Never before in the history of Islam has it faced a danger such as this. For the first time, Muslims en masse are reclaiming their place in humanity and rejoining history. Islam has always relied on Muslims being unequivocally Muslim in clear contradistinction to the kafir, the unbeliever, treating the values and mores of the infidel with utter disgust and contempt. But history has played a trick on Islam and increasing numbers of Muslims find the values and mores of the infidels growing within their own hearts, gradually forcing out the Qur’an so firmly lodged there during their early childhood. This drama plays out as Islam struggling against Muslims and Muslims struggling against themselves. This short series explores aspects of that complex struggle. Part 1 is here.
Part 2: Fear
In the blistering summer of 2016, I was doing research into Shinto, for which I interviewed the representative of the High Priest of Daiganji Temple, on an island off Hiroshima. I learnt a great deal about the fluid syncretism across animism, Shinto and Buddhism, and how social hierarchy and state power plugged into these at different points in Japanese history and social evolution, my particular interest being in the transition from Heian to Kamakura. Right at the end of the interview she summed up everything in one simple observation: Shinto is about fear; it’s all about fear.
I’ve since thought a lot about that observation and about what drives or drove animist and pagan religions. From time to time, I am reminded of the fear that drove us in our infancy to attempt to placate the terrifying and unfathomable forces of nature that could so easily, for reasons known only to those forces themselves, destroy us, and how, right from when we first conceived of gods, we created them in our image. How could we do otherwise; it was the only image we had.
Recently, when I watched a Christian Prince video on YouTube of one of his famous debates with Muslims, I was again reminded of the fear that drove us to contrive religions in the first place. In this video, an Indonesian hajji was his affable, rational and measured guest, familiar with the rules and etiquette of discourse, making a refreshing break from the usual cocksure uncouth Muslim ignoramuses who rush in where angels fear to tread. Christian Prince is an evangelist, and if his guest makes it as far as a conclusion (they frequently don’t), he invites them to convert to Christianity — just one more way in which the Internet has proved a double-edged sword for Islam.
The hajji concedes every point to his host’s impeccable knowledge of the Islamic scriptures and exegeses. The Muslim ends up convinced by all the arguments and is clearly minded to accept the invitation to become a Christian. Something stands in his way, and he expresses this in five terse words, “I fear for my soul,” which he repeats several times throughout. It was the one barrier he could not cross. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, the battle lost and won, firmly astride the path of the Muslim believer stands Fear, and it is not minded to make way.
The hajji tries a bit of the old haggling to get Christian Prince to agree to take the hit for his soul, should it turn out that leaving Islam was the wrong move (insurance of the Pascal’s wager kind, where you believe in God just in case it turns out there is one). But Christian Prince is a believing man, too, and is not about to be generous with his Judgement Day credits — imagine the precedent that would set! But a hajji fearful for his soul is easily manipulated, and the evangelist never actually agrees to what the hajji asks for, yet manages to get the hajji to agree that he has “accepted Jesus Christ as his saviour,” even though he actually never quite got that far. The moral of the story is clear: whether you’re Dr Faustus or an Indonesian hajji, never throw your soul into the bargain unless you have a good lawyer right there beside you! As an aside, going beyond getting people to leave Islam, in this case getting them to embrace Christianity, makes Christian Prince little better than Zakir Naik, who bargained with a young atheist challenger for his soul: “When I have replied to you [taking success for granted, AP], will you come back to the fold of Islam?” Here I would have enlightened Dr Naik that atheists do not sell their souls.
I had left Islam at the age of twenty-two. It took a whole ten years before I bit into my first bacon and egg butty, washed down with hot black coffee on a freezing Glasgow morning. It wasn’t fear that had kept me from the sizzling rasher, but simple lack of opportunity. Nonetheless, I at last had Islam totally cleared out of my system, or so I thought. Ten years after that I came across a live version of that amazing Scottish breakfast: a real pig. I was awestruck. The animal was within arm’s reach. I just had to stretch down over the low stone wall between us. But it might as well have been the Berlin Wall for all my ability to extend my arm, point my finger and touch. I could not do it.
I did not fear the pig at all and had no thought for what I might pick up from being so close to it, let alone touching it. Yet I could not touch it. I don’t know how much time had passed while I simply studied the animal and psyched myself up to reach down and touch the skin on its back. Possibly twenty minutes had gone by. I was afraid, yet I had no idea what I was afraid of. Pigs have been the ultimate taboo since as early as I can remember. Here I was, twenty years an apostate from Islam, only to discover that I was unable to bring myself to touch a pig.
Muslim fears are not phobias; there is nothing irrational about them. They are not mental disorders. The madrassas exploit the malleability of the young child’s mind to embed in it fears that will later be accessible to neither volition nor reason. As such, they become indistinguishable from our innate primaeval fears. One such instilled fear is the fear of doubt. It is not for nothing that the first substantive verse of the Qur’an reads, “This is the book about which there is no doubt” (Qur’an 2:2).
To fear doubt as an animal fears fire, is to be a prisoner who fear keys, even if a key sits in the lock of his cell door and no one is around. To fear Hellfire and thereby be deterred from risking it is one thing, but to be deterred from doubting Hellfire in the first place obviates the need for the threat of Hellfire. When six-year old Muslim children have it drummed into them (by intimidation and corporal punishment, both intended to instil fear) never to question, they have been put into those situations by parents who themselves fear not putting their children into those situations. Any child in whom the fear of doubt does not take hold finds madrassa a traumatising experience. My own loving parents could not bring themselves to remove me from such institutions, even though I begged them to do so. I was never physically abused, although I’ve seen others subjected to falaka, which is the caning of the bare soles of the feet. The teacher put his whole body into swinging the cane. It took a long time before I stopped hearing that boy’s screams.
Fear of doubt is the ultimate insurance against rational and ethical intrusion into the Muslim mind. The infallibility of the blood-soaked Qur’an and Muhammad cannot be doubted. In this Abdullah Sameer video, Yasir Qadhi Doubts in Islam, he discusses Dr Yasir Qadhi’s encounters with doubt when he exposed himself to the environment of Western universities. And Qadhi, in turn, highlights the perils facing Western Muslim young people, exposed as they are to a world that Islam is wholly unprepared for. In another, Sheikh Omar Suleiman offers Muhammad’s simple advice. If all else fails, know that you did not doubt, but that Shaitan put those thoughts in your mind, so that the moment such a thought arises in your mind, quash it straightaway by saying to yourself, “I believe in Allah.” That pushes Satan away — note, it pushes Satan away, not your doubts. We don’t want to remind you that you had doubts.
One way that rational and ethical Muslims deal with their doubts is by cognitive dissonance. Those less schooled in the finer points of reason and ethically more primitive dress up their fear as faith. Both groups are dishonest, but the former, being more self-aware, is also more delusional. To be steadfast in the face of clear evidence of the cruelty and irrationality of Islam has, in the conception of the latter group, nothing to do with fear, but with “having strong faith,” a dubious virtue peddled by both ulema.
The poor ulema, what Muslims grandly refer to as “scholars”, such as sheikh Suleiman, above, have their hands full dealing with Shaitan using the Internet to place doubts in the minds of so many young Muslims, as exemplified in this video (if you can put up with the irritating pomposity of saying everything in Arabic before saying it in English). Search for “Doubt in Islam” on YouTube to see just how busy Shaitan has been over the last five years alone. He has even infiltrated the Islamic Studies departments of Western dhimmi universities. Nowhere is safe. Doubt lurks around every corner, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting Muslim. The irony of seeking protection from evil supernatural entities while availing oneself of an education at an Ivy League institution of higher learning is lost on such Muslims.
The anecdote to doubt is simple and obvious: to remain a Muslim of strong faith, remain primitive and simplistic in thought. The ulema themselves, many centuries down the line, are providing strong evidence that the great philosophers of the so-called “Islamic Golden Age” could only have been either infidels or apostates, as has long been known.
The thought that gives rise to supernatural beings controlling natural phenomena like sunrise, sunset, the seasons, thunder, lightning, etc., and the underlying fear that conjures up such beings, is the mainstay of Islam. The word “fear” and its derivatives appear no fewer than 200 times in the Qur’an (Pickthall translation). Of these, eighty-eight references encompass fear of Allah and what Allah will do to the one who does not fear Allah, e.g., fear Allah; fear the Lord; fear a terrible Day; fear a terrible punishment; etc., including “Allah loves those who fear him,” (Qur’an 5:82), thereby making the most highly-evolved emotion conditional upon the most primitive.
The Qur’an instructs, “The Prophet is closer to the believers than they are to themselves,” (33:6). The believer has less love, less regard, less humanity for himself, than he has for Muhammad. What chance anyone else? Ahmed Deedat puts it this way, “My black brother is nothing. I can sacrifice him for Allah and his Rasool. …The Prophet is closer to us than our own flesh and blood, than we to ourselves.” Allah claims the deepest, most heartfelt love for himself: “Yet there are some who take others as equals to Allah and love them as Allah alone should be loved; but those who (truly) believe, they love Allah more than all else,” (Qur’an 2:165). Allah spares not even a child’s love for its parents.
“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honour. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: “My Lord! bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood’,” (Qur’an 17:23-24), except when they transgress against Allah, in which case the child is commanded to throw his own parents to the wolves: “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives,” (Qur’an 4:135).
Allah’s love is nothing but an instrument of merciless control, like the love demanded of Winston Smith for Big Brother, an instrument of fear. Ninety-three times the word love appears in the Qur’an, only twice by Allah’s name The Most Loving. Twelve times he demands of believers to love him (in exchange for mercy, forgiveness, etc.). Sixteen times he says he loves those who obey his various commands. But the most mentions of Allah’s love is in the negative. Twenty-four times the Qur’an specifies those whom Allah does not love. 200 times the Qur’an mentions fear.
In Islam, fear stands out far more prominently than love, the latter in all instances clearly subordinate to the former. Is it then any wonder that Muslims have no problem with public caning, public beheadings, and other demonstrations of violence and hatred? But let two people show affection in public, even by touching hands, and rioting mobs will ransack the city and do worse to the couple. Everyone fears not showing enthusiasm for public hatred and cruelty; everyone fears not showing disgust at public affection.
The prominence of our primaeval emotion of survival, fear, in the Qur’an leads me to question one particular axiom about Islam: its association with Judaism and Christianity as an “Abrahamic faith” (with to without pagan trappings such as djinn or the hajj). Certainly, Islam has the story of Abraham and others of Judaeo-Christian tradition, but these are plagiarised and poorly so, as many have shown, and the Bible has its floods, swarm of locusts, plagues and other assorted natural calamities, but they are of cosmic, global concern, rather the minutiae of the tribesman’s everyday fears and ignorance:
“…like a rainstorm from the sky, wherein is darkness, thunder and the flash of lightning. They thrust their fingers in their ears by reason of the thunder-claps, for fear of death…,” (Qur’an 2:19) or “And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to the steadfast,” (2:155).
These are the quotidian preoccupations of primitive peoples who propitiate their gods for mercy, compassion, peace, security and all things craved but so rare in their precarious world, things that only gods can provide and that they can just as easily withhold. It is my contention that Islam is one of these religions, of a kind with Shinto, rather than a monotheism, of a kind with Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, faiths of more advanced, and hence less insecure, societies. Islam is a pagan religion overseen by ninety-nine gods (Ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim, al-Malik, al-Quddus and all the rest) unified into one godhead, Allah, and embellished with a prophet and all the other trappings of monotheism. Its taboos have the same grip on its believers as have the djinn, and inspire the same fears. While Islam’s ostensible declaration of faith is There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger, Muhammad overshot his own monotheistic aspirations with Allah providing revelations-on-demand, ready-to-use, thereby rendering its declaration of faith effectively There is no god but Muhammad and Allah is his messenger — a faith befitting only the very best of warlords.
It is no accident that Islam was freely taken up by wild, marauding tribes that lived by plunder, but bitterly opposed by all who practised religion in settled communities, whether polytheistic or monotheistic. Muhammad was not offering an alternative god, but a mode of life and an ethical system more primitive than their own. It is also no accident that the most violent verses are the later ones. There was no other way of spreading Islam once he proselytised (strictly-speaking, recruited) beyond his tribal universe and Allah, ever-sensitive to Muhammad’s ideological (and other) needs, obliged with appropriately-violent verses.
Because Islam provided a pre-mediaeval tribal plunder economy interacting with settled monotheisms with new, hastily-contrived ideological underpinnings, it lacks both the organic internal cohesion of, for example, Shinto (also a religion based on fear), and has none of the internal consistency, not to mention conceptual elegance, of the real Middle Eastern monotheisms it claims to share lineage with. Islam cannot function as a monotheism because at its heart is fear, rather than law or love or enlightenment. Monotheisms evolve and fear is an ossifier. Islam’s adherents cannot evolve within the faith without destroying that faith. Those with a vested interest in the preservation of Islam ultimately have no option but to kill all who would apostatise from it, as exemplified by the very first action of the very first caliph, Abu Baker, when he launched the Ridda Wars against those who dared to walk off when Muhammad died, and contemporary Islamic governments declaring apostasy a capital offence, whether by statute or mob rule.
Finally, there is the fear of raising suspicion. Sheikh Omar Suleiman can blithely advise doubters to simply say to themselves, “I believe in Allah.” How qualified is he to know the efficacy of his own advice? Has he ever known doubt himself? Yasir Qadhi has, and he knows from personal experience that once you doubt, even five university degrees are not enough to help you fool yourself. Doubt will eat you and while it does, you must conceal all sign of its presence. People mention apostates who pray, fast, go to mosque and even teach Qur’an, as if they’ve pulled a neat trick and it’s all hunky-dory. When your entire universe has been Muslims, Muslims and nothing but Muslims for all of your life since childhood, and everything in your family is the business of everyone in your family, and shame is the one thing that must never ever be brought on your family no matter what, the prospect of losing all you’ve ever had, being shunned by everyone you’ve every known, rebuilding your whole self and identity and getting to know an entire new world, all while going through a massive multiple grieving process and possibly being in physical danger… Dissenting, even in the most banal way, is not worth the risk of just one cousin or aunt just once looking at you askance. It takes just one question… you suffer for another day, for fear of raising suspicion.
I did, after an internal struggle that took me completely by surprise, touch the pig, that didn’t move from the spot. I was disappointed to find it was not squishy and marshmellowy as I had imagined, but coarse and hard and didn’t even twitch. It could at least have recognised how tough it had been for me to get up close and personal with it; shown some appreciation for what I’ve had to overcome to accomplish that momentary physical contact. But I bear no grudges. I’m sure it could smell that last bit of Muslim fear still lurking deep inside me. Expecting a pig to forgive 1400 years of extreme badmouthing just so some jumped-up atheist could feel better about herself was a bit much to ask. I get that.
James says
There is a lot to be learned from this article. I do find it rambles a bit or it is at least too long for me. I like articles that are short and to the point. But it is surely worth reading if one has the time.
mortimer says
James, you wish counter-Islamic polemics were easy and brief. So do I, but they are not. Islam is dualistic and Anjuli Pandavar has covered both poles before moving to the next points. Explaining anything about Islam takes twice the time it takes to explain something unitary.
Islam is the ultimate example of BAIT-AND-SWITCH which is typical of criminal ideation. Islam is dualistic because it was designed by and for criminals, but nice people who grow up in Islam eventually notice this and then they are forced by their conscience to oppose it and many are now leaving Islam since they see Islam is amoral and they can no longer bear their cognitive dissonance. They are to be congratulated.
Listen to Christian Prince to find the best way to speak to Muslims. You must have a total mastery of Islamic texts to do what he does. But far from resenting him, Muslims love his passion, manliness and scholarly mastery of all the GREAT ABSURDITIES in the Islamic source texts.
James … Islam is not simply explained … as you would prefer. That is the fact of the matter … it’s convoluted, confusing and the domain of abstruse scholars.
nosmo king says
Acts 17 apologetics with David Wood is also great in Islamic exegesis, Wood toto knows Islam thoroughly.
nosmo king says
David Woods friend Nabeel Qureshi’s personal Odyssey ‘Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus’ describes the anguish faced by Muslims who abandon their faith.
gravenimage says
Yes–David Wood and his friend the late Nabeel Quereshi are wonderful.
Carol the 1st says
“But far from resenting him, Muslims love his passion, manliness and scholarly mastery of all the GREAT ABSURDITIES in the Islamic source texts”
Surely you meant to say EX-muslims, Mortimer? Once the “great absurdities” have been uncovered, what justification and logic is there in remaining with the feeble, soiled dregs? Best to bury the traces and let Allah eat himself up.
juleonly says
The most Excellent description of what is at the heart of why and how this Warlord Manual of Conquest and Complete control over its members minds and actions continues to exist. Fear and terror. Horror and public punishment on earth and eternal torture after death by ALLAH if doubted or disobeyed. Especially the part about turning on you own parents, children or committing horror on any other person on earth to show that one loves Allah more than anything/anyone else. One part of the Qur’an that always stood out to me was the passage that states….you might not want want to do some of what you are told, you might think it is wrong but Who are you to know better than Allah? The book tells you what Allah wants and loves and so one must do it to prove love of Allah or apostate to Satan and face eternal punishment. And only the brave & sane can fight their way out of this Houdini straight jacket and not fear alone in bed at night that ‘maybe Qur’an is true’..but i can assure them it is Not. No idea of a Creator could be this cruel & devious to make life such a horror story.
Peter Buckley says
“I had left Islam at the age of two. It took a whole ten years before I bit into my first bacon and egg butty. washed down with hot black coffee on a freezing Glasgow morning.”
Another excellent article. Apostasy from Islam must be one of the world’s biggest growth industries. Good to see that even the relatively small country of Scotland now has its own growing ex-muslim organisation:
https://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/2013/11/ex-muslims-of-scotland-has-been-formed/
Apparently, there seems to be quite a few commenters on JW who still think Islam is “winning”, when clearly the violence perpetrated by jihadists, usually on other muslims, is clear proof it has already lost…..
James Lincoln says
Peter Buckley,
I guess I’m one of those Jihad Watch readers who thinks that Islam is “winning” in the West.
If you look at Pew Research, the percent of Muslim by population in all Western countries is increasing-and the demographics are not encouraging.
That being said, there is still hope in certain parts of the world. For example, Central Europe, especially the Visegrad group of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia are putting up a fierce resistance. And the First Amendment is still relatively strong in the United States – in spite of the despicable actions by the left…
gravenimage says
Agreed, James. Islam is both growing *and* losing members–we have yet to see how this will ultimately work out. But Peter, sneering at people concerned about Islam and its spread seems off base. Note that Anjuli Pandavar is not claiming that Islam is no longer a threat.
James Lincoln says
Still a GREAT feature article by Anjuli Pandavar!
juleonly says
Remember when al Sisi asked the Muslim Bros & Salafists…What do you think you are going to do? Kill all the world who will not follow Mohammed? and they answered him…by Political use, by Education of all Children when they get into the systems & publish the books, and yes, killing when we have to to make them afraid.
mortimer says
Superb illuminating article by Anjuli Pandavar . His observations are mine also. Islam’s grip on Muslims is loosening … they are gradually ceasing to be Muslim.
Quote: ” increasing numbers of Muslims find the values and mores of the infidels growing within their own hearts, gradually forcing out the Qur’an so firmly lodged there during their early childhood.”
Even in Soddy Barbaria, Muslims realize they cannot be THREATENING THE EXISTENCE OF KAFIRS in perpetuity. At Al Azhar University’s Dar al Ifta, they are WHITEWASHING and WATERING DOWN the jihad doctrine so that it is meaningless.
In other words, Muslims are generally starting to abandon the ‘ESSENTIAL’ TEACHING of JIHAD.
The cognitive dissonance of living in a modern world of UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS is HUMANIZING MUSLIMS and they are REBELLING against the JIHAD DOCTRINE.
This is the end of Islam: NO JIHAD = NO ISLAM. JIHAD IS THE CORE OF ISLAM.
Muslims are becoming kafirs.
elee says
I do so hope that you’re right. This would be vindication of a much maligned Bush Doctrine, the optimistic view that freedom sells itself.
Carol the 1st says
Same as truth speaks for itself. That’s the unvarnished advantage.
gravenimage says
Mortimer, Anjuli Pandavar is not saying that all Muslims have now left Islam.
Michael Copeland says
Just for clarity, Anjuli is a she.
Agostino Armo Pellegrini says
I made the same mistake, I thought Anjuli was male. It makes me feel so dumb to have not known! But it’s not that uncommon to make the mistake, especially when dealing with names of a different nationality. Next time I’m going to Google first if there’s even the slightest doubt about a name. It’s all Mortimer’s fault, I read his comment before I wrote mine so he misled me, lol.
Bubbles McCloskey says
You sound like Adam in the Garden of Eden — that woman, she gave me the apple to eat! lol.
Angemon says
“I made the same mistake, I thought Anjuli was male. It makes me feel so dumb to have not known! But it’s not that uncommon to make the mistake, especially when dealing with names of a different nationality.”
I know, right? XD
juleonly says
Jihad can and is using Political Islam, sneaking into the Education System, publishing school books and their end will not be easy. We must stand up against this and show the diabolical destructive movement for what it is….A Warlord manual for Conquest and complete control of their own members to do whatever dirty work for Fear and Terror to show love of Mohammed over everything.
Steve says
@mortimer
That’s seriously and even dangerously delusional. Islam is jihad essentially, and will always be, regardless of temporary tactical shifts and dodges. There have also always been those within Islam who turn away, or don;t take it entirely seriously, it has not stopped Islam for 14 centuries and won’t now, when Islam via its accelerating conquest of Europe and the West, is winning the war of faiths like never before, as Christianity and even the ‘white race’ go into terminal decline and collapse (which they most certainly are for the most part). Nukes and other modern tech are also making Islamic regimes stronger not weaker. There is a narrative being pushed that we don’t need to worry about Islam because it’s collapsing from within, that is dangerous bvllshit at a time of existential danger, when Islam is being positioned to win the final victory that will give it true world dominance like never before. It is also in fact a weapon for Islam, a form of stealth jihad by deception, that disarms much of the remaining Western resistance and opens the West to even more infiltration at a time when the opposite is critically necessary. Islam is winning for sure, mass-colonizing the West with people and mosques as the West rots and collapses from within, and many of those who ‘abandon’ Islam will either be replaced by Western converts, or return when Islam has proven its superiority in power and survival terms as is clearly happening. Some even in eg Israel seem keen to present Islam as not a threat as part of some new strategy, it is a disastrous and fatal mistake at the worst possible time, and playing right into the hands of Islam in the end, which wins via deception also not just force.
Anjuli Pandavar says
Steve, “There is a narrative being pushed that we don’t need to worry about Islam because it’s collapsing from within, that is dangerous bvllshit at a time of existential danger.”
—
You are exactly right, especially, “Islam is being positioned to win the final victory that will give it true world dominance like never before.” Mortimer’s responses are often zero-sum, and this is no exception. Apart from this, though, I’m not sure that “there is a narrative being pushed that we don’t need to worry about Islam because it’s collapsing from within.” Perhaps you could offer some references.
Islam *has* to be fought, and that includes militarily. But also politically, socially and, topically, economically. All the Islamisation gains have to be rolled back. When you say, “many of those who ‘abandon’ Islam will either be replaced by Western converts, or return when Islam has proven its superiority in power and survival terms,” am I not allowed to be offended? Have I ‘abandoned’ (in inverted commas) Islam without really knowing what I’m doing? Your implication that apostates are only doing ‘abandoning’ Islam due to a momentary lapse of certainty in its superiority. You seem to be talking about a kind of flavour-of-the-month voluntarism, which, if so, is a complete mischaracterisation of apostates from Islam, especially in the Muslim world, where religion in *not* a matter of free choice, or swaying with the your latest convictions. Of course it’s possible that am I misreading you, in which case, please correct me.
The war against Islam fought by those born into it is at great personal cost (by that I mean things like being hacked to death in the street by machete-wielding jihadis, for example), is not to be as glibly dismissed as you seem to be doing. Recognising that Islam is facing an internal threat on a scale and of a nature that it has never faced before is *not* saying don’t worry about Islam; it’s collapsing of its own accord. That would indeed be both foolish and dangerous. But it is a force to be reckoned with and a phenomenon to be understood.
Similarly, the West isn’t the passive element you seem to be suggesting it is. That Western people are generally free-thinking and critical *and* jihad is being advanced by stealth and shove rather than bloody blitzkrieg — i.e., the infidel population is not immediately subdued — leaves a great deal of both space and time for the infidel to study Islam, learn to correctly read the conduct of Muslims, and devise effective ways of fighting back. This is new too. And yes, of course, jihad makes inroads, great inroads, through PC, identity politics, virtue signalling, self-interest and all the rest of it.
If Islam were sweeping the board as you seem to be suggesting, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I am saying that it’s the same game being played, but there are some new pieces added to the board. The one new piece that Islam is having great difficulty with is the mass apostasy from within its own ranks — “mass” compared to hitherto, not to numbers of Muslims. At least one of Islam’s internal self-preservation mechanisms is no longer working as it has done for 1400 years — just ask Sheikh Qaradawi. We are not talking about, “There have also always been those within Islam who turn away, or don;t take it entirely seriously.” Qaradawi can confirm that, too. For us, that isn’t nothing. This may or may not make a difference in the overall scheme of things, but it is significant enough for Muslim leaders to take it very seriously. It is not “playing right into the hands of Islam,” for us to do the same.
Steve says
I see signs and examples of the “Islam collapsing from within so don’t worry’ narrative fairly often, though perhaps more in comments than official announcements (which will never acknowledge any ‘collapse’ of Islam), but also a tendency/strategy to act on that basis by Western regimes, as much in hope/for convenience or even profit than genuine conviction. Bottom line is, more Islamic mass-migration to and spread in the West, at a time when it is already existentially threatening, and likely to become much moreso as the century progresses.
Some apostates are genuine, some perhaps not, but actually I refer in good part to intergenerational re-Islamization, where children or grandchildren return to the faith and culture their parent/s abandoned, especially as the West implodes spiritually and Islam looks increasingly like an overall winner despite occasional relatively marginal setbacks here or there. If there is a real battle for faith within Islam then fine, but more erosion of the already critically weakened and colonized West on account of/in service of it is not acceptable. America is not so passive perhaps (yet) but Europe definitely is, the EU (aka the Eurabian Ummah) is practically a vehicle for the Islamization of Europe, which is already well advanced, and that is very serious and bad, because Europe is the heart and source of the West not America, if Europe tips past the point of return, very close if not already occurred, then the West is finished this century.
I have yet to see hard proof of ‘mass apostasy’, especially in any deep sense, as opposed to the usual tendency for people to drift into a degree of ‘lapsed’ status that can often be reversed, especially intergenerationally as I said, which is a real danger with Islam in the West also. One reason to limit Islam as much as possible in the West, including by removal (via deportation/(dis-)incentivization) where necessary of much of the Muslim population (eg the more ‘religious’ half or so) and closure of most mosques etc, which btw would then make it more acceptable to give asylum to credibly ‘endangered’ apostates (on a realistic scale). But as long as mainstream Islam is allowed to colonize and thrive in the West then the response of many including myself must be close the doors completely.
Lastly, Islam might become even more dangerous if its core devotees sense ‘mass apostasy’ in the air, even more inclined to resort to extreme measures to counter the perceived crisis. The West made a huge mistake allowing Islam to get into the position it has, it could easily enough have been given the same ‘treatment’ Mahdism was a century or so ago, now Western nations are increasingly living again at the ‘mercy’ of this or that Islamic potentate or arsenal, and it’s early days yet.
Steve says
Make that ‘Islam collapsing or at least softening/moderating/eroding from within’, in terms of the narrative I refer to, with the thrust being not to worry about Islamization of the West because like Christianity Islam will lose its grip, though the same people often enough complain about the grip Christianity still has in America especially and see Islam as an ally against it. Basically manipulative casuistry aimed at disarming opposition to more mass-migration and mosque-building.
Carol the 1st says
Islam has nothing to offer except time-wasting ugliness. You don’t get closer to “God” by learning to feel good about mistreating His creatures (Allah see it differently since he’s all wrapped up in himself). It’s all very nice for non-muslims to hope the influence of Western mores will draw ex-muslims to significantly aid us in drying up the cage they scrambled out of but once Islamic schemers manage to threaten life and livelihood “non-believers” can speedily become compliant. And once we abandon supporting each other then Islam hits the pay dirt it is seeking.
This “abandonment of jihad” is obvious nonsense so long as they consider their womenfolk as useless appendages and useful commodities who dare not be allowed to become self-reliant and possibly then skedaddle elsewhere to avoid such “non-jihadist” practices as forced marriage, forced confinement and bagging, abuse of their children sexually and emotionally, slicing off of the female clitoris while the male glans carries on, becoming baby machines for the “soft” jihad etc.
How can any Westerner in their right minds even consider that the abandonment of “hard” jihad will make Islam something acceptable? It’s only “acceptable” if whole-scale nuclear war is the alternative.
Anjuli has a good perspective to share and it’s always extra informative to hear from ex-muslims.
theanimalthatthereforeiam3 says
A very refreshing and insightful commentary…and with a sense of humour!
mortimer says
Brilliant … and I suspect it ‘only’ took Anjuli Pandavar about 30 years of observation, perplexity and thought to reach this point where he can look back with such keen and sharp insight.
I congratulated Anjuli Pandavar on this great contribution to thought. He has greatly helped KAFIRS (like me) to understand what leads a Muslims to quit Islam after a lifetime of intense indoctrination.
The cognitive dissonance between modern, universal human rights versus discriminatory, dualistic Sharia is gradually grinding down the cocksure certainty of even the mullahs.
Every Muslim can read articles and see videos on the internet (such as debates with the native-Arabic speaker and Arabic specialist Christian Prince). This is causing up to 10 million Muslims a year to lose their faith (my estimate from various sources). Within the next 10 years 100,000,000 Muslims will leave Islam and within 100 years 2/3 of Muslims will have left Islam at this current rate.
Westman says
I tend to agree that Islam cannot grow well in the West given a few caveats such as learning the language, secular/scientific education, and exposure to world-wide real-time observation(Internet, TV, etc). A parallel society, if maintained, is the only buttress for Islam in the West,
The model of Islam becomes obvious; fear-based with a cult figure/founder who demands his own river of worship and paints a glorious New World where all humanity is in the fold. North Korea, the Third Reich, and the Communist revolution under Mao, are of the same model.
Pointing to the growth of US Mosques as an indication of a growing Islam is like pointing to the growth of US Christian churches in the 1800s. The growth was based in migration more than conversion. The old enforced religion met freedom, without fear of losing opportunity, as people “started over” in new lives – as evidenced today by empty churches converted to Mosques.
So I agree. The future of Islam in the West will be sublimated by reality of the environment and it will follow a moderating course and significant loss of Muslims who leave. Because its founder’s personal life was one of plunder and hate for those out of his control, Islam will not fare as well as Christianity when secularism sets in. Even atheists might talk about some observed behavior as “Christ like” while no one talks of good interactions as “Muhammad like”. Emulating Muhammad’s life in the West would be a path to prison.
roberta says
I hope you are correct, but this jihad by birth rate thing kinda makes me wonder.
It may be their best hope, and they are quite good at it.
Westman says
On its surface, Roberta, this appears to be a serious factor. However, a Muslim’s choice in the West will, on average, be the same as the native population – live in poverty with a large family(on dole?) or have less children and a better life.
At the crux of Islam’s successful demands on its followers is for the Umma to believe this life as worthless while the next, in Jannah, fulfills all human desires. In the age of general wealth and modern communications it appears that this view is waning and creates doubt and suspicion that its purpose is for exploitation.
Francis Weber says
“A cult figure/founder”
The perfect man, NOT, defective DNA.
Muhammad was WHITE!
http://quranx.com/Hadith/Muslim/Reference/Hadith-2340/
Muhammad was a dwarf and fat!
http://sunnah.com/abudawud/42/154
Angemon says
As Yusuf al-Qaradawi said: “If muslims had gotten rid of the punishment for apostasy, Islam would not exist today”. And he did so as a compliment and something to be proud of, not as an excuse for something that troubled him.
Carol the 1st says
Islam lines his pockets and so all is well.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
James says, “There is a lot to be learned from this article.” Yes, with a little surprise in its tenth-last word, “herself”. Aha, so Anjuli is a girl’s name. Hello, Ann Julie! (Mortimer, as I used to, thinks you’re a “he”.)
Peter Buckley quotes Ann Julie as saying, “I had left Islam at the age of two.” Can a two-year-old really apostatize? No. But a twenty-two-year-old can.
elee says
I hope the name is a pseudonym. A Muslim who shared his or her thoughts would not be allowed to live all the years the writer describes. By stating that (s)he has apostasised the writer donned a lethal jacket. Oh and imagine the crushing loneliness for a Muslim who doubts and knows that sharing the doubts invites death! The practical person, say nothing of the person who feels obligations to others (children, wives, &c &c &c) stifles it and pretends. I hope the name is a pseudonym, and I hope Glasgow is too.
Anjuli Pandavar says
elee,
Anjuli Pandavar is my real name. I use it quite consciously to encourage Muslims to leave Islam. There is honour and pride in claiming the right to think for myself and to make my own decisions, and shame in allowing seventh-century savages to determine my thoughts and decisions for me. I am defying the Qaradawis and the Khomeinis of this world. This world is *mine* and they will not make me hide in it. To those still trapped in Islam, I say hold onto your doubts — they are the most precious things you have — and you will escape Islam as soon as you’re strong enough to do so.
I also use my real name specifically to encourage women to not fear their own thoughts. If one woman can do this, then so can they. We have a longer and harder road to freedom than our brothers. I say to them draw strength from other women who have apostatised. That’s why I use my real name, and while I encourage other apostates from Islam to do the same, only they can be the judge of whether it is safe to do so or not.
In answer to your wondering how I have lived so long, I grew up amongst Muslims who would not have gone so far as to kill someone who leaves Islam, but they would shun and vilify them and sometimes beat the Hell out of them. It was only after the Iranian Revolution in 1979 that things started to go really crazy. But of course, that craziness was always waiting in the Qur’an and the Hadith, ready for a hitherto “peaceful” Muslim to be read and act upon. The transformation of my schoolmates into real monsters right before my eyes was seriously scary. I moved to a Western country a few years later.
Thank you for you empathy and kind words.
Agostino Armo Pellegrini says
Oops, in my response below I assumed you were man. Embarrrrrrassing! Please forgive my ignorance. To my dumb American ears Anjuli sounded male. I’ll never make that mistake again, next time I’ll Google first if there’s the slightest doubt about ones name.
elee says
Thank you for your courageous reply! I’m sure I’m not alone in taking hope from your example. We are touching on what scares kafirs and thoughtful Muslims alike……the rule of plain and simple thugs and thuggery. Hope and those who inspire it can be such fragile things. In some ways the Muslims you describe—those who wouldn’t quite kill you, except maybe by accident during a corrective beating—are scarier than the actual hit men, as are the millions of Muslims who wouldn’t report an honor crime or the mutilation of a girl child. I hope there are good networks keeping you safe. I hope you are able to enjoy freedom and spontaneity while remaining safe. And I hope your example will inspire other captives of Islam, especially other thoughtful Muslim women.
gravenimage says
You are very brave and principled, Anjuli.
Agostino Armo Pellegrini says
I had left Islam at the age of twenty-two.
Congratulations, some people are stuck with their religious brainwashing all their lives. They never seem to grow beyond the biggest absurdities in their beliefs. They equate stupid thinking with faith, and tend to reject rationality as an insult to their god or religion. Such people tend to lack true intelligence, they may possess great skill in quoting scripture but possess little appreciation for reasoned thinking. To them everyone else is “lost” in their beliefs, only they have true knowledge of god and a good life. In reality they are usually less knowledgeable than your typical atheist who in their humility simply appeals to logic, reason, and experience as their guide. There is no sin in questioning outrageous claims, not if god is a god of truth, but it is definitely wrong to perpetuate supernatural beliefs that glorify and promote violence for bigoted and unreasoned ideas. And that’s what islam does and that’s why I’m so against it. I’m also against certain aspects of Christianity and other major religions, too, but those objections are on a much less strident level. Christianity has much good to offer, in my opinion, and in humanity’s current state of evolution I think it’s worth it. Islam is a regression that kills intellectual progress and inspires divisiveness, bigotry, and murder. The amount of “bad” that islam causes so far outweighs the good that it should be rejected outright as a curse on humanity.
There was so much in Anjuli Pandavar’s essay that was quotable and memorable. The part where he speaks of “fear of doubt” as the “insurance against rational and ethical intrusion into the Muslim mind” really hits the nail on the head, not only for muslims but many religious people in general. And I think Pandavar is correct when he speaks of the “cognitive dissonance” among muslims, fear acts as a veil that prevents many from dealing soundly and honestly with islam’s negative aspects. They are fearful of offending their own supernatural belief system that demands total control for allah, and their spiritual and political leaders are more than happy to perpetuate the delusions upon which that fear is based. Normal people can’t truly love a murderous bigot like allah, but one will quite understandably fear him. Pandavar said “Allah’s love is nothing but an instrument of merciless control,” I’m sure he’s right about this because a murderous bigot cannot know the true meaning of love. Islam may have worked well with “marauding tribes that lived by plunder,” as Pandavar noted. But in modern times with our advanced human rights and democracy it is an anachronism that’s killing our peace and freedoms. We aren’t perfect even without islam, I know, but we are a million miles more advanced than “slay the unbeliever.” It’s time the left stop protecting ideas that cause so much pain and genocide and instead start acting brave for human rights over superstitious-based hate and intolerance. Every muslim enclave is a breeding ground for these poisonous ideas. I know muslims are people too and this is a shared planet, but that doesn’t mean I have to ignore the deadly aggression in their “religion” for some multicultural pipe dream that I know can never happen. People who pretend islam is a religion of peace are like Holocaust deniers, their lie is as monumental as the evidence to the contrary. True love does not ignore facts that kill, it accepts the facts as the foundation for good action that serves everyone best. It’s time the apologists and appeasers, and muslims too, stop pretending that the absurdities and evils of islam are godly truths to be respected. It’s isn’t–it’s the scummy underbelly of man’s worst aspirations of conquer and kill for bigoted ideas of the religious kind.
Thanks Pandavar for your insightful take on things. It makes the world seem less crazy to hear others speak the rational truth about islam. That’s why I like Spencer, he’s like a beacon of hope in a world of madness for islam.
elee says
+1 with emphasis. I’m glad you posted, you spoke for me and I’m sure many others. Oh and about that gender business: let him who knows the gender of every name in every culture cast the first stone. Never be ashamed to be corrected. IMHO and all. Thanks.
gravenimage says
The Muslim’s Inner Struggles (Part 2)
………………………
Fine piece from Anjuli Pandavar. Thank you.
Of course, the greatest–and very real–fear would-be apostates face is not the Islamic doctrine they have been indoctrinated with (no matter how ingrained this is), but the threat of other Muslims would kill them if they leave.
Angemon says
“Fine piece from Anjuli Pandavar. Thank you.”
Indeed. IMHO, Ms. Anjuli Pandavar prose is second only to Mr. Fitzgerald’s. Both have an artistry with words that makes their texts a pleasure to read.
gravenimage says
Agreed–she is an important contributor here.
James McCrudden says
I see a big problem here and the author is the one who has exposed it. He makes the point that it is fear which stops people leaving Islam. But although he is an atheist he could not bring himself to eat bacon or touch a pig. The problem is that when he left Islam and did not go to some other religion, he hadn’t really left, he is still under its influence, he still lives in fear for about half his life or more.
Does he still feel awkward around Jews?
Until is Lamme reforms it self from within, drops the hatred of Jews, makes the food laws a cultural thing rather than a religious prohibition, there is no hope for the west except to fight them, or isolate them in their own countries.
Why should they stop murdering Jews and Christians just because they have left Syria or Afghanistan to live in the west.
gravenimage says
I admire anyone who leaves Islam. It can take a while–sometimes a long while–to shake off all its effects.
Carol the 1st says
Apostate Prophet recently said in one of his videos that he was quite surprised to find that after twelve years of apostasy he had to struggle to eat his first piece of bacon.
And to James M…so long as food laws contain the same old unnecessary cruelty to animals then a hallmark of Islam remains in place.
Michael Copeland says
A fine article, with its personal resonance. Thank you.
Thank you for your courage and bravery in the face of the vigilante-style death penalty that faces you. We remember that the Glasgow Ahmadi shopkeeper who wished his customers a Happy Easter was murdered by a Sunni who drove all the way from Bradford in England.
May your example encourage many a trapped person find liberation, particularly women.
IanB says
A fine article by Anjuli. Her courageous resolution in rejecting religious totalitarianism is inspirational and I hope it helps others follow her path to freedom.
Mark Swan says
Anjuli Pandavar,
Thank you for writing such an interesting article.
Anne says
Curious that so many commenting on Anjuli’s brilliant article refer to “him” and not “her.”
Obviously they didn’t read the entire piece.
Carol the 1st says
Seems a female name to me, but I do get fooled occasionally. There’s a tendency to see the writer or scholar as a male personage. Many female writers often deliberately took male names in order to “borrow” credibility and be taken seriously. We all have our biases.
Anjuli Pandavar says
Hey folks, please don’t worry about the his/her thing. My name is perhaps uncommon in the US and its a mistake often made. On a personal level, it’s a slight irritation if it comes one after another, but nothing serious. Important, though, is that Muslims who read my contributions to JW to be aware that they’re reading a woman’s words, and ‘Anjuli’ is generally familiar. No need for apologies, please. 🙂
Anjuli Pandavar says
Also, thank you to everyone for your kind, thoughtful and encouraging responses.
Carol the 1st says
Some of what Anjuli writes reminds me of Canadian Sandra Solomon and I wonder if she’s familiar with her and her videos.
A short comparison of Shinto and Islam might also be illuminating.
gravenimage says
You are very gracious.
Eric Jones says
Good article Ms. Pandavar. You have been on an interesting religious journey. I also have been on religious journies. I have read the Koran, have practiced Nichern’s Buddhism, have read The Analects of Confucious. It all brought me back to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You might wnat to study the faiths I have mentioned other than Islam.
Maybe people have faith in God because they have survived things for which there is no rational reason. Become aware of insights and knoweldge that they could not have discovered by reason alone. Have good fortune for which they give thanks. Many scientiset have discovered that the phenoma they observe cannot be by chance. Continue your writing. Peace and Blessings to you and yours. Ms. Pandavar.
Eric
Anjuli Pandavar says
Thank you, Mr Jones.
You make a number of assumptions:
1. That I have not studied the religions you have
2. That studying a religion means embracing it, and hence
3. That I have been on a “religious journey”
4. That I am amenable to proselytising
5. And finally, what you are offering me is better than what I have
Let me right away disabuse you of any such notions. It is hard to fathom what you get from my writing if you can think it in order to make me such a proposition. I respect you for having a religion that doesn’t seek to harm others. Do you get the impression that I’m out to cause harm in the world? If not, then kindly accord me the respect I accord you. I wouldn’t dream of suggesting to anyone to become atheist, *not even to Muslims*. I am not so arrogant as to assume that just because *I* have no rational explanation for something, there is no rational explanation for it. I’m doing just fine as I am, thank you. Please leave me alone. Why is it so hard to reciprocate?
I say this also to make sure no one starts a bandwagon.
Steve says
I don’t buy this pollyanna version of the situation with Islam for a moment. It doesn’t matter if this or that person or even many of them ‘turn away’ from Islam, or cease to believe, all religions have that issue, for Islam it is less of a problem than the others because of the strong ‘safeguards’ against apostasy and criticism, and many of those at their core do not necessarily really ‘believe’ anyway. The point is they use it, and there are always enough who do believe to accomplish the purpose and maintain the faith. Islam had 14 centuries to prove its ‘fitness’ as a faith and has succeeded ‘brilliantly’, and is now becoming more dangerous than ever as a result. As the West rots and collapses from within, spiritually and demographically, Islam is moving in to clean up. Some fools seem to think that by getting the likes of MBS or Al-Azhar to ‘change’ the party line that Islam can be neutered and even turned into a friendly concern. That is utter idiocy. Islam cannot be centrally controlled or doctrinally altered on a lasting basis, and any such attempts will always end in failure sooner or later, with Islam emerging more militant and angry than before, like in Iran. The ‘pure form’ of Islam is always there, in the billions of Korans etc, and will always be looked to as the source from which to ‘purify’ corruption and revision. Islam is not some mix’n’match fast-food menu, it is a powerful ideology, meme, and world force that has eluded all attempts so far at softening or appeasing, and will continue to do so, above all so long as it appears to be winning (and is) in the West.
Anjuli Pandavar says
Steve, “It doesn’t matter if this or that person or even many of them ‘turn away’ from Islam, or cease to believe, all religions have that issue, for Islam it is less of a problem than the others because of the strong ‘safeguards’ against apostasy and criticism, and many of those at their core do not necessarily really ‘believe’ anyway.”
—
See my response to your response to Mortimer.
“Some fools seem to think that by getting the likes of MBS or Al-Azhar to ‘change’ the party line that Islam can be neutered and even turned into a friendly concern. That is utter idiocy.”
Agreed.
Steve says
Reply above.