Summary
Title: Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out
Author: edited by Ibn Warraq
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1591020689
Pro:
• Reveals the difficulties that face someone who wants to leave Islam
• Shows how little religious tolerance and freedom exists for most Muslims
• Explains the fear many feel for speaking out against Islam
Con:
• None
Description:
• History and nature of apostasy in Islam explained
• Numerous personal testimonies of people who have left Islam and why they did it
• Exploration of how little religious tolerance and freedom exists in Muslim nations
Book Review
We don’t generally hear about these people’s stories — they do, after all, try to keep quiet. But even when they aren’t quiet, little is said about them in the West because their experiences help demonstrate that too many of the Muslims in the world simply do not share the West’s values of religious tolerance and freedom. When a person’s life is in danger simply for leaving their religion, religious freedom is little more than a pretense.
That is why Ibn Warraq’s recent book Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out is so important for anyone wishing to better understand the state of Islam today. Whether they ultimately move to Christianity, Hinduism, or even atheism, whether they were born Muslims or converted to Islam as adults and then later left again, all of those who contributed to the book have a story to tell about intolerance, hatred, and fear.
Many of those whose writings appear in the collection are identified under pseudonyms, and that includes the books editor Ibn Warraq:
- All the testimonies here are witnesses to the authors’ courage, for a free discussion of Islam remains rare and dangerous, certainly in the Islamic world and even in our politically correct times in the West.
Who are these people that they are willing to speak out, even if only anonymously?
- No quick portrait of the typical apostate is likely to appear — some are young (students in their teens), some are middle-aged with children; some are scientists, while others are economists, businesspeople, or journalists; some are from Bangladesh, others from Pakistan, India, Morocco, Egypt, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, or Iran. Our witnesses, nonetheless, do have certain moral and intellectual qualities in common: for instance, they are all comparatively well educated, computer literate with access to the Internet, and rational, with the ability to think for themselves.
On account of his writings about Islam, Ibn Warraq has had more than one fatwa issued against him, causing him to be genuinely concerned for his safety. It’s bad enough that people in predominantly Muslim countries must fear for their lives when they speak out, but for Islamic radicals to impose their will on dissenters abroad by threatening them goes to show not only how intolerant they are, but also how fearful.
Yes, there must be a great deal of fear in their hearts — if there weren’t, they would have little cause to try to silence an author living thousands of miles away. This wasn’t always the case, however. Included with the many testimonies and an analysis of the theological basis for Islam’s teachings about apostasy is a historical review of how apostates have been treated in different times and places under Muslim rule.
