Secular Champion (Former Muslim)
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Testimony of Leaving Islam
I was born in a coastal city in the Aegean region of my country of origin, Turkey. The city I was born in is known to be the least religiously pious compared to other parts of the country. Despite being born into a secular society, most locals considered themselves to be Muslims. This is significant because it explains the differences between moderate Islam, cultural Islam, and Islamic fundamentalism.
My family moved to Canada when I was 7 years old which enabled me to be exposed to a mixture of cultures and people from around the world who gathered here for opportunities, human rights, better life etc. I have to say I was very lucky to have been born to a tolerant part of the 'Muslim world' and to move to a even more tolerant place at a young age.
Up until the age of 14 I was considered a devout Muslim kid who attended a summer Koran camp (a camp where one learns the alphabets so they can recite Koran in Arabic) In this camp we were thought such things like "When a person has doubts about their faith, this is Satan whispering in their ears". Despite these warnings questions would start popping in my head, about why it is necessary to pray 5 times a day etc. Despite having doubts I didn't turn into a non-believer overnight since I still considered myself to be a Muslim with just questions. However, many people would consider this a blasphemy and already being a dissident as I didn't put enough faith in God.
Fast forwarding the years, I have gradually become more critical of religion and the Islamic world. The reasons listed are the following:
- First question to ask is if God is merciful why does he let evil happen in the world? and if this life is a to "test our faith" doesn't that refute the claim that God is "all-knowing". A teacher tests his/her students to find out if they learned enough to pass. Why does God require testing us if he created us?
- Second reason is because throughout the years I have been taught that the world is conspiring against Islam and secretly trying to eradicate Muslims. This is apparently the reason why the Middle East is always in war. However, reality is different from conspiracy. For example, the terrorism in Iraq is usually blamed on the American invasion but in reality it is actually Muslims who kill each other more than anyone else and violence and human rights abuse existed in Iraq under Saddam long before the Americans came along. Yet you don't see Muslims protesting these atrocities as much as they protest Israel, United States, Denmark, Katy Perry, etc.
- Third reason is the fundamentalists that are calling for Sharia law in the western world. Ironically, these people chose to move to a country they considered to be "imperfect" yet claim that they need to replace these man-made laws by giving sharia a "chance". Sharia already was given a chance for the past 1,400 years and still does today in countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia etc. There are flocks of people trying to leave and move to the west for a better life, education, opportunities etc. however, we never hear about Canadians, Americans, or Europeans immigrating to these Islamic countries for a better life.
- Fourth reason is you don't see scientists going door to door preaching evolution, or issuing fatwa on people who does not agree with a science textbook. All the actions of these religious fundamentalist prove they in reality are not very confident in their beliefs.
- Last but not least, the Islamic world always acts as if the world has a lot to learn from them and not the other way around but reality suggest that everything modern and humane in the Muslim world is either borrowed from or brought to by the west. There is a reason why the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Ataturk chose to separate religion from government and adapt more westernized lifestyles in order to modernize Turkey. It is because he saw a huge contrast between the development in the western world compared to the vulnerable and fragile underdevelopment of the Middle East. Look at the Gulf countries for example; they are rich only because of oil extracted mostly by western companies to serve the world to fuel the industries and technology also created by the west. Without the innovations of the west, the oil would be useless.
The conclusion is that we fail to address the real reasons to our problems by covering it with excuses, and conspiracies. The problem is that we are backwards, and spend our time arguing and killing each other over the interpretation of a single book. This is why we are underdeveloped and fall years behind the western world in terms of technology, education and quality of life. On top of all this we blame our discourse on others (Americans, Zionists, Freemasons, etc.) All of this has made me lose confidence in Islam and religion in general and has turned me into an agnostic. Nevertheless, I can't ignore the true problems facing our people today which are mainly caused by Muslims themselves. Growing up Muslim I know how hard it is for someone to leave their faith and even harder to tell people around them. To this day I still haven't told my parents about my doubts about religion and don't plan to in the future since its better for them to live the rest of their lives believing rather than making them upset as they (like many moderate Muslims) are not harming anyone. But in other parts of the world, Islamist do harm people and hold societies back which is why I feel obligated to write this testimony.
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