Dr. Sebi Jr.
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#ExMuslimBecause: Thousands of Former Muslims Are Speaking Out After Paris -- and It's Amazing
Where are all the secular liberals in the Muslim world?
I've lost count of how many times I've heard this question. The answer is both unsurprising and heartbreaking. In Muslim-majority countries, they are often being lashed and imprisoned for blogging,
hacked to death in open daylight, or sentenced to death for writing poetry. Here in the West, they are often being disowned from their families, ostracized from their communities, and even murdered by their own families in "honor killings."
As for those who choose to leave the religion
altogether, the outcome is even more sinister. There are thirteen countries, all Muslim-majority, where atheism is punishable by death. And Saudi Arabia -- the birthplace of Islam, its Prophet, and the location of its two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina -- has declared that all atheists are terrorists. Remember, this is also the home country of not only Osama bin Laden, but fifteen of the nineteen hijackers from 9/11.
When simply changing one's mind comes at such a high cost, it isn't surprising that you don't hear much from secularists, atheists, or agnostics in the Muslim world.
But this last Thursday, that changed. Maryam Namazie's Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain started the #ExMuslimBecause campaign last week, encouraging dissidents from across the Muslim world to come out and say why they left Islam.
The response was tremendous. By early Friday morning, #ExMuslimBecause was the U.K.'s top trending hashtag.
We heard from secret LGBT Saudis;
women who had been forced into marriages; closeted atheists in Egypt and Pakistan tweeting under pseudonyms; young women disowned by their families in the U.S.; and more.
I've compiled some of the most popular tweets below. Some come from a purely rational place, and others are understandably angry -- which is relatable if you think of what so many ex-Muslims go through. There are also tweets from Muslims who did not take this trend too well, as well as those who were supportive. What you'll see below is the often unheard, third side to the international conversation we have been witnessing since the Paris attacks -- a conversation that represents an increasingly reverberating alternative narrative that is developing across the Muslim world, where atheism is on the rise.
While some of it may seem shocking, it is important and should be read by everyone who wants to understand narratives from the Muslim world otherwise all too often silenced before reaching us.
A few points to keep in mind as you read further:
1. Being part of Muslim families and communities, ex-Muslims not only receive the same bigoted treatment as other Muslims, but are also persecuted (often severely) by Muslims who consider them heretics and apostates.
2. Ex-Muslims often find themselves caught between the anti-Muslim bigotry of the far right that demonizes all Muslims, and the apologism of the far left that conflates any legitimate criticism of Islam with "bigotry" or "Islamophobia" -- à la Ben Affleck's tantrum on Bill Maher's show last year. Criticizing Islam (an idea) and demonizing Muslims (a people) are very different things. (HebrewAllahTripleDarkness note: No they're not. Criticism of Islam is racism.)
3. Many ex-Muslims feel betrayed by their liberal counterparts in the West. The fight against Islamic jihad should come from a position of moral strength, not xenophobic bigotry. This is a fight that liberals should take on themselves before it's hijacked by the far right.
Here are some of the tweets:
#ExMuslimBecause I was told I was a Muslim. But then I learned that religion is not a gene and being born to believers doesn't make you one.
— Sam Sedaei (@SamSedaei) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause i know being a woman doesn't make me lesser. I shouldn't have to worship *behind* men, or be segregated from them.
— Eiynah -- (@NiceMangos) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause No REAL God should need protection from bloggers & no REAL prophet should need protection from cartoons.
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause Islamists attacked on my house in Bangladesh but fortunately i wasn't there and made (fatwa)deserving death for atheist.
— Tanbir Ilias (@tanbirilias) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'd be sentenced to death if I was ousted as an apostate in Saudi Arabia. عبدالله بن عباد on Twitter
— Abu Bisseh Al Assad (@alina_mmz) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'm a woman who believes in #equality.
— Elyzcheva (@SecularlyYours) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'm gay and proud to be the first public figure to come out and campaign for LGBTI Rights in Afghanistan.
— Nemat Sadat (@nematsadat) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I am not actually but Al Qaeda considers me one, I was hardly ever religious, I left Islam when I was about 14.
— Faisal Saeed AlMutar (@faisalalmutar) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause my being unveiled is NOT the cause of earthquakes or other calamities
— Maryam Namazie (@MaryamNamazie) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I am not an abomination by virtue of being gay.
— Yazeed (@DudeInDistress) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause atheist blogers are being killed in my country #Bangladeshbut my muslim friends are directly or indirectly supporting it
— সাখাওয়াত সজল (@sh1shazal) November 22, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I couldn't handle hearing my own family say that Shi'as, my neighbours and best friends, are kuffar.
— Riyam ريام (@riyamnm) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause my own mother told me I should be killed because I didn't believe the same things she did
— Yas (@YasmienMills) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause the Quran, in my view, is literature that was written by men. We are yet to know who wrote it.
— Aliyah Saleem (@Ali_Jones89) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I got tired of suppressing my compassion twds LGBT+ people in the name of a deity claiming to be most compassionate
— Heina Dadabhoy (@heinousdealings) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause Bacon - what other reason could there possibly be?
— Wraithiest (@Wraithiest) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'm told Islam gives you freedom of thought and religion but at the same time punishes apostasy by death
— Jameela (@Bluebohemian10) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause for some reason Islam bans alcohol and pre-marital sex but not slavery.
— Imran Said (@MalayBoy97) November 20, 2015
I'm a #ExMuslimBecause I was indoctrinated as a child and denounced my religion as soon as I was old enough to think for myself.
— mynameismyown (@90degree_flow) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I saw firsthand what growing up under Shariah Law is like in Saudi Arabia
— Eiynah -- (@NiceMangos) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause they chopped off a bit of my dikk man!! That shyt ain't cool. Didn't even wait to ask me or nuttin
— Sohail Ahmed (@SohailPakBrit) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I care about what is true.
Where are all the secular liberals in the Muslim world?
I've lost count of how many times I've heard this question. The answer is both unsurprising and heartbreaking. In Muslim-majority countries, they are often being lashed and imprisoned for blogging,
hacked to death in open daylight, or sentenced to death for writing poetry. Here in the West, they are often being disowned from their families, ostracized from their communities, and even murdered by their own families in "honor killings."As for those who choose to leave the religion
altogether, the outcome is even more sinister. There are thirteen countries, all Muslim-majority, where atheism is punishable by death. And Saudi Arabia -- the birthplace of Islam, its Prophet, and the location of its two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina -- has declared that all atheists are terrorists. Remember, this is also the home country of not only Osama bin Laden, but fifteen of the nineteen hijackers from 9/11.When simply changing one's mind comes at such a high cost, it isn't surprising that you don't hear much from secularists, atheists, or agnostics in the Muslim world.
But this last Thursday, that changed. Maryam Namazie's Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain started the #ExMuslimBecause campaign last week, encouraging dissidents from across the Muslim world to come out and say why they left Islam.
The response was tremendous. By early Friday morning, #ExMuslimBecause was the U.K.'s top trending hashtag.
We heard from secret LGBT Saudis; women who had been forced into marriages; closeted atheists in Egypt and Pakistan tweeting under pseudonyms; young women disowned by their families in the U.S.; and more.I've compiled some of the most popular tweets below. Some come from a purely rational place, and others are understandably angry -- which is relatable if you think of what so many ex-Muslims go through. There are also tweets from Muslims who did not take this trend too well, as well as those who were supportive. What you'll see below is the often unheard, third side to the international conversation we have been witnessing since the Paris attacks -- a conversation that represents an increasingly reverberating alternative narrative that is developing across the Muslim world, where atheism is on the rise.
While some of it may seem shocking, it is important and should be read by everyone who wants to understand narratives from the Muslim world otherwise all too often silenced before reaching us.A few points to keep in mind as you read further:
1. Being part of Muslim families and communities, ex-Muslims not only receive the same bigoted treatment as other Muslims, but are also persecuted (often severely) by Muslims who consider them heretics and apostates.
2. Ex-Muslims often find themselves caught between the anti-Muslim bigotry of the far right that demonizes all Muslims, and the apologism of the far left that conflates any legitimate criticism of Islam with "bigotry" or "Islamophobia" -- à la Ben Affleck's tantrum on Bill Maher's show last year. Criticizing Islam (an idea) and demonizing Muslims (a people) are very different things. (HebrewAllahTripleDarkness note: No they're not. Criticism of Islam is racism.)
3. Many ex-Muslims feel betrayed by their liberal counterparts in the West. The fight against Islamic jihad should come from a position of moral strength, not xenophobic bigotry. This is a fight that liberals should take on themselves before it's hijacked by the far right.
Here are some of the tweets:
#ExMuslimBecause I was told I was a Muslim. But then I learned that religion is not a gene and being born to believers doesn't make you one.
— Sam Sedaei (@SamSedaei) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause i know being a woman doesn't make me lesser. I shouldn't have to worship *behind* men, or be segregated from them.
— Eiynah -- (@NiceMangos) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause No REAL God should need protection from bloggers & no REAL prophet should need protection from cartoons.
— Ali A. Rizvi (@aliamjadrizvi) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause Islamists attacked on my house in Bangladesh but fortunately i wasn't there and made (fatwa)deserving death for atheist.
— Tanbir Ilias (@tanbirilias) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'd be sentenced to death if I was ousted as an apostate in Saudi Arabia. عبدالله بن عباد on Twitter
— Abu Bisseh Al Assad (@alina_mmz) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'm a woman who believes in #equality.
— Elyzcheva (@SecularlyYours) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'm gay and proud to be the first public figure to come out and campaign for LGBTI Rights in Afghanistan.
— Nemat Sadat (@nematsadat) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I am not actually but Al Qaeda considers me one, I was hardly ever religious, I left Islam when I was about 14.
— Faisal Saeed AlMutar (@faisalalmutar) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause my being unveiled is NOT the cause of earthquakes or other calamities
— Maryam Namazie (@MaryamNamazie) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I am not an abomination by virtue of being gay.
— Yazeed (@DudeInDistress) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause atheist blogers are being killed in my country #Bangladeshbut my muslim friends are directly or indirectly supporting it
— সাখাওয়াত সজল (@sh1shazal) November 22, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I couldn't handle hearing my own family say that Shi'as, my neighbours and best friends, are kuffar.
— Riyam ريام (@riyamnm) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause my own mother told me I should be killed because I didn't believe the same things she did
— Yas (@YasmienMills) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause the Quran, in my view, is literature that was written by men. We are yet to know who wrote it.
— Aliyah Saleem (@Ali_Jones89) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I got tired of suppressing my compassion twds LGBT+ people in the name of a deity claiming to be most compassionate
— Heina Dadabhoy (@heinousdealings) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause Bacon - what other reason could there possibly be?
— Wraithiest (@Wraithiest) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I'm told Islam gives you freedom of thought and religion but at the same time punishes apostasy by death
— Jameela (@Bluebohemian10) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause for some reason Islam bans alcohol and pre-marital sex but not slavery.
— Imran Said (@MalayBoy97) November 20, 2015
I'm a #ExMuslimBecause I was indoctrinated as a child and denounced my religion as soon as I was old enough to think for myself.
— mynameismyown (@90degree_flow) November 21, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I saw firsthand what growing up under Shariah Law is like in Saudi Arabia
— Eiynah -- (@NiceMangos) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause they chopped off a bit of my dikk man!! That shyt ain't cool. Didn't even wait to ask me or nuttin
— Sohail Ahmed (@SohailPakBrit) November 20, 2015
#ExMuslimBecause I care about what is true.
. You can't be that stupid to willfully ignore the analogy. I know some of you Coli's want to be instinctive contrarians, and some belong on the short bus but somehow found a root here, but no one should try to look this stupid willingly.