The astounding story is here: “Kuwaiti singer announces she plans to convert to Judaism,” by Neta Bar, Israel Hayom, February 10, 2021:
In a video that stunned much of the Arab world, the Kuwaiti singer and actress Ibtisam Hamid, known by her stage name Basma al-Kuwaiti, sent shockwaves through that world when she announced Wednesday her intention to renounce Islam and convert to Judaism.
Imagine that you a good Muslim. You know that Muslims are the “best of peoples” (Qur’an 3:110) and non-Muslims the “most vile of created beings.” (98:6) You know that you should not take Jews or Christians as friends, for they are “friends only with each other.” (5:51) You know that you have a duty to conduct violent Jihad, to fight, to kill, to smite at the necks of, to strike terror in the hearts of the Infidels. (e.g., 2:191-193, 4:89, 8:12, 8:60, 9:5, 9:29, 47:4). And the worst of the Infidels are the Jews – to whose faith Ibtisam Hamid has announced she plans to convert. As Robert Spencer notes, “the Qur’an depicts the Jews as inveterately evil and bent on destroying the wellbeing of the Muslims. They are the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); as fabricating things and falsely ascribing them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); claiming that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); loving to listen to lies (5:41); disobeying Allah and never observing his commands (5:13); disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more.
It is one thing to declare one’s unhappiness with aspects of Islam, or to call oneself a “cultural Muslim.” It is quite another to tell the world that you, a Muslim, are choosing to convert to Judaism. It’s scarcely believable.
In a video she posted on Twitter, Hamid said that her decision stemmed from the fact that Islam violates women’s rights and does not treat them with dignity.
Certainly women’s rights are violated in Islam. Husbands are allowed to “beat” their wives if they merely suspect them of disobedience. (4:34) Polygyny is practiced: a Muslim male may have up to four wives, which devalues women. A husband may divorce his wives with a simple recitation of the triple-talaq, while it is more complicated for a wife wanting to divorce her husband; she must go through a procedure called khul’, which includes returning to him her dower (mehr) or something else he may have given her.
In Islam, a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man. A daughter inherits half that of a son. Women in many Muslim lands are forced to cover – in everything from a hijab to a niqab and chador – in order to conceal their dangerous seductiveness from men. In many Muslim countries, male relatives act as guardians of women. Until recently, women in Saudi Arabia could neither drive, nor leave the country without permission of a male relative. In their totality, these rules and attitudes reveal the misogynistic bent of Islam.
But Christianity, just as much as Judaism, upholds the rights of women and teaches the need to treat them with dignity. What led Ibtisam Hamid to choose to convert to Judaism? Was it not the very fact that Judaism represented the furthest she felt she could go to express her disaffection with Islam? Weren’t Jews the very embodiment of “the Other”?
The singer also spoke out against the ruling family of Kuwait, saying “I want to declare my opposition to the Al Sabah family, who reject normalization with Israel, stands against religious freedom in the country and against freedom of speech.”
Of course, Hamid must no longer be living in Kuwait if she can both criticize, and herself publicly leave, Islam, and in addition, attack the country’s ruling family. I assume she is now safe, living either In the most tolerant of Arab states, the United Arab Emirates, or in Europe, or even perhaps in Israel. She is somewhere she can’t be reached by agents of the Al-Sabah family, who might wish to bring her back to Kuwait for a show trial, during which she can tearfully renounce her previous denunciation of the rulers, and also explain she had been “confused and depressed” when she said she was going to convert to Judaism. Otherwise, she is bound to be told, it will go hard not only on her, but on her relatives, and she wouldn’t want that. She is risking her career – other than the UAE, won’t every Arab and Muslim state, stung by her open declaration of apostasy, now prohibit her performances, ban her music from all platforms, destroy her professional career? How long can she withstand such economic pressure?
The media immediately deemed her words as “heresy.” Some, however, found justifications for her words.
“This is a sad day for Islam, and it is not her fault,” one person commented.
“When one does know true Islam, but judges it based on the behavior of some Muslims, it is easy to reject it and leave it. May Allah help people see the true Islam,” another follower wrote.
Sympathy expressed by some of her Facebook followers. One seemed to understand her act of apostasy: “it’s not her fault.” Another defended Islam but explained, in justification of her decision, that she had not seen the “true Islam,” but confused the unacceptable behavior of some Muslims with Islam itself. If she had understood the difference, of course she would not have become an apostate.
Hamid’s announcement comes less than a month after Kuwaiti presenter Mohammad Al-Momen announced that he would be leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, also drawing criticism, even death threats, from the public.
This one-two punch to Muslim sensibilities in Kuwait must surely startle. Here are Kuwaitis who have everything: the first a male TV presenter, the second a female singer and actress. Both are celebrities, both well-paid, with large and loyal followlngs on Facebook. Yet they both chose — shockingly – to publicly leave Islam. It would have been bad enough if they had quietly left Islam and chosen to join – also quietly — another religion. But to announce to the world that they left Islam, one converting to Christianity and the other to Judaism, which is even worse, is simply horrifying. These two apostates are undermining Islam’s claim to be the one true faith, ignoring the Qur’anic punishment for apostasy, suggesting, in the choices they have made, that they do not subscribe to the Qur’anic claim that Muslims are “the best of peoples” and non-Muslims the “most vile of created beings.”
How will this demoralizing spectacle be handled? I think that the Kuwaiti authorities will make sure Mohammad Al-Momen loses his job as a TV presenter, and that Ibtisam Hamid’s music will be banned from Kuwait altogether, “until” they both “recover from their illnesses.” Then those authorities will spread rumors – reporting that both apostates have “for many months” been seeing psychiatrists; their friends and relatives, pressed into service by government officials and clerics, will back up such stories about their recent displays of “mental and emotional distress.” Some government health official will, very sympathetically, express “the government’s deep concern” for the “pain and anguish Mohammad Al-Momen and Ibtisam Hamid clearly have been experiencing,” and offer to “help them to recover with therapy, long rests, and medication.” Many Kuwaitis will take that “sympathy” at face value. And if Al-Momen and Hamid reject that kind offer, they will be regarded as ingrates. There are so many ways to cast doubt on their decisions.
At the same time as the main narrative to be spun in Kuwait will attribute their apostasy to mental confusion, possibly the result of overwork, and the special pressure of careers under the spotlight (the TV presenter, the singer/actress), another explanation can be disseminated through Arab social media. In this narrative, Mossad agents — they are everywhere — had identified the two as unbalanced, and have been grooming both of them for a long time, gradually winning their trust, and slowly turning them away from Islam, one to Christianity and the other to Judaism. There may also be rumors spread on social media of financial rewards “from Zionist agents” awaiting them after their publicly-announced conversions. Should they need asylum, it will be said that the Mossad can also arrange that for them, not just in Israel but in a dozen Western countries. For those diabolical Israelis know how inexplicable and demoralizing such acts of apostasy can be for devout Muslims; it’s a way for the Zionists to undermine the self-assurance and resolve of their Arab enemies. The Kuwaiti authorities must make their diagnosis stick — that the two Kuwaitis, the balance of their minds having been disturbed, had strayed from the straight path of Islam to the wayward paths of Christianity and Judaism. And it will be up to the authorities, using every means at their disposal, to bring them back.
Templer says
Someone I am sad to say will kill her eather the goverment or some jihade I did know you cancovert from Islam to chirstainty but I thought you had to bee born a Jew to be in the religon however 2 very brave woman I hope she stays safe
somehistory says
Anyone can become a convert to Judaism. This was true when God gave the Law to the Israelites. The harlot Rahab of Jericho and Ruth, the young Moabite woman, are two examples. For some interesting facts about these, read the list of people in the line that led to Christ.
There is also a verse that says, “Ten men will take hold of the skirt of a man who is a Jew, and say, “We will go with you people, for we have heard that God is with you people.”
Infidel says
The thing about Judaism is that one has to know what one is converting to and iirc, study for a test as complicated as SAP to pass. Like what Ivanka did to get in
I do prefer Ibtisam Hamid’s actions to Saira Khan, who gave a lukewarm statement about merely not being ‘practising’ In other words, the latter could revert (in the real sense of the word, not the islamic sense) any time down the road, as opposed to the former, who’s found something real to set to
somehistory says
Yes, when one coverts to Judaism, they have had to learn all that is expected of them. It’s not like b.o. saying he was Christian without having learned what that means, and he certainly didn’t follow any of the commandments of Christ.
There are some Christian “sects” that require the person ‘joining’ to know the basic beliefs before the congregation will recognize that one as a ‘……’
Those two women I cited from the Bible knew what they would have to do, and believe. It certainly involves more than what moslims do…say one thing and boom…you’re one of those who worships satan through his fake prophet.
gravenimage says
Templer, I have a friend who had always been interested in Judaism, and when he looked into his geneology he found that he had Jewish heritage. He joined a Synagogue and studied with a Rabbi. His friends, Jewish and non-Jewish (including myself) attended the ceremomy.
juleonly says
Think how many Jewish mothers have been raped or help captive, forced to convert, pretended to be Muslim to skip the persecution. How many children were born from the Jewish Mother?
Peter Buckley says
It is “astounding” in the sense that this woman is prepared to declare her apostasy in public. In private, many millions of muslims will be doing the same PRIVATELY, even as we speak.
What we are finding now, which is different from ,say, ten years ago, is that it is PUBLIC FIGURES who are leaving the faith. This fact alone will help millions of others to “come out”. As I’ve been saying for many years, the world is full of “muslims” who aren’t muslims at all:
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15350/zayn-malik-non-event
What wondrous times are these……
Raja says
Peter,
I hope your words “What wondrous times are these……” turn out to be prophetic indeed.
Peter Buckley says
As I keep saying, the world is full of “muslims” who aren’t, and probably never were, muslims. Millions and millions of them, as the world is discovering:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdyIO5_SBMc
What wondrous times are these……
Dr John de los Angeles says
Peter, many would like to convert, but are just dead scared of being killed. We must all work hard to make sure Islam is removed from our beautiful earth
Peter Buckley says
I think ex-muslims have now founded their own “community” (the world’s fastest growing, no less). They are in touch with each other and help them find a “safe space”.
This is how ex-muslims can now deal with those who threaten them. You report them to the police, whilst at the same time mocking them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftok1r4dy0Y
Isn’t the Internet wonderful (for destroying Islam)?
somehistory says
She has put at least two targets on her neck…from her family and other moslims and from the kuwati government.
She’s a thinking, and brave young woman. She needs to find a safe place…perhaps Israel would allow her to go and live there among the people she has chosen as her “people,” much like the young woman Ruth, in the Bible Book by the same name.
There are a multitude of reasons for moslims to leave islam, and she has pointed out some basic ones that other people have tried to make clear, while devout moslims wish to keep these hidden.
Infidel says
Good for her
As an aside, she should put a disclaimer in her statement: ‘Don’t worry, I won’t worship Ezra as the Qur’an claims we do’ ?
Andrew says
When I hear of muslims leaving that faith and other muslims suggesting that they just dont understand the true islam, its like Communists or Socialists who reply when told that neither Socialism nor Communism has ever worked anywhere in the World, they always say but thats because REAL Socialism or REAL Communism hasnt really been tried yet.
I hope the story of this young lady is followed by Robert as I would like to know what happens to her and that she is indeed safe somewhere.
The very fact that today we in the Western World dont really get shocked anymore by stories like this where all she wants to do is practice her own version of what god is,or isnt, and that is cause for death in islam… Amazing, really amazing that they have the bloody cheek to call themselves a religion of any kind…
Certainly not one of compassion, tolerance or understanding.
Charlie in NY says
Considering the EU’s loud proclamations in favor of equal rights for women and of religious worship, surely Borrell will issue, on behalf of an unanimous EU, a strong statement in support of the Kuwaiti singer. Talk being cheap, that should be the very least to be expected. But, as its Kuwait (on whose behalf the US and some Western allies went to war against Iraq in 1991) has the oil that the EU wants so desperately, they will say nothing and go back to what they prefer: lecture Israel about the importance of acting as the world’s lone truly Christian nation and turn the other cheek – as in Israel should take no notice, let alone actions to defend herself, against the genocidal and terror threats against her.
Raja says
I don’t know what to expect of the Leftist thugs of EU
horyu says
“the world’s lone truly Christian nation”
Wonderful! I spilled my tea I laughed so much!
Thank you, Charlie.
b.a. freeman says
“…it will be up to the authorities … to bring them back [to islam].”
—
i’m sure that the kuwaiti authorities will do all that they can to bring them back, but i’m even more convinced that they’ll just dispatch somebody to kill them, because it’s easier.
underbed cat says
I hope they were on a plane flying far away to a non sharia country to be safe…..if would be nice if there were an island. I would have said, ” us” but ex muslims here are not as safe if we continue with the along the lines the new pres. has discussed and “if’ sharia law is seen as valid to use it could be deadly. Very Brave
tim gallagher says
That is a very brave move to make by this young woman. I hope she manages to stay safe. She will need to find a safe haven where the ferocious, loony Muslim types can’t get to her. I wonder if, if she is quite a famous entertainer among the Arabs, her announcement that she’s ditching islam, might inspire quite a few other Muslims to leave the hideous ideology behind. Good to see her calling out the horrendous, totally barbaric misogyny of Islam. She’s certainly correct – islam and dignity for woman don’t go together in any way whatsoever. In so many aspects of human life, Islam seems like some primitive ideology which does not belong in the modern age. It should have been gone long ago. It seems almost crazy courage from this woman so I hope she manages to stay safe and lives a better and fuller life after ditching Islam, which is something that everyone should do.
Keith O says
I’m stunned that she is still alive.
I hope she stays that way, HOWEVER, given the nature of the proponents of her previous religion I somehow don’t think this young lady will survive till the end of the year.
Peter Buckley says
Thanks to the Internet, ex-muslims can now organise themselves, ad provide “safe spaces”.
This is how you deal with clowns who threaten you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftok1r4dy0Y
Raja says
All hell might break loose on her. There are far too many zealots/ Jihad lovers who might want her head. The usual disowning by the family should be a routine. She stands to loose everything for renouncing the evil creed and so called religion that has all the attributes of Satan / his strategies and nowhere close to God of the bible.
The Islamic proselytes as always will deny that anything ever happened this brave lady.
The evil social media has to come to terms on dealing with death threats and murder plots especially as this lady has put down her life in the alter of conscience.
obbop says
Lass better be extremely careful. It only take one “defender of the faith” to perform the deed that the Death Cult requires.
gravenimage says
Kuwaiti Singer Announces She is Converting to Judaism
………………..
Ibtisam Hamid is a *very* brave woman. I hope she stays safe.
Singh T. Junior says
Thank you Basma al-Kuwaiti. You are a brave person and I respect you. I will forever buy your music whenever you release new songs.
OLD GUY says
I wish her well on her converting to Judaism, and I hope she has good security to protect her from the islamic followers who believe that death is the action that they take against anyone who leaves islam.
Henry Schalk says
That’s one tremendously brave woman. She has my total admiration. God protect her.