Our People

A new blogger rises: The Apostate.

Read one of her recent posts:

Now that I am no longer a Muslim and don'™t live in a Muslim country, my connection with Islam does not suddenly disappear, nor do my grievances against what it has done to my life evaporate. I have built a new and better life in the U.S., but I'™ve paid a heavy price: I'™ve lost my family, I'™ve given up all right to public security or the government'™s support in my native country, I'™m committed to lying about my religious status in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (where my family lives, whom I have not seen in 4 1/2 years) or foreswear visiting these countries that I called home for most of my life, I'™m condemned to never have full acceptance in my own culture, by my own people.

The choice was simple--hard but simple.

A. Deny Islam after you've seen and understood the West and in doing so lose your entire family.

B. Continue with the halaal charade and keep yourself intellectually caged.

I'll never be able to visit those arcades in Karachi where I spent my saved money on few choice games in the early 90s. I'll never again get the chance to see the garden in Lahore where I went for early morning strolls with my uncle in the late 80s.

I miss playing cricket and badminton with my cousins. I haven't met most of them for over ten years. Some got married and most of the rest will also settle down soon. I won't be attending their weddings.

All these things will remain only a memory.

I have also gained much.

I live in one of the greatest nations on Earth. I can exercise free speech. (I specialize in blasphemy.) My life is luxurious compared to 99% of humanity. My culture is defined not by race but by thought.

To top it off, you actually live in a better country. Such is the latent beauty of America: ordinary people bound together because they believe in extraordinary ideas.

You have embraced a new culture and you live among your people. Always remember, you are not alone.

Related
Muslihoon: My People.
Isaac Schrödinger: A Question of Allegiance.

Comments

[evariste]

Oh, Isaac, that hits so close to home for me.

But even in America, you can't "visit home" in a lot of ways. I got it into my head that I wanted to take Palestinian folk dance classes the other day. Then I remembered that conversation would happen, and I wouldn't stifle myself. I would find myself explaining to my fellow Palestinians that I don't believe in Allah and that I support the state of Israel. I'm sure it would get pretty ugly.

So much for that.

On the bright side, the Israelis stole a lot of our dances, so maybe I'll take Israeli folk dancing lessons instead :-)

[Tambi Dude]

why cannot you go to pakistan to meet your extended
family, or attend a wedding. do they know about your apostasy.

[Saul Wall]

I just started reading the book "The Case for Democracy" by Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident and self confessed (gasp!) Zionist. When I saw the title I thought: "Ah, what is the point of buying a book arguing about something I already agree with. Since it was in the discount bin (along with the West's faith in democracy and enlightenment values) I bought it and I am so glad I did. I am only starting the 3rd chapter but so far it is fascinating and germane to this post.

The book seems to be not just examining the "case for democracy" but why the case needs to be made in this day and age. He not only describes how shocked he was at the attitudes of those in the west towards democracy and undemocratic nations, he talks about the distinctions between free societies and "fear societies" and how a small elite and a minority group of "true believers" can control the few dissidents and (often a majority of) doublethinkers. Doublethinkers are people who are too clued in to ever be true believers but are too terrorized to be dissidents. He has already described how completely fooled people (especially the media) on the outside can be about how happy the citizens in a fear based society are and how strong the society is which is why the everyone is taken by surprise when these societies collapse.

What seems to be the case though, in fear societies like Islam, is that they are not based on physical territory like Soviets and Nazis were. This means that even when a population leaves an Islamic controlled area they can not be free. Their family and friends and communities will still be in the society whether they are living in the new country or back in the old. Becoming free seems to require a far more extreme form of emigration when leaving one's religion, especially one that considers leaving it to be an act of capital treason or at least an insult to those who did not.

[Isaac Schrödinger]

Tambi Dude: "why cannot you go to pakistan to meet your extended family, or attend a wedding. do they know about your apostasy."

I can't leave Canada for a few years because of my legal status. Even after that I wouldn't go to Pakistan. I've asked myself this: Will I follow the usual Islamic rituals and keep my mouth shut to "fit in" with my extended family?

I don't want to go down that road.

Saul Wall: "What seems to be the case though, in fear societies like Islam, is that they are not based on physical territory like Soviets and Nazis were. This means that even when a population leaves an Islamic controlled area they can not be free."

That's very true; the psychological terror can still be present in the West.