It wasn’t easy to leave Islam… I had hard times struggling with myself. It took a long time to take such a decision. But what drove me to apostasy was the Quran itself, I am talking about the Quran that in our hands, I am not talking about the chapters or verses that had been abrogated or talking about other recitations. I am speaking about the only Quran that the majority of Muslims is reading today.

Why?

Because I exerted so much effort to hold my faith. I had a strong desire to stay a Muslim, even if I would change some of my beliefs, I could accept being Shiite, Quranist, denouncing the Sunnah and the Hadith, I could belong to any sect but not leaving Islam.

In this topic, I will ignore the abrogation and the recitations that sometimes contradict each other. And I will not speak about the Hadith, which have a lot of contradictions between both itself and the Quran. I will not speak about neither this nor the method that had been followed to collect these myriads of Hadiths. I will consider these as misconceptions that thousands of apologetics have answered.

But what should I do with the problems in the Quran itself. Even the most authentic exegesis had a lot of mistakes, which was the motive for Ibn Taymiyyah to write a book named (the interpretation of problematic verses), in which he said; “Verses that were controversial or confusing for a lot of scientists, so that nothing of the explanations is right”. I will start now putting these verses as a head for the topic: (Do they not then consider the Quran carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much contradictions):

– When the creator of the universe told us in Quran that he is going to leave Noah Ark as a proof, we assume that God would leave it physically not metaphorically. Not to be only a story that many people and most scientists find it a mere joke and bearing no wisdom at all. The story of the Ark is only a repetition to what Muslims heard from other religions and mythologies. It is so unconvincing that some exegesis said that God left the Ark in the Arabian Peninsula for early Muslims to see it.

– (9:30) The Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allah “. No, they did not. Ibn Hazem said: “some Jewish tribes said so, but those people have extinct”. Extinct!! Yes, he said so… In ibn Hazem explanation is exactly like many answers that most Islamic apologetics used to reply with.

– Allah told us in Quran that he knows what in wombs and prophet Mohamed assured this by saying; “Five things, only known to Allah…” and mentioned among them “what is in the wombs”. But now we can know, even we can determine the gender we want.

– Allah says; “And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread”. Apparently, Mohamed wasn’t aware of the fact that there are many areas don’t see this white or black thread for days or weeks. So, how do Muslims fast there? According to Mecca time zone or to the nearest Islamic country? Or to the nearest country that has consecutive day and night in 24 hours. Why didn’t the Quran tell us about this problem, let alone, figure a solution to it?!! Because Mohamed didn’t know that.

– Quran describes the sky as a solid roof without any holes, but if we fly towards any direction, we never reach or see this sky, and we can’t answer ourselves by saying; “the science hasn’t discovered the sky yet”. Because we are ordered by the Quran itself to look at the sky above us to be assured that there are no faults in it. So, did the Quran order us to meditate something not exist or not discovered yet?!… Allah said; “he put the moon into the skies to lighten them”. So, did he lighten a sky that exist in our imagination or in the seven skies that are not exist at all?!

– Allah says; “we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man bear it. He was unjust and ignorant”. Who was this human being that accept that? Was he Adam? And why don’t we have the same opportunity to choose. In behalf of myself; I declare that if Allah offered this trust, I would decline to bear it.

– Allah says; “And when your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seed (or from Adam’s loin his offspring) and made them testify as to themselves (saying): “Am I not your Lord?” They said: “Yes! We testify,” lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection: Verily, we have been unaware of this”. Actually, we have never remembered it now, let alone, the day of resurrection.

– Some verses simply say nothing. Look at this one, (It is no fault in the blind nor in the lame, nor in one afflicted with illness, nor in yourselves, that ye should eat in your own houses, or those of your fathers, or your mothers, or your brothers, or your sisters, or your father’s brothers or your father’s sisters, or your mother’s brothers, or your mother’s sisters, or in houses of which the keys are in your possession, or in the house of a sincere friend of yours: there is no blame on you, whether ye eat in company or separately…). Why there is a problem to eat separated or together? And where is the eloquence in this verse? I am an Arab. Arabic is my native language, I have a bachelor degree in Arabic and Islamic studies, and I worked in this field so many years whether teaching or proofreading books in Arabic and I know people who exactly like me who testify that Quran has a lot of beautiful chapters and a lot of which under average, and not only me or others who say this, even the lords of eloquence from the Mu’tazila like El Nazzam who initiate (the dismissal theory) نظرية الصرفة which states that the Quran language is not miraculous in itself and the Arab could say similar to it but Allah dismissed their hearts from doing so. And this was the miracle. Abu al Ala al Maʿarri wrote a book challenging the Quran, and someone said to Abu al Ala; “your book is good but not as good as the Quran”. Abu al Ala said; “give it some time till people recite it in mosques”. He knows that time give sanctity to religious books.

– Repetition in Quran: Specially, the story of Muses and pharaoh. How many times did you encounter this story? Doesn’t that cast a shadow of doubts that there is a lot of plagiarism. These kinds of stories were circulating in the Arabian Peninsula, and Muses story was the most important between so called (People of the Book) in the area. (Arab used to name Christians and Jews by this name, and the Quran followed that also). On the contrary, we didn’t hear about the prophet dhul kifl but only once, even this solo time, the Quran mentioned him by his nickname only.

– The Distorted succinctness: Although the Quran has a lot of repetition, it still forces you to search for an exterior source to fully grasp the whole story, and this source mostly is found in “People of the Book “references. Try to fully understand verses like these:

· ([We said], “And take in your hand a bunch [of grass] and strike with it and do not break your oath”).

· (Indeed, we found him patient, an excellent servant. Indeed, he was one repeatedly turning back [to Allah]).

· (And We certainly tried Solomon and placed on his throne a body; then he returned).

· (I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful [of dust] from the track of the messenger and threw it, and thus did my soul entice me).

· (And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. But the two angels do not teach anyone unless they say, “We are a trial, so do not disbelieve [by practicing magic]”).

Don’t you see that most of translators can’t really translate without adding some explanation here or there (between brackets) if they don’t, you will not understand it. As if the Quran is supposed to be understood by Arabs only, even Arabs can’t fully understand it, even worse; some companions didn’t understand it, like Omar bin el Khattab, when he read “And Fruits and ….” (Abba). Then he asked himself: What is the (Abb)… By the way it is translated into (Grass).

– Inheritance in the Quran: It is impossible to solve some of its problems without returning to what has been invented after the death of Mohamed, I mean: (al-Awl and ar-Radd(. It was possible to have all these problematic cases solved in Quran, but it didn’t happen, which give impression that Quran is an incomplete book. Omar bin el Khattab said; “I hope that the messenger would have solved these: “The grandfather and the one who has neither parents or sons and some kind or Usury”.

– Obvious Incoherence in some Quran contexts: You feel when you read the Quran that many verses are redundant, or not needed, as if they had been shoved into the book. Read this verse: (And to those who are Jews We have prohibited that which we related to you before. And We did not wrong them [thereby], but they were wronging themselves), (16/118). If you delete it, it won’t affect the context, especially, the verse itself says (which we related to you before). So, what is the need for repeating it again?!

– The beginnings of many chapters, like: كهيعص ، الم . the interprets have many explanations for them, some say; “Only Allah knows the meaning”. Then, why he revealed them to us at first place? Imagine yourself reading another religious book starting with (ABC…). The first question would come to your mind: What is the use and the meaning of these letters?

– If you read the Quran without the corona of sanctity, you will be amazed by some versus that impossible to be a revelation from sky: The Prophet says; “who wants to see the Doomsday as if it is real, then he should read: (When the sun is wrapped up) and (When the sky breaks apart) and (When the sky has split [open])”… OK. Let’s read: ((1) When the sun is wrapped up (2) And when the stars fall, dispersing, (3) And when the mountains are removed)… Oh it’s a very impressive and scary image. Let’s continue: ((4) And when full-term she-camels are neglected) … What?!!! Will the stars fall while people and camels still exist? Don’t Muslim scientists tell us that Quran has a lot of scientific miracles. What about this one? Or because the camels were very important to Arabs, then, the rest of the world should understand this importance… What about non-Arab? How do they fully understand Quran? There are some verses that you need to be intellectual in Arabic language to know the meaning. To understand this verse: (The Day the shin will be uncovered and they are invited to prostration but the disbelievers will not be able) you should know the metaphor in the (shin will be uncovered) because the Arab in this specific area and in that era used this term to explain how hard and serious is the situation. So, non-Arab should understand the Arabic in Quraysh dialect in the sixth and seventh centuries AD. Amazing!!! And this is the Book that supposed to be valid for every place and time.

– Quran contain a lot of myths: It tells us about a man who died and resurrected after 100 years. And Hoopoe talks to Soliman. And Jinn offer his services. And Ant warns others. And a ride from the earth speaking to people. And one stays in a stomach of whale for three days. And the other stayed for days on fire, but came out safe and sound. And people slept for more than three hundred years in a cave. Of course, no proof for all of these, except what we have been indoctrinated for ages. But why all this stop now. There was a time when angels were busy by people. Gabriel back and forth to Earth with messages. And three or five thousand fighting in Battel of Badr. And Harut and Marut prefer living on Earth. And a dialogue between Moses and his God. And a revelation to slaughter the son of Ibrahim then fortunately God retracts back. There was a direct contact between God and Earth. What happened? Why did all this stop? Aren’t we in a dire need for proofs like the ancients? We are now more than seven Billion? Don’t we need at least, one more messenger? God sent two prophets to a village, and when they didn’t believe them, God sent the third. But now he decided to just watch. Why God needs to speak privately with Moses or with Mohamed. Why the Miracles happened in antiquity. Even Mohamed didn’t have any miracle when he needed them, and when Quraysh mocked him saying; (in Al Anfal) (O Allah, if this should be the truth from You, then rain down upon us stones from the sky or bring us a painful punishment). Mohamed did nothing, and ironically for two reasons: The second of them: because they seek forgiveness. Is seeking forgiveness acceptable or count with polytheism?! But later, after the death of Mohamed, we find so many written miracles in the Hadith books.

– These are some problems among many that I didn’t mention in the Quran. What do you think if we move to the second source of legislation in Islam. For me, this is more than enough, at least for me.