A Jobless Apostate 

2005/02/18

By Hamidah

Dear Mr. Sina,  

I was what you would call an “Islamic apologist”. I am from Egypt but now I am living in Australia . I left Islam and if you are interested I would like to explain why I followed your example and became an apostate.  

I dedicated my whole life to advocating Islam and spreading a "new vision" for interpreting the Koran. As a girl I used to find it quite challenging to understand why I should inherit only a half of male’s share and why I am considered to be less intelligent than my brother, who was a lazy fellow and didn’t study at all.  

When I grew up I decided that it was high time we began interpreting the Koran in a different way.  

People in Australia are very much interested in Islam and I offered them a “modern” interpretation of the Koran. My work was about explaining why the prophet married more than four wives and why women are deficient in intelligence and religion. My Christian friends are under attack too because science has proven many parts of the Bible wrong too. But I envied them because at least they didn’t have to cover their prophet’s crimes. Jesus Christ, unlike Mohammed, was a very noble man .  

A few months ago I found myself in a trap. Muslims hated me with all their hearts, calling me a heretic for trying to reinterpret the Koran and the western people thought I was oppressed. But I should say my life was not very Islamic. It would suffice to say that I am married to an Iranian atheist. His history is very similar to yours; he got out of Iran just before the revolution and he blames Islam for the problems in Iran. I tried to explain to him that the "up-to-date" interpretation of the Koran is okay but he was too stubborn to agree with me.  

I was a loner having been boycotted by Muslims and that’s why I finally decided to visit a taboo site www.faithfreedom.org. It was hard for me to read your articles but I knew you were right. The article that made me leave Islam was about the reformation of Islam. The woman who wrote that letter to you was just like me. I hope that she has already left Islam.  

To sum up, I am no longer a Muslim. The only downside is that I am jobless now. Teaching Islam was my occupation.  I am thinking of going into business.  

Thank you,  

Hamidah.