Washikur (Former Muslim)

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Washikur Personal information Country of origin    Bangladesh Gender    Male Age    27 Faith Information Current worldview Atheism Left Islam at age 20 Born or convert to Islam? Born into Islam Parents' worldview Islam

Testimony of Leaving Islam

I was born and raise in a Muslim family. Like others I was taught that Islam is the only religion acceptable to Allah, only Muslims will go to heaven. I was also taught to hate believers of other religions and non believers. My parents, relatives, neighbours, Muslim teachers, almost everybody has same views. There are rarely any secular Muslims. And any that are secular are called 'Murtad' (someone who has left Islam) even if s/he is a believer.

I used to deeply believe in Islam before my 18^th birthday. I used to pray 5 times a day. But I did not read the Qur'an and Hadith back then. One day I was speaking with my favorite religious accounting teacher, who always encouraging students to be religious, about the top fundamentalist political party of Bangladesh, which stood against Bangladesh during our Liberation war in 1971 with Pakistan. Most of the top leaders of this party are accused of committing genocide, mass rape, vandalism with the Pakistani Army to protect the so-called Islamic country United Pakistan. When I asked my teacher, how could any one do such crime in the name of Islam? My teacher said that the rape of women belonging to other religions during war is not a crime.

It was shocking for me that any teacher could tell his students that rape is allowed because the Islamic religion allows this. I could not provide a response to my teacher but I promised myself that I would learn more about Islam, and if I find this claim to be true, I would leave Islam. Then I started reading the Qur'an, Hadith and other religious books. There was a lot more inside them than I could have ever imagined. Quickly I realized that nothing within these texts could have been said by an almighty god, or even a noble person. I wondered at how misguided I was and at how misguided most of the Muslims still were. Then I started learning about other religions, philosophies, history, science and realized that there is no god. We are the creation of nature.

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