I see a lot of people don’t know what ‘Ex-Muslim’ means. So if you’re one of them, this article is for you.

You won’t understand the meaning of ‘Ex-Muslim’ without knowing what Islam is.

Islam, in one word, means “submission”. In the context of Islam, this is submitting yourself to a “divine” Creator (“Allah”) who “created everything including the Universe”. In Islamic context,this “Creator” decides to pass “revelations” (understanding of world, your purpose in the world etc.) mostly through prophets.

In the Islamic context, the greatest book for mankind on earth is Quran, revealed to its greatest prophet Muhammad. Challenging this is non-negotiable. So if u believe in the teachings of Islam, i.e. one ‘god’ (Allah), his divine book Quran revealed by his ‘greatest’ prophet Muhammad, and also believe in ‘five pillars’ owned by Islam, the name of the identity that embodies this Islamic system of faith is called ‘Muslim’.

Therefore, an an Ex-Muslim is a person who was either born into Islam or converted into it, BUT chooses to reject believing in its claim any further. An Ex-Muslim is a person who challenges Islam’s idea of a single creator of Universe (especially a homophobic, anti-Semitic ‘creator’). Islam’s idea of “submission” asserts that every living & dead creature is a “slave of Allah”. An Ex-Muslim is a person who rejects this. Being an Ex-Muslim also means they reject Quran as the “perfect” word of ‘Allah’ and Muhammad as the last divine or a legitimate prophet. So, an “Ex-Muslim” is an identity based on rejecting the Islamic worldview and its belief system which embodies a “Muslim” identity.

Therefore an Ex-Muslim is simply a person who is no longer a Muslim, i.e. someone who no longer “submits” to “Allah”, and rejects Islamic own claims of the origin of the Universe, how it is supposed to work, what is our life’s purpose — just like every other religion tries to attach a ‘one true answer’ to these questions.

Importantly, this does not mean Muslims don’t think critically.

There are great Muslims who advanced frontiers in mathematics, science, astronomy, art, literature, and architecture. Do note that they advanced these frontiers by invoking God in their passion for art, mysticism etc. not necessarily “submission” to fixed dogma.

So why does the word “Ex-Muslim” is around when we don’t call someone “Ex-Hindu” or “Ex-Christian”?

This is because modern Hinduism/Christianity does not mandate/enforce killing anyone who challenges its claims or leaves its. Islam does. The word “Ex-Muslim” would have been unnecessary and a non-issue if challenging Islam and leaving it did not mean a death sentence. There are 13 countries in this world, all predominantly Islamic, where leaving Islam means it is legal to kill you — mandated by Quran.

In those countries, not only is it legal to kill you but you risk being —

killed by mobs

jailed/fined

disinherited

losing job

And those are 13 countries. Let’s say if 1% of total population of those 13 countries are Ex-Muslims = at least 3 million Ex-Muslims. That’s 3 million Ex-Muslims at risk of being killed or discriminated one way or another. Now turn to “Moderate” Islamic countries. Even if “moderate” Islamic countries, e.g. Bangladesh, do not mandate death penalty for Ex-Muslims, they enforce long jail time and fines. Such countries also have incumbent Islamist mobs who will happily attempt to assault an Ex-Muslim or even a secular Muslim to death , e.g. case of Humayun Azad in Bangladesh (erratum: previously mentioned in my tweet the case where Islamist mobs stoned Farkhunda accused of blasphemy to death in Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s blasphemy law is death by hanging). Whether it’s Bangladesh, Yemen or Pakistan, they all have a history of killing Ex-Muslims or Muslims living modern values.

Above photo [censored by Medium for its corporate policy to not offend Islamist hardliners] is of 17-year old Yemeni Ex-Muslim Omar Mohammad Batawil who was kidnapped and later murdered by extremists last year.

The 26-year old Bangladeshi Ex-Muslim Washiqur Rahman Babu above [censored by Medium for its corporate policy to not offend Islamist hardliners]was the fourth blogger killed in 2016.

This room above [censored by Medium for its corporate policy to not offend Islamist hardliners] is where 40-year old Bangladeshi secular blogger Niloy Neel was also murdered in his home same year.

You don’t even need to be vocal Ex-Muslim. Mashal Khan, an Ahmadi Muslim, accused of blasphemy, was stripped naked & killed by mobs in Pakistan this year.

You might think these are just local, third-world news that has nothing do with the wonderful world of the West where you may be living. The extremist who planned murder of an atheist writer in Bangladesh, in the photo above [censored by Medium for its corporate policy to not offend Islamist hardliners], is British.

So although the issues of Ex-Muslims’ human rights look like local, isolated issues — the network of Islamists that murders them are connected to the same nexus of Islamist terrorism that branches out internationally. For example, the same extremist group that invoke killing Ex-Muslims in Bangladesh also exist in Britain and Pakistan.

If you are scared to support Ex-Muslims because it will offend your Muslim friends, know that some of our biggest supporters are Muslims. There are Muslims, both traditional and reformists, who put their lives on the line not just to speak up for Muslims, but Ex-Muslims.

This is not about Muslims versus Ex-Muslims. This about freedom of religion and freedom from religion, both needs to be respected.

This is about choice and the fact that whether a person believes in one god, many god or no god, they have equal human rights as you. Remember the outrage when Trump banned immigration from 6 countries? It’s legal to kill Ex-Muslims in 13 countries yet we don’t even get one-third of that media coverage to raise awareness about our human rights, forget the support for our well-being.

No, our struggle and being denied equality & visibility does not make us anymore superior than a Muslim fleeing violence in Rohingya. We are not asking for special treatment when we Ex-Muslims are trying to raise our voice, we are asking for equal treatment.

This means living in a world where Islamic regimes won’t sign execution paper that will legalise killing us for being Ex-Muslim.

It means living in a world where Ex-Muslims will not be demonised by their community, bullied, or disinherited for leaving a religion.

It means not being made homeless, jobless, and prevented from holding public office.

It means not being stalked by extremists, kidnapped and murdered.

It means living in Britain and not denied a job interview because the diversity-badged recruitment office is all-Islamists.

It means living in West and not be censored by profit-driven social media platforms that serve canapes to Islamist shareholders at parties.

If you want to support Ex-Muslims, just treating us with enough humanity as you expect to be treated yourself, is a good starting point.

I hope this thread has introduced to the world the validity of the identity called Ex-Muslim. Please share widely. Thank you.

Rayhana.