I am a Canadian ex-Muslim male; I converted to Islam and stayed in the religion for approximately four years, before leaving it due to disbelief and moral disgust. Now I live every day with Islam’s formal and informal death penalty for apostasy, hoping that my former Muslim friends don’t recognize me on the street.
The majority of the Muslims believe Islam to be a perfect religion of truth. Whereas myself speaking as a former Muslim, I believe Islam to be more of a brutal death cult and a totalitarian political ideology. And while the majority of Muslims believe that Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, was a righteous man worthy of praise and emulation, I believe him to be an amoral madman who most likely never existed.
Criticism of Islam is traditionally forbidden for Muslims. The supposedly perfect Qur’an goes so far as to instruct Muslims to not ask certain questions about the religion of Islam, or risk being distressed and becoming hated and doomed unbelievers:
Qur’an 5:101: “O you who have believed, do not ask about things which, if they are shown to you, will distress you. But if you ask about them while the Qur’an is being revealed, they will be shown to you. Allah has pardoned that which is past; and Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing.”
Qur’an 5:102: “A people asked such [questions] before you; then they became thereby disbelievers.”
Speaking as a former Muslim who left the fold of Islam approximately 20 years ago, I stand with my original conviction that it would be a great betrayal of person integrity not to question the truth claims and moral legitimacy of the Islamic theological teachings – and in turn reject and condemn them.
Many of the texts and teachings of Islamic theology are undoubtedly morally abhorrent. Islam fully implemented on Earth would create a living hell for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. And yet the shameless and unscrupulous imams continue to preach to the Mohammedan faithful that this is to be the desired goal of the Muslim Ummah.
Perhaps it would be a desirable lifestyle for maniacally strict, highly misogynistic Muslim males to live this way, but for the Muslim women and non-Muslim folk, life would indeed be a claustrophobic nightmare full of physical pain and mental anguish.
Due to Islam’s formal and informal death penalty for apostasy and other doctrinal depravities, Islamic theology and law must not be above reproach and we must continue to ask standard questions and perform a critical examination of its many inhumane edicts. Many of the behaviours made permissible (Halal) by Islamic theology are serious crimes in much of the non-Islamic world.
Part 1 of this series of articles will be addressing the realities of Islamic apostasy.
Islamic Apostasy:
Islam’s canonical texts record that the prophet of Islam instructed his followers to kill those Muslims attempting to leave the fold of Islam.
Therefore each and every one of Muhammad’s followers are required to murder any friend or family member that attempts to leave the religion of Islam.
Some Islamic apologists claim that Islam does not call for the death of Muslim apostates, while other Muslims acknowledge that the Islamic scriptures do indeed call for the death of ex-Muslims.
As always, for the answer to whether or not Islamic theology prescribes death to the apostates of Islam we must turn to Islam’s foundational texts, the Qur’an, the Hadith and Sira.
Regardless of whether or not Islam prescribes death for Muslim apostates, it is no doubt a very dangerous proposition to leave the religion. The sad fact is that Islamic theology and law both prescribe death to Muslim apostates. The death penalty for apostasy is partially based on the following Qur’anic injunction that states:
4:89: ‘They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.”
The sayings and doings of Muhammad, considered to be authentic by the majority of Muslims, are found in the Bukhari hadith collections among others.
Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 9, Book 84, No. 57:
Narrated Ikrima
Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn Abbas who said, “If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah’s Apostle forbade it, saying, ‘Do not punish anybody with Allah’s punishment (fire)’. I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah’s Apostle, ‘Whoever changes his Islamic religion, then kill him.’”
Muhammad personally ordered the death of hundreds of innocent people. But then again, the word innocent means something entirely different in “IslamSpeak.” And keep in mind that Muslims are taught to believe that Muhammad is the perfect man who is to be emulated in every instance.
33:21: “There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.”
Here is a recent statement from a group of Bangladeshi apostates living in the UK explaining the reasons why they have abandoned Islam:
“One who claims to be a messenger of God is expected to live a saintly life. He must not be given to lust, he must not be a sexual pervert, and he must not be a rapist, a highway robber, a war criminal, a mass murderer or an assassin. One who claims to be a messenger of God must have a superior character. He must stand above the vices of the people of his time. Yet Muhammad’s life is that of a gangster godfather. He raided merchant caravans, looted innocent people, massacred entire male populations and enslaved the women and children. He raped the women captured in war after killing their husbands and told his followers that it is okay to have sex with their captives (Qur’an 33:50). He assassinated those who criticized him and executed them when he came to power and became de facto despot of Arabia. Muhammad was bereft of human compassion. He was an obsessed man with his dreams of grandiosity and could not forgive those who stood in his way…”
The statement continues,
“Muhammad was a narcissist, like Hitler, Saddam or Stalin. He was astute and knew how to manipulate people, but his emotional intelligence was less evolved than that of a 6-year-old child. He simply could not feel the pain of others. He brutally massacred thousands of innocent people and pillaged their wealth. His ambitions were big and as a narcissist he honestly believed he is entitled to do as he pleased and commit all sorts of crimes and his evil deeds are justified.”
DBM echo says
Muslim Americans? Like unicorns, they don’t exist. Neither do Muslim British, or Muslim Canadians, or Muslim French, and so forth. So maybe they have in hand all the paperwork of superficial citizenship, but all of that would have been falsely, fraudulently, obtained through lying. Muslims prove this point over and over again. And they state it over and over as well. Namely, that they are loyal only to Islam, and to nothing else. Affirmed by the Orlando shooter, by the Fort Hood murderer, by the Boston Bombers, by the Paris Bombers, by the 911 hijackers, and on and on. Explaining why Muslims can never be trusted and never be considered loyal Americans, British, Canadians, French, Italian, Australian, and so forth. They represent an enemy living among us. Here in America, as elsewhere, Muslims are out for colonization and conquest. They cannot be considered Americans because of their adoption of Islam, and their wish to impose it on us. By force, since they will follow their 1400-year practice, should we decline their we-won’t-be-taking-no-for-an-answer “offer” to adopt Islam. Shariah (total government) and American constitutional principles (government contained/controlled by the people) couldn’t be farther apart. To the Muslim no man-made law could ever be superior to the Shariah considered by them to come directly from their Allah. Is it possible to conceive of a Muslim American? No way. At best and at most they can only be described as “Muslims who live in North America,” but they are not Americans in the heart, where it counts. I’m gladdened to see more and more real Americans are seeing Muslims for the danger that they are.
Granddaddy says
Is it possible to conceive of a Muslim American? No way. At best and at most they can only be described as “Muslims who live in North America,”
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Absolutely. They hide under a continual cloak of so-called “legitimacy”. They even have people convinced that Islam is a continuation of Judaeo-Christianity. And now they’re running for public office (a “blue wave” as it is called), as they have done in Europe. And the Left helps them, totally ignorant of the fact that Islam targets most of them for death. And everyone non-Muslim kowtows to Political Correctness, marching wide-eyed down the road to Hell, dragging their sons and daughters with them. It’s insane.
Michael Copeland says
Impose Sharia Law on All Mankind – I.S.L.A.M.
BC says
Qur’an 5:101: “O you who have believed, do not ask about things which, if they are shown to you, will distress you. But if you ask about them while the Qur’an is being revealed, they will be shown to you. Allah has pardoned that which is past; and Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing.”
This is very similar to what die hard Christian say when people ask questions about the bible. ‘You cannot know what the mind of god is like and you cannot know god’s plan for humanity’, Or more poetically ‘god’ works in mysterious ways’. As there are many religions there must be many ‘plans’
People have been swallowing this guff for two thousand years
WPM says
The big difference between Islam and Christianity is Islam commands you convert by force or have the unbeliever paid extortion money. Islam believes you have a right and duty to murder ,rape and steal from the unbelievers ,to be like Mohammed ” the perfect man”. A person can be a good person fully functional an asset to any society if he follows true Christian beliefs . If he follows true Islamic beliefs he is violent , ready to steal anything, treats women like livestock { including his wives ,and daughters} sexually free to rape unbelievers and uncovered woman ,ready to fight anyone not Islamic enough from another tribe. An Islamic will spend his days fighting everything around him instead of working on creating a stable law abiding community. Would you rather live as one who does not believe in any God and proclaim that in a Christian majority community or an Islamic majority one?
WPM says
Another big difference a Christian might believe you will go to hell if you do not believe he will do nothing to harm you if he is a true Christian , a true Islamic will feel it is his duty to send you there by his hand. A Christian might be a great headache to listen to his preaching, a “good” Moslem will be happy to remove your head to satisfy his slave master allahs commandments.
gravenimage says
Christians don’t kill people who question their faith–Muslims do, though.
Carol the 1st says
Verse 5:101 in effect says “don’t ask as you may become distessed”, this is followed by “Allah has pardoned that which is past; and Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing.”
That’s really convenient – especially when there is so very, very, very much in the Islamic past worth forgetting. What it brought to my mind was a PBS video titled INDIA and in it there’s a section about the Moghul empire. It is admitted that muslims were invaders but then it goes on to glorify mystical Sufism as the base of Islam (meanwhile they often despise and kill Sufis) and they present Sufism as the great bridge to help with the Hindu .Then they focus on some great Moghul leader (around the time of the Taj Mahal) who broke the mold and had a very democratic attitude (he was killed in short order of course). All the familiar and misleading Islamopuffery. Near the end of this section the muslim speakers are actually coming across as though they are making great strides in convincing Hindus to open up and actually favor Islam. There’s no dallying over the heaps and heaps of past victims – just the flattering subterfuge of a kind, mystical ride together to Islamic glory.
We seem to have some East Indians posting here with excellent knowledge of their history accompanied by a lot of hostility toward Islam. It would be very interesting to hear what they think of this Moghul empire section and of how modern Hindus actually feel about being presented as leaners increasingly being won over toward the wondrous Islam.
Halal Bacon says
moHAMhead is cuckoo for cocoa puffs
Bev says
I believe he was a paranoid schizophrenic with violent tendencies. Islamists are still listening to the crazy this man spewed. How anyone with a brain could consider Islam as a religion is beyond me.
Wakeup says
A definite psycopath for sure.
Michael Copeland says
“…just the rantings of a schizophrenic” –
Sebastian Faulks on the Koran
Stewart Davies says
Correct. The “perfect man” meets all of the requirements for a diagnosis of psychopathy.
PATRICIA FRANCES KOENIG says
Islam is a religion the way Satanism is a religion. both are excuses for evil behavior supposedly sanctioned by a god…but the god who sanctions their evil behavior is the devil.
shortfattexan says
If a violent thug (e.g., Muhammed) wanted to invent a religion specifically for the purpose of making himself rich and enabling his own violent and thuggish behavior, what would that religion look like?
I think we all know the answer to that question.
Eur says
There are many Western women who convert to Islam. I believe that many people, due to lack of mental maturity, need to belong to a strong and orthodox religious community that dictates all their daily steps, that limits their freedom but offers them the belonging to a group. There are people in this life who are not prepared to live freely, they are not adults regardless of what their date of birth says. Islam offers a false sense of security because a Muslim has religious tasks every day, they do not need to think much, just obey. They do not think about what clothes to wear, they do not think what they will do tomorrow, Friday …, what they will eat, what they will drink, how they will enjoy their free time … their life is so limited that it offers them security. Muslims are slaves who enslave.
Simon says
Very well said…..Roman Catholicism used to offer the same till it totally lost its way
gravenimage says
+1
Chand says
“……….Roman Catholicism used to offer the same till it totally lost its way”
yes, Simon. And also true for all religions really. Follow the rituals, follow the Path, do not deviate and security is felt with the hope that salvation will be there in the end.
WPM says
Roman Catholicism still believes in mans free will, and forgiveness for sins. It believes in the golden rule of the treatment of nonbelievers as equal human beings , it does not believe in forcing people into the faith. It does not have a slave master mentality relationship between God and his followers that Islam has.
gravenimage says
More false moral equivalency from Chand.
Simon says
I didn’t express it very well….the priest controls your every move and behaviour…well he used to and that is convenient to a lot of people who aren’t capable or can’t be bothered questioning the status quo.
And the RC church used to be an extremely repressive organisation…and if you go back far enough quite willing to destroy heretics….
But Christianity has gone through a Reformation…maybe that’s what the Islamists need..to come out of the Middle Ages..(sorry rambling a bit off point)
Paul says
Catholicism like Orthodox Judaism has a degree of strictness that outsiders may be uncomfortable with, but they do not seek to impose their views or way of live on outsiders, and the strictness largely reflects a highly developed and commendable ethical code. Those who choose to live by these faiths do so freely, without threat of being killed should they leave, and their choice should be respected.
boris says
So true. Free thinking requires courage to face the realities of life and death. Many people just can’t stand that and flee in the Bagwan or islam. It probably gives them a secure feeling, not realizing that they will become slaves of the system, the totalitarianism of islam.
gravenimage says
Actually, there are not all that many Western converts to Islam.
Most of the growth of Islam in the West is from allowing Muslims to flood in, and then having them breed like rabbits.
kelly says
Did you read about the “female” robot that Saudi Arabia made a citizen (in 2017)…I think it’s because they could control her to “think and do” their bidding…
Bob Smith says
Would you wear a T-shirt with a Mohammad cartoon printed on it?
You might in Montana. Don’t try it in Mecca.
Why?
Because, Islam trains a small number of its most devout believers it’s OK to kill. And Islamic killers have been trained to kill anyone who insults Allah and/or Mohammad.
In Montana you’d have a good chance none of these Islamic killers would see you.
In Mecca you wouldn’t last five minutes. One of Islam’s killers would come from out of nowhere and kill you. It is that simple.
You don’t believe me? Ask any Muslim!
Read how the mechanics of Islam works at : http://islamsfatalflaw.blogspot.com/
Axolotl says
Bob.
Thanks for the link to an interesting item.
(There is an excellent book list at the end.)
Doris Frech says
To be killed because of wearing such a t-shirt you just needed to go to Europe. Why, do you think, Jews are not wearing kippa’s in public anymore?
Wellington says
Clear and precise, Saleem. Thank you for this article and may you be well and safe.
Islam’s death for apostasy dictate alone discredits it completely. When you add in such things as the sanctioning of rape, the character of its reputed founder and being the only religion that calls for war be made upon all humanity “until all religion is with Allah” {Sura 8:39}, I do not see how any informed and sensible person can defend this monstrous excuse for a religion.
I look forward to further installments by you here at JW. Take good care, Saleem.
gravenimage says
+1
boris says
So you left islam 20 yrs ago in 1998. You converted 4 yrs before that in 1994. At that time you knew about Khomeiny, the Salman Rushdie affair. You knew islam was not a very ‘nice’ religion. So why did you convert? For me, i travelled in de moslim world since i was 17 yrs old from 1972. First in ‘secular’ modern Tunisia and then further on. I saw for myself what that world is like and had my encounters with moslims to convert me. Never worked because i already knew then that the Western civilization is far superior in everyway. I saw already then the blindness of moslims. Why didn’t you in 1994?
eduardo odraude says
Never reprimand people who publicly abandon Islam. Unless you want to discourage people from publicly abandoning Islam.
somehistory says
+2
Wellington says
+3
gravenimage says
Agreed, Eduardo and Jay Boo. Many were still in denial about the threat of Islam back then.
JM says
Sadly, denial of Islam’s pathological essence is alive and well. Even in Western Europe, where people should know better by now, I see conscientiously stupid and willfully ignorant support of Islam on a daily basis.
somehistory says
Thank you, Mr. Smith, for sharing your story and the truth about islam’s cult of death. If one cannot ask questions about what is told to him/her, then something is definitely wrong.
Long before I had any real knowledge of islam, a moslim woman and her son explained to me that their book was much like the Bible. They claimed that it says the same things about Noah, Moses and Jesus that the Bible does. They seemed to be sincere and very nice. They invited me into their home and gave me expensive candy. They invited me to return.
This was in a city that had many moslms,
Some months later, I spoke to a teenage girl. When I mentioned Jesus and the Bible, she told me that she would like to hear about Jesus and read the Bible, but if her father found out, he would kill her When I expressed horror and questioned why, she said he was moslim and that was his law..
On another occasion, some years later, I had a conversation with a young woman outside her apartment. She was from one of the smaller countries in Europe and was very well spoken. While speaking with her, she told me that she was muslim.
I offered her a Bible that I happened to be carrying with me that day. She took it eagerly, but told me she would have to hide it from her husband. Then, she realized that her five year old son and her mother-in law were watching from the window.
The fear on her face at that moment was terrible to see. She told me quickly that she had to go and when she attempted to open the apartment door, found that she had been locked out.
I hated so much to leave her like that, but she said she would be okay. That I did not believe, but left her there, crying and begging her little boy to let her inside. He and his grandmother, frowning and shaking their heads ‘no’, gave no indication that her requests would be answered.
I was not able to see this young woman again, so I have no idea what happened to her, all because she was a victim of islam…through her husband, his mother and her own little boy.
One day, and I pray that day is soon, islam will be totally, and forever, destroyed by the King, Jesus Christ and His holy angels This will bring relief to all who see its evils and a rescue to those who wish to leave it, but cannot..
gravenimage says
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
DHazard says
Islam didn’t make Muhammad (aka Allah) a better person so why should it work for anybody else? At best it turns it’s victims into whiny, self important brats.
Giacomo Latta says
There is no insistence by the Koran for one to not commit sin. The cure? Kill a non-Muslim then all sins shall be expunged.
cornelius says
Congratulations to the writer of this piece for coming to his senses. But one has to ask, how could he have been so intellectually/ethically blind as to have converted to Islam in the first place?
Giacomo Latta says
When the only religions you know are Anglican, Pentecostal, Baptist, etc., how can you possibly imagine a religion that tells you to kill just about everybody you will ever meet?
mrz80 says
One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century which we’ve developed to a very high level is the sin of credulity. It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything. — Malcolm Muggeridge
eduardo odraude says
Saleem, thank you for your analysis and your decency.
gravenimage says
The Grotesque Immorality of Mainstream Islamic Ethics (Part 1)
…………………..
Kudos to you, Saleem, for exposing the hideous immorality of Islam.
Axolotl says
We should all take a leaf from Charlie Hebdo. The more Islam is shown-up for it’s intolerance, the less frightening it will become to criticize it.
Here’s my contribution.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_MSX1iRymcBI/TBzStKIUEUI/AAAAAAAAKT0/4B4U0sCMkuk/s1600/mohammed-cartoon-2006-02-07.jpg
patriotliz says
Wow….stating those facts will get you banned on Twitter—I know because Twitter enforces Sharia blasphemy law and permanently suspended me.
Muhammad was no better than Attila the Hun…except he called his warmongering a “religion” and had this convenient sock puppet, Allah, who allowed him to do just about anything he wanted, no matter how heinous.
Larry A. Singleton says
Your comment is the reason that Jihad Watch needs a thumbs up feature on the comments section.
I was blocked on Fakebook and sentenced to their “30 days” gulag courtesy of their “Community Standards” thought police. I was even blocked for talking about how I got over my racism as a kid when I used the word “nigger”. Not as a slur but an example of what I thought back then.
You Tube will probably follow suit here shortly. They’ve already ruined You Tube by removing the option to keep the original version and forced a “new” version on everybody that’s worse in every way.
Linda Clark formerly Linnte says
So, why doesn’t this convert/exconvert REVERT back to his given name? Or is this Salim Smith a moniker?
Larry A. Singleton says
One of my pet peeves is that I’ve got a set of Darussalum Sahih Al-Bukharis and most of the time when verses from Bukharis are cited I can’t find them in my set.
The problem is that the hadiths haven’t been standardized with other versions out there that I don’t want to pay 100 plus bucks for.
Add to that the set I have hasn’t even got an index so it’s about as useless as a door stop.
I wish someone would come up with some kind of reference or something for this standardization problem so I won’t have to go out and buy I don’t know how many versions of this Bukhari.
I know I shouldn’t but I take it kinda personal as somebody who studies these issues that these writers don’t take these kinds of things into consideration.