The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason Kindle Edition

Like millions around the world, I've paid close attention the lamentably thread-bare dialogue surrounding the integration and compatibility of Islam and the modern world. From one side you get apologetics, denial, and obscurantism. From the other you get intolerance, fear, and hatred. There has always been a better path, already followed by millions of (nominally) Muslim-Americans: reject scriptural inerrancy, supernatural claims, and myth. Retain useful traditions. Embrace a morality based on reason and compassion.

Ali Rizvi deftly navigates this better path, bringing readers along for a nuanced and illuminating ride that closely tracks his own lived experience as an ex-Muslim growing up in Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

"The Atheist Muslim" is the book that Muslims, Atheists, believers, skeptics, and anybody concerned about Islam (whatever shape that concern takes) needs to read.

5/5

The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason by Ali A. Rizvi

“The Atheist Muslim” is an excellent and a refreshing new take on atheism. Author, medical communications professional, and trained physician Dr. Rizvi provides the public with his personal journey to atheism and it’s a real treat. This captivating 256-page book includes the following nine chapters: 1. Smoke Break, 2. Root Causes, 3. Letting Go (Part I): The Born-Again Skeptic, 4. A Tale of Two Identities, 5. Choosing AtheismFive: Choosing Atheism, 6. Islamophobia-Phobia and the “Regressive Left”, 7. The Quran: Misinterpretation, Metaphor, and Misunderstanding, 8. Reformation and Secularism, and 9. Letting Go (Part II): The Silver Lining.

Positives:
1. An engaging, well-written book that captivates the reader.
2. The fascinating topic of journey to atheism from an ex-Muslim’s perspective.
3. Great use of logic, reason and facts to persuade the audience at an accessible level.
4. Dr. Rizvi took me to world I know very little about; he excels at painting a clear backdrop while driving his persuasive deconversion story.
5. A fascinating look into his childhood. “They were liberal Muslims who valued pluralism and quality education that went beyond the textbook—and they wanted to instill that in us, their four children. This was a key reason they sent us to this expensive, private school.”
6. Interesting perspectives and not just on the Muslim culture consider his take of the medical field. “For the most part, medicine is more public service than science. In medicine, you have to follow protocols. In science, you help create them. In science, trying out new things and being creative is encouraged. In medicine, getting too creative could get you sued, or worse.”
7. I enjoyed learning of the different Muslim sects and how they came about. “The word Salafi comes from salaf, meaning “ancestor”—and refers specifically to the earliest generations of Muslims, from the time of Muhammad himself. Salafism is a rigid doctrine prescribing the revival of this early Islam, believed by its adherents to be the religion’s purest form.”
8. Provocative. This book touches upon many fascinating topics beyond the deconversion from religion to reason.
9. Provides a basic explanation of the Quran for non-Muslims. In other words, accessible reading. “The Quran is a single book, consisting of 114 chapters, called surahs. Each surah is composed of ayahs, or verses.” He also makes very good use of the Quran to make compelling and sensitive points. “I found endorsement for almost all of the Saudis’ actions in the Quran. The beheading of disbelievers (used interchangeably with “nonbelievers”) was right there in verses 8:12–13; the amputation of hands for theft in verse 5:38; domestic violence in 4:34; the killing of polytheists in 9:5; and so on.”
10. The politics of religion. “Hitchens was right on this. The religion/politics dichotomy is a false one. It isn’t that politics has no role; it’s that politics is simply inseparable from the Abrahamic religions. Religion is politics.”
11. The impact of religion captured beautifully, “Cultures are dynamic by nature, continuously evolving. Religion dogmatizes them. It cements them in their place, freezes them in time, and prevents them from moving forward. By locking culture up into a time warp, religion makes it look like the bad guy, absolving itself of blame. Cultures carry potential for change. Religionizing them effectively kills off that potential.”
12. The topic of violence. “Unlike religious scriptures, there is simply no atheist “doctrine” that prescribes or commands violence.”
13. A fascinating segment of tweets from ex-Muslims. “#ExMuslimBecause Misogyny, homophobia, stoning people to death, and killing apostates don’t suddenly become “respectable” when put in a holy book. —@LibMuslim”
14. This book is a quote fest, Dr. Rizvi provides and shares plenty of noteworthy quotes. This one from the late great George Carlin, “Pride should be reserved for something you achieved or attained on your own, not something that happens by accident of birth,” he said. “Being Irish isn’t a skill. It’s a blanking genetic accident … If you’re happy with it, that’s fine—do that, put that on your car: ‘Happy to be an American.’ Be happy. Don’t be proud.” Here’s a good one from Dr. Rizvi, “To start with, religion doesn’t provide answers; it makes them up.”
15. The problem with faith. “It’s not “radicalization.” It’s increased faith. Faith is not a virtue. Faith means to believe outlandish things without any evidence, simply because someone centuries ago told us to. It fetters the intellect and taints the conscience.” “You know deep down, that your faith is really just an accident of birth.”
16. The power of evolution. “Today, DNA-sequencing has not only revealed to us the evolutionary relationships among living species, but also confirmed beyond a doubt that all living things arose from a single, common ancestor that lived about 4 billion years ago.”
17. A fascinating chapter on the regressive left. “Your right to believe what you want must be respected, yes; but the beliefs themselves need not be.” “This is unsurprisingly effective, but flat-out wrong. The number-one reason that terrorism is linked with Islam is not “Islamophobes” or the media. It is that jihadi terrorists link themselves with Islam.” “This is a difficult problem to solve. But denying any link between the religious doctrine and the violence only makes matters worse.” And my favorite, “Criticizing the monotheisms, including Islam, is an inextricable component of standing up for liberal values. Misogyny, for instance, doesn’t suddenly get a pass the moment it appears in a holy book. If you want to fight patriarchy but won’t fight religion, you’re not fighting patriarchy.”
18. A fascinating chapter on the misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the Quran. “And herein lies the problem: if there were a book that talked about Muslims the way the Quran talks about disbelievers, heads would roll. Literally.”
19. The need for reformation. “The notion that this life on Earth is secondary to the afterlife—a fundamental tenet of many religious faiths—is deadly when it is genuinely and sincerely believed from the heart. I also believe this to be true of many other elements of religious belief.”
20. Excellent notes.

Negatives:
1. I wanted more, I know a little self-serving but I just wanted to hear more stories particularly on the Islamic culture he was brought up in.
2. For the benefit of many readers, I would have added supplementary materials such as tables, timelines or diagrams that described the different Muslim sects.
3. No formal bibliography.

In summary, some books are just more enjoyable and stimulating than others and this is one of them. This book is worthy of five stars because I didn’t want it to end. Dr. Rizvi takes the reader on a fascinating journey into his world, one in which he struggles to reconcile his scientific background with the religion of Islam. Along the way, he presents provocative topics worthy of discussion. An excellent book, I highly recommend it!

Further suggestions: “Heretic” and “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “Radical” by Maajid Nawaz, “Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue” by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz, “Why I Am Not a Muslim” and “Leaving Islam” by Ibn Warraq, “Faith vs. Fact” and “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry A. Coyne, “Undeniable” by Bill Nye, “God: The Failed Hypothesis” and “God and the Folly of Faith” by Victor J. Stenger, “Science and Religion” by Daniel C. Dennett, “The Soul Fallacy” by Julien Musolino, “God Is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, “Nonbeliever Nation” by David Niose, “Freethinkers” by Susan Jacoby, “Nailed” by David Fitzgerald, and “Think” by Guy P. Harrison.

Ali Rizvi adds a personal touch as he takes us with him on his journey across cultures, continents and ideologies. Educational without being preachy and introspective without being melodramatic, The Atheist Muslim offers the reader an opportunity for growth. Somewhere between the toxic identity politics of "the left" and the racist bigotry of "the right" there is a New Center that acknowledges that no idea should be immune from the white hot light that shines through the lens of science. Ali reminds us that a dedication to human rights requires that we defend free speech and freedom of thought. Humans have rights. Ideas do not. Thanks, Ali Rizvi. Excellent read!

Brilliant!! This book includes a man's journey from a religiously oppressive environment into a more clear and open realm. Among many things, it includes an eloquent breakdown of the most commonly used apologetics employed by regressives. He also documents quite a bit of his personal frustrations in talking with Muslims who use a cafeteria style approach to religion and how they often intentionally obfuscate those passages that they would otherwise rather not know all too clearly. While critiquing the regressive narrative (i.e. "It has nothing to do with Islam"), he is also careful to note the realities of anti-Muslim bigotry. A must read!

What an excellent book! Well-reasoned, crystal clear arguments. The criticism of the “regressive left” is well deserved by those liberals who do not stand for their values when it comes to radical Islam. “Why is it that rejecting illiberal ideas like misogyny and homophobia is a hallmark of liberalism, but when the exact same ideas are part of a religion like Islam, criticizing them becomes bigotry or Islamophobia?”, the author rightfully asks. The way the regressive left treats liberal ex-Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks miles about their intellectual capitulation and strange logics. Shame on them. They chose to be the “useful idiots” of Islamism. The author also discusses the prospects for reforming Islam. You might or might not agree with his arguments, and you might not share his optimism on this subject, but one can easily agree he has quite a few very good insights. Thank you Mr Ali, for writing this very important, enlightening and courageous book, and for your passionate yet quiet, honest and very clear argumentation.
José Tomaz Veiga