Tag: ex Muslim

Being an Apostate at Christmas

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Being an Apostate at Christmas

By Zara Shaen Albright “Don’t tell them you took me to Church yesterday and for God’s sake, don’t bring up Christianity.” These were the words hissed at me a few years ago by my mother, as we prepared for the onslaught of relatives coming over for dinner. If I am spending it with my mother’s side of the family, then this is how the standard Christmas Day begins — and this conversation sets the scene for the rest of the day. For those of you that are wondering, I left…

An ex-Muslim’s brief recount of working with the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat

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An ex-Muslim’s brief recount of working with the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat

By Zee Jay   August 2009. I finally touched down to the country that was regarded as providing opportunities for many. Here I was, ready to embark on exploring uncharted waters and break new mould. It was my desire to meet and interact with people and observe the British way of life. What I wasn’t expecting was to get drawn back into the web of Islam after already having left a strain of it when I left the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This was at the time I was still…

Some of my best friends are Jewish, and other confessions of an ex-Muslim

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Some of my best friends are Jewish, and other confessions of an ex-Muslim

By Yasmine   One of my earliest memories is of being bound to my bed as the soles of my feet were whipped. At five or six years old, this was my punishment for not correctly memorising surahs, chapters, from the Quran, or for missing one of the daily prayers. Lying on my bed, in the room that I shared with my sister, I would feebly struggle to free my feet from the skipping rope that bound them. But it was pointless. My strength was no match for the man…

Turks are learning the harsh lesson of staying silent on Erdogan

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Turks are learning the harsh lesson of staying silent on Erdogan

By Sofia Demirturk   Living in the age of political correctness, we place more emphasis on not hurting anyone’s sentiments, rather than analysing the world revolving around us. We try our best to not to be named as an Islamophobe, anti-Semite, homophobe etc — thus, stating our minds has become a bigger challenge than it was historically. Whenever a question is raised that touches on race or religion, we get lost in discussing what are the right terms to use, rather than the actual problems, and every argument seems to get…

Suicide bombings in Turkey have changed our lives

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Suicide bombings in Turkey have changed our lives

By Sofia Demirturk   “Whatever would be the age of the murderers, 17 or 27, I know that they were born babies once. Without questioning the darkness that created murderers from those babies, there’s nothing to do, my brothers and sisters.” Rakel Dink at the funeral of her husband Hrant Dink – a Turkish-Armenian editor, journalist and columnist assassinated by a Turkish nationalist.     Living in Turkey, where suicide bombers were once something we associated with other countries in the Middle East, we are trying to recover from the…