Changing perceptions of Islam, Part 1: "Why I hate Islam"

Special series for Ramadan 1446

In this series, Murtadd to Human looks at perceptions of Islam after a year in which Muslims went from euphoria in the wake of their October 7 "moment of triumph" to silence, bewilderment and depression as their "freedom fighters," Hamas and Hezbollah, cling on for dear life, Iran and the Houthis nervously watch the skies and it turns out the indefatigable George Galloway is not so indefatigable after all. Well, those were the headlines. We want look at what in the old days we used to call 'the inside pages', news that doesn't make the front pages, specifically, at articles, podcasts or videos of ex-Muslim perceptions of Islam and Muslim defence of Islam in light of events over the last year.

You can be part of this project — We invite you, dear reader, to:

1. Send us suggestions of what perspective on Islam you would like us to write a commentary on.
2. Send us your own commentary on the article/podcast/video (announced at the bottom of the page) for inclusion in the next commentary. Send your commentary through the Contact page under the heading "Commentary" and the title of the piece you're commenting on. Please write more than just one sentence, but no more than a page. All commentaries are moderated and edited for clarity. Normal standards of decorum apply.
3. Please state explicitly whether you wish to remain anonymous.

Why I hate Islam: An Ex-Muslim woman speaks out!

A young woman, born in Afghanistan writes with the name "Afghan Zoroastrian" on her X account with the "Bio" - Engineer, Islam Critic, Existentialist (Philo), Afghan Zoroastrian, Ex-Muslim, Grew up in War, a Target of Islamists.

Here is what she has to say about her former religion:

1. I'm vocal about it. I'm open about it. I'm against Islam. It opposes everything I value. It's not just a religion; it's a system that demands you reject your humanity or face its harsh judgment.
2. Where Islam expands, freedom contracts, especially for women who become second-class citizens. This isn't a relic of the past; these injustices are happening right now.
3. I could respect Muslims, but Islam? It's a doctrine of darkness. It preaches death to those who leave or criticise it. How can one claim this is a religion of peace?
4. The Qur'an isn't just any holy book; it's loaded with calls to hate and fight non-believers. This isn't interpretation; it's plainly and clearly written.
5. Islam has given nothing to humanity, not even to Muslims. For centuries, it's only known how to bring murder, hate, bloodshed, misery, and destruction. Look at the world and see the proof.
6. Child marriage, endorsed by the Prophet, is indefensible. And covering young girls' heads? It sexualises them; it's teaching them they're responsible for Muslims' actions, which is abuse.
7. Islam isn't just anti-human; it's anti-education and anti-progress. Its punishments, like amputation and stoning, are barbaric, going against every human right.
8. The internet and platforms like X are shining a light on Islam's true nature. More Muslims are waking up, the number of ex-Muslims is increasing as they seek truth and freedom.

Cross-posted from https://www.newsrael.com/posts/3vqpqz3c2fa

Commentaries:

Islamic apologists often claim that violent and hateful verses in the Qur'an are “misinterpreted” or “taken out of context.” This is a blatant lie. The Qur'an, in multiple places, explicitly commands Muslims to fight non-believers, to never take them as friends, and to subjugate them under Islamic rule (9:29, 8:12, 5:51, among many others). The so-called “peaceful” verses are either abrogated or only apply under specific conditions where Muslims are weak. There is no “context” that can erase these calls to violence – they are written plainly, understood historically, and still followed by extremists today.

I once debated the issue of child marriage when I was a Muslim apologist, and I lost – publicly and definitively. The reason is simple: Islam explicitly permits child marriage. There are “perfect examples” in Islam. Defenders of Islam twist history, deny authentic hadiths, or try to justify this with absurd arguments about puberty, but none of it holds up to scrutiny.

The fact remains: Islam endorses child marriage, and no decent human being in the modern world can defend it without exposing themselves as a moral bankrupt. I tried, and I failed. That defeat was not just a debate loss -- it was one of the moments I realised Islam is indefensible.

Worse still, Islam’s teachings on female modesty and hijab reinforce the idea that young girls are responsible for the thoughts and actions of men. Covering a child’s head is sexualisation, exactly like the scene when they brought out the gimp in the movie "Pulp Fiction, 1994". Pure and simple. It teaches them from a young age that they must conform to male expectations, that they are guilty simply for existing. This is not morality; this is abuse. I once tried to wear a full Muslima dress (with hijab and niqab) during a weekend when I was alone at home, just to get the feel of how Muslim women feel. It was not easy for a man!

Social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have become battlegrounds where jihad by word can take place, but also, Islam can be exposed for what it truly is: an oppressive, anti-human ideology. More ex-Muslims are speaking out than ever before, and Islam can no longer silence them with threats of death or imprisonment. The more people learn about Islam’s true teachings, the more they abandon it or get defeated if they try to defend it.

I am living proof of this. I once stood on the other side, defending Islam, until I could no longer ignore the truth. I was defeated, and I admitted it. Now, I stand against Islam, not out of hatred, but out of the pursuit of truth and justice. Islam is crumbling under the weight of its own lies. And I, a former defender of Islam, now join those who expose it. Ramadan Mubarak!

Jalal Tagreeb,
Former imam.

Afghan Zoroastrian obviously knows Islam far better than I do. However, having lived in Israel for the last 55 years, I credit myself with some familiarity with the subject. Zoroastrian is spot on. Even as an intellectual exercise or for the sake of a good argument, I can’t come up with an honest rebuttal. When challenged, I am usually asked to explain the many positive traits of individual Muslims. The logic is, of course, flawed. There are many brilliant, tolerant, and peaceful Muslims in the world. I’ve known a few myself. But here is the crux of the matter: In order to be a good person as a Jew, Christian, or Zoroastrian, it is necessary to adhere to the precepts and doctrines of the belief system. It’s easy to fall short. With Islam, the situation is inverted. To be a good person and a Muslim, it is necessary to defy most of the basic edicts and mandates of Islam.

Gary Littwin
Licensed Tour Guide
OnTrack Tours

The article is too benevolent and shallow in its criticism.

The following points are ignored:

1. Islam divides the world into Believers and Unbelievers. Believers are eventually saved and enjoy paradise no matter the gravity of their crimes. Unbelievers (all non-Muslims) are doomed to perpetual hellfire no matter how virtuous they are. There is an infamous quote by a Muslim leader in India who during the 1930s said something along the lines of "From a Muslim perspective, any Muslim pimp or drunkard is better than any non-Muslim Gandhi." but Google has made sure the quote cannot be retrieved.
2. Since being a Believer de facto involves only professing the Shahada rather than behaving like a Muslim should behave, the corollary is a Muslim culture in which words carry much more value than actions and where there is little social expectation that actions will be consistent with words. The result is passiveness, blended with a deep propensity for magniloquence and empty promises.
3. Islam discourages inquisitiveness and dialectics. The hadiths "innovation (bida'ah) belongs to hellfire" and "the Believer who asks too many questions will not go to paradise," say it all.
4. Islamic ethics are primarily utilitarian: what is good is good because it advances personal interests or the interests of the Ummah. According to the moral development scale of Lawrence Kohlberg most Muslims are on the lowest scale of moral development since their behavior is motivated by thirst for rewards (jannah) and fear of punishment (jahannah). This lowest scale is also visible in the paramount value Muslims place on appearance and public reputation (saving one's face). A Muslim will largely behave according to the expectations of people around him rather than out of inner convictions. The phenomenon of hypocrites lambasted in Islamic texts as munafiqun is merely the reflection of a society and an education that teaches people to behave in a certain way out of fear of the afterlife or fear of one's public reputation (and that of one's family) rather than out of inner conviction.
5. De facto there are only two values that Muslims are genuinely committed to: the sexual honor of their womenfolk and enforcing respect for Mohammed and Islam. Every other value can be trampled pretty much with impunity or without provoking any significant indignation.
6. Nonetheless Islam does have virtues like strong family bonds, high interpersonal skills, and a (mostly verbal) solidarity with fellow Muslims that makes it very easy for Muslims to view their culture as good and superior: Thus the Muslim who is materially well-off either because he lives in a Muslim land blessed with natural resources or because he lives in a non-Muslim country, will easily come to the conclusion that his culture is superior since his milieu isn't as deeply affected by alcoholism, broken families, and teenage pregnancies. What he conveniently ignores is that the large families and full-time mothers in his family are subsidized and made possible by unearned wealth/non-Muslim toil and intelligence.

Ultimately, the greatest evil of Islam is that it generates Stockholm Syndrome, whereby Islam's greatest victims, Muslims, are fanatically devoted to an ideology that condemns them and their children to lives surrounded by corruption and fitna.

Anonymous

Two insights that struck me right in Afghan Zoroastrian's first point: one, Islam is anti-human (and not just anti-infidel, as Raymond Ibrahim contends); two, she is open and vocal about being anti-Islam, as am I. To be delicate about Islam is to be irresponsible.

My first disagreement with her is when she says that Islam reduces women to "second-class citizens". This is being far too nice, especially in the context of Afghanistan, where "men are in charge of women," meaning that women are not any kind of citizen, even if men are, which is in itself uncertain given the nature of the Taliban state.

It is perfectly valid to speak from the heart, as she does at points 3 and 4, which is when one needs to be able to read from the heart. With a bit of eloquence, her anger and bitterness can be more forcefully expressed. I hope that she keeps writing, because this is a very deep well, and she has all the makings of a powerful writer.

Her point 5 gels with Anonymous's conclusion. I'm not sure I entirely agree with Anonymous's Stockholm Syndrome point. I think that the breaking of the Muslim's humanity is both more comprehensive and more diffuse than that.

Points 6 and 7 are shallow, and one should hope that as she comes to understand her own anger better, she will learn how to target Islam better. She needs to decide whether she is "against Islam" purely as a matter of opinion, which would be perfectly valid, or whether she wants to help bring down Islam. If the latter, then she might consider how well revering Muhammad as "the Prophet" fits with accusing him of paedophilia.

Point 8 is, of course, true, and in the minds of those who have recently left Islam, it looms very large. It is to be hoped that she will extend her dissection of Islam to include also a dissection of herself and a human being stunted by Islam. She would do well to be warned that by far the hardest part of leaving Islam is coming to understand just how much work still lies ahead of you, if you are to recover the humanity that Islam has taken from you. She will see this by reading between the lines of Jalal Tagreeb's similarly heartfelt commentary.

But Gary Littwin sums up the essence of Afghan Zoroastrian with the perfect answer to "Islam is just like any other religion":

In order to be a good person as a Jew, Christian, or Zoroastrian, it is necessary to adhere to the precepts and doctrines of the belief system. It’s easy to fall short. With Islam, the situation is inverted. To be a good person and a Muslim, it is necessary to defy most of the basic edicts and mandates of Islam.

Four and a half decades have gone by since I found myself in Afghan Zoroastrian's position, and if any reader has contact to her, I would appreciate an opportunity to get to know her better.

Editor

Thank you to Jalal Tagreeb, Gary Litwinn and Anonymous for their commentaries. The next that you are invited to write a commentary on is an article by Dr Qanta Ahmed https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-muslim-world-speaks-hamas-must-meet-its-end/, requested by Les Kottler. Thank you, Les. Deadline: Thursday 6 March.

Picture credits:

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109146438

Françoise Foliot (in 1975) Stitching of the two source images: पाटलिपुत्र (talk) - This file has been extracted from another file, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112469156

Post of Afghanistan - https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/487673-Buddha_of_Bamian-1951_Monuments_and_King_Zahir_Shah_Issue-Afghanistan, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98384574

Buddha Bamiyan 1963.jpg: UNESCO/A Lezine; Original uploader was Tsui at de.wikipedia.Later version(s) were uploaded by Liberal Freemason at de.wikipedia.Buddhas of Bamiyan4.jpg: Carl Montgomeryderivative work: Zaccarias (talk) - Buddha Bamiyan 1963.jpgBuddhas of Bamiyan4.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8249891