The Atheist Muslim Quotes

“But the most catastrophic display of misogyny in all religion lies at the very heart of Christianity—in the story of the Virgin Mary. That Jesus was born of a virgin is a fundamental narrative upon which all Christianity is based. It is one that is carried through to Islam, where the Quran holds Mary in great esteem.

The implications of this have historically been devastating to women.

...Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ as a virgin, with no man ever having touched her. She is therefore described as pure, chaste, undefiled, innocent—being the product of an “immaculate conception” herself (as per Catholic doctrine), and now hosting God’s immaculate son in her unblemished womb.

What does this mean for women who are touched by men? Are their conceptions corrupted? Are their characters and bodies now impure or unchaste? Have they been “defiled”?

...Was all of Mary’s beauty, sanctity, chastity, and innocence confined to her vagina?

Fetishizing Mary’s virginity—as Christians and Muslims both do—is a sickness that directly leads to a dangerous, unnatural glamorization of celibacy and sexual repression.”

Excerpt From: Ali A. Rizvi. “The Atheist Muslim.” iBooks.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Human beings have rights and are entitled to respect. Ideas, books, and beliefs don’t, and aren’t.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“If you want to fight patriarchy but won’t fight religion, you’re not fighting patriarchy.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“No real God should need protection from bloggers and no real prophet should need protection from cartoons.”
― Ali A. Rizvi , The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“When liberals equate criticizing Islamic doctrine with anti-Muslim bigotry, it leaves a vacuum that is too frequently filled by genuine right-wing anti-Muslim bigots who are even more disagreeable. Who gets stuck in the middle? Ex-Muslims.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Many ex-Muslims do have lifelong Muslim friends and family who are supportive, moderate, or liberal, even if they disagree. This was a common theme in the #ExMuslimBecause tweets: most participants, while certainly unreserved in their criticism of the faith, made it a point to differentiate between criticizing Islam (an idea) and demonizing Muslims (a people). Human beings have rights and are entitled to respect. Ideas, books, and beliefs don’t, and aren’t.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Just as religion can lead its devotees to suspend reason for faith, it can also lead them to suspend morality for piety. Indeed,”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“For the longest time, I didn’t like the word atheist precisely for the same reason that I was one: I was deeply uncomfortable with any kind of absolute certainty in the absence of evidence. So I identified as an agnostic. My answer to whether or not I believed in God was always, “I don’t know.” However, like many others, I was answering the wrong question. I had incorrectly defined both of these words. They aren’t mutually preclusive. The distinction, in fact, is simple: atheism is not believing, and agnosticism is not knowing. In my experience, most people—believers and nonbelievers alike—tend to be agnostic. Ask a theist if he believes in God, and he’ll say yes. Then ask if he knows for sure that God exists. If he says yes, he is a gnostic theist. If he says no, he is an agnostic theist. The same goes for atheists, commonly defined as those who don’t believe in God. Ask them if they believe in God, and they will tell you that they don’t. Then ask, “Do you know for sure that God doesn’t exist?” Those who say yes are gnostic atheists. And those who say no are agnostic atheists. Almost every atheist I know of is an agnostic atheist—as am I.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“The religion/ politics dichotomy is a false one. It isn't that politics has no role; it's that politics is simply inseparable from the Abrahamic religions. Religion is politics. That was the case during the Barbary confrontation in 1786, and it's the case with the Israel-Palestine conflict now. Throughout history, religion has simply been an excuse looking for a conflict.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“When young Muslims leaving the faith discard their previous moral compass based on Islam, it often leaves a vacuum, and it can take some time before they reformulate a renewed sense of identity and connection to their new milieu.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Often in his speeches and writings, Christopher Hitchens would issue a challenge to his audience: “Name me a moral action committed by a believer, or moral statement uttered by [a believer], that could not be made or uttered by a non-believer.”43 To this day, no one has been able to successfully name such an action or statement. Then, he would ask his audience to name an evil or immoral statement or act, made or performed by a believer, that can only be attributed to his or her religious faith. This part of the challenge was easy—there are numerous bad things that believers do as a direct result of their faith that nonbelievers don’t. And for the sake of completeness, let’s acknowledge that all bad things done by nonbelievers can be (and have been) done by believers as well.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Atheists from all kinds of backgrounds frequently say they broke from their religious upbringing because they found these religious “values” to be unacceptable. They consider the secondary status of women, the often-violent discrimination against gays, and the tribalistic exclusion and “otherization” of those deemed “infidels” and “kuffar”—or those who aren’t “chosen” or “saved”—to be divisive and morally abhorrent.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Again, human beings have rights and are entitled to respect. Ideas, beliefs, and books don’t and aren’t. The right to believe what one wants to believe is sacred. The beliefs themselves aren’t. Challenging ideas moves societies forward. Demonizing people rips societies apart.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“#ExMuslimBecause Misogyny, homophobia, stoning people to death, and killing apostates don’t suddenly become “respectable” when put in a holy book. —@LibMuslim”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“But it’s the personal toll that hits the hardest. Simply changing one’s mind can mean leaving behind not only one’s family and community, but also childhood memories, lifestyle, relationships, feelings of belonging, and, as discussed earlier, one’s sense of security, safety, and comfort. When beliefs are so deeply ingrained in one’s identity, a shattered faith almost inevitably results in a shattered identity—one that must be rebuilt fragment by fragment.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Islam and the Future of Tolerance, a short book that is”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“There is a significant group of Muslims who feel that their government-backed preachers and religious hierarchies have handed them a brand of Islam that does not speak to them. These same authorities have also denied them the critical thinking tools and religious space to imagine new interpretations...and some seem to be quietly detaching from religion entirely -- fed up with being patronized by politically correct Westerners telling them what Islam is not and with being tyrannized by self-appointed Islamist authoritarians telling them what Islam is. Now that the Internet has created free, safe, alternative spaces and platforms to discuss these issues, outside the mosques and government-owned media, this war of ideas is on.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“They speak to their online friends living in open societies who tell them of free speech, gender equality, and LGBT rights. It's like someone who has been locked in a dark room since birth suddenly gaining access to a window and looking outside for the first time -- only to see that she isn't the only one locked in.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“As can be seen from their tweets and more, many young Muslims are reacting to this suppression, watching the Islamic State's antics around the world and how it's making them look, studying the scripture their parents taught them was infallible, and dealing with high levels of unemployment and economic difficulty due to their governments' corrupt, ineffectual policies. They are watching their leaders use religion and blasphemy laws to solidify their authority and restrict the freedoms of their people. This worked in the past, but not anymore. On websites like WikiLeaks, they learn things about their governments and the world that they have never seen in their newspapers. They discover the roles that their own leaders have played in bringing about the frustrations and difficult conditions they were told were the fault of the United States and Israel.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“For them, social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter aren't just an entertaining extension of their real lives, as they are to us. They're fantastical ingress into reality; virtual vessels into the real world, where you can say what you can't in real life and be exposed to the uncensored ideas of people around the world, where you can talk to them, even watch them. These forums represent an unprecedented portal into a world most of them never knew existed as little as ten years ago -- one that allows them to live inside the outside world.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Over two-thirds of the populations in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt are under the age of thirty-five. To these young people, who have grown up under monarchs and dictators for decades, never having seen anything else, freedom of speech is often a completely alien concept. Just as people born and raised in the United States find it almost impossible to comprehend the idea of a government imprisoning and publicly flogging a man simply for expressing his ideas, it is unthinkable for many people in these countries to imagine living in a society where we can openly criticize our political leaders without any repercussions.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“You can also see how strong this religion-identity amalgam is when you look at young ex-Muslims who have recently left the faith. An initial phase of disorientation, anxiety, and/or depression is exceedingly common.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“This is why any attack on the religion -- which is not a person but simply a set of ideas like any other -- comes across to them as a personal attack. When you put their beliefs under scrutiny, you're prodding at their entire sense of being. You're rocking the boat, criticizing and satirizing that one thing they need to cling to in order to keep their lives intact, their families together, and -- in some cases -- their heads attached to their bodies.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“But it's the personal toll that hits the hardest. Simply changing one's mind can mean leaving behind not only one's family and community, but also childhood memories, lifestyle, relationships, feelings of belonging, and, as discussed earlier, one's sense of security, safety, and comfort. When beliefs are so deeply ingrained into one's identity, a shattered faith almost inevitably results in a shattered identity -- one that must be rebuilt fragment by fragment.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Today, as more and more young Muslims give up the religion of their parents, they find themselves facing life-shattering consequences. The simple acts of exploring new ideas can leave them isolated from their very own lives.

Many are disowned by their parents and lose their families. Their friends refuse to associate with them. Their communities ostracize them. Their societies exile them. Their governments often imprison them, where they may be persecuted, flogged, or tortured. Worst of all, there are thirteen countries in the world today -- all Muslim-majority -- that punish atheism by death, and as of 2014, Saudi Arabia has declared all atheists to be terrorists.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“In much of the Muslim world where I grew up, religion is more than just a belief system. It is inextricably embedded in every aspect of people's lives -- it is the central foundation upon which family, community, and morality are built. And perhaps of most consequence, it is intractably intertwined with one's very sense of identity.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“Competition for territory and resources can be downright deadly. Powerful, rich people can commit crime after crime without ever getting caught and die in peace, surrounded by family and friends. The poor and downtrodden are often abused, neglected, and die alone.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“How does it work when you have a living, breathing, and divine representative of God on Earth? Do you consult a 1300-year-old holy book when you can go right to the source? To be sure, no Nizari Ismaili will tell you that the Quran is not revered in his or her faith; they will insist that there is no contradiction between the teachings of the Aga Khan and the holy text. However, to the objective observer, it’s inevitable in this situation that the Quran becomes a secondary source, a historical reference book at most. Indeed, the Aga Khan’s modern, progressive views and rulings have resulted in the Nizari Ismaili community becoming arguably the most well-integrated, secular, apolitical, nonviolent, and generally pro-West Muslim community in the world.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason

“To us, the fight against religious ideology isn’t a struggle against human rights, but a struggle for them. To us, a simple reading of the Abrahamic holy books reveals endorsements of virtually all the oppressive and discriminatory systems that civil and human rights movements have tried to dismantle over time: patriarchy, misogyny, slavery, tribalism, xenophobia, homophobia, and totalitarianism, all rolled into one. Our criticisms of religion aren’t an attack on people, but a challenge to what we consider bad ideas that drive bad behavior, and the sacred status afforded to them. Our opposition to religion isn’t a demonstration of bigotry; it is a demonstration against it.”
― Ali A. Rizvi, The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason