Last week the Richard Dawkins Foundation had a visitor in our office in

Washington DC: Akbar Ghulam, a farmer from Pakistan who is the author of

"Faith, Not Religions: A Collection of Essays". After publishing the book

that advocates against religion, he fled his country fearing for his life

and moved to the United States. In an interview he shared his story with us;

one that starts with speaking your mind out online.

RDF: How did you come to write this book?

Akbar Ghulam: In Pakistan, one of my brothers, and I adopted his four

children. I wanted to get them better education, which wasn't available in

small cities such as the one that I lived in. So in 2001, my children

required a computer for school and that's when we got our first computer. I

was excited because we were finally going to be able to be connected to the

outside world.

Akbar Ghulam: The Internet had newly been introduced then in Pakistan. I

asked them to do some research and find a tool to meet and get connected

with people online. We're talking about a time before Facebook or Twitter,

so what they found was discussion forums and I started participating on them

then. I was very excited because I was going to be able to express my

feelings and thoughts. I didn't know how to use the computer very well so

they helped me. I would write my answers, questions, and contributions to

the forums on paper and they submitted them for me. Eventually, I learned

how to do it myself.

Akbar Ghulam: There were doctors, scientists, and professors online: anyone you

can think of was in those forums. I introduced myself as a farmer from

Pakistan and they welcomed me; it didn't matter what my background was.

After a while I'd get comments from them telling me that my contributions

didn't seem to come from a "simple" farmer, especially my thoughts on

religion.

Akbar Ghulam: I loved the discussions we had and to me it was sort of a

challenge to be talking to these people, but I wasn't afraid to speak my

mind and be questioned. Some months later somebody said "What you're posting

on the sites is not worth losing, please get it published!"

RDF: So the book is a collection of thoughts taken from explaining your

worldview to foreigners online?

Akbar Ghulam: Yes, but to be honest when I was posting on the forums I

wasn't aware that my contributions were so important. I wasn't aware that a

book was being slowly created. The book was published in 2004 and it was a

recollection of my posts on different forums, so to speak. It was about God

not being a religious deity. You can believe in God but there is no purpose

for religion. I reject it.

RDF: Were you in danger in Pakistan for having written this book?

Akbar Ghulam: Yes. My book can't be exposed in Pakistan because I would then

be automatically liable to be killed, even my family would be vulnerable.

When the book came out not many people knew about it and after a while I was

advised to best leave the country because I could be labeled as a

non-believer. So all the years after my book was published and until 2012,

when I came to America, my work wasn't widely known or displayed.

RDF: I assume you were raised as a Muslim but now you're an atheist?

Akbar Ghulam: Well, I was raised as a Muslim but I'm not an atheist. I

believe in God but I don't believe in holy books, religion, religious

moralities, nothing of the sort. I think humans have a tendency to believe

in a higher power.

I had to pretend to still be a Muslim during my years in Pakistan after my

book was published.

RDF: What did you do to pretend to be a Muslim?

Akbar Ghulam: I had to go to the Mosque, because in some areas of Pakistan

the towns are so small that people will notice if you stopped doing your

duties and will question you about it. I couldn't have declared that I am a

Muslim no more, I never even verbally told my family that things had changed

for me. They knew that I'm open minded but even telling them that was

dangerous.

RDF: Maybe I'm overly idealistic but I'd like to think nobody is born

wanting to kill other people. People somehow learn that. What are your

insights as to why some Muslims take this view that violence is acceptable?

Akbar Ghulam: It is very clearly written in the Holy Book. One who converts

from Islam to any other religion or no religion must be killed.

Akbar Ghulam: I wrote this book as a human heart. I do believe human hearts

are alike all over the world. So my words could be an expression from

anybody. I think that there is a God but there's no need for religions; if

you're limited to believing in a religious God then you don't really believe

in God. I have a challenge for all religious believers to do point out if

I'm wrong in what I wrote.

RDF: So it sounds like you consider the book an extension of your discussion

with the world, not the end.

Akbar Ghulam: Exactly.

You can find Akbar Ghulam's book, "Faith, Not Religions: A Collection of Essays", on amazon.com.

Written By: RDFRS