am now.
   However, my parents are open towards unorthodox views like they reject the Hijab, and don’t think that apostates should be executed, or adulterers/fornicators should be stoned, and think that honor killings are criminal.  But unfortunately, they support blasphemy laws, and think that homosexuality is a mental illness and should be rejected by society.
 On one hand, one of my maternal cousins is a member of The Committee of Islamic Scholars, this committee is socially authoritarian and want the government to walk all over other people’s personal & civil liberties in the name of Islam, morality, and traditionalism. A few months ago, when the Supreme Jurisdiction Council declared that homosexuality is fine, and that the state should not intervene with what people do in the bedroom, the committee got pissed off with the Council’s decision. The rest are pro-Hamas and pro-Muslim brotherhood.  
  On the other hand, my paternal uncle’s wife works for Dar Al Fatwa, a government institution run by The Grand Mufti of the Sunnis, the institution has political influence on government policy and is backed by Saudi Arabia, and the committee mentioned above.4 years ago, liberals, leftists, secularists, and feminists demanded the Lebanese Parliament and Government to legalize optional secular civil marriage, the Mufti scared the politicians by issuing a fatwa “Any Muslim politician , from the government, Parliament, or  member Jurisdiction Council who supports secular marriage even if optional is an apostate. This made the politicians reject the demand, including Christian and Druze members. The rest of my father’s side is collectivist, tribalist, extremely traditional, they hate it when on their members marries someone from another religious sect, like Shia, Druze, Christian, or Alawite. 
 Lebanon, had suffered a devastating 15-year civil war from 1975-1990, it has damaged us socially, economically, and politically, and our Military, and gave rise to the terrorist organization Hezbollah backed by Iran.  Lebanon is now divided into 4 major religious sects; the Sunnis, Shias, Maronite Christians, and Druze. Each of the 4 groups have politicians in the state, all 4 hate each other, and the politicians take advantage of the status quo to keep us fighting over ridiculous things.  
 I was not a very religious person, but at the age of 14 almost 15, my brother lost his job in UAE, and came to Lebanon in the summer, he used to very devout and dragged me to pray 5 times a day, I slowly started becoming more religious, by the end of the summer I devoted myself to Allah, suppressed my sexual urges but because of my raging testosterone levels, I still watched porn, masturbated to girls, and had sex with them, but I felt a sheer amount of guilt, and regret, I used to lecture my closest friends that they must not drink alcohol, have premarital sex, even shake hands with female, they got annoyed by me, and started hanging out less with me. But at the same time, I wasn’t feeling that I am being myself, I was repressive, consumed by those bad ideas. In geography class, we were discussing the universe, and the teacher said that the milky way galaxy has an estimated 160 billion planets , she also added that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe, I came to the conclusion that we may not be alone, and the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations is highly probable, I asked my Imam “ Our universe has hundreds of billions of galaxies, and every galaxy has hundreds of billions of planets, so according to the laws in probability in Math, the we could not be alone in the universe, Do you think extraterrestrials could exist?” His answer was : “No, that is a bunch of nonsense regurgitated by the evil Americans.”
  At the age of 16 my devotion started slowly diminishing, but since I love The Simpsons, I started watching it more, through it I came upon Family Guy, and then South Park. I fell in love with the other two series, they were more than just comedy and satire, they were very well convincing. These shows make fun of everything, through this show I started being exposed to new ideas, even if I didn’t like them, also did offend me, I dismissed many of their arguments, but they did shed some light. But I couldn’t resist I still watch them more. One of the Episodes that made fun of atheism and evolution, when they explained evolution it made a lot of sense.
  At the age of 17, I started losing my faith, I isolated myself in my room for a few days and asked myself these simple questions, “The Christian thinks I am wrong, so does Shia, and many others and I think Sunni Islam is the right one, what if they are right, what if the atheists are right, what if I am wrong?” “If god is omniscient, why did he create satan, he knows certain people are going to heaven and other are going to hell, then why pray?” “In the Koran, it written that God created life and death to test you, and judge you. But If life is limited, and the punishment and reward are eternal then why did god created us?” “Why is religion geographical?” “Why is consensual sex, masturbation wrong if they are harmless?” “What is wrong with homosexuality?” I remember as a young kid, that I was taught humans were the first creatures to inhabit the earth, but I discovered that there were dinosaurs and ruled the earth for hundreds of millions of years, and got extinct 65 million years. And the question from my childhood which was silenced “If everything needs a creator, and god created us then who created god? And who created god’s god?”. I decided that religion is bunch of bullshit created to control minds. 
  But I still needed to do further research, I started reading more about the universe, and evolution, watching more documentaries. I stumbled upon great thinkers Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bill Maher, Stephen Hawking, and also atheist Youtubers like thunderf00t, TJ Kirk, Seth Andrews, DarkMatter2525, and. I found their arguments extremely convincing, encourage critical thinking, challenge adopted ideas, I did listen to religious clerics and had conversations with Pastors, Imams, Mullahs, Ayatollah I even watched Zakir Naik’s lectures, they seemed ridiculous, and unscientific. 
  I decided to read the Koran and The Bible critically, and I saw that these books are filled with unscientific claims, unethical, misogynistic, and homophobic bullshit. And above all else it contradicts itself. I also made an analogy, that Muslim majority and Islamic countries and dystopian and extremely backwards, and wherever there is Islam there is dysfunction. And look what is happening now in European countries they are now suffering from a security crisis. 
  From the 1920s to the 70s, Arabs, Persians, Afghanis, used to be much more progressive they got influenced by western culture and Attaturk who secularized Turkey, the hijab was rare only older women wore it, Arab women used to wear bikinis and short skirts sexual harassment & rape were almost nonexistent unlike now in Egypt. Saudi Clerics nagged former Arab & Persian leaders to control what women should wear, but Arabs ignored them. Arabs used to go to European countries to earn their degrees. After overthrowing monarchies and Fedualists, the middle class was established because of free market capitalism, and they ruled the Arab world holding progressive and liberal values.  But soon after KSA started getting rich with oil Arabs started going to work there coming back with regressive and reactionary values about the world since the 80s. In addition, the Muslim brotherhood gained more influence. Making Arab culture become one of the most backwards in the world. Plus, the Islamic revolution of Iran also affected us negatively which gave birth to Hezbollah triggered by Zionism, and western neo-conservatism.
  And what really pisses me off is the western regressive left, feminists, and social justice warriors defending Islam and telling others that “The hijab is liberating”, If someone mentions that atrocities against women and gays in the name of Islam or Islamic countries they will reply “But it’s their culture”, and what is worse is that in the women’s march almost everyone was cheering for Linda Sarsour who wants to bring Shariah (Islamic Law) to America which is anti-women, and homophobic.  By the way Sarsour means cockroach in Arabic.
 I now I am an atheist, a de-facto kind, I don’t agree with religion or the hijab but it can be helpful to the unfortunate providing some escape fantasy, and hijab can sometimes protect from the scorching sun. 
PS: Excuse my English, it isn’t my first language. Thanks, in Advance.
   
     
 
Quote:What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

                                                                                                         Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011
Reply
#2
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
Welcome, Murtad, I hope you like our forum. Thanks for sharing your journey.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
Reply
#3
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
Compelling story, Lebneni.  Watch your back, clear your history.  You may be among friends here but it doesn't sound so safe where you live.


P.S. - Don't worry about your English.  You write better than the fucking president.
Reply
#4
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
welcome

stay safe
 The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it. 




Reply
#5
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
Welcome, you are a very brave boy for questionig your beliefsystem. I wish that the lefties, feminists and SJW's would hear what you have to say.
Anyway, stay safe and don't forget that there will always be people who think like you! Smile
"By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none"

Charlie Chaplin
Reply
#6
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
Hi; Visa seeker:

Quote:Lebanon, had suffered a devastating 15-year civil war from 1975-1990, it has damaged us socially, economically, and politically

https://atheistforums.org/thread-49198-p...pid1561800

https://atheistforums.org/thread-49198-p...pid1569618

I'm very, very, very sorry for putting the idea into your head

BTW; the biggest sad thing is to not being able to see the whole package. Seeing religious people alone is the biggest hypocrisy. What about nationalists? communists? and simply badass gangsters who don't even pray?

Shit, I put another idea in your head..so now you'll cry and whine about being oppressed by gangsters and nationalists.
Reply
#7
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
I forgot to add that Islam is Christianity on steroids
Quote:What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

                                                                                                         Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011
Reply
#8
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
(July 3, 2017 at 2:34 pm)Lebneni Murtad Wrote: I forgot to add that Islam is Christianity on steroids

You're wrong.

For example, a woman should shave her hair if she abandoned the Christian version of "Hijab":

https://www.gotquestions.org/head-coverings.html


And death to:


Quote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_..._the_Bible

The Bible prescribes the death penalty for the following activities, among others:
  • Murder[13]
  • Adultery[13]
  • Bestiality[14]
  • Rape of a betrothed virgin[15]
  • Male-male sexual intercourse[16]
  • One man picked up sticks on the Sabbath, he was taken into custody because a punishment was not known. The LORD told Moses that the man in custody must be killed. This particular crime and punishment is isolated case law.(Numbers 15:32–36)
  • The man and woman when a man meets a betrothed woman in town and sleeps with her. But if it is a case of rape where out in the country she called for help and no one heard, the death penalty only applies to the man[17]
  • A woman who is found not to have been a virgin on the night of her wedding[18]
  • Worshiping other gods[19][20]
  • Witchcraft (Exodus 22:18)
  • Taking the LORD's name in vain or cursing his name[21]
  • Cursing a parent[22][23][24]
  • Kidnapping[25]
  • Disobeying a parent[26]

Respect the minds of the readers; please.
Hello? big picture?
Reply
#9
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
(July 3, 2017 at 2:47 pm)AtlasS33 Wrote:
(July 3, 2017 at 2:34 pm)Lebneni Murtad Wrote: I forgot to add that Islam is Christianity on steroids

You're wrong.

For example, a woman should shave her hair if she abandoned the Christian version of "Hijab":

https://www.gotquestions.org/head-coverings.html


And death to:


Quote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_..._the_Bible

The Bible prescribes the death penalty for the following activities, among others:
  • Murder[13]
  • Adultery[13]
  • Bestiality[14]
  • Rape of a betrothed virgin[15]
  • Male-male sexual intercourse[16]
  • One man picked up sticks on the Sabbath, he was taken into custody because a punishment was not known. The LORD told Moses that the man in custody must be killed. This particular crime and punishment is isolated case law.(Numbers 15:32–36)
  • The man and woman when a man meets a betrothed woman in town and sleeps with her. But if it is a case of rape where out in the country she called for help and no one heard, the death penalty only applies to the man[17]
  • A woman who is found not to have been a virgin on the night of her wedding[18]
  • Worshiping other gods[19][20]
  • Witchcraft (Exodus 22:18)
  • Taking the LORD's name in vain or cursing his name[21]
  • Cursing a parent[22][23][24]
  • Kidnapping[25]
  • Disobeying a parent[26]

Respect the minds of the readers; please.
Hello? big picture?
The thing is nobody is folllowing these rules, yet there are still claims that the Bible is holy.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none"

Charlie Chaplin
Reply
#10
RE: My Story On How I Left Islam
(July 3, 2017 at 3:06 pm)Die Atheistin Wrote:
(July 3, 2017 at 2:47 pm)AtlasS33 Wrote: You're wrong.

For example, a woman should shave her hair if she abandoned the Christian version of "Hijab":

https://www.gotquestions.org/head-coverings.html


And death to:



Respect the minds of the readers; please.
Hello? big picture?
The thing is nobody is folllowing these rules, yet there are still claims that the Bible is holy.

I thought we were speaking about "religion"; not people?
If it's in the religion; then that's a disaster in itself.

Ignorance is mixing the line of the religion; with the line of the people. Once you do that; I know it's another xenophobic topic; advertising self-hate to get an interest.

For the stuff I quoted, I don't care who does it. If it's written in the religion; then that's it. You only need to wait and believers will show up.

The self hating practiced by the OP is just sad.

And let's not forget:

Quote:Hi; Visa seeker:

Quote::
Lebanon, had suffered a devastating 15-year civil war from 1975-1990, it has damaged us socially, economically, and politically
https://atheistforums.org/thread-49198-p...pid1561800

https://atheistforums.org/thread-49198-p...pid1569618

I'm very, very, very sorry for putting the idea into your head

BTW; the biggest sad thing is to not being able to see the whole package. Seeing religious people alone is the biggest hypocrisy. What about nationalists? communists? and simply badass gangsters who don't even pray?

Shit, I put another idea in your head..so now you'll cry and whine about being oppressed by gangsters and nationalists.
Reply



Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  The true story of Prophet Mohammed and His Young Wife Aisha Believe Heart 31 1968 September 25, 2022 at 11:48 am
Last Post: The Grand Nudger
  Liberal Movement in Islam or Western Islam, the fight against islamic extremism Ashendant 16 7733 December 20, 2019 at 1:59 pm
Last Post: Deesse23
  The story of the garden, and anti-immigration opinions WinterHold 5 911 June 26, 2018 at 5:36 am
Last Post: WinterHold
  Saudi Arabia: a story of pure darkness WinterHold 18 4472 December 12, 2017 at 7:18 am
Last Post: Brian37
  Sam Harris on Orlando, Islam, Trump & the Left mralstoner 1 858 June 20, 2016 at 2:39 am
Last Post: ReptilianPeon
  Mona Walter left Islam after reading the Quran mralstoner 6 3507 October 8, 2015 at 10:24 am
Last Post: Cato
  Suratal Fatiha (suggestion to those who left Islam) Mystic 3 1806 September 18, 2015 at 12:08 am
Last Post: Anomalocaris
  IS: "Islam was never a religion of peace. Islam is the religion of fighting" Napoléon 11 5424 May 15, 2015 at 12:57 pm
Last Post: Hatshepsut
  Story shows how dumb Muhammad's followers were exMohammed 7 2761 August 22, 2014 at 11:38 am
Last Post: vorlon13
  Anti-Islam Dutch politician converts to Islam Muslim Scholar 58 33619 May 16, 2013 at 5:48 pm
Last Post: Violet



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)