Mar 3, 2014

The Gulf states have a long association with Islam; after all, the religion was founded in the Arabian Peninsula more than 1,400 years ago. More recently, movements such as Wahhabism and Salafism were also founded here. However, over the past few years a rising number of Gulf nationals have started to distance themselves from religious practice and in some cases started to openly criticize the application of religion in society.

It is therefore ironic that the godfather of modern Gulf atheists was brought up in present-day Saudi Arabia and turned Salafist before embracing atheism. Abdullah al-Qasemi was born in 1907 in Najd, central Arabia, to a conservative family and a strict father. Qasemi traveled to India and across the Middle East following the death of his father before getting his education in Cairo, where he initially defended Salafist teachings, which had him expelled from Al-Azhar University. Qasemi slowly distanced himself from Salafism following the publication of his book They Lie to See God Beautiful.” Qasemi survived two assassination attempts in Beirut and in Cairo for his nonbelief and went on to publish numerous books, including The Universe Judges the God and The Conscience of the Universe before he died in Cairo in 1996. His infamous statement, “The occupation of our brains by gods is the worst form of occupation,” is today widely quoted by Arab atheists.

One of the first encounters I came across with hostility to religion — something that was unfathomable to me growing up — was an article by prominent Kuwaiti scholar Ahmed al-Baghdadi, who died in 2010 at the age of 59. The article, published in 2004 was titled “Is there no end to this backwardness?” The object of Baghdadi’s ire was Kuwait’s Ministry of Education, which he accused of a “systemic destruction of private education” because of a specialized committee’s proposal to replace music classes with additional classes on religion. “I have nothing to say but God curse members of this committee over their intellectual backwardness in this life and the next,” declared Baghdadi.

“I am not afraid of religion, or bearded or turbaned people, and I see that music and developing an artistic sense is more important than memorizing the Quran or religious classes. [The classes] that are already there are more than enough. I do not wish to waste my money on teaching religion. … I do not want my son to learn from ignoramuses who teach him to disrespect women and non-Muslims,” he continued.

Baghdadi went on to say that he wanted his son to learn sciences and foreign languages, not to “become an imam” or a “terrorist.” “The only people who went to religious institutions in old civilized Kuwait were those who failed in scientific studies.” Needless to say, Baghdadi’s article caused an uproar leading the writer to express his intention to seek asylum in the West. Although Baghdadi never declared himself an atheist, he was highly regarded among the underground Gulf atheist community as someone who championed their causes and demands.