How do we know that atheism is becoming more prevalent in Muslim lands? There are opinion polls such as those of the Pew Research Center, that have been conducted both in some Muslim countries and among Muslim populations living in the West.. Since answers are given anonymously, there is no risk to declaring one’s atheism. There are people in Muslim countries who blog online, using aliases, discussing and defending atheism, which can give some indication of its growing popularity. There have even been reports about groups of former Muslims who are now “freethinkers” (i.e., atheists) who have dared to meet, discreetly, in a few Muslim countries, including Iran. Their meetings are sometimes discovered and raided; nowadays such apostates may face imprisonment, but not death. That makes a big difference. Ibn Warraq, the celebrated former Muslim, now an atheist, has testified as to his own sense – from emails received, including responses to his book Why I Am Not A Muslim — that there are a significant number of ex-Muslims in Europe and in the Muslim lands who are now atheists. On YouTube one can find ex-Muslims, unafraid to show their faces and to give their real names, who tell about their individual journeys to atheism.
There are many different reasons why a Muslim believer might become an atheist. One is the clash between science and religion that is hardly unique to Islam, but is much more pronounced for that faith. Think only of how Muslims are taught to reject evolution, or to believe in the supernatural, including “jinns,” of whom there are many different kinds. There are the “ifrit,” strong and cunning, the “marid” who are the most powerful kind of jinn, the “shiqq” who are of human shape but are made of only half a human body, and who after congress with humans, give birth to the “nasnas,” and then there is “Iblis,” an angel who fell from grace, who is mentioned frequently in the Qur’an and identified often with “Al-Shaytan” (the Devil). The houris whom devout Muslims believe are waiting for them in the Muslim Heaven are not only beautiful virgins, but ninety feet high. And then there is Buraq, the winged creature who took Muhammad from the earth up to the Seventh Heaven and back in a 24-hour period. Muslims who are taught to believe in these creatures, and do so believe, have great difficulty in reconciling this belief in the supernatural with modern science. For some, science and the faith cannot be reconciled; they choose science and with it, atheism.
Still others are led to leave the faith for atheism because of the misogyny they discover in Islam. These include the right of the Muslim husband to beat his wife, as well as the right of a Muslim husband to take up to four wives, and to divorce any of them simply by uttering the triple talaq. A Muslim daughter inherits half that of a son; a Muslim woman’s testimony is worth only half that of a man. The reason for this is, as Muhammad says in a famous hadith, “because of the deficiency of her intelligence.” How many Muslims – men and women — have been “shocked into atheism” by discovering such misogyny?
And why is it, some Muslims naturally wonder, that the Muslim world seems convulsed in violence? The civil wars in Yemen, Libya, and Syria, the sectarian conflicts, too, in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Pakistan, the ethnic conflicts in Turkey and Algeria, the clashes and every possible permutation and combination of violence and hatred, has its cumulative effect. How is that even in their own countries, Muslims are so often at each others’ throats? Could it have something to do with the violence that is everywhere in the Qur’an and Hadith?
But the most important reason for the increase of atheism among Muslims is the moral problem. They see online the endless atrocities that fanatical Muslims commit. Many are posted by the perpetrators themselves, proud of their horrifying handiwork. The doubters can see Muslims quoting Qur’anic verses, or alluding to the example of Muhammad, to justify their criminal behavior. The glee of those homicidal maniacs who slit the throats of aid workers and journalists, murder Christians, Shi’a, and Yazidis in mass decapitations, or blow them up in cars, or drown them in cages, or burn them to death, or rape them repeatedly before killing them – it’s all a click away. This is the darkness of Islam made visible, and many Muslims, having seen such things, cannot unsee them, or forget them, or explain them away. They do not flinch from recognizing that the observable behavior of these killers has a great deal to do with their faith, with Islam. Having weighed the faith of Islam, and found it wanting, the doubters have turned to something else. Some become Christians. Some — in Iran — have embraced Zoroastrianism. And some, as Samuel Tadros reports, have turned to atheism.
Barb says
Seeing the magnitude of Islams excusing debauchery is eye opening. Especially for those who were raised in it. The volume of cruelty is terrifying. Most people are innately descent people. Seeing this much death is disturbing.
gravenimage says
How We Know That Atheism is Growing More Prevalent in Muslim Lands
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Always great to hear more about this, Hugh.
Westman says
Imagine that! Muslims looking out through their computers and cell phones, realizing that another world has more to offer than Islam has produced or will produce. Aren’t we Allah’s chosen? We conquered half the world, yet we’re buying the important stuff from China and that shiny Western world can destroy all of Islam in an hour. Allah didn’t inspire us to invent anything that made our living experience better….what a sharing friend we have in Allah…. Uh, maybe it’s a fabrication?
I’m betting there are more Agnostics than Atheists. Agnostics have a notion that all human-created religions have made their best guesses of the how and the why of human existence, fabricating a God-communication, yet there is an unknown creator’s purpose for the Universe and benefits to a useful, productive, civilized life that considers others as more than competitors.
I remember meeting a group of Athiests at a Unitarian Church who were finding projects to help others. I wasn’t very convinced about the purity of their humanitarian-Atheism. Most were ex-religionists still carrying their religious standards.
Islam is false by simply asking the questions of, “Would it be fair if I were punished for not knowing Allah? Is it right to kill another society to get their wealth and women? Is it right to cheat my daughters when I die? Is it right to make people “believe” by demanding that they must believe or die, and if in a good mood offer slave or dhimmy status?
Islam presents a God of War and claims there is only one God who keeps Quranically speaking in the plural. Islam is obviously the man-made religion of a War God for use by War Lords and their clerics to maintain and use armies for wealth and expansion. The Greeks had one of those but lacked the absurd thinking to claim it was the only God.
libertyORdeath says
I love the thought, but I can’t say I’m impressed.
It reminds me of the “moderate Muslim” theory that was supposed to become more prevalent as they modernized.
There are about 1.8 BILLION Muslims in the world, on the way to 2 billion in the next few decades.
A fraction of a percent of 1.8 billion is a lot, but it will never be enough to make a difference. Islamism will continue to rise as long as the West is woke and weak.
Mick says
Some Berbers in the Rif mountains.of, Morocco are turning back to Judaism, after a break of 500 t0 1300 years.
A Berber Jew tells me.
abu taleb says
Many muslims probably do not believe their Allah, but they still keep practicing Islam because Islam can be used to make them rich and powerful and to sexually abuse women and small children. Ot to satisfy their blood thirsty lust. Islam is the best religion for that.
Westman says
Yes. A patriarchal war religion is very useful for aggressive men to wield power, beginning in the home.
Tony Rice says
What should/ must put Muslims off are the practices of paedophilia as undertaken by Muhammad age 52 fancied girl of 4, married her when he 54 and she 6, and had penetrative sex with her , he 56 and she 9, hence paedophilia allowed in Muslim countries since. Also, necrophilia up to 8 hours after death shouldn’t help .
RickJames says
Hopefully the trend continues, where semi-awake, semi-intelligent Muslims realize they’re in a death cult and a fascist, mafia-movement and decide to leave it.
Christianity, Atheism, Hinduism, etc…anything is better than Islam and a huge step towards becoming truly peaceful and civilized.
Speaking as an ex-Christian Atheist, while we (Atheists/Christians) have strong differences over certain issues, we agree on most things which is why we can get along with each other….esp. on basics such as freedom, justice, equality, and so forth. This is what made the West so great.
Now if only we can remove Islam from the planet and bring freedom to Islamic states, we can end this conflict. It doesn’t mean humans won’t have other reasons for war, but at least there won’t be this idiotic death cult causing problems for us on a daily basis.