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Authors: Susan Crimp
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against the U.S. military. I was angry. It was then that I stopped praying.
In 2004, I met my Pakistani manager, who, I believe, was antiIslam. He made me feel like a human being again. He let me believe that I was, after all, not a crazy person. I stopped visiting the mosque, quit praying, and abandoned Ramadan fasting. Last Ramadan I did not observe a single fast.
Now I feel so happy and relieved. Without any guilt or fear, I now can watch movies and listen to music. I feel I am a human being and I am free to do whatever I like. I shall, from now on, tell the truth about this evil religion of Islam.
C HAPTER F IVE
FROM BELIEF TO ENLIGHTENMENT
“Allah was ignorant to the core. The Qur’an is full of errors. . . Allah could not have existed anywhere else except in the mind of a sick man. . . . How disappointed I was when I realized all these years I had been praying to a fantasy.”
W HILE IT IS EASY to call those who leave Islam “apostates,” it is very difficult to be one.
“The process of going from faith to enlightenment is arduous and painful,” and according to Ali Sina it is far from being an easy decision.
Born into a somewhat religious family, Ali became concerned about the fanatical teachings of the mullahs at his family’s mosque. Furthermore, he could not understand the hatred many Muslims harbor against almost all non-Muslims. Ali also witnessed how the teachings he received about the Qur’an taught hatred and encouraged prejudice. Finding this hard to accept, he began to question how the Creator of the universe could be so cruel and myopic, especially in regarding women as imbeciles. In Islamic states the testimony of women is not admissible in court, and if a woman is raped she cannot accuse her rapist. Witnessing such abuses of women and their rights, Ali eventually began a Web site to reach out to other peaceful Muslims who might share his concerns. The Islamists quickly shut him down. However, he gathered enough strength to start again and today believes that the old way of killing apostates, burning their books, and silencing them can no longer work. In this modern age, Ali believes no one can stop peoplefrom reading and thinking critically, and that now the door of freedom of thought has been opened it can never be closed again.
Although Ali’s site is banned in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Islamist countries, he believes that a great number of other Muslims who never knew the truth are being exposed for the first time and are shocked into reality. His testimony chronicles a long path to self-discovery. The tragedy on the pages of history is written with the blood of people killed in the name of God.
Ali’s Testimony
I was born into a moderately religious family. On my mother’s side I have a few relatives who are ayatollahs . Although my grandfather (whom I never met) was somewhat a skeptic, we were believers. My parents were not fond of the mullahs . In fact, we did not have much to do with our more fundamentalist relatives. We liked to think of ourselves as believing in “true Islam,” not the one taught and practiced by the mullahs .
I recall discussing religion with the husband of one of my aunts when I was about fifteen years old. He was a fanatical Muslim who was very concerned about the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). It prescribes the way Muslims should pray, fast, run their public and private lives, do business, clean themselves, use the toilet, and even copulate. I argued this has nothing to do with true Islam, that it is a fabrication of the mullahs , that excessive attention to fiqh diminishes the impact and importance of the pure message of Islam—to unite man with his Creator. This view is mostly inspired by Sufism. Many Iranians, thanks to Rumi’s poems, are to a great degree Sufis in their outlook.
In my early youth I noticed discriminations and cruelties against the members of religious minorities in Iran. This was more noticeable in
In 2004, I met my Pakistani manager, who, I believe, was antiIslam. He made me feel like a human being again. He let me believe that I was, after all, not a crazy person. I stopped visiting the mosque, quit praying, and abandoned Ramadan fasting. Last Ramadan I did not observe a single fast.
Now I feel so happy and relieved. Without any guilt or fear, I now can watch movies and listen to music. I feel I am a human being and I am free to do whatever I like. I shall, from now on, tell the truth about this evil religion of Islam.
C HAPTER F IVE
FROM BELIEF TO ENLIGHTENMENT
“Allah was ignorant to the core. The Qur’an is full of errors. . . Allah could not have existed anywhere else except in the mind of a sick man. . . . How disappointed I was when I realized all these years I had been praying to a fantasy.”
W HILE IT IS EASY to call those who leave Islam “apostates,” it is very difficult to be one.
“The process of going from faith to enlightenment is arduous and painful,” and according to Ali Sina it is far from being an easy decision.
Born into a somewhat religious family, Ali became concerned about the fanatical teachings of the mullahs at his family’s mosque. Furthermore, he could not understand the hatred many Muslims harbor against almost all non-Muslims. Ali also witnessed how the teachings he received about the Qur’an taught hatred and encouraged prejudice. Finding this hard to accept, he began to question how the Creator of the universe could be so cruel and myopic, especially in regarding women as imbeciles. In Islamic states the testimony of women is not admissible in court, and if a woman is raped she cannot accuse her rapist. Witnessing such abuses of women and their rights, Ali eventually began a Web site to reach out to other peaceful Muslims who might share his concerns. The Islamists quickly shut him down. However, he gathered enough strength to start again and today believes that the old way of killing apostates, burning their books, and silencing them can no longer work. In this modern age, Ali believes no one can stop peoplefrom reading and thinking critically, and that now the door of freedom of thought has been opened it can never be closed again.
Although Ali’s site is banned in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Islamist countries, he believes that a great number of other Muslims who never knew the truth are being exposed for the first time and are shocked into reality. His testimony chronicles a long path to self-discovery. The tragedy on the pages of history is written with the blood of people killed in the name of God.
Ali’s Testimony
I was born into a moderately religious family. On my mother’s side I have a few relatives who are ayatollahs . Although my grandfather (whom I never met) was somewhat a skeptic, we were believers. My parents were not fond of the mullahs . In fact, we did not have much to do with our more fundamentalist relatives. We liked to think of ourselves as believing in “true Islam,” not the one taught and practiced by the mullahs .
I recall discussing religion with the husband of one of my aunts when I was about fifteen years old. He was a fanatical Muslim who was very concerned about the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). It prescribes the way Muslims should pray, fast, run their public and private lives, do business, clean themselves, use the toilet, and even copulate. I argued this has nothing to do with true Islam, that it is a fabrication of the mullahs , that excessive attention to fiqh diminishes the impact and importance of the pure message of Islam—to unite man with his Creator. This view is mostly inspired by Sufism. Many Iranians, thanks to Rumi’s poems, are to a great degree Sufis in their outlook.
In my early youth I noticed discriminations and cruelties against the members of religious minorities in Iran. This was more noticeable in
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