Sakeena
Junior Member
De-convertion: The Signs
Asalaaamu Alaikum respected brothers and sisters.
This is something I think about a lot- much of the routes to kufr share similar characteristics. Whether it's sincere Muslims who went overboard studying Philosophy at post-grad level or girls who got involved with non Muslim boyfriends etc, there are as many ways OUT of Islam as there are in unfortunately.
But this is a very useful discussion to have insha'Allah.
The Signs:
1) A maniacal obsession with Music, musicians, and singing.
2) Megalomania and Narcissism. Megalomania is a psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence or an obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.
Narcissism is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness.
3) Philosophy. I was surprised at the connection. The more you invest in Philosophy, the more you stray from Islam.
4) Best friends who are Atheist/Drug Addicts/Philosophers/Rebels Without a Cause - all their closest, intimate friends were atheist, and/or into recreational drugs and 'alternative' living. Note, I said best friends, not acquaintances or 'just friends'.
5) Deep Personal or Psychological Problems. Probably the most important thing on this list. Usually something traumatic in their life triggered off the rebelling against Islam and 'society'. They don't actually want to de-convert, but since Islam represents everything good and organized, they need to rebel against something, so this was it.
There are a few factors I have observed in why/how people eventually apostasise:
•Little or no understanding of Tawheed: This is the absolute touchstone of Islamic theology; and is what will make or break a faith. Hands down, there is not a belief system out there that can compare to the pure and uncorrupted understanding of Tawheed that Islam has.
•Cultural baggage: The majority of those 'born Muslims' who leave Islam do so after experiencing a strange medley of unjust social/cultural traditions which are played off as 'Islamic' by their elders and community. Their fitrah yells that this cannot be 'right'- but instead of having the sincerity (or chance) of looking into Islam in and of itself, they are singed and leave everything that has a whiff of Islam attached to it.
•The lack of Islamic grounding in the family: For the majority of us who have been raised in the West and been giving a culture-based approach to the deen (rather than a knowledge-based one) we will inevitably desire what seems fun/harmless (drinking with friends, music, going to parties, girls during the teenage years etc) and wonder why we 'free' beings should have a live a life of misery and blandness with a religion obsessed with rules and marking everything as 'haraaaaaaaaam'-!
This then causes problems in how to understand why certain punishments are meted out in Shari'ah, why women cover, why Jihad is an obligation, why hellfire exists, why polygyny is permitted, why we should fear God (the God of love?)- and it becomes a slippery slope from there..
•Bad experiences with Muslims: Through peers, through family, through community, through what we see from a distance, through what we see close up. Islam does not correlate with Muslims and we do injustice to the faith when we judge it that way.
•The 'dryness' of Islam: Christ Loves You! He died for you! Love Love Love! Feel the Mercy! Allah is an angry God, Christ Loves You! He wants your redemption, he came to earth to have you forgiven and as long as you accept that, you don't have to get caught up in all these injunctions on how to live your life. Common Christian emotional rhetoric. It plays on people's nafs and gives them a religion that appeases their desires- an 'easy' way out.
•Inferiority complex: Malcolm X once said 'if you can convince a man he had no history, then you've convinced him he hasn't got a future either'. The humiliated situation of the Muslims politically nowadays, the lack of any 'advancement' coming from Muslim lands pales in comparison to the rosy glow that comes from the modern, high tech non Muslim societies who seem to espouse such human and desirable values for humanity. We're caught open mouthed slightly ashamed of where we're from and what we have to offer and all things Western suddenly become more appealing and easy to associate with.
Those are just off the top of my head, as the reasons are by no means exhaustive unfortunately. If I think of more, I'll add 'em up- but perhaps it'd be more constructive to focus on what we can do to combat the tide and really do Islam justice as Muslims.
I'm sure there are lots more signs, but these are some of the major ones. Perhaps it's because of the lives we're living--full of materialism and the desire for the world. Why else would any sane, intelligent, Muslim person ever leave this beautiful Deen, if not for the love of this world? :astag:
May ALLAH (SWT) continue to guide us all and protect us in this world ad the next from the accursed shaytan, ameen summa ameen!
:tti_sister:
Asalaaamu Alaikum respected brothers and sisters.
This is something I think about a lot- much of the routes to kufr share similar characteristics. Whether it's sincere Muslims who went overboard studying Philosophy at post-grad level or girls who got involved with non Muslim boyfriends etc, there are as many ways OUT of Islam as there are in unfortunately.
But this is a very useful discussion to have insha'Allah.
The Signs:
1) A maniacal obsession with Music, musicians, and singing.
2) Megalomania and Narcissism. Megalomania is a psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence or an obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.
Narcissism is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness.
3) Philosophy. I was surprised at the connection. The more you invest in Philosophy, the more you stray from Islam.
4) Best friends who are Atheist/Drug Addicts/Philosophers/Rebels Without a Cause - all their closest, intimate friends were atheist, and/or into recreational drugs and 'alternative' living. Note, I said best friends, not acquaintances or 'just friends'.
5) Deep Personal or Psychological Problems. Probably the most important thing on this list. Usually something traumatic in their life triggered off the rebelling against Islam and 'society'. They don't actually want to de-convert, but since Islam represents everything good and organized, they need to rebel against something, so this was it.
There are a few factors I have observed in why/how people eventually apostasise:
•Little or no understanding of Tawheed: This is the absolute touchstone of Islamic theology; and is what will make or break a faith. Hands down, there is not a belief system out there that can compare to the pure and uncorrupted understanding of Tawheed that Islam has.
•Cultural baggage: The majority of those 'born Muslims' who leave Islam do so after experiencing a strange medley of unjust social/cultural traditions which are played off as 'Islamic' by their elders and community. Their fitrah yells that this cannot be 'right'- but instead of having the sincerity (or chance) of looking into Islam in and of itself, they are singed and leave everything that has a whiff of Islam attached to it.
•The lack of Islamic grounding in the family: For the majority of us who have been raised in the West and been giving a culture-based approach to the deen (rather than a knowledge-based one) we will inevitably desire what seems fun/harmless (drinking with friends, music, going to parties, girls during the teenage years etc) and wonder why we 'free' beings should have a live a life of misery and blandness with a religion obsessed with rules and marking everything as 'haraaaaaaaaam'-!
This then causes problems in how to understand why certain punishments are meted out in Shari'ah, why women cover, why Jihad is an obligation, why hellfire exists, why polygyny is permitted, why we should fear God (the God of love?)- and it becomes a slippery slope from there..
•Bad experiences with Muslims: Through peers, through family, through community, through what we see from a distance, through what we see close up. Islam does not correlate with Muslims and we do injustice to the faith when we judge it that way.
•The 'dryness' of Islam: Christ Loves You! He died for you! Love Love Love! Feel the Mercy! Allah is an angry God, Christ Loves You! He wants your redemption, he came to earth to have you forgiven and as long as you accept that, you don't have to get caught up in all these injunctions on how to live your life. Common Christian emotional rhetoric. It plays on people's nafs and gives them a religion that appeases their desires- an 'easy' way out.
•Inferiority complex: Malcolm X once said 'if you can convince a man he had no history, then you've convinced him he hasn't got a future either'. The humiliated situation of the Muslims politically nowadays, the lack of any 'advancement' coming from Muslim lands pales in comparison to the rosy glow that comes from the modern, high tech non Muslim societies who seem to espouse such human and desirable values for humanity. We're caught open mouthed slightly ashamed of where we're from and what we have to offer and all things Western suddenly become more appealing and easy to associate with.
Those are just off the top of my head, as the reasons are by no means exhaustive unfortunately. If I think of more, I'll add 'em up- but perhaps it'd be more constructive to focus on what we can do to combat the tide and really do Islam justice as Muslims.
I'm sure there are lots more signs, but these are some of the major ones. Perhaps it's because of the lives we're living--full of materialism and the desire for the world. Why else would any sane, intelligent, Muslim person ever leave this beautiful Deen, if not for the love of this world? :astag:
May ALLAH (SWT) continue to guide us all and protect us in this world ad the next from the accursed shaytan, ameen summa ameen!
:tti_sister:
