Roza (former Muslim)
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Letter to Ali Sina
I have a friend who doesn't believe in any religion, always talked about humanity and wanted to form a group of humanity. I followed Islam and knew all the good things of Islam. Whatever laws I found in Islam, I gave good explanations, and everyone was amazed including me. I ignored all of those verses and hadiths which seemed bad to me, and I thought it was just because I did not understand them correctly. I am a person who loves to do the right thing and not just for show. So I tried to understand Islam to practice it properly, and then the problems arose. I couldn't believe what I found. I asked Muslim scholars and seniors, and I tried to find out the truth. I actually didn't believe there could be any bad things in Islam. I asked myself whether God could be so mean. If God is The Power who created EVERYTHING, could He be so mean? I asked people why the prophet married so many females? Why did he marry his adopted sons wife? etc. No one gave me any satisfactory answers. One person asked me why I was so eager to find out that there was no god? Or why do I want to find out that the Prophet lied about all these things? I actually didn't want to find out if god existed or not, but his comment gave me a clue.
I really believed all there is, in Islam, truth and I hoped for judgment day. I thought only God knew who a person really was. I believed that humanity was the main identity of a human being and on judgment day, God will send them to heaven. You won't believe the 'wonderful' explanation I had regarding hell and heaven, prayer, fasting and every thing that was in Koran. Still I can't believe these are not true. The more I read, I wonder how is it possible to make so many people such idiots! I am no one, but I know many who are really scholars, highly educated. Why don't they understand all this? Why? Oh I wanted to find the beauty of Islam so that I could be a proper human being; treating others right, and teaching others the right path with the laws of God. But I found things which broke my faith.
Is this why Mullah's tell us not to question? If you don't understand then just leave it to God. When God wants to, He will give you the wisdom. I have found that those who actually don't follow Islam properly (not even any part of humanity), but act as a pure Muslim, try to hide the truth from everyone. They don't want people to know the truth; what Islam is , who the prophet really was; and they never answer any negative questions about Islam. It is really good politics; the best politics to use the religion as a shield and take all the unethical advantages.
I am so frustrated, so shocked, and I have no one to discuss this with - people will kill me. I Hope I will get answer from you, whoever you are. Please suggest something, some more books, examples, ancient history before Moses; so that I can know for sure that they were real or if they were just a myth. Also, if possible, some mental support to help me see that I am not doing anything wrong. I was brought up as Muslim so it's not easy to be free from guilt if I deny everything. The best thing would be a time machine so I could go back that time and see whether Gabriel came to Muhammad with the Koran or not; and if not, I hope it proves my mental state at this moment. Please reply to my mail. Thank you very much for your time.
Roza.
Reply from Ali Sina
Dear Roza,
Everyday more people realize that religions were not given to us by a deity called God. They are the inventions of primitive men and were born out of fear and ignorance. Just as children think that every bad thing that happens to them is because they have been naughty, primitive people felt that powerful forces that controlled their lives, like diseases and natural disasters were the chastisement of a god because they sinned.
A child sees himself as the center of universe. He interprets all that happens in his life as the consequence of his actions. Often children blame themselves if there is a fight between the parents. If a parent die they think that it is their fault, and find extremely unreasonable excuses to blame themselves for that. They believe that they are being punished because they stole a cookie, because they lied or because they played with their genitals in secret.
The psyche of humankind is the same of an individual that composes it. Humanity goes through the same stages of infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In the earlier stages of our mental development, we thought and acted like children. We invented gods as our invisible parents, because we needed their protection. But at the same time, just like children we blamed it on ourselves if ominous things happened to us that were beyond our control. Gods became our custodian angels and our moral police.
This element of fear and this need to believe was used by shamans, medicine men and by witches who claimed to be the mediums between gods and people. Some called themselves prophets and messengers of gods. Every nation had its own god who was their patron, and every god had its own prophets. The present day religions are the evolutions of those primitive beliefs. Those who call themselves prophets are but unscrupulous cons and swindlers who themselves lived very unholy lives and took advantage of our gullibility and played with our fears. They presented NO proof to their claims. They warned us against doubt, disdained human intelligence, avoided questions, praised fanatical belief and demanded blind faith.
These billy goat charlatans, as Mohammad Zakaria Ar Razi, disparagingly calls them, had no knowledge of this world nor had any clue of the subtleties of the mystical and divine reality. All their scientific observations about the universe and the creation have proven to be false. How can we trust them to know anything about the spiritual world?
The world without the ignorance imparted by religion would be a better world. Morality does not derive from religion. It is a human faculty. Rejection of religion and their petulant god also does not mean rejection of the Divine. As Pierre Tielhard de Chardin said, we are spiritual beings, having a physical experience. There is a divine reality within each one of us, but it has nothing to do with god and his comical puppet-show called religion. God is a reality, not a being. It is the underlying principle of the creation. We don't need religions to be good and we don't need their imaginary god to gain spiritual insight into the divine and mystical reality that encompasses all things.
As of your fear of being killed, they are well founded. It is vital that you keep your thoughts to yourself and NEVER discuss them with anyone. You can only express your thoughts online and never reveal your true identity. Muhammad used to kill those who turned their backs to him and his followers have done so for 1400 years. One day the sun of truth will break through the darkness of ignorance and we all can come out of our closets and speak freely without fearing for our lives. But let us work together and let us make that day come sooner. Let us stop this insanity that has ruined the lives of millions of people for thousands of years.
Kind Regards
Ali Sina
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