Religion

Allah is a Bigger Dick Than Your God

  So I recently read this post about the biggest Dick moves done by God and thought to myself that the Muslim god (Mr. Allah) has done some major douchebag moves himself. Now, I don’t know if all the Abrahamic religions worship the same entity or not and we could go on …

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Saudi Arabia flag & emblem - "Allah’s Kingdom: The Saudi regime’s attempted monopoly over Islam" by @happymurtad
Religion

Allah’s Kingdom: The Saudi regime’s attempted monopoly over Islam

“Our grandfathers gave allegiance to the sons of Saud. How can we come after them and betray them? How can we withdraw our hands from obedience to them when Allah has said, ‘Oh you who believe, obey Allah, obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. (Qur’an 4:59)’ ?” …

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Religion

Hearing Allah: Why acknowledging the Qur’an’s influence upon violent extremism is an important part of combating it.

It was an eerily solemn and calm night in the illuminated city of Allah’s Messenger. The usually bustling streets of Madinah were quiet and the shops and stalls surrounding the magnificent Mosque of the Prophet were shuttered down for the night. The vast marble piazza, usually alive with pilgrims from …

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Religion

Predestiny or Reality?

When I was a staunch, devout Muslim, there were many Islamic concepts that I was struggling to understand. Predestination, or Taqdeer, was one of them. Belief in Taqdeer is a principle article of the Islamic faith. It is the belief that everything which happened, that happens and that will happen …

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Mother and child
Religion

“The child should believe that ‘p’ is true, in such a way that nothing will shake this belief” (White 1972a)

A question that keeps getting tossed at me is (So when did you decide to leave Islam?) My usual response is “I am one of the few cases in which indoctrination has miserably failed” and here is when the eye brows customarily get raised. For one to actively decide to …

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FreeThoughtReligion

What is in a word?

Words are curious little things. They’ve always fascinated me with their ability to preserve thoughts, convey ideas, and spark emotions. It is wondrous, really, the way that through so many different perceptions and possible interpretations, we still manage to generally agree on what words mean. This is why I find …

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FreeThoughtReligion

Listen and judge: an interview on Islam, cultural pluralism, and the future of secularism

http://nothingismere.com/2013/10/28/listen-and-judge-an-interview-with-marwa-berro/ I’ve been meaning to write about the recent Washington DC meetup that I attended with members of the ex-Muslim and secular communities and Richard Dawkins. I’ve also wanted to write a little bit about the goals and struggles of the ex-Muslim cause, but unfortunately haven’t gotten around to either …

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OpinionReligion

Are religions similar to capitalist businesses?

A certain Orientalist thought process among some Muslims and some Non-Muslims seems to be rooted in the assumption that Islam essentially represents some kind of resistance to capitalism and colonialism. The narrative that Islam is an alternative to ‘Western’ ideas of capitalism, globalization, and neoliberal economics, is at times touted …

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Human RightsReligion

The Absurdity of Abraham: The troubling morals of Eid al Adha

On a late October morning in 1994, the nation woke to the stirring pleas of a young woman who had just experienced every mother’s worst nightmare. Through her emotional and all too convincing sobs and sniffles, Susan Smith riveted the world with her heartbreaking story of the burly black man …

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Human RightsReligion

Why growing up in Saudi Arabia was awesome, and why I beg you not to go there

I was just reminiscing with Ali Rizvi about growing up in Saudi Arabia. We were foreigners, the children of expatriate workers. We lived in Saudi Arabia at different times; he is far older than I am, and he left in ’91 while I moved to Saudi in ’95. We walked …

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