This is not a post bashing Islam but merely pointing out some facts I’ve come to learn about Muslims. Let’s start with the 5 tenets of Islam. The first is the profession of faith (you need to say and believe this in order to be considered a Muslim). The second (or basically the first after you have become a Muslim) is the five daily prayers. This is followed by fasting for a month in Ramadan, giving alms and performing the Hajj. My question to Muslims is… why is praying to “Allah” 5 times a day so incredibly important? Why isn’t it optional? Does it make sense to “force” someone to pray even if they don’t feel like it? Can you force someone to meditate? Telling them (including Muslim children) that they will be punished in the afterlife is tantamount to pressure or forcing as well, in my book. I can already hear a lot of Westerners and even atheists saying the Muslims they know don’t pray 5 times a day therefore all 1.7 billion Muslims around the world “obviously” don’t do so or have to either. Well, they’re wrong because those handful of Muslims they know are simply not following Islamic teachings properly and are probably able to do so with impunity.

This, in turn, may be because they are living in the West or outside of a Muslim community (part of the reason they left, probably). To be fair, I’ve even heard of Muslims gorging themselves during the day time of Ramadan claiming they are great followers of Islam or “will replace” the fast “some other time”. Nice try, and don’t fall for it. Anyway, back on point. I’ve heard the argument that praying (i.e. bending up and down, as there is a very specific method) is supposed to be “good for you”. Well, assuming that’s even true, exercise is good for you as well but it’s not forced upon anyone, is it? What about the verse of the Koran that states there is no compulsion in religion (Al-Baqara, 256)? Does that mean anything in this context? Is it okay for a Muslim in a Muslim family or community to continue watching television or playing a game during prayer time or does he or she risk being severely admonished by those around them, possibly jailed or killed as well (as it may be tantamount to apostasy)? I suppose a similar situation would arise in Ramadan when just about everyone around you is fasting but you’re not. So, there is apparently no true freedom of religion in Islam.

Not only are children raised to believe they are bad people or lazy if they refuse to bend up and down 5 times a day in the manner prescribed but they are also threatened with punishment in this life and the next. Now, I have nothing against those who wish to pray this often out of their own free will (that should matter to God, one would think) but if they feel compelled or forced in any way, then I think it’s not good, to say the least. I cannot even imagine the magnitude of time, energy and possibly money Muslims invest in their religion, willingly or unwillingly. Sure, some would say prayer takes like 5 minutes or 30 minutes in total in a day but so does taking a dump. Would you want to have to take a dump 5 times a day if only once was necessary? And many people actually enjoy taking a dump. Does all this also basically mean that if you refuse to pray 5 times a day whether you like it or not, that you’re not “really” a Muslim? That you may as well be an apostate? That perhaps you might as well start doing other bad things? I really hope not.

Personally, I’ve known many people who never once in their lives prayed to the Muslim god yet were largely considered to be good people. Bill Gates, for instance, an atheist, has probably given more to charity and research than some Muslim nations. There are also many other Christians, Hindus and even Jews who do universally good things but they never saw the need to bend up and down 5 times a day in the direction of Mecca. Do Muslims really believe they cannot be good people if they don’t bend up and down 5 times a day? It just doesn’t make sense. Not to me, at least. If Muslims say they pray like that because “God says so”, well then I have to admit they are telling the truth. However, that does not make it any more rational or practical. “God” may say you need to do all kinds of things (like even sacrifice virgins or animals, depending on your religion and how much you would like to make vegans cringe) so that does not mean it is right or should be followed. It certainly does not mean it should be compulsory.

This brings me to the only “logical” reason I can deduce for the compulsion of the 5 daily prayers (which is virtually unequivocal and uncontested throughout the Muslim world today and for all of Islamic history). It is a mechanism or means designed and intended to keep Muslims so heavily-invested in their religion that giving it up feels like losing all the money in your bank account. It is something designed to be habitual because habits – especially those instilled since childhood – are hard to break. This includes the compulsory weekly congregational prayer on Fridays, I suppose, which I’m sure among its many other “benefits” also gives a chance to Muslims to keep an eye on each other to see who is habitually missing the prayers and be alerted of potential apostates to report or kill. At the very least, according to Sharia law, not praying 5 times a day can also be grounds for divorce by both men and women. A Muslim may even lose his job or not get that promotion should word spread that he doesn’t pray.

I actually know of some Muslim men whom, after marriage, have had to keep up the practice of the 5 daily prayers (for decades) simply because their wives and children were always watching. In school, their children’s friends are always watching each other so they have to keep it up. At home, parents are watching their children too and children know this. They can’t just “opt out” and say, “Nah, I’d rather watch some TV or do my homework” during the daily and ever-returning prayer times. So it’s one big net of self-delusion and reinforcement. There are clearly many subtle measures in place to ensure this practice is maintained and perpetuated. What an ingenious way to weed out potential apostates by making every Muslim a potential squealer… and there are so many of them everywhere! It used to be that “progressive” Muslims had a chance of escaping this madness by moving to the West but now there are so many in the West as well. Again, watching each other closely… and preaching, even.

Now, I can almost hear the chuckling of mullahs at the idea that people who don’t “work hard” by bending up and down 5 times a day should also be allowed into a paradise of drop-dead gorgeous virgins (who look better than this, maybe?), wine and wonderful food. How tempting. It must go without saying that these people have not “earned” the right to an eternity of all that sensual pleasure. Indeed, this surely appeals to human nature that rewards should not be free or without risk. However, what does bending up and down 5 times a day have to do with being a good person? Isn’t that what God would want more than being worshiped to stroke his own ego, presumably? Does it make sense that an all-powerful and omniscient being should even desire such a thing? Once again, not to me. Another thing I’ve noticed is that given how burdensome all this praying must be, most Muslims don’t really even bother actually doing much else in order to get what they want. Praying is about all they feel is necessary.

Given that it’s so much work, they must figure the returns should be commensurate (and they would be wrong). The truth is, nothing will happen unless you get off your ass and do something about it which begs the question, why is so much prayer necessary in addition to that? Being so invested in their religion, it is not surprising Muslims probably really don’t care much about this life at all. They have their 5 pillars or tenets and that’s all they need in this life and the next. People embrace and then leave Islam for many reasons (sometimes after years) but I suspect everything being tied to the necessity of bending up and down 5 times a day in the direction of Mecca does not help. What good is it that the Big Bang theory is supposedly in the Koran or that the beauty of this and the beauty of that is somehow Islamic when everything is incumbent on the bending up and down? New converts must be thinking, why can’t I appreciate all this so-called Islamic “beauty” without being forced to bend up and down whether I like it or not? It doesn’t make any sense!

What does any argument that has ever been put forth with regard to the supposed truth of Islam have to do with the compulsion to bend up and down 5 times a day whether they like it or not? As I mentioned earlier, does it make sense to force anyone to meditate? Should it even count? It makes more sense to force people (and Muslims) to exercise but even there compulsion is frowned upon. You will see this all the time. Muslim apologists will do all sorts of mental gymnastics to convince you that “God exists” but the second anyone concedes they will say that means you also need to bend up and down 5 times a day. In other words, it’s not “God exists” but rather their god exists, which they didn’t exactly prove. One really has to wonder why no one asks people like Reza Aslan, whom so vehemently defends Islam, why he doesn’t pray 5 times a day (he probably doesn’t but we won’t know unless someone asks him) and if Muslims even consider him a Muslim.

We know that Maajid Nawaz, while he tries to talk about how reasonable Muslims “should be” (particularly with Sam Harris in a riveting book, by the way), visiting strippers doesn’t help his case (I suspect he doesn’t bend up and down 5 times a day either but again, no one ever asks him). Not that there’s anything wrong with visiting strippers; I do it myself sometimes. It’s fun and the girls are paid very well (more than a physician or lawyer in some cases). Sam Harris, given his other book, might argue there’s nothing even morally wrong with that even though I think they shouldn’t be paid more than a physician or lawyer or even teacher (who do more important work) just for taking off their clothes and dancing for men. It’s just not right. Still, back on point, what the hell is wrong with these “public intellectual” Muslims thinking they are even accepted as Muslims when they don’t pray 5 times a day (something unequivocally compulsory for Muslims everywhere for all time)?

Why don’t they at least question the senselessness of this enforced practice since they obviously don’t believe in it themselves and it’s at the root of Muslim behavior? Why don’t they at least argue, for the benefit of Muslims everywhere, that you can be a good person without bending up and down 5 times a day in the direction of Mecca? Why don’t they try to convince Muslim parents and teachers not to force Muslim children to do so? Wouldn’t that be something worth arguing for? Anyway, to Muslims reading this… if you are genuinely under no legal or social pressure to pray 5 times a day and would really rather be doing so only when you feel like it or are in the mood… perhaps it’s time to rethink what you have been taught since birth and just stop. At least a handful of you should be able to do so with impunity. Perhaps you even need rethink whether Islam is really the one true faith to begin with; because it might not be. We have but one life to live; do you really want to waste even 30 minutes of it a day doing something you don’t like? Besides, don’t you have enough to do as it is?