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[Aziz K.]

On Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:54:44 +0200, Bill Baxter  
<dnewsgroup at billbaxter.com> wrote:
> Joke or not, that comment is way out of line.  Go sit in the corner for  
> an hour and don't post crap like that here ever again.
>
> --bb


Thanks for the rebuke, but no, I'm not going to sit in the corner and  
reconsider what I said. I understand that from a "the world is full of  
love and sunshine"-view that little sentence seems to be very  
inappropriate and hurtful. But as hurtful as it may be to a Muslim, it's  
unfortunately the truth. If someone accused my father of being a rapist,  
of course I would be extremely upset and feel angry about that insult. But  
if all the historical evidence is incriminating and points toward the  
guiltiness of my father, well then I have to cope with that emotional  
distress and severe my ties from him.
I have the utmost disrespect for Islam because I was born into it and I  
grew up viewing the world with islamic goggles wrapped tight around my  
head. Do you think I've had a choice in this? I was indoctrinated with the  
beliefs that Allah is the only true God and that Mohammad was His last,  
noble Messenger and that you would roast forever in hell if you didn't  
believe that. It's obvious that you can't choose your parents, so I  
utterly despise it when people think they have to force the religious  
baloney down the throat of their children, the way their own parents did  
it to them. Once you're born a Muslim you'll remain one until your death.  
There is no such thing as the concept of religious privatism in islamic  
families like you have it in enlightened societies. You have to carry that  
stupid religious label around you even after you have made the intelligent  
decision to free yourself from the mind slavery of Islam. It's a huge  
taboo to ask tough questions about Islam that might threaten the faith. An  
even bigger taboo is it to leave the religion altogether. All hell would  
break loose if you announced your apostasy to your family. The best that  
could happen is ostracism, and the worst being mercilessly killed for  
having dared to use your basic human right of freedom of conscience. Even  
moderate parents would reject you or try to bring you back to the faith,  
because you know, there's an everlasting punishment awaiting you after  
your death, and they wouldn't like the thought of you being barbecued by  
their merciful Lord. It's certainly not easy to be a closet apostate in a  
muslim family.
Despite my abhorrence of Islam I acknowledge that the Muslim communities  
are hugely and immensely diverse. Most of them have a rich and great  
culture, but alas, as I see it, it is stained with the stupidity and  
savagery of Islam. I'm very critical of the ideology and I make a  
distinction between it and the followers. I'm the last person to demonize  
a whole group of people and say that they are all evil and potential  
terrorists. I don't have a problem with them practicing their religion  
privately and in Mosques as long as they fully subscribe to the humanistic  
values Europe has gained through the enlightenment process. And such a  
thing has still to happen in Muslim countries and in the minds of the  
Muslims living in secular countries. They don't even like the slightest  
negative criticism from a reformist Muslim or Non-Muslim regarding the  
Prophet and his Message. A lot of deluded reformist Muslims live in  
secular countries, and even there they often have to fear for their lives  
(like Irshad Manji for example). When they live in islamic countries all  
the islamic authorities can do is censor their books, lock them up in a  
cell or worse execute them. And all the Muslims in the secular countries  
can do is to get aggressively huffy when someone points out the idiocies  
and inhumanities in the islamic doctrine.

I know it's hard to understand that post scriptum one-liner, but I and  
many other ex-Muslims are fed up with the ever recurring BS phrase "Islam  
is a tolerant/peaceful religion." Well it is not. Mohammad carried out  
over 70 raids on caravans routing out of and to Mecca in order to support  
the weak economy in Medinah. Once he became stronger he attacked the  
villages of Jewish tribes, massacred ca. 600 men and pubertal boys (of the  
Banu Quraizah) who were his prisoners of war, the women and children were  
not harmed but were considered booties of war like cattle, gold etc. and  
evenly distributed among the army of the Prophet and one fifth was always  
assigned to him and his sky-daddy Allah (8:41). The apologetic view  
regarding this is that they received a punishment according to their own  
book by a jewish judge from their amidst, which of course suddenly acquits  
him of this unbelievable crime. Mohammad (or his alter ego Allah)  
sanctioned the right to enjoy those whom thy right hand possesses out of  
the prisoners of war (33:50). This means it was legitimate for Mohammad  
and his cult members to have sex with the enslaved women whose husbands  
and fathers were killed in war. Now tell me, which woman with self-worth  
and sanity would happily consent to intercourse with the killer of her  
relatives? Would it matter to throw in the allegation that Mohammad had  
acted in self-defence in those wars? I don't think so.
He married a 6 year-old and consumated the marriage when she was 9, and  
even if you want to dispute all the evidence in the Hadith testifying to  
this fact, there is a worryingly large amount of Muslims who defend this  
devilish act with all sorts of mental gymnastics. They really have no  
qualms about a fifty years old man having intercourse with an innocent  
child.
Now if these kind of things don't disgust you I don't know what does.  
Non-Muslims feel extremely uncomfortable with such statements, even if it  
comes from the mouth of an ex-Muslim. There's an organisation in Germany,  
the Central Council of Ex-Muslims, which was founded by the exile-Iranian  
and dissident Mina Ahadi in the beginning of this year. While Mina was  
away from home, her husband and 5 other guests were arrested and  
mercilessly executed by the iranian version of the Gestapo. She had to  
flee Iran but she didn't remain inactive and founded an organisation with  
a group of other ex-Muslims that is so deeply needed as a public voice of  
all the ex-Muslims.

Of course this isn't the right place to discuss religious issues, but I  
really felt the need to explain myself, so that the D community can  
understand me better.