Hi there everyone,
I'm an ex-muslim from Kuwait. I was born and raised in a religious family and was a REALLY religious guy until almost 3 years ago.
My conversion was a result of research on the origins of religious beliefs and practices... for example: The notion of kneeling that is being used by muslims as they pray was used by ancient Jews and Arab Pagans... the month of Ramadan is a edited version of what sabeans of harran would practice...and so are all of the practices. A muslim would reply by: "Well God sent a lot of messengers, so all of these religions must be altered True religions." ... My reply would be: If they were all altered true religions then why are they all not "people of the book"(Christians and Jews).
These revelations made me look at islam as a man made religion instead of a divine one. The veil of an omnopotent god was torn apart and i began seeing islam as a 7th century religion instead of the "Perfect way of Life".
I was married to my wife while i was muslim and she wasn't interested in the idea of religion from the beginning of her life but had to go with the rest of the herd. This made me extremely annoyed during my years as a muslim, but then i realized how lucky i am after i left religion XD
My wife and I still live a double life since our families are very conservative. We can only truly live by our ideas when we're on vacation, outside of the Middle east. I'm thinking of working and living abroad, but Kuwait has an amazing education support system... so i may just wait after i finish my Phd to immigrate to another country.
Thanks for reading my rant :)
Subscription Note:
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
Greetings and welcome Ben...
Thanks for the interesting post .... nice one.
Sounds like getting your education and then jumping ship is a great plan. In the mean time, you can be yourself here. Welcome to AR!
Hi, Ben. I've been to Kuwait a couple of times and I could never understand how anyone could be a believer in that heat: 45 degrees in the shade!
You are right about the education system, you should stick with it. You don't even have to think of it as a "double life" really. Many great people who were probably atheist lived as social christians, muslims, jews, etc. It's more about the dicision to conform to cultural norms or live as a social pariah. Of course, the penalty for apostatism being death is also a decent motivation for not being openly atheist.
And now I'm ranting... Welcome and good luck with it.
Welcome :)
Ahlan wasahla ya habibi mabrook mabrook!!!
It's tough being like that in Kuwait.
You are not alone. I know several people, mostly from Muslim countries, who also live "double lives". I do too at times. Hopefully, one day soon, you will find the freedom to live by your ideas and be who you really are without having to worry about not being understood and accepted by family and other people.
Thank you for sharing your journey and thoughts with me. I understand geometry dash subzero that questioning and eventually leaving a deeply ingrained religious belief can be a challenging and transformative experience.