Tatsuhiro (Former Muslim)
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Testimony of Leaving Islam
I was born a Muslim to a Malay Muslim father and a Chinese mix Japanese Christian mother who converted to Islam before marrying my father, but has now converted to Buddhism after a few years of being divorced by my father.
Malaysia according to the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Adbul Rahman (who was also a Malay Muslim) was actually a secular country with freedom of religion until the fourth Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed declared Malaysia an "Islamic" country to be economically inclined with other Islamic countries and to attract more Muslim tourists from Middle Eastern countries. However, according to the Federal Constitution of Malaysia all citizens are given the freedom of religion, although this only applies to the non-Malay citizens while the ethnic Malay citizens who wishes to convert to other religions or announce their apostasy were subjected to the Federal Sharia Court, therefore the issue of two conflicting laws arises in which the government of Malaysia is trying hard to obscure the issue from public knowledge, although it is learned that the Federal Constitution is the highest law which should cancel off other existing laws which are conflicting.
Predominantly Islam is a religion which the ethnic Malays (which makes up the majority ethnic race of Malaysia about 60%) has for a few centuries before the independence of the country chose to adhere due to influence from both Middle East traders and Chinese Muslim delegates of the Tang Dynasty China (Admiral Zheng He, the Chinese Muslim eunuch/admiral) during the course of history. So far when Islam has made it into the heart of the ethnic Malay culture (pre-Islam ethnic Malays were adherents of Hindu and Buddhist faiths) there were no records of Malays who weren't Muslim (or records might have been erased/modified). It's not a problem for me if a Muslim chooses to keep his faith even if he lives in a country which is predominantly secular, an Islamic state or even a non-Islamic state, but to force an ex-Muslim to keep his faith onto Islam and to discriminate apostates is verily against humanity's freedom of religion, to believe in whatever he/she wants to believe in.
I left Islam due to the fact that the Quran contradicts humanity and science itself, plus historical accounts of Islam conquests on other nations were horrible, and the historical accounts according to the Al-Hadith is terrifying towards women. Some Hadiths were quoted in a way that during Muhammad's conquest to spread Islam, not only were his wives lawful for him to engage in sexual activities but also the "spoils of war": captive women who were made a slave, whose husbands died in the war to oppose Muhammad's regime. Praying 5 times a day to a God that gives you the silent treatment, performing pilgrimage in a "holy land" where hundreds died due to the mass of people coming from all around the world in only one specific month of a year (not being able to breathe in the crowd plus being trampled upon by thousands of pilgrims who doesn't care if there's a human being underneath their feet) and fasting for half a day every day in a month which decreases metabolism and could pose serious health risks is not the way I want to live my life. And I don't want to engage in a sexual activity with 70 virgin women after I'm dead.
Before I left Islam I have done an extensive journey towards apostasy, and that started with comparing Islam with Christianity and Judaism. I've read all the holy books from all these monotheistic religions, and found out that although the Torah and Gospels has it own flaws, Quran wasn't excluded from it's own flaws as well, which led me towards studying other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Somehow Buddhism caught my attention since it was regarded a "free-form" religion in which different people from different cultural or religious background is able to observe its teachings in a different manner but end up having the same goal, and is the most "neutral" religion in terms of interfaith dialogues. And for some practitioners of Buddhism it was regarded that Buddhism isn't just a religion but it could also be a teaching which makes it a "free-form". And as I observed meditation in Buddhism, it makes me a better person by having myself visualize my past mistakes and at the same time I visualize what kind of person I wanted to be - and it's better than praying 5 times a day, asking for forgiveness on the sins we have previously done and end up becoming the same person doing the same mistakes over and over again.
As for now my current situation in Malaysia, especially when my father is a Malay Muslim, I had to keep my practices all to myself and only my non-Malay non-Muslim friends know of my religious practices. I had to practice my devotions without setting up an altar which is fine for me, but since I was born a Muslim and having a Muslim name I find it a burden for me when the Malaysian government imposes Islamic Sharia law onto me (I can't go on a date at a secluded beach/sleep in the same hotel room with a female partner although no sexual activities involved/eating during daytime of Ramadhan), plus when travelling internationally I might be a victim of foreign country's airport security imposing unnecessary security background checks on me. And my application for a name change was also rejected by the National Registration Department of Malaysia for no reason, I'm guessing it's because they don't want Malay Muslims to remove their Islamic identity although no public acts of apostasy was present.
I hope I'm not openly criticizing Islam. Modern Islam has its good side, same thing as modern Christianity and Judaism. Even Buddhism had undergone modernization so that certain practices could be made relevant to the modern world. Even scientists agrees that if a newer theory proves the older one wrong therefore the older theory should be discarded. I wish everyone reading my testimony to think over on what's best for yourselves.
Stupidity is a sign of ignorance. Acceptance in the other hand should always be a relevant one.
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