On this episode I am narrating two stories from a couple of ex-muslims that I reached out to on a reddit thread. I included the entire podcast narration in the show notes so if someone could read it safely if preferred. So join the discussion in the comments section and lets show these 2 some love and support.

why-is-the-apostate-to-be-executed-in-islam

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Hello, Hello my fellow primates and welcome back to another episode of the Mindful Skeptics Podcast. This episode is going to a little different because of the safety concerns for my guests. I was looking for some places to find some ex-muslim apostates to interview and share their stories of leaving their religion and what their future plans would be moving forward. So I was talking to reddit users on an ex-muslim thread and asked if anyone would be interested in sharing their story. I was contacted by one male and one female that did not want their reddit ID, real names, faces or voices to be used on the podcast. So I gave them my email address and started a dialogue with them individually. After several emails back and forth, the young man sent me an email with his story and he asked me to narrate it for him and to send him a link when the show was released.

The second person to email me back was a young lady from California that was a college graduate and is living in her own place now and is enjoying her new found freedom. She was comfortable with doing a video interview but still didn’t want her real name personal information out there. So I will be using a pseudo name, Badu. I chose this name specifically because it means, “A strong Person”. So I thought that was appropriate. So I will be narrating Badu’s story first. So, with that being said. Sit back, relax and lets get into it….

Lets start out with some background information.

I asked her when and why did her family immigrate to the United States?

She said her family came to the US from Pakistan to provide a better life and opportunities for their children.

I asked her when did he start having doubts and when did she have that final ahah moment and mentally check out of the faith?

She states that she started having throughout her youth, and when she voiced her doubts, she was immediately shut down and was told that questioning god/Allah is a major sin.

Eventually she forced or coerced to wear the hijab in high school, or else not go to school or step outside. Of course, seeing that school was her only escape, she abided her parents “requests.” As challenging as it was, she continued to wear it for several years.

While trying to juggle the clashing western and eastern cultures, her parents continued to push her for marriage as soon she was done with high school. The emotional abuse and psychological manipulation pushed her over the edge to run away from home after being set up for an arranged marriage to her cousin, like Pakistani tradition. After realizing how serious she was about not getting married and with a lot of convincing, she returned back home.

Unfortunately, after a few months of returning home, they went back to their old ways.

Throughout those years, she started to become conscious of her doubts. Her doubts strengthen as she witnessed the hypocrisy flooding the the mosques and communities of so-called “Muslims... or any religion she is exposed to in the US.” Her breaking point was the bigotry and the ingrained sexism that persisted in the culture and enforced by the religion. The misogyny supported by the religion told her who to marry, be covered from head to toe, higher education being pure evil, not to pursue a career, travel without a male guardian over 40 miles, or have any sort of freedom. Nothing was ever good enough for her parents, and her accomplishments meant nothing cause she was not married —Simply because she was a woman. After she became serious with a boyfriend (a non Muslim), whom she can never introduce to her family, she realized that the rules and rituals are out of touch with the

changing world and west was not brainwashing her- it was her family.

The toxicity of living at home and being a continuous disappointment to her parents became unbearable and she spent the last few years saving up to move out. & she did. She took the leap that every “muslim” woman dreams of and left her home- unwed and uncovered.

If that don’t give you goosebumps, you need to check your pulse. I can not imagine how that must have felt to be trapped in a home where everyone is expecting you to marry your cousin and you have grown up in the US of A and know that stigma attached to marrying your cousin and the laws in place to prevent that for many reasons, religious or not. And to live with the fact that your will not be good enough in your family’s eyes because you are disappointing them being a unwed woman and living on your own.

I then asked her, “Are you still in contact with any of your family? And do any of them know about your apostasy?”

She states that she has not talked to certain family members in a few years.

After we discussed this aspect of her life in more detail, I mentioned that this was too specific and could possibly make her identity easily known, so we agreed to leave these details out to maintain her annonimity.

So lets’s step back for a second.

Badu has shared her story with me, a stranger from Michigan, and had to trust me to not make her identity known and lets not forget that she was willing to talk to me via video conference calling and showing me her face. That is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly. Her religion calls for the death of apostates and it is written in the Quran.



So I did some research into the laws of islam in regards to apostasy and the rules for punishment for it. I went to an Islamic website islamqa.info and read a question that was written by a non muslim. And this was the lengthy answer he was given by the leaders of this website.

As a non Muslim, I find myself Intrigued and attracted to your faith. However, I find it difficult to comprehend how a man can be sentenced to death for speaking( Salman Rushdie). I would have thought that we as humans do not have that right to make those decisions, only god can?

Answer

Praise be to Allaah.

We thank you for your confidence in us and for sending this question to us, and we appreciate your being intrigued by our beliefs and your eagerness to find out the answer. We welcome you as a visitor and reader and learner.

What stood out from your letter is that you are impressed with the religion of Islam. This is a good sign for us and for you. We are happy for our religion to reach people like you who are seeking for the truth. Our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that this religion would reach all places on this earth. It was narrated that Tameem al-Daari said: “I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: ‘This matter (i.e., Islam) will certainly reach everywhere that night and day reach, and Allaah will not leave any house or tent [i.e., all dwellings, in towns and in the desert], but Allaah will cause this religion to enter it, and some people will be honoured because of it [by converting] and others will be humiliated because of it [for refusing to embrace it], and they will be ruled by the Muslims, an honour which Allaah will bestow on Islam and a humiliation which He will inflict on kufr (disbelief).”

(Narrated by Ahmad, 16344; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 3).

In your case, your admiration for Islam will motivate you to find out what this pure monotheistic religion teaches, and how it is in accordance with sound human nature and common sense. We advise you to avoid completely and preconceptions that may influence you and take your time in reading about the teachings of the Islamic religion. Perhaps you could read material on this site about Islam, such as questions no. 219, 21613,20756, 10590.

With regard to your question, “However, I find it difficult to comprehend how a man can be sentenced to death for speaking. I would have thought that we as humans do not have that right to make those decisions, only god can” – what you say is correct, because no-one has the right to condemn another person to death without evidence from the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

The ruling of execution because of a word that somebody utters is what the Muslim scholars call al-riddah (apostasy). What is apostasy and what constitutes apostasy? What is the ruling on the apostate (al-murtadd)?

1 – Riddah (apostasy) refers to when a Muslim becomes a disbeliever by saying a clear statement to that effect, or by uttering words which imply that (i.e., which imply kufr or disbelief), or he does something that implies that (i.e., an action which implies kufr or disbelief).

2 – What constitutes apostasy

The matters which constitute apostasy are divided into four categories:

(a)Apostasy in beliefs, such as associating others with Allaah, denying Him, or denying an attribute which is proven to be one of His attributes, or by affirming that Allaah has a son. Whoever believes that is an apostate and a disbeliever.

(b)Apostasy in words, such as insulting Allaah or the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

(c)Apostasy in actions, such as throwing the Qur’an into a filthy place, because doing that shows disrespect towards the words of Allaah, so it is a sign that one does not believe. Other such actions include prostrating to an idol or to the sun or moon.

(d)Apostasy by omission, such as not doing any of the rituals of Islam, or turning away from following it altogether.

3 – What is the ruling on the apostate?

If a Muslim apostatizes and meets the conditions of apostasy – i.e., he is of sound mind, an adult and does that of his own free will – then his blood may be shed with impunity. He is to be executed by the Muslim ruler or by his deputy – such as the qaadi or judge, and he is not to not be washed (after death, in preparation for burial), the funeral prayer is not to be offered for him and he is not to be buried with the Muslims.

The evidence that the apostate is to be executed is the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Whoever changes his religion, execute him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2794). What is meant by religion here is Islam (i.e., whoever changes from Islam to another religion).

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It is not permissible to shed the blood of a Muslim who bears witness that there is no god except Allaah and that I am His Messenger, except in one of three cases: a soul for a soul (i.e., in the case of murder); a married man who commits adultery; and one who leaves his religion and splits form the jamaa’ah (main group of Muslims).”



Ok so, that was a long response but it demonstrates how the Islamic faith has such confidence in their beliefs and justication for carrying out Sharia law punishments for apostates, as well as all other rules broken in the Quran.

Now lets jump back into the interview with Badu.

I asked her does she want to have kids and how does she plan to raise said hypothetical kids in regards to her family’s religion.

She would like to have kids possibly but is reluctant to, but wants to be a part of the start of change. Reluctant to because she doesn’t want her kids to go through what she did with the battle with her family. (Please put this in your own words, I believe this is an important topic that shows how much religion and culture affects people long after they have left the faith) —> She would like to have kids to be the start of the change in this culture/religion, but is reluctant because she does not want her kids to witness the battle with her family or have them told they will be going to hell.

Badu, from what I witnessed during our video conference, is an intelligent, a critical thinker, compassionate human and looking to make a better life for herself and others in her situation. She would like to write a book about her story and I hope we can all encourage her to pursue her passions by reaching out with words of love and compassion in the comments section. I will make sure she can read them securely.

If anyone has any friends or family that have walked this path out of islam or is currently trying to escape any religion, please forward this episode to the with the link on any social media or by a secure means of communication to maintain their anonymity as well.

Friends, this is why I love podcasting. I want to use this platform to make the world a safer and more understanding world. I didn’t start this podcast to become an Ex-muslim advocate or contact person for apostates, but I feel compelled to offer myself and my platform to do just that. I am now inviting anyone that is questioning their faith, or knows someone that is scared to come out as an atheist or an apostate, to reach out and let them know its going to be ok because there are secular humanists that will help them through these difficulty and often dangerous times. Please, if you want to, give them my email address mindfulskeptics@gmail.com or send them my link to this episode or just tell them about us in the secular community that are sympathetic to their situation and are available as a sound board or whatever. Now I know I am speaking for myself, but I know that other humanists feel the same way I do when they hear about someone in this situation.

Now onto the second story.

This young man is under 18 and lives in Egypt. Nobody knows about his disbelief and he is scared to have anyone recognize his voice, name or face. Now that we know more about the dangers of apostates in countries under sharia law, I hope you can appreciate the gravity of this brave and scared young man’s story.

First of all, I would Prefer you don't show my email or reddit name. Okay, let's start

My family has always been super religious, especially my dads side of the family, which is sadly my preferred side if the family (important for later), I've always been a skeptic, asking questions about Islam and things I can't find explanations to in the Quran, when a Google Search would give me a proven scientific answer, I would get answers like "because of Allah's will" or "it's a gift from Allah to humans as proof of his love" to questions like why is there day and night or why do things fall to the ground. It was about 3 years ago when I had actually started researching Islam, other religions, atheism and evolution. One problem is that my dad monitored every thing I do on the internet, and would block URLs to sites I use for research within just 2 days of me visiting them, which made it harder to find trusted sources as you'd imagine, fast forward 2 years. My parents were on the verge of a divorce and while they were doing paperwork to get it done, I was using this as an opportunity to start researching again, dad had no time to monitor what I do and I just went crazy with looking up stuff, it was at that time where I had no more faith in Islam but would still beg Allah for any proof of his existence as I was deeply scared of hell, it didn't work. (you can skip this part if you want as it'll include some personal drama) now, with my parents going through a divorce and me basically refusing to believe I was an atheist, my parents were nearly in the final stages of the divorce and I had to choose who I'm staying with, and both choices weren't great, I wanted to stay with my father but if I had to come out as atheist him and his family would be deeply dissapointed, my mom's side is stubborn, they think they know everything when they (including my mother) believed that the sun revolved around the earth and not the other way around, they would shun me for life and most likely physically abuse me if they knew. Then this happened, the divorce was cancelled and now I have to come out to both families, the first 2 were the most relatives I trusted, or at least I thought, they were my brother and and my favorite cousin. We're talking about 2 months ago now, my cousin told my uncle (dads brother) and till know I don't know if he told anyone else or not, and my brother literally laughed at me and was celebrating that I was going to "hell", 2 weeks later I had to tell my parents. My mom was in deep shock and shunned me for the first week after telling her, then tried to pursue me to go to a sheikh with her to sort this out. We'd argue for hours and she would always stop when I ask her "why does everything require a creator but the creator?" my dad also doesn't talk to me and cut my allowance entirely and took my laptop from me, "you'll only get them if you start using your mind" he said, and that's where I'm today, shunned by both my parents, betrayed by my most trusted cousin, and the only way I talk to people is on reddit.

If you have any questions that you want me to answer you can just ask me here.