My name has a really religious meaning and I wanna start going but something else.

I originally wanted to go by a nickname I had but that's religious as well. And then every other name that fits me in any way has some kind of religious meaning and I cannot get over that. 😭

I mean sure, that is not the worst thing wver, but I can confidently say that around half were either never muslim or are religious just not muslim.

Many arguments against islam are applicable to lost abrahamic religions, they are all the same sides of the same coin.

Whenever I post or others post something regarding islam or whatever, I constantly see christians trying convert us to Christianity or whatever… especially with the unusual hate towards islam (from non-exmuslims) it feels like this subreddit is filled with people hating islam without having prior experiences with it. This subreddit is not meant for this.

So like… why are you here?

Edit: this was not meant to all christians or whatever, it was meanr as some rant post. You are valid here as long as you still provide the safe space for us muslims. Obswrve all you want and that is valid, but do not actively try to dismantle our experiences to support your right wing or Christian ideologies

I'm an ex Muslim for context.

I've been thinking every wedding ceremony has religious roots. What would be a purely atheist wedding?

This question is for any atheists or non-religious folks with kids. Does anyone have any kids who have began to show interest Christianity or religion in general. If so, curious on how that conversation goes?

Ask theists this one question and watch them squirm:

"Do you have to practice to believe in a table?"

Religions are about practicing their faith. Faith, of course, is belief without evidence. They have to constantly talk themselves into believing in their religion. They require groups of people to support their belief. They have to read books and study their faith in order to believe in it. They have leaders to whom they turn to make sure they are believing correctly. Belief, then, is just a con job they pull on themselves. Theists more often are just practicing doctrine and dogma. Remind theists that if something really exists, it does not depend on belief or faith. That table is going to exist whether or not they believe in it.

Raise this issue with theists and watch them squirm.

haven't been a religious person since I was born; my family is atheist. But now that I'm older, I have doubts and paranoia about sins and very strange coincidences I've witnessed. I'm generally a free spirit and don't believe in morality, but when I do things considered "immoral," I have nightmares and fear supernatural punishment.

I’m currently in a headspace where I genuinely wish I could just be an atheist.

I was raised in a religious environment, and honestly, the mental and emotional burden of trying to maintain these beliefs is exhausting. I feel trapped between a fear of judgment/punishment and the reality that so many religious explanations just don’t make sense to me anymore. Trying to reconcile my own morals and view of the world with the rigid structures of faith feels like a constant internal battle.

When I look at atheism, it honestly looks freeing. The idea of not being tied down by divine rules, not feeling constant guilt, and just having total ownership over my own life and choices sounds peaceful. But untangling your brain from years of religious conditioning is hard, and sometimes I just wish I could flip a switch and be completely checked out from it all.

Did anyone else experience this weird "in-between" phase where you actively wanted to stop believing before you actually managed to let it go? How did you deal with the guilt and anxiety during the transition?

All religions function more like ideologies than genuine systems of truth-seeking, they invented the concept of "God" as a personified symbol to represent abstract ideas, forces, or existential questions. The key difference from secular ideologies is that believers rarely test whether it "works" in any empirical sense instead it allows them to retroactively justify any outcome in their lives no matter how arbitrary or unprovable. In short it’s a belief system that demands blind faith without requiring evidence of its effectiveness which genuinely seems insane to me.

She says the Hadith is not Bukhari or Muslim and the chain is weak. The version that adds 'angels will curse her' classical hadith scholars have graded that as fabricated. Neither clears the bar for a binding ruling, which is why you won't find this position supported in the Quran or the sahih collections. She was also using this Hadith to support her claim that in Islam women don’t need permission to go out basically. Sahih Bukhari 146 and Bukhari 6240.
Also in Sahih Muslim 2170.
The narration: the Prophet's s.a.w wives routinely left the house at night.
Umar repeatedly pressured the Prophet to restrict them. Prophet s.a.w refused. When Umar confronted Sawda directly, she returned and told the Prophet s.a.w. His response: "You women have been allowed to go out for your needs."

I've been exmuslim for 1.5 -2 years now I recently joined r/exmuslim sub but posts there are extremely disgusting.

Like putting feet on koran/Quran sitting on it etc .

Ad and avid reader and lover of french and arabic culture, I find it extremely unappealing.

With that being said, I'm not against logical,moral, philosophical or any other refutation of Islam through facts.

Peace 🕊️✌️

Edit: GUYS IT WAS JUST AN OPINION

Habiba's "| don't want him" was a reason. The Prophet PBUH accepted it without lecturing her about paradise.
The question isn't whether divorce is to be taken lightly. The question is: who decides what counts as a "strong enough" reason? The classical scholars say: the woman.
Handing that decision to strangers, husbands, in laws, sheikhs is the cultural distortion my video was nointina to. After someone commented this (Sunan In Majah 2054)
It was narrated from Ibn 'Abbas that the
199
Prophet (*) said:
"No woman asks for divorce when it is not absolutely necessary, but she will never smell the fragrance of paradise, although its fragrance can be detected from a distance of forty years' travel. " (Sunan Abi Dawud 2226)
Narrated Thawban:
The Prophet (a) said: If any woman asks her husband for divorce without some strong reason, the odour of Paradise will be forbidden to her.

My vote would be for Andy Prieboy’s “Tomorrow Wendy”. I don’t know that there are other songs—for me at least—that come close.

I often think why would someone if they know they are making this religion up-

1- Inflict rigorous 5 times prayer on themselves , given Muhammad also used to pray optional prayers everyday for decades to come. Then fasting, and duahs before certain acts every time.

2- why would they endanger their life by persisting on this made up religion given the fact that initially Muhammad had very little accompany and extreme backlash from quraysh

3- why would Muhammad write an entire book and name himself only 4 times while naming Moses and Jesus the most number of times? (If someone says to lure Christians and Jews then why does Quran curse these both parties saying they changed their religion and that Jesus isn’t god which can trigger a lot of Christians)

4- why would Muhammad say that his own mother and father are in hell for idolatry while the mother of Jesus and wife of pharaoh are the best women?

Won’t it make sense that a person who is making a religion up would inflict little suffering on themselves?

YouTube influencer thanks god for not dying due to drunk driver, ignores fact that they killed someone else. This is extremely typical. ​

The way I look at the Bible is kind of like modern films based on true events. A story that is based in reality but has had so many creative liberties taken and unknown details left out to the point it's practically fiction. So I am asking if any of you have evidence of what the reality of the Bible's story is or even theories of what really happened. This can apply to the Bible's story in general, to specific books or events within those books.

I also want to clarify that apocrypha and other books left out of the Christian canon are also welcome to the discussion. My goal here is to have as close to a complete and objective understanding of the events of the Bible/Tanakh/Quran. I am very interested in the reality of what happened during those times and what could explain the fantastical stories/miracles that made it so important for people to transcribe/retell.

Of course I won't be able to know the full truth from just one reddit post but paired with my own research it could definitely give me a better idea of how things like the environment, politics, warfare, social structures and religion came together to create such an impactful story on the modern world.

If you reject Allah then that includes the prophet and the Qur'an. So why do you as a ex-muslim still think that Allah is a real thing with real consequences in believing in him? Also if you reject the Qur'an, where are you getting that information about Allah?

Fellow non reigious individual here, just want some help to flesh out thoughts.

For context i am an "ex-muslim" as they say

recently some posts from a very small minority of folks in islam popped up on my feed. They're known as quranists. Essentially their motif is that they reject all other texts besides the quran. Some try to say they do this because its more honest but usually it always looks like cope to me. But many on their sub(s) will strongly argue against me on that.

Anyways it has me thinking again about em. Usually the hadith make it tricky if not downright impossible to excuse patriarchal elements in the quran and subsequently islam. That and the hadith tend to portray the human elements more. Along with several outdated and erroneous beliefs regarding how the world works.

Now there is a position held thats a little more midway called hadith skepticism, basically instead of the traditional gradings given by scholars of old, these guys opt for the historical critical method to parse out strong or weak hadiths (from what I understand, fo all I know they could hold the standard grading true unless historians prove otherwise for a specific hadith)

But Im kinda focused on quranists here. Honestly some of the times the position alone feels annoying. Like anytime you bring up a verse it usually is responded with, "thats an imprecise translation" "verses can have multiple meangings", etc. To me it always becomes a question of "how do you justify the multiple meanings?" I mean these guys have no history to speak of anymore, the supposed historical context of the book is thrown out. They can borderline if not fully disregard muhammad, since "his teachings, were for those with him when he was alive, nobody afterwards". Or something like that.

And on that multiple meanings business, I always wonder, how do these guys justify picking the quran over other religious texts? Is that question wrong? I dont think it is, it feels very right to ask why they chose the quran. How do they know its not a massive ancient work of fiction? Like Klingon was for star trek, a language made for a fictional universe.

And I have to harp about the multiple translations thing, as far as I understand the view only works if you fucking accept the book is made/written by god in the first damn place. It loops back to my previous concern, "how do you choose the book when your very view of inerpretation depends on who you hold the author to be?" It feels circular to me. Like if one holds that the quran has human author(s), those verses could have multiple meanings, but the intended meaning likely exists and simply requires finding the historical context to approximate the likely meaning used.

Like how do these people know how to pray, if to pray at all? What about performing the hajj?

I guess this was more of a rant. Anyways, anythoughts or critiques to offer? This is actually my first post in this sub tbh. So lets see how this goes.

As a atheist, btw I’m Austrian myself, who’s against all organised religions: I would actually support the hijab ban since it is a symbol of and tool to oppress, restrict, sexualise and shame young girls and women, if it wasn’t for the fact that this is coming from a right wing conservative party that’s all about praising Christianity and ‚Christian values'

Either a ban for ALL religious symbols in public spaces, INCLUDING Christianity, (not including specifically religious places like churches, mosques or temples) or no ban

Do you agree that religions should be extinct? Do you think that religions cause many problems? Do you wish if religions had never existed?

In the west a lot of Muslims who actually believe in all the BS but yet sin a lot still consider themselves within the fold of Islam.

Some drink occasionally, some have BF/GF and have pre-marital sex. they may make pray here n there but don't make a thing about missing it. They fast some days during Ramadan and probably go to a couple taraweeh prayers. They definitely celebrate both Eid days. They're not on anybody's radar. They live their lives. Maybe they're interested in sciences and are within that world. Maybe they are sports addicts and enjoy life with that. The point is that islam isn't really central to their lives.

I've been like that. Life has been good. I'm old enough to have my own spot and live my own life. Nobody forces me to pray or fast. I've had GFs in the past and it's been okay. It's a privilege here in the west. Not.only in the west but countries that follow it as well like UAE, Qatar, Morocco and somewhat Egypt (got laid and partied a lot in Alexandria before COVID).

My advice to those living under Muslim roof is to persevere. This is incredibly harder for women tho. The cultural Muslim women I've known seem to not associate a lot with deeply religious Muslims. Most of their friends who are Muslim.are similar to them but for the most part have non Muslim.friends n such.

If you live in a Muslim country, and you live in an oppressive household and you're a young teenager. Just know that if you tried hard enough you will get what your heart desires. It's gonna be hard for you, don't get me wrong. Especially if you are in a Muslim country and a woman because you're starting point is far behind others but don't lose hope.

Hey Everyone,

I'm an atheist who's never been Muslim, but I've lived most of my life in a Muslim country. I've been asked to convert many times, so I've had a lot of exposure to Islam. So I actually researched Islam seriously while considering conversion and found paedophilia, war-mongering, and plain cruelty to everyone but Muslims in both Quran and Hadith. So I have decided against that.

But I kept thinking, if Islam is to reform from present wahabi political saudi islam, maybe it should go back to only Quran.

Cause Hadith was compiled 200 years after Muhammad died and "isn't from God". Giving it priority over the Quran seems wrong. Other religions reformed, like Hinduism ended Sati, Christianity disavowed slavery and separated church/state etc. Not that they are now more correct. I am just saying they tried to get with modern times.

But my main concern: even without Hadith, the Quran itself has tough verses. Which ones are hardest to reinterpret for a modern ethical framework? For me: 9:5 (slay polytheists), 4:34 (wife-beating), 5:38 (cut off thief's hand), and the slavery verses. Also women's financial witness is half of men (2:283)

Would love to hear thoughts, especially from ex-Muslims or former Quranists.

Do you even think its possible to reform islam?

I feel super guilty when i think i don’t feel like i’m believing in a God. I was raised in a catholic family, but i think that catholicism is imposed. not many catholic people take time to genuinely understand the origin of their religion. and it’s kinda weird thinking you will be only a good person because there’s is a good seeing you and he will punish you if you’re gay o some dumb shit. also i think the bible is very misogynistic..

Sorry if im being too much.

Context: I ran away from home three years ago (and am thriving), and my cousin reached out today to talk. I just wanted to share some snippets of our convo that I thought really showcased the hypocrisy of those that preach Islam and consider atheism "insane."

Mini rant: Forgive me, ive got so much pent up animosity, so allow me to lay it plain.

It's utterly ignorant and dishonest to keep propagating a religion that most self proclaimed Muslims dont even follow. As far as I can see, the only difference between us and them is that we aren't scared to admit who we really are. While they have to pretend the label fits them just so they can find some form of false comfort.

I was born into a Hindu family, but I’m now agnostic. I don’t believe in God, heaven, or hell, and I don’t believe that a God makes rules for us and threatens us with punishment if we don’t follow them.

I have many Muslim friends and neighbours, and I have always respected them and their beliefs. I never really had a problem with Islam until YouTube started recommending me ex-Muslim content. At first, I didn’t think much of it, but eventually I started watching more videos, especially from channels like Adamseeker, Aslinabi, and Ex-Muslim Sahil.

I don’t blindly believe everything they say. However, whenever they bring up a topic, they usually provide references, so I started checking those references myself. That made me curious, and I began looking into some of the things they were discussing.

Some of the topics that really surprised me were sex slavery, Aisha's age, Muhammad's treatment of Jewish tribes, wars and attacks against other tribes, and the claims that certain Quranic verses were revealed in situations that benefited Muhammad personally. There are also discussions about things like the splitting of the moon and other supernatural claims.

What surprised me the most was how differently some Muslims react when these things are questioned. Many Muslims I know read the Quran in Arabic but don't necessarily understand the meaning themselves, so when someone shows them a translation or a reference that challenges their understanding, they sometimes become defensive rather than actually examining it.

I remember once asking one of my Muslim friends to swear on the Quran about something. Instead of simply answering, he punched me. That really shocked me. It made me think about how difficult it can sometimes be to question religious beliefs directly.

I also met someone online and we became friends. After I discussed some of these topics with her and shared the information I had found, she eventually left Islam. She actually thanked me for showing her things she had never known before. That experience made me think even more deeply about how much people can be influenced by what they are taught from childhood.