[Cheese]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Whatever you say. I've just had the pleasure of actually knowing people and talking with them, not letting my ignorance fuel hatred.

I'm not sure that people who are part of (or happy to promote) a group that counts only hateful bigots and racists as their members and seek to follow the paths paved by the KKK and nazism can really have any moral judgement on any other group, religious or not. As I said there are many beautiful, progressive, and strong Muslim people that get lumped in with those that commit evil out of hate, when they should instead be held up as the example that other Muslims should follow. With actual hate groups that seek to promote bigotry and racism without understanding, there is only evil as an example.

I would say following blind, ignorant hate, without even knowing what religious leaders are called, what certain terms even mean, or how to separate fact from fiction, is as sheep-like as it gets.

It amazes me how much hate for Muslims we allow to float freely, even the suggestion that progressive, liberal Muslims are worth holding up as the standard is met with words like "disgusting" and "shameful." Looking at this thread, it's really no wonder some Muslims have trouble adapting to a "progressive" society where the least progressive and most hateful members are sometimes the loudest. Thankfully, I'd like to think (especially in Canada) we're better than some of the bigoted hate on display, and it's all about drowning it out.

so lets see what actual Muslims who have managed to escape that religion have to say:

Here’s a secret. Something I don’t tell people. Islam scares me. It scares me so much i get tensed up, nervous and start sweating. My nightmare comes true when I wake up everyday. It’s just too hard for me. Death isn’t any longer hard to digest, I am okay with it. And because I know suicide is the most sane and moral action. I don’t know what to do. If I don’t speak to someone about Islam; my anxiety builds up and I get stressed out. I don’t criticize religion because I can. I criticize religion because I am being deeply affected by it. I just want to go back in time. 2-3 years ago and learn that Islam isn’t all the things I think it is. That my paradigm of the perfect true moral religion is correct. I hate it when the truth falls heavy on my bones and my heart breaks itself into a million pieces everytime. #### you Islam. For lying to me and everyone else. #### you for holding yourself ‘sacred’ so you don’t get criticism. #### you mother####rrs who devised this system and let the rest of the world to rot. I wish I didn’t need to cry all those times because of Islam.

I really wish people don't consider suicide. Yes, I understand the desperation and depression but we need MORE ex-muslims not less.
This is going to be a battle that lasts generations and we need all the help we can get.



Dear all,
I am writing this as my last 'cry for help' if you will. I am a 19 year old female born and raised in the West to a conservative Muslim family.
I've been slowly losing faith for many years now. I wore the hijab at 9 and have been fasting and praying since then but I've stopped praying properly at around 15. I became very depressed at that age due to many different circumstances and the circumstances got better but my depression didn't. I tried every prayer and every dua and nothing helped. It just felt like God was not listening to me. I have no faith or hope left in Him.
I tried to make it work. Last year I became very religious, tried to be active in the community. Asked imams and scholars my questions and I went to the mosque often, I started researching and justifying the things I did not agree with at first. But it wasn't enough. No matter how many mental gymnastics I do I can't justify why God would allow my future husband to beat me if I was disobedient, or why he would want me covered from head to toe and burn me in Hell for all eternity if I didn't.
I became depressed again and I just kept spiralling downwards. I've never wanted to wear the hijab but now it's getting very bad. With all the terrorist attacks I'm scared to leave the house out of fear of both the terrorists and the islamophobic attacks and have isolated myself.
My anxiety and depression is getting so much worse. My parents are always yelling at me that my hijab is not good but everyone else thinks I dress too religiously. The hijab is meant to protect me from other men right? But I still got sexually assaulted and catcalled as a child by strangers despite wearing the baggiest abaya and the strictest hijab. In this day and age it brings more attention than it deflects, negative attention, and makes me two-dimensional, a political symbol for beliefs I do not agree with.
Every year Ramadan is a time to reflect and discipline myself and turn back to Allah but this Ramadan I'm just turning further away. It feels like an inconvenience, it's making my anxiety and depression worse. I can't focus for my exams and it's making me resent God astaghfirullah. I wasn't prepared in any way and now I've hit the lowest point. I've been falling in and out of sleep and getting headaches, I just need coffee and some painkillers. I just want to go to the kitchen and break fast right now, and I don't even feel guilty for thinking that way. Sometimes I think I'm going to Hell anyway and I'm already hating my life on Earth so I might as well end it and go straight there. Save myself the extra pain.
But I'm terrified of Hell, nothing scares me more than death and going to Hell for all of eternity. I really don't want to go but I can't save myself. My heart won't accept God even if I make my body do things for him.
I've started to resent Him and resent my family and my life and the world. And they all hate me back so it all seems pointless and I don't know what to do. I apologise for the length of this post but I hope someone out there has some words of comfort or advice for me.


hi, i am a college student in the west, forced hijabi, closeted exmuslim, 21 years old & no friends. although i planned to study at a university far from home my dad got suddenly sick and now i am stuck here at a local college studying something just to get a diploma.
and i am tired of pretending. i feel like i will spent the rest of my life pretending to be someone else. my mom constantly tells me to marry someone from our racist, homophobic, misogynist community and i cant stand it anymore. theyve been living in this country for almost three decades but cant speak the language, cant go to the doctor by their own, cant do #### without me being there etc
and i dont want to hurt them.... they are old&sick. how am i supposed to say to my mom that i dont believe in god anymore? she would imagine me in hell burning forever... i cant do this to her.
the only option is to get a job and leave home. but i dont know when and how. staying here in this house makes me depressed. and when i am depressed i cant concentrate on my studies. and my 20's.. i feel like i am wasting my most precious years....
i dont know what to do, how to feel. i wish i never existed.