Losing their religion: the hidden crisis of faith among Britain’s young Muslims

[mr blur]

As debate rages over the radicalisation of young British Muslims, are we overlooking a different crisis of faith? Ex-Muslims who dare to speak out are often cut off by their families and fear for their lives. A brave few tell us their stories

Sulaiman Vali is a softly spoken 32-year-old computer engineer. A natural introvert not drawn to controversy or given to making bold statements, he’s the kind of person who is happiest in the background. He lives alone in a modest house on a quiet street in a small town in East Northamptonshire. He doesn’t want to be any more specific than that about the location. “If someone found out where I lived,” he explains, “they could burn my house down.”

Why should such an understated figure, someone who describes himself as a “nobody”, speak as if he’s in a witness protection programme? The answer is that six years ago he decided to declare that he no longer accepted the fundamental tenets of Islam. He stopped being a believing Muslim and became instead an apostate. It sounds quaintly anachronistic, but it’s not a term to be lightly adopted.

Last week the hacking to death in Bangladesh of the blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was a brutal reminder of the risks atheists face in some Muslim-majority countries. And in an era in which British Islamic extremists travel thousands of miles to kill those they deem unbelievers, an apostate’s concern for his or her security at home is perhaps understandable.

“Oh yeah, I’m scared,” agrees Nasreen (not her real name) a feisty 29-year-old asset manager from east London who has been a semi-closeted apostate for nine years. “I’m not so worried about the loonies because it’s almost normal now to get threats. What worries me is that they go back to my parents and damage them, because that’s not unheard of.”

<snip>

http://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/may/17/losing-their-religion-british-ex-muslims-non-believers-hidden-crisis-faith

“At 20, I actually thought I was the only Muslim atheist in the world. You just don’t know about it. I didn’t know you could leave. There’s not a concept of it. It’s hard to explain. It’s like knowing the world is round but you can’t see it.”

[salimbag]

1. That's some scary shit!

Unless you are Muslim, it's hard to imagine the consequences of declaring yourself an atheist. Worse than ratting on the mob. Xtians may face some social stigma, but death?!

[onager]

2. How DARE he!

Initially he began researching criticism of Islam online and in the books of people such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens as a means of defending his faith.

His research came from a rich white privieged academic shitlord and a religion-hating Nazi warmonger? No wonder the poor guy was confused!

And just because somebody might think I'm serious with that remark - this article once again shows how much we non-believers owe to people like Dawkins and Hitchens. Here they influenced a guy, trying to DEFEND his religion, into turning 180 degrees and becoming one of us.

So much for those who bash Dawkins as out of touch, irrelevant, etc. Unfortunately Hitchens really is out of touch these days. But even dead, he still makes more sense than most people currently writing about the "atheist movement."

[progressoid]

3. Oh fiddlesticks.

You're just trying to make Dwarkinz and Hitchens look good. You know they are leading - even from the grave - the persecution of Christians and other peace loving believers.

(It's OK to persecute the bad religions)

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Proof that Dawkins and Hitchens are the same as the devil.

There they go again, ruining this man's faith.

[trotsky]

5. Another constant refrain has been how Dawkins, et al are pushing people away from non-belief.

A patently absurd and false claim, as we can see over and over and over, but something that must bring comfort and a false sense of hope to those scared of rational thought and the abandonment of religion.

[mountain grammy]

6. When the majority of young people have the courage of these young Muslims,

and take a stand against the hypocrisies of religion, we shall be free!

Good article, heartbreaking. Thanks for posting.