Warraq explains quite clearly that many famous apostates were allowed to continue with their works and writings with little or not interference. Thus, there is nothing about Islam which demands that apostates always be treated with intolerance or punished by death. Sometimes there was great sensitivity to diverse viewpoints. Why such disparity in treatment? It seems likely that an important source for the differences lies in just how confident a person is when it comes to society and religion.
When people are fearful about their place in society, about their society’s place in the world, and about the ability of their religion to address the problems they face, they are going to be much less likely to tolerate dissent from or disagreement with the One True Path. When Muslims and Muslim leaders felt relatively secure, they had no problem with the presence of some dissenters and apostates. When that security was scarce, tolerance became equally scarce — and the same seems to be occurring in many Muslim nations today.
Despite their differences, there are nevertheless a number of commonalities that can be found in the various testimonies in the book. One is the fact that many attribute their abandonment of Islam to a close reading of the Qur’an in an accessible translation. One of the testimonies submitted to the ISIS web site reads:
- My reason for leaving Islam is very simple: I read the Koran. For me it was as easy as just reading the Koran and using a little reason, logic, and thinking. ...The biggest flaw of the Koran is what is not in it. There are many many crimes a person can commit, yet the Koran mentions only the punishments for a mere three or four. I am astonished at the fact that the Koran mentions nothing about the punishment for rape. ...There are an unlimited number of acts of kindness that we can do to help each other and make this world a better place for everyone, yet you do not see these in the Koran. How can the Koran be a perfect guidance from God when it lacks so many important issues?
For others, the violence and cruelty endemic in Muslim countries forced them to reconsider whether Islam could really be a religion founded upon goodness and God. Muhammad bin Abdullah writes about the Pakistani invasion of Bangladesh:
- I saw a well-equipped invading army indiscriminately killing millions of civilians and raping 200,000 women. Eight million uprooted people walked barefoot to take refuge in a neighbouring country. The institution of Islamic leadership supported the invading army actively, in capturing and killing freedom fighters and non-Muslims, and raping women on a massive scale. Each of 4,000 mosques became the ideological powerhouses of the mass killers and mass rapists, and these killers and rapists — these Islamists — were the same people of the same land as the freedom fighters and raped women. That was the civilians of Bangladesh and the killer army of Pakistan in 1971. All the Muslim countries and communities of the world either stood idle, or actively sided with the killers and rapists in the name of Islam. The message was clear: something was very wrong – either with all the Islamic leaders, or with Islam itself.
That’s a message which this book communicates loud and clear — hopefully, it is something that Muslims will seriously consider, causing them to take a closer look at their religion, at their own beliefs, and at the people who presume to speak on behalf of Islam. This book isn’t just for Muslims, though — hopefully non-Muslims will read it and understand that what “moderate” Islam does exist is not very strong, especially in Muslim nations, and that it does no good to try and defend the abhorrent actions done in the name of Islam by deferring to cultural relativism. Violations of basic human and civil rights are wrong, whether done on behalf of Islam or on behalf of any other ideology, religious or secular.
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