Editor/translator Ibn Warraq (a pen name) wrote in the Preface to this 2003 book, “All the testimonies here are witnesses to the authors’ courage, for a free discussion of Islam remains rare and dangerous, certainly in the Islamic world and even in our politically correct times in the West. A surprising number of the apostates decided to write under their real names, a triumphant gesture of defiance and freedom. Many, on the other hand, have chosen to write pseudonymously, and since this is a fact that seems to irritate many in the secular West, I shall briefly indicate the reasons why. Apostasy is still punishable by long prison sentences and even death in many Islamic countries… and as many of our authors have relatives in [such] countries, whom they regularly visit, it is common sense and simple prudence not to use their real names. Others still do not wish to unnecessarily upset … relatives who, for the most part, remain ignorant of their act of apostasy.”
Warraq notes, “There is a certain amount of anecdotal evidence that many Muslims in India are reverting to the religion of their ancestors, Hinduism… Hinduism has been reclaiming parts of the Indonesia archipelago it once dominated for a millennium… Though the number of conversions … are hard to quantity… there have been tens of thousands over the last twenty years, more in some years than others. There is also a return to Hinduism in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. Up to now there has been no systematic persecution of the Hindus, but unfortunately the signs are that the situation is changing for the worse.” (Pg. 101)
Warraq admits, “Given that I am rather skeptical of the very possibility of a scientific survey of apostates, it is difficult for me to make any psychological, sociological, or anthropological generalizations based on fewer than fifty personal testimonies that would be valid outside this particular group. No quick portrait of the typical apostate is likely to appear---some are young (students in their teens), some are middle-aged with children; some are scientists, while others are economists, businesspeople, or journalists… Our witnesses, nonetheless, do have certain moral and intellectual qualities in common: for instance, they are al comparatively well-educated, computer literate with access to the Internet, and rational, with the ability to think for themselves. However, what is most striking their fearlessness, their moral courage, and their moral commitment to telling the truth. They all face social ostracism, the loss of friends and family, a deep inner spiritual anguish and loneliness---and occasionally the death penalty if discovered. Their decisions are not frivolously taken, but the ineluctable result of rational thinking.” (Pg. 135)
Ali Sina (from Iran) states in his testimony, “Although I knew of jihad and never questioned it before, I found it hard to accept that God would have recourse to such violent measures to impose himself on people. What was more shocking was the cruelty of Allah in dealing with the unbelievers… It seemed that Allah was not satisfied with just killing the unbelievers. H enjoyed torturing them before killing them. Smiting people’s heads from above their necks and chopping their fingertips were very cruel acts. Would God really give such orders?” (Pg. 144)
Muhammad Bin Abdulla (of Bangladesh) explains, “Throughout my life I looked for any single moral code that was brought by Islam anew. There is simply none. All those Islamic social, familial, and other morals and sweet advice had always existed in the human mind long before Islam. Also, it is extremely unfair and dishonest to propagate the myth that before Islam the whole world was in ‘darkness.’ This is a shameless denial of so many thinkers’ and philosophers’ great contribution to human progress before Islam. We have ample proof that some societies before Islam had in fact more balanced, clear, and humane laws than the cruel imbalanced Shari’a laws of Islam.” (Pg. 298)
Denis Giron (of the United States) observes, “so many disillusioned Christians have embraced Islam because they assumed it answered their questions that Christianity could not. Islam is very attractive to Christians who are troubled by the difficult, if not incomprehensible, concept of the Trinity. Many such people have been raised in what is portrayed as a monotheist religion (and Jewish monotheism still runs strong in the Old Testament), and are often unimpressed with their pastor or priest’s attempts to explain the more mystical (if not polytheistic) concepts in trinitarian Christianity.” (Pg. 340)
He recounts, “Western Muslims have, in the past, become drunk on Ahmed Deedat, though his popularity is starting to really disappear these days. His debates with Christians, along with his numerous booklets, have made up the heart of British-America dawaganda literature for the last two decades. Unfortunately, the Islamic literature cannot stand up to the standards that brother Deedat demanded the Bible be judged by. Deedat’s idea of the ‘Bible Combat Kit,’ where Muslims are encouraged to keep an inventory of contradictions, vulgar verses, and other embarrassing excerpts of the Bible, was one of the more popular aspects of Islam’s missionary onslaught on the West. However, this caused some Muslims to ponder the idea of a ‘HADITH Combat Kit.’ As should have been expected, Muslims were beginning to doubt the use of the ahadith collections as a source of guidance considering the many contradictions, absurd stories, and vulgar tales found therein.” (Pg. 343)
Warraq points out, “It is quite common … to hear two arguments from Muslims and apologists of Islam: the language argument, and that old standby of crooked, lying politicians, ‘you have quoted out of context.’ Let us look at the language argument first. You are asked aggressively, ‘Do you know Arabic?’ Then you are told triumphantly, ‘You have to read it in the original Arabic to understand it fully.’ Western freethinkers and atheists are usually reduced to sullen silence with these Muslim tactics; they indeed become rather coy and self-defensive when it comes to criticism of Islam, feebly complaining, ‘Who am I to criticize Islam? I do not know any Arabic.’ And yet these same freethinkers are quite happy to criticize Christianity. How many Western freethinkers and atheists know Hebrew? How many even know what the language of Ezra 4:6-8 is? Or in what language the New Testament is written? Of course, Muslims are also free in their criticism of the Bible and Christianity without knowing a word of Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek.” (Pg. 400)
This book will be of great interest to those studying such religious conversions.
- Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account
