Iranian Muslims walk their way to 'Atheism over Islam'

- Himali Nalawade

 

It has been happening over the world since a considerable period that the modern day Muslims are skeptical about the fundamental beliefs of Islam and many are ending up abandoning the religion, to follow Atheism. Richard Dawkin's God Delusion is today the most downloaded book in the Middle East. While some Wahabi groups are aiming to turn Dar ul Harb into Dar ul Islam, the lands of Islamic origin are struggling to transmit the message of Holy Quran to the coming generations.

 

The main reason for Iranians and Muslims from other Arabic nations to lose faith in the religion is quite clear as the religious beliefs justify several inhuman traditions. Ali A Rizvi, who proudly calls himself an 'Ex - Muslim' and is a popular writer, had quoted for an American news agency in 2015 "Misogyny, Homophobia, Stoning people to death, and killing apostates don't suddenly become 'respectable' when put in a holy book." Rizvi's statement clearly speaks for all the people who have abandoned Islam to live a life of dignity and are hopeful to live a less restricted life.

 

In a country like Iran, conducting a survey to dig out the truth about Islam is a life risking challenge. In spite of these risks, a survey was carried out this year by GAMAAN Research, where Iranians anonymously spoke about their perception of Islam. After the study, it was known that 20% of the Iranians who voluntarily participated in the study, do not follow any religious belief and 6% have been converted from Islam. Besides these are only the numbers of people who have participated, which excludes the numbers of many others who haven't contributed voluntarily or are afraid for their life and hence have not been associated with the study. Islam has become extremely aggressive in nations like Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran for the obligation of its practice. Whereas, there has not been any considerable religious reformation in the Islamic beliefs, making it impractical for the youth to stand by what the Quran teaches.

Although the Iranian government is absolutely not in favor of anything that might devalue the religion in any way, it is observed that the Iranian masses are largely demanding for a religious reformation that won't justify the inhuman acts and beliefs that it has been since centuries. The people are increasingly becoming vocal about it. Hence, if the obligatory nature of Islam is not transformed into a flexible religion and broaden the beliefs about certain concepts, it won't be shocking to witness an aggressive movement led by Iranians to abandon the religion openly in masses. In fact, the movement is currently in action covertly as well as overtly at times, on the social networking platforms where Ex - Muslims all around the world are communicating with each other to put up strong opposition to the unjust rules of Islam.

 

Just in case you are wondering, why is Islam claimed to be oppressive or inhuman in practice in the Muslim ruled states then there are a few incidents which demand your attention. There has been an incident of an American boy who belonged to a Muslim family of Somalian descent which has been circulating around the world. The boy had renounced his belief in Islam but his family was a conservative Wahabi devout. The boy, Mahad Olad, was tricked by his family and taken on a holiday to Kenya, where arrangements were made to restore his faith in Islam. When the boy, who was already suspicious of his family's behaviour, managed to sneak and escape back to America, it was also known that Olad had not only renounced the religion he was born in, but he was was also gay. Perhaps, that may have been the main reason for him to abandon Islam, since the religion is unacceptable of several such concepts like Homosexuality, which naturally exist among humans. This is one of the stories which was well regulated among the Muslim masses contributing to increasing skepticism among them regarding the harsh Islamic beliefs. The holy quran clearly denounces the practice of Homosexuality and calls it sinful.

 

Besides, the restrictions that are put on women for the sake of religious beliefs too are being opposed in the world largely. Now that Muslim women are becoming conscious about their rights as humans, it is becoming a challenge for the unreformed age old Islamic rules to bound them. According to Islamic law, a woman is expected to veil herself in front of men. The severity about this varies from nation to nation, but nowhere among the Islamic nations is the rule avoided. Iran completely depends on the Islamic law for its ruling, therefore several practices suggested by the law, even though unjust in nature, are forced to be followed in the country. This unwilling obligation for the Iranians to follow Islam has created great discontent among the people and has pushed them towards atheism.

 

This condition of Iranian Muslims of losing their faith in Islam has opened gates for Christian missionaries as well to take advantage of the people's mistrust in their own religion and converting them. The losing faith of Iranians in Islam is becoming a political issue, since the country is ruled on the basis of Islamic law and has no separate set of rules to administer any of it's policies. Also, the state never hesitates to mellow down the aggression in order to practice the beliefs. If such aggressive implementation of religious beliefs continue in the region, which certainly seems to not change much in the coming future, it will create social unrest among the Iranian masses because of the unbearable injustice paired with increasing social consciousness. The Iranian demographics is in a transitional phase currently. And the world might witness a different Iran in coming ages, owing to the aggressive and religious misrule of the Iranian government itself.