Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out by Ibn Warraq

Author:Ibn Warraq
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2009-07-21T09:06:00+00:00

In my early childhood days, I underwent religious education every morning from 6 to 8) in the maktab (Koranic school) before I went to primary school of general education at 10 A.M. In the maktab I learned all those suras/rules/methods required to observe five daily prayers, and also learned to read the Koran in Arabic. However, I never understood the meaning of any word of the Koran or the suras, which used to bother me very much. From my boyhood, I was very inquisitive, wanting to know about the religion of Islam. I wanted to know about the meaning of Allah, the Prophet, and angel. I often questioned mullahs about Allah, as to who he is and how he looks, where he lives, what he eats, angels, hell, heaven, and myriad other things related to the religion of Islam. Nevertheless, I was never satisfied with their answers. I was always trying to judge everything with human logic, which angered the mullahs. I used to ask my father who Allah was and where he lived. My father used to answer: "Allah is very big and powerful, and Allah lives over the sky (other side of the sky) with his many angels who help him in every business. Allah looks over all of us from the sky, decides the fates of everybody, decides every action taken on Earth." Then my father also talked about the dangers of hell and the good life of heaven, which I had already learned from those mullahs in the maktab. In those early childhood days I was praying regularly, but I did not attempt to read the Koran because I was not interested in something that I did not understand. One day, I asked my father if he understood the Koran which he read so routinely. My father replied: "I also do not understand what I am reading, but Huzur (pir) told me to read it everyday which will bring immense sawaabs (recompense, reward, profit) for me and for my family. Allah will reward me for reading the Koran daily. You don't need to understand the meanings of the Koran. Just by reading the Koran you will get lots of sawaabs."

I could not conceive what my father told me about reading the Koran without understanding the meaning, and I did not read the Koran again until recently, in translation. Fortunately, my father never forced me to read the Muslim holy book, but he asked me to pray regularly, which I was doing anyway. I was proud and happy to be a born Muslim, since I learned from mullahs, learned men, and my elders that Islam is the ultimate truth and best religion in the whole world. The Koran is the infallible words of Allah, who loves only the religion of Islam, and all other religions are simply bad, people of other religions are all kafirs and destined to go to hell. Muslims are impeccable human beings, and Allah loves only Muslims. Only we, the Muslims, are supposed to go to heaven and nobody else can enter the gate of heaven.

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