Scan barcode
A review by nicolet2018
The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason by Ali A. Rizvi
3.0
The title caught my eye. How could atheist and muslim go together? Were they not the exact opposite in terms of belief?
Lately, I have been thinking about how religions like Islam and Christianity merge the beliefs with identity of a person.
How would it be like if you grew up in a family that practices Islam or Christianity and then decided you do not believe?
Is that okay?
Will you be ostracized and rejected by your family?
This book was written by a Muslim turned atheist. I felt that he gave an interesting picture of religion and why it did not make sense to him. The arguments and answers he received when he questioned what he learnt did not make sense.
The author mentions alot about the politcal situation in the Middle East and quite alot about the origins of Islam.
He raises a controversial point that critisizing a belief is not wrong. One of his strongest beliefs is that being secular can only benefit. I was really surprised to read that there is a rising number of Muslims who do not believe in the religion they grew up in.
Some parts were quite dry and boring. But I like the new perspective he brings. I found the theory on Identity Formation by Erik Erikson to be very interesting.
He raises the point that religion brings comfort to others. How can being atheist and believing in fact and reason comfort?
I liked his letter in Chapter 9. It spoke about death and how a person never really is gone through science. It was more thoughfult then I would have expected.
Now of course not everyone will agree with this. But that is okay.
Here are some quotes I liked:
"One of the ugliest and most sinister aspects of any religion is this intricate entanglement of ideology with identity, with often dore consequences for those who have the ability and the courage to successfully pry the two part."
Page 69, Chapter 3
"When it comes to how we form pur identities, birth gives us a head start. From the day we are born, we are assigned a racial or ethnic identity, a nationality, a biological sex, and often a familial religious affiliation that is obviously not belief-based just yet, but will unavoidably mark us (sometimes dramatically, as with rituals like genital circumcision).
These "inborn" identifiers are unearned attributes that we did nothing to achieve, and that nobody can take away from us."
Page 87 - 88, Chapter 4
"Then, there are the 'acquired' identifiers, those we actually earn by the way of exploration, drive, deliberation, and effort - these are markers of Marcian identity achievement.
As we evolve, we gain an education; form values and perspectives on our lives and the world based on what we learn from our experiences; earn a definitive social/or financial status in our communities by working hard and making decisions; settle into our professions; become parents, philantrophists, journalists, artists, engineers, business people, physicians, and more.
The more of this we do, the less likely we are to have foreclosed, and the less urgent our need to cling to our inborn identifiers."
Page 90, Chapter 4
"Remember, your cultural beliefs aren t really you. They are simply part of a medium you were cultured in where you were raised.
You know, deep down, that if you were born into a Hindu family, you'd probably be Hindu; and in a Christian family, you'd be Christian. You know, deep down, that your faith is really just an accident of birth. So logically speaking, it can't be aboit ideas, can it?
Ideas don't come with birth. They need to be considered, explored, and evaluated. What does come with birth, however is your sense of identity."
Page 96 - 97, Chapter 4
"Think about that for a second. Do you really think you need your religion in order to be good?"
Page 97, Chapter 4
"I would wonder why I had done this. No one had told us to behave this way in this particular situation. The man was grateful, which made us feel nice, but that isn't why we gave him our food. And we certainly didn't do it thinking it would get us any reward from God, or that we'd get punished in the afterlife if we didn't do it. It was the furthest thing from our minds. Yet we did it, because we know what it would feel like if we were in that man's position. We knew what it would feel like to be hungry, and could imagine how horrible he must have felt to be in the shape he is in. We did it because we could empathize with him."
Page 222, Chapter 9
Lately, I have been thinking about how religions like Islam and Christianity merge the beliefs with identity of a person.
How would it be like if you grew up in a family that practices Islam or Christianity and then decided you do not believe?
Is that okay?
Will you be ostracized and rejected by your family?
This book was written by a Muslim turned atheist. I felt that he gave an interesting picture of religion and why it did not make sense to him. The arguments and answers he received when he questioned what he learnt did not make sense.
The author mentions alot about the politcal situation in the Middle East and quite alot about the origins of Islam.
He raises a controversial point that critisizing a belief is not wrong. One of his strongest beliefs is that being secular can only benefit. I was really surprised to read that there is a rising number of Muslims who do not believe in the religion they grew up in.
Some parts were quite dry and boring. But I like the new perspective he brings. I found the theory on Identity Formation by Erik Erikson to be very interesting.
He raises the point that religion brings comfort to others. How can being atheist and believing in fact and reason comfort?
I liked his letter in Chapter 9. It spoke about death and how a person never really is gone through science. It was more thoughfult then I would have expected.
Now of course not everyone will agree with this. But that is okay.
Here are some quotes I liked:
"One of the ugliest and most sinister aspects of any religion is this intricate entanglement of ideology with identity, with often dore consequences for those who have the ability and the courage to successfully pry the two part."
Page 69, Chapter 3
"When it comes to how we form pur identities, birth gives us a head start. From the day we are born, we are assigned a racial or ethnic identity, a nationality, a biological sex, and often a familial religious affiliation that is obviously not belief-based just yet, but will unavoidably mark us (sometimes dramatically, as with rituals like genital circumcision).
These "inborn" identifiers are unearned attributes that we did nothing to achieve, and that nobody can take away from us."
Page 87 - 88, Chapter 4
"Then, there are the 'acquired' identifiers, those we actually earn by the way of exploration, drive, deliberation, and effort - these are markers of Marcian identity achievement.
As we evolve, we gain an education; form values and perspectives on our lives and the world based on what we learn from our experiences; earn a definitive social/or financial status in our communities by working hard and making decisions; settle into our professions; become parents, philantrophists, journalists, artists, engineers, business people, physicians, and more.
The more of this we do, the less likely we are to have foreclosed, and the less urgent our need to cling to our inborn identifiers."
Page 90, Chapter 4
"Remember, your cultural beliefs aren t really you. They are simply part of a medium you were cultured in where you were raised.
You know, deep down, that if you were born into a Hindu family, you'd probably be Hindu; and in a Christian family, you'd be Christian. You know, deep down, that your faith is really just an accident of birth. So logically speaking, it can't be aboit ideas, can it?
Ideas don't come with birth. They need to be considered, explored, and evaluated. What does come with birth, however is your sense of identity."
Page 96 - 97, Chapter 4
"Think about that for a second. Do you really think you need your religion in order to be good?"
Page 97, Chapter 4
"I would wonder why I had done this. No one had told us to behave this way in this particular situation. The man was grateful, which made us feel nice, but that isn't why we gave him our food. And we certainly didn't do it thinking it would get us any reward from God, or that we'd get punished in the afterlife if we didn't do it. It was the furthest thing from our minds. Yet we did it, because we know what it would feel like if we were in that man's position. We knew what it would feel like to be hungry, and could imagine how horrible he must have felt to be in the shape he is in. We did it because we could empathize with him."
Page 222, Chapter 9