Richard Dawkins is Right

Richard Dawkins recent tweet stating, “All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though” has produced paroxysm outrage among Muslims and other defenders of Islam. Nesrine Malik fulminates, “But this, in its deliberately obtuse (say what you like, but Dawkins is not a stupid man) baiting, was a new low.” She contends that the Oxford don is really trying to say ’that Muslims as a unit throughout history have done nothing since the Middle Ages, and that is clearly attributable to their stupid religion’.

The sad truth is that since the 12th Century, scientific endeavour in the Muslim world has lacked woefully behind that of much of the rest of the world (both East and West), yet in the 300 years 800-1100AD the centre of thinking and academic endeavour in the world was Baghdad. Indeed the names of many of the stars in the night sky are testament to this period, as is algebra and many other mathematical advances. Baghdad also welcomed persons of all faiths (and non) to engage in free-thought and debate. This all ended in the 12 Century when an Imam named Hamid Al-Ghazali enforced the more rigid, orthodox and unquestioning interpretation of the Muslim faith we see globally today. This is what Dawkins was referring to in his tweets, I doubt many of those who criticise him, both Muslim and non-Muslim have ever bothered to educate themselves on this era of Islamic history, they will just engage 'offended' mode and spout the same old nonsense in Dawkins' direction about him being a bigoted angry atheist. It is pathetic. I have not seen one person offer up a rational, educated counter argument to the points he made.

This offence taking and faux-outrage has been whipped up not just by Muslims and other religious folk, but by apologists for Islam and Islamism especially on the left/liberal side of the debate. It seems like all bets are off when it comes to any debate about this single faith, that by criticising Islam (which is a man-made Idea) you are somehow being a horrid bigot, it is censorship by the back door and is a vile trait in many commentators and public figures I usually side with in public debate.

Yes, there is a certain section of the society who hate and discriminate against individual Muslims out of fear and ignorance, but it is intellectually and morally abhorrent to lump in legitimate critics of Islam/Islamism such as Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris with these actual bigots. Dawkins has often shared a stage with and spoken in support of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a female apostate from Islam who has had to go into hiding because of very credible death threats made to her and the murder of Theo Van Gogh, with whom she worked with on the film 'Submission.' Indeed I would say Dawkins writings, speeches, support and tweets have aided more people suffering under religious persecution and dogmatic intolerance than any tweet bemoaning 'Islamophobia' from the likes of Mehdi Hasan, Owen Jones or Mo Ansar.

The Story of ex-Muslim

"Leaving Islam is the greatest challenge to a Muslim".

Born and raised as a Muslim I had studied deep into religion. Muslims want to implement a seventh century system caled khilafa which did not even last for 30 years and three out of four ruler were killed by followers of each others. Muslims are not tolerant and are not open to ideas and a better system we have been brained washed into thinking that we are the only ones right on planet.

I started doubting religion sometime when I a was 17 years old.I was constantly worried that I was losing my faith (and for good reason cause I questioned everything!). I still had some faith going into college, but it was dwindling. I started considering myself as an agnostic. People who leave Islam usually do it because they had some bad experience with it, real-life experience. I have seen it destroy too many people, particularly women. I find it so interesting that Muslims cannot accept that people leave Islam. Something finally hit me and I decided that I was an atheist. The reality is that I really don’t care either way.

My philosophy is to live and let live. We don’t need an organized religion or a book telling us to be good. Good morals are something that we should be able to teach ourselves. I don’t know if god exists, nor do I go around saying that he doesn’t. I just choose to trust in science and the facts laid out before me. I won’t however go around questioning other peoples faith. That is not my place to do so.

First several weeks, there have been days when I’ve walked around with pure rage beating at my chest. I’m angry at myself for falling for an ideology that is so against my very nature. I’m angry at myself for burying my doubts under the curtain of denial and apologia. And so started a depression that would last almost 2 years. I could not allow myself to believe that Christians and unbelievers would go to hell, I kept telling myself 'No!, this can't be true!' And then I would hear the translation of the Quran and that would confirm my fears, I would cry every night, and I began to self harm. I cut myself and then proceeded to hit myself anywhere I could with a closed fist. I almost became suicidal, the only thing keeping me from it was probably the fact that I was scared and then people who commit suicide apparently will suffer in hell for eternity.I began doing this thing, I can't really explain it but I would put pressure on my chest, by squeezing my muscles when I was really hysteric in order to try and stop my heart from working, I often felt I was losing it, I lost all will to live. I would sometimes open the Quran translation and read it, and I couldn't get far because of how often God seemed to mention hell, and punishment. It was like this God of mine, was obsessed with punishment. All these years I was generally taken to a Muslim psychologist, and nothing ever changed, all my problems were still there.

At around the age of 19 I went to see a Christian psychologist and that's when my world began to turn around, he questioned everything and allowed me to feel safe in questioning, I allowed myself to feel angry to God for the first time, and found that that pent up anger was ruining me from the inside. I voiced my pain and I began to heal. Ever since then a whole new way of thought opened to me. I felt the bondage's of Islam loosen it's hold on me, and it was liberating, I have let them fall altogether, and I feel like a new person. Although no one yet knows, I have stopped praying but have chosen to be a humanist, but I still do however believe in God, not because of Islam, but because I found God myself. I may be an atheist, but I guarantee you that I donate money to charity as often as I can. I will buy lunch for a homeless man when I am able. I will go out of my way to help a stranger who is having car trouble in the middle of the road. But those people who represent Muslims will not.

Democrat Scandals

Back when the Shaw of Iran was in power, a dictator to be sure, but an ally of ours for decades, he asked Carter for help against about 500 dissidents who were threatening the stability of Iran. Carter said no, and about the next day, the Shaw was being paraded in the streets, over thrown, our people were hostages. And repression became the fact of life for Iranians, and the regime started on its path to today. The beginning of the present nightmare that is Iran. Under the Shaw, women wore western clothing, went to college, traveled freely, secret police yes, but the Shaw westernized the country. The hostages were released the day Reagan became president. Carter and his fellow democrats like to say it was to embarrass Carter, but Iranians themselves who speak up, say it was because they took Reagan's measure, and figured it would be the prudent thing to do. Think ATC strike and the Russians paying close attention to how Reagan handled that, to see how he would be in the up-coming SALT talks. Clinton took us to war to distract us from his sexual disgraces. And now we have the monster in the White House presiding over a mess he created and encouraged for five years. Allies of ours out of office in several countries, with Obama's encouragement, and radicals in place. Are we going to war, helping Al Qaeda, to save face for the narcissist? Notice how last week it was "A shot across the bow." and now this weeks it is that we need 70,000 troops on the ground. Lies, corruption, and deception surround this horror in the White House. Our enemies respected and feared Bush, and were afraid to test him. Now, the radicals know they have a friend in Obama, and the chaos in the region has his name all over it. The U.S. looks weak and vulnerable, all the while we are being disarmed by Obama, and more vulnerable to attack by the people he enrages. People need to be looking, by the way, at the long time ties between Obama, Jarrett, and the Saudis. (Remember the bow?) Hence his reluctance to go after bin Laden, and hence his lack of involvement in any way, to the attack on the compound. (Thank Panetta and Hillary for getting that done, and telling Obama once it was underway.) When do people realize what a disaster the democrats, especially as presidents, are for our country? And, twice as many troops killed under Obama's five years, that Bush's eight. Twice as many. So far. And, by the way, does anyone notice that all those Syrian weapons will have Iraq's name all over them? Hussein had six months warning, and plenty of time to hide them in Syria.

"Islam the misunderstood Religion"

People always talk about how religion is misunderstood and especially Islam, but it isn’t. When 100% or even 80% of the things coming out of Islam is what we see, then there is no misunderstanding and it was about high time we sat down and connected the dots and saw this religion (like all religions) for what they are instead of sitting here watching another atrocity be committed in the name of Islam and politely nodding out of a false sense of decorum. Islam is not misunderstood. No religion is. The things you see coming out of Islam and countires where Islam is the forced state religion is what you get. There is no grey area, no misunderstood anything, no shades of grey, no in between. Islam is what it is: a hateful, intolerant, violent and militant religion asking subservience and obedience by its followers under penalty and by employing scare tactics. Any abused individual will tell you that “obeying” someone out of fear is not love, it is fear. And there is nothing warm, divine, enticing, great and peaceful about fear and about coercing people by induction of fear. When your religion is in the habit killing those who disagree with you or exerting control over people regarding every aspect of their lives: from what they wear, what they listen to, what they watch, what they say and heck even what they think, you cannot tell me that your religion is a peaceful one that is gravely misunderstood.

A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway. Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently said: “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.” In our lifetime alone “Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.” In 2003, Iraq’s Christian population was at least one million. Today fewer than 400,000 remain—the result of an anti-Christian campaign that began with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, when countless Christian churches were bombed and countless Christians killed, including by crucifixion and beheading. The 2010 Baghdad church attack, which saw nearly 60 Christian worshipers slaughtered, is the tip of a decade-long iceberg. In Egypt, some 100,000 Christian Copts have fled their homeland soon after the “Arab Spring.” In September 2012, the Sinai’s small Christian community was attacked and evicted by Al Qaeda linked Muslims, Reuters reported. But even before that, the Coptic Orthodox Church lamented the “repeated incidents of displacement of Copts from their homes, whether by force or threat.

The problem, and it may be a News Media problem, is that we see few Muslim leaders willing to stand up in a Muslim Nation and speak out against what most of the world looks at as barbaric. Public whippings, beheadings, cutting off hands, terrorist acts, treating children as property, arranged marriages, not educating girls, women not having equal rights as men, honor killings, killing an individual who leaves their faith, killing Christians and Jews, etc., etc. The truth is people, in most of the non-Muslim nations, assume that all Muslims uphold these acts regardless of where they live. We hear Muslim Religious leaders justifying not condemning these acts.The problem for Islam is that the Quran contains countless commands that Muslims kill nonbelievers and apostates, treat women as inferior beings, and stifle free speech to anyone who is critical of this religion. At the same time, the religion teaches that Mohammad is infallible and that the Quran is the indisputable word of Allah. But then, "moderate" Muslims defy literally hundreds of passages of the Quran, so that they will not be terrorists and abusive to women. How do moderate teachers tell Muslims to deal with these contradictions? How do you tell them to ignore Allah's instructions to kill the infidels and commit other brutal and abusive acts? And once a Muslim accepts that his holy books is rife with false and unacceptable instructions, why would he want to continue in this religion?

Why I left Islam

There are no “moderate” Muslims, just “Muslims”.

There are Muslims of varying submission and commitment to Islam. But, those who are not 100% committed in accordance with the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sharia law, are defined specifically in the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sharia law as apostates from the faith and deserve to be killed if they refuse to return.

Those persons who refer to themselves as “Muslims” have a religious obligation to Islam 100%, nothing less. Those “Muslims” who either fail to, or refuse to engage in Jihad to spread Islam throughout the world are apostates, not “moderate” as the term is socially defined.

Islam and Sharia law does not deal equitably with non-believers. Non-believers may not act as witnesses in any legal proceeding involving Muslims. A Muslim woman may not marry a non-believer. Non-believers, in Islamic countries, are treated as inferior beings relative to Muslims. In Sharia law there are distinctly separate laws dealing specifically with non-believers. My family, friends and I left Islam because of the way so many Muslims are pushing their beliefs on society and wanting to change to Sharia law or interfering in the lives of others by praying in the streets, covering faces which is not safe for the rest of us, we need to be able to identify people and because Islam teaches they are the only real faith.

The west welcomes Muslims but Muslim countries are not so welcoming to non Muslims, in fact they oppress or hurt them. We dont want to be a part of such a hateful religion and Muslims are waking up. If Muslims can’t speak out against al Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hizbollah and others like them, then in fact they appear to support them or are indifferent to them or they fear them and then complain when the other countries do something to stop their terrorism. Until you weed out your terrorists and interfere in normal laws and living of other countries there will be more of them not wanting to allow immigration of Muslims.

Truthfully, I think this is best way for Muslims to stay where they are in Muslim countries, because Islam is a culture and a way of life not just a religion (even Muslims say this), thus your laws and beliefs do not fit in other countries who think everyone is equal and where everyone else obeys the laws of the country.

If you leave Islam you are punished, families murder their own, Islam using taqiyya (lies to obtain what you need in Islam), so how can anyone trust many Muslims? I care about you as a person, but I don’t believe this religion accepts others, so I don’t think others should accept it in democratic countries. People around the world need to be kind to Muslims but I think they should reduce the percentage they allow in because in truth, why take a chance on a religion which shows violence in its teachings.

Saudi Arabia's gift to Pakistan and Afghanistan

True Islam I'm afraid is many things! This is one of the problems the true history of Islam in that very region is extremely violent the region was once populated with Buddhist, Hindus and Sikhs were slaughtered en masse to bring Islam to these areas. Historians note that 80-100 million and some suggest up to 120 million were killed by Muslim conquerors in India. Millions were enslaved many shipped off to Baghdad's slave markets many forcibly converted and turned round to go on jihad and bring more of India under Islam. Muslim conquerors recorded that at times 100,000 Indians were slaughtered in a single day. One historian expressed annoyance with Indian Yogi philosophy and argued that although it was okay to seek this inner peace and fulfillment that a country must equally look to protect its borders. And that when the Muslim invaders attacked the first time around the 7-8th century that this should have given them warning. What stopped the wholesale spread of Islam in this manner was partly due to ironically the collection of the Islamic jizya tax which is a protection tax required by all non-Muslims. When Muslim rulers governed areas where the people remained unconverted they were able to profit from the collection of the jizya tax. When other Muslim leaders would pressure them to convert their populations they were often reluctant because the tax allowed them to live extremely lavish lives compared to Islamic rulers governing mainly Muslim or converted populations. They say Hindu Kush also means Hindu blood over the sheer amount of blood spilled during the Islamic attacks. And we know that there are no Buddhists left in Afghanistan / northern Pakistan except at funerals you still see the little flags like those used in the Buddhist ceremony they give you on the way up Mount Everest evidence that they were there. What is driving the current upheaval is perhaps also Pakistan's desire to be like Saudi Arabia and in their view to be more in line with True Islam here's what some of the kids have been learning there. Islam is based on the Quran and hadiths. The Quran itself says 'obey Allah and obey the Prophet (ie his hadiths or sayings). Also what the Prophet did is not open to criticism as he is supposed the most perfect man who ever lived. That is why you will never have Inayat or any Muslim condemning stoning women, because the Prophet did have a woman stoned to death for adultery. Or criticising the Saudis for not allowing the building of churches, because the Prophet said let there be no two religions in Arabia. Moreover Ibn Abd al-Wahhab also repudiated the consensus of the community (Ijma) as he felt that the prevailing social order at his time was itself corrupt. That is why he called for a return to a pure and unadulterated form of Islam closer to the ideals of the Prophet. This madrassa inspired and Saudi financed Wahhabi Islam is destroying indigenous Islam in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Crucially it is imposing a radical creed that represents a distortion and perversion of true Islam. Madawi al-Rasheed in her book A History of Saudi Arabia (Cambridge University Press, 2002) have documented the violent history of the Wahhabis on the Arab peninsula and beyond. That is why their followers today want to create a global Ummah in their own image, composed of only themselves and the other few elect who conform to their standards of purity. Little wonder that so many Muslims around the world are outraged by their lethal injunctions and reject their absolutism and suppression of local traditions including Sufism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. So yes, any madrasas that preach this theology should indeed be closed and their proponents excluded from Mosques, preferably by fellow Muslims on religious grounds. This is of course a task for Imams and other religious authorities who have more duties in Islam than only to lead people in prayer. Where this is not possible, the public authorities should intervene and expel hate preachers on legal grounds (incitement to violence)

Islam: Spread by the Sword

Quran! Being a true Islam is modeling after Mohammed himself. Yes Muslims can be peaceful but “true” Islam in its purest is the epitome of violence. I think a more simple answer is “Yes”. When one studies the Quran, Hadiths, and Mohammed’s biography one can clearly see Mohammed’s violent agenda. Bottom line: the purpose of Islam is to spread all over the world as the only religion worshiping Allah no matter what approach: violence or non-violence, and also to imitate Mohammed who is suppose to be the ideal character we all should model after. History doesn’t lie. Islam always used force and fear to get their final word. Mohammed even pridefully admitted that Allah injected fear into the hearts of non-believers. In fact Mohammed also used deception and lies as he said “for war is deceit”. Try leaving Islam in the Middle East. Muslims will persecute you, you will lose your job, status, family, and even be killed. Why? Because the Quran gives specific guidelines on how to handle infidels. And that’s suppose to be peaceful? Fundamentalist claim they are following true Islam. In fact, try to reconcile with fundamentalist now and see how far you’ll go. You’ll probably be killed when you preach your version of Islam. One can examine Mohammed’s life and make that clear distinction. Most Westerners are highly ignorant on Islamic history and Mohammed’s life and only take in what the media makes Muslims out to be whether peaceful or terrorist. But it is impossible to not pick out how violent “fundamental”. Islam is when evaluating Mohammed’s life and I think its sad how you try to justify that. The Islam you purport is foreign because fundamental Islam at its core is true and violent. Here are some of the numerous examples of violence from Mohammed: Before Mohammed got kicked out and boycotted at Mecca, he was a forgiving person. He preached about loving and forgiveness. The Quraysh tribe left him alone at Medina and didn’t try to peruse him. After 3 years they removed the boycott. After Mohammed grew a military power of warfaring tribes his attitude began to change. He now received revelation to command Muslims to fight anyone who rejected Islam (Surah 8:39, Surah 8:65, Surah 8:38) he attacked the Quraysh tribe first! It wasn’t defensive but offensive tactic for Muslims. Another excellent example is through his relationship with the Jews. Mohammed lived among the Jews peacefully in Medina. He did business with them, ate with them, and even faced Jerusalem with them. After 3 years of unsuccessfully trying to get them to convert, Mohammed finally gave up and used excessive force as an alternative, even assassinating a poet there. Why? Because the Jews wouldn’t convert? That’s suppose to be peaceful? What wrong did Jews do to him at first before the Battle of Trench? Even to Christians he said they either had to submit, pay taxes, or be destroyed. (Surah 9:29). Is that peaceful? What wrong did Christians do to him?. Islam attacked Egypt, Spain, Portugal, and Southern Europe even though they did nothing wrong. Unfortunately, this practice itself is the inherent attitude of fundamentals now: to spread Islam by all means. For example: During Mohammed’s last years and the height of his political power he wrote letters to the Roman government, also in Portugal, Spain, and Northern Africa to either receive Islam or pay the price. Now what wrong did those other countries do to him? Nothing! For the first 200 years after Mohammed’s death, millions and millions of Northern Africans were murdered because they didn’t accept Islam! I could spend hours and and days posting surahs and hadiths regarding the use of Islamic violence as the final words of Mohammed: “I descended by Allah with the sword in my hand, and my wealth will come from the shadow of my sword. And the one who will disagree with me will be humiliated and persecuted”. In other words, his final sermon instruct Muslims how to handle non-believers.