Feyli kurd (former Muslim)
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Testimony of Leaving Islam
Hello, I'm a 17 year old Kurdish guy living in the west (undisclosed location). I'm from a feyli Kurdish family whose origins is in khanaqin, kut and ilam. My parent's are moderate Shia Muslims, although devout ones, and my sisters are Muslims, albeit only Muslim in the loose sense. My parent's are from a fairly well off background, both university graduates. My folks are decent and hardworking people, virtuous, respectable, loving and very family oriented. Whilst my father is more open-minded then my mother when it comes to theology, who have has a more orthodox interpretation of Islam, he is a staunch supporter of the Islamic Iranian republic and a admirer of Khomeini, which is pretty ironic considering the anti-feyli sentiment's IIR housed against deported Feyli Kurds during the Iranian-Iraq war.
But enough about my parent's. When I was young I used to be like any Shia boy, feed with lies about how great Islam is, how decadent the west was Spiritually/morally, how false and wrong atheism and none-Abrahamic religions were, how Allah would punish them in the afterlife with seas of fire, thought it never really intimidated me into becoming practicing and religious, it did effect my thoughts significantly enough to distort my views of things.
It all began when I discovered my keen passion for history, accounts of battles and lost ancient civilizations who once existed in the ME triggered my imagination that went to far away places. 13 year old and thinking, where did all this marvel and splendor go?, where was the highly advanced cultures of Babylon/Persia of the old, in contrast to the highly advanced people's of antiquity, the nation's that now lived in the ME were down-trodden, poor, and technologically sterile, some even uneducated or illiterate. What happened to people who were once the envy of the world?. I sought answer's, of course the first one's I turned to were my parent's, who blamed it all on imperialism , sect-division of Muslims and other obscure reasons. As I grew older I began reading about Islamic history, I read about the Islamic conquest, I realized that this contradicted that of what I had been taught, that Islam was a peaceful religion, I was horrified that Islam had wiped out the indigenous cultures of subjugated peoples.
This forced me into a identity crisis, I began to question my parents, I began to question islam, I began to question my very self. Slowly I began to realize what Islam was about, as I grew older I started to gain a better understanding of the religion, how it effected near-east and it's peoples, how devastating the religion was to the development and mentality of the people who are within Islam's grasp.
At the age of 16 I renounced Islam as my faith, and have been an Atheist ever since. I've had heated arguments with my parent's about the religion lots of times (who think I'm disillusioned, and still salvageable), often resulting in either parent being hurt and not wanting to continue the discussion, despite having refuted them 90% of the time, they've not changed one bit. Though I suspect they wont stop nagging until I become a fully grown adult with my own life, they'll learn to accept my decision.
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