Why do people reject Islam?

[SplodgeWaddler]

Just curious really. A lovely colleague of mine used to be a Muslim but was quite vocal in telling us she was no longer a Muslim. It was a clear, decisive rejection of the religion and not just a lapse of faith.

Has anyone done similar, I'd love to know your reasons.

There were many Muslim girls at my school, some of whom had massively restricted prospects in life. One girl (who was a bit wild) told us she was worried that she was going to be forced into an arranged marriage. She just didn't come back one day, she was under 16.

Things do seem to have moved on since then though but there still seems to be huge variation.

Same as folk reject other religions, They are rejecting the belief sustem and the way life the religion imposes on its followers. They are disillusioned with it. And have decided it's not for them.

Even if that’s true, nobody should be going to prison for being unfaithful (obviously).

18 is not what this government document suggests. Menstruation could be 10 years old!

https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/69376/html/#:~:text=Age%20of%20marriage%3A%20A%20Muslim,and%20menstruation%20for%20girls.

Jurisprudence Rules Applied in Shariʽa Councils/Tribunals

1. The rules applied in Shariʽa Councils/Tribunals regarding marriageable age and guardianship make child marriages and forced marriages possible, and rules on divorce and maintenance rights clearly discriminate against the wife. These can be summarised as followed:

Age of marriage: A Muslim man or woman must be of sound mind and have attained puberty to be considered legally eligible for marriage. In classical Islamic law, puberty occurs with the physical signs of maturity such as the emission of semen for boys and menstruation for girls.

Don't tell me to separate the faith from the culture when a large percentage of practicing Muslims simply do not
What's the large percentage that do not? If you make statements like that have you got the evidence for it? There are 2 billion Muslims in the world so is it 50%, 60%, what?

And if you are saying that such atrocities only apply to oppressive Muslim regimes, then we can only conclude that the vast majority of Muslim countries live under oppression
So are you suggesting that in the majority of Muslim countries gay men are threatened with flogging, prison or the death sentence and tied up and thrown off large buildings?

Have you heard of Uganda? A mainly Christian country where:
Homosexuality is illegal and severely punished, with the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act imposing penalties up to life imprisonment and the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality". Same-sex marriage is constitutionally banned, and LGBTQ+ individuals face extreme discrimination. The laws, which criminalize both acts and "promotion" of homosexuality, are among the world's harshest, originating from colonial-era legislation retained since 1962.

Apart from any of that, the fact is that same sex relationships are forbidden in Islam
And the Catholic Church considers homosexual acts as disordered and sinful, not sure on the stance of other faiths. Try being gay in the American Bible belt or certain parts of Brazil.

My point being it is not only Muslim countries or the Muslim faith that discriminate against homosexuality and use their faith to excuse it and oppress, discriminate and murder gay people.

If what’s going on in Afghanistan & Iran is not proper Islam, if covering up isn’t really compulsory and if there isn’t really a rule that Muslim women have to obey their husbands, all being things which make Islam look highly misogynist - why are senior Muslims not shouting more loudly about all this?

Why aren’t they condemning the Taliban, telling Muslim men that they have no authority over their wives & telling the world that the restrictions on women are wrong and not in their name?

Could it be because Islam is based on fictitious stories and indeed outright lies from thousands of years ago? And that Islam’s millions of present-day followers have been brainwashed by their parents from the moment they were born, and are unable to open their minds and think logically?

Do you think there is the same percentage of Christian majority countries criminalising homosexuality as Muslim majority countries?

I’ll leave the issue of Aisha - I have heard that side of the argument that although she said herself she was aged nine there are some alternative views on this.

Islam is the fastest growing religion mainly due to the birth rate in Muslim families being higher on average than non-Muslims.

The slavery issue, sadly I’m afraid it is true. I’ve gone down many rabbit holes trying to find an explanation on why this is ok but I can find none.

The Quran makes several references to ‘what your right hand possesses’ - ie slaves. It says men may sleep only with their wives and that which their right hand possesses. There is several hadiths which back this up, one of the most upsetting ones for me is that the prophets companions had captured some women who were already married and were reluctant to have sex with them, then the aya came saying it was Ok.

Islam didn’t outright abolish slavery but it did put limits on the practice and led to it eventually being abolished. It was radical and did a lot of good in that sense.

You really are trying to defend the indefensible. Being gay in Muslim countries is viewed as a sin and is legally punishable harshly and often by death. It is impossible to live as a gay person in almost any Muslim country either legally or in a cultural context. So if you believe (contrary to my assertion) that a substantial percentage of Muslims do not agree (and by extention would presumably embrace same sex relationships and allow gay rights) then why isn't that happening? The Islamic faith is not the only one that eschews homosexuality or uses it as a form of discrimination, that's true. But the huge difference is that in the overwhelming majority of Christian countries, such oppression and discrimination hasn't been enshrined in law for several hundred years. To say nothing of the fact that it is largely socially unacceptable and becoming increasingly so year on year. As I previously commented, I can only conclude that the vast majority of Muslims concur since most of their governments do. Otherwise they would earnestly be seeking change - and they aren't.

Why do some people wear shorts whilst some choose to wear dresses?

Shorts and dresses are individual preferences, people wear them all over the world, irrespective of their culture/ religion. Face veils aren’t universal in the same way.
What is it that prompts specifically Muslim women to go for the face covering?

I'm not defending it I'm just not prepared to accept it is an issue unique to Muslims when there are many other creeds, people and countries also guilty of discriminating against, oppressing and killing gay people.

As I previously commented, I can only conclude that the vast majority of Muslims concur since most of their governments do.
Do you follow that logic for all citizens in all countries?

If your God doesn't except you as their priest, what else it is?

What I have found most shocking is that someone posting in here to tell us that true Islam/the Quran is about not hurting others etc etc. Saying that they are not restricted, choose if they wear the Hijab etc and that people who do violent things don’t represent them etc…. but then totally ok with flogging under Sharia law.

You have gone from don’t hurt others to flogging being fine in only a couple of posts.

It did shock me and made me shake (not crying and shaking for those familiar!) I had to step away for a while.

To @Judgejudysno1fan I ask why you or your family chose to come here to Britain if you agree with Sharia law. Many countries that practice Sharia law are available. I would call them hellholes. I guess Britain must offer you something else? What was it that made you or your family choose here? And would that (that made you choose Britain) be lost if we lived under Sharia law/flogged people. To me it is truly frightening. You look at that picture of someone being flogged and say “If you can’t do the time don’t do the crime” while I look at it sad and distressed for people that live under such barbaric medieval regimes. Frightening that someone telling me Islam is compatible with life in the UK things that it is fine.

Maybe she was trying not to get vilified.

Islam is not a race it’s a backward ideology that does not fit in with Western Values.

I didn't say Islan is a race I said Muslims experience racism. Thanks for proving my point though

Halal is not kind to animals, throwing people off cliffs and cutting of their hands is hurting people, issuing fatwa’s isn’t peaceful, believing in cousin marriages the can end in disabilities isn’t normal in the West.

My husband was Muslim until teenage years. He escaped from a country where Islam was used by the state as a means to control people, subjugate women etc and he disliked this intensely

I dislike organised religion of any denomination tbh

There are 64 countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal and where state sponsored and social violence against gays is also rife and totally acceptable. The overwhelming majority of those countries are Islamic. I have no idea why you're trying to diminish the fact that the most persecuted gay populations live in Muslim countries. I can only assume you think this conversation is racist. It isn't, it's factual. And if you really want to bang the drum for gay rights, I think those regimes might just be a pretty obvious starting point.

There are 64 countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal
Yes been reading up on it, over half in Africa. This stuck out to me too:
Colonial legacy
Many of the laws criminalising homosexual relations originate from colonial times
And in many places, breaking these laws could be punishable by long prison sentences.
Out of the 53 countries in the Commonwealth - a loose association of countries most of them former British colonies - 29 have laws that criminalise homosexuality.

This would suggest a wider historic and cultural influence then just "Muslim"

She didn’t actually. She described enjoying the fact that the only people to see her hair would be her father , brothers and husband. No mention of mother, sisters, daughters.

If the hijab basically exists to titillate the men that’s a new interpretation to me and makes it more of an abhorrent piece of clothing, along with mini skirts and make up.

We in the west threw off extreme rule by religion and irrationality back when the history of the earth was proven and the Enlightenment began. Thats one of my problems with Islam, that it seeks to bring back irrational rule and the old partnerships between elites and religion for power over plebs. Power over women is merely the natural extension of this. Why has Islam shown itself to be so resilient in the face of bigger all evidence for any of this man-god rubbish??

Because religions are abusive and controlling (I'm not an atheist and believe in God, just not made man religions)

It's only a colonial legacy in the sense that when the laws were introduced they were the laws of the UK, and a multitude of other countries at the time for that matter. Nigeria for example gained independence in 1960. Absolutely nobody has forced them to retain that element of law. They are a totally independent country and have been for 66 years. Plenty of time to change the law I would imagine. They clearly don't want to. So whilst many things can be blamed on colonialism, I really fail to see how this is one of them.