Moroccan apostate of the second generation  (March 30, 2013)

Being the second generation of Moroccan descent in Belgium, I grew up with the practice of Islam. During my early childhood, courses of islamic religion did not exist at school. Muslims had no radical discourse. The most amazing thing was the spirit of openness between the different people. Muslim girls and boys were dressed in a similar way as the other children (there were no headscarves).

I was attending classes about Islam from the age of 12. The teacher of Islam seemed to be very strict. He would not tolerate a boy sitting next to a girl in class or a boy talking to a girl (for the boys and the girls themselves there was no problem). It was very important to learn Arabic. The worst is that we spent a lot of time to memorize verses from the Quran of which we did not understand the meaning.
 

I remember one day, a classmate had called into question the method of religious teaching methods. The teacher got angry and looked at her in such a hateful way that I still remember it until today. Later, I learned that our religion teacher had contacted the parents of the student. After that, she had completely changed. She did not even react anymore to the systematic abuse of the teacher. She was also the first to don the veil. She was submitted.

My brothers and sisters, like myself, were complaining regularly. Fortunately, my parents gave in and we were enrolled in the ethics course. It was truly a great and happy change.

The presence of Islam in our area, with my mates of the second generation, became more obvious and the discourse became very intolerant. Radical speeches, hateful towards non practicing Muslims, with recommendations to become a "good" Muslim more and more influence.

The introduction of courses of Islam in schools have resulted in an increasing number of girls wearing headscarves. It happened to me several times to be witnessing public insults of girls who do not wear the veil. My sisters were also taken aside by the "good" Muslims. At school, there was pressure on young people to fast during Ramadan. Ramadan was always the time when hate speech prevailed.

The increasing presence of Islamic militants in parts of Brussels has completely changed my perspective because, unfortunately, their remarks were accurate. The incitement to hatred against non-Muslims and various punishments
specifically reserved for women and children are of a completely different era. By the age of 18, I had been approached several times by what I call "radical" people who preached fighting in the name of Allah in all forms. They also call for a return to what they say is the true Islam (strict application of the Qoran and the Sharia). These Islamists are recruiting youth to fight in Muslim countries.

It was also the time of the tragic events of September 11 that the designs of Islam have definitely pushed me away from the Muslim religion. Initially, I thought these radicals were just crazy, without real intent to harm and what they said was not Islam. While growing up as a Muslim, it always seemed to me that Islam was a good religion. However after realizing that you should never doubt the words of this religion for fear of being punished severely (even death) and that anyone who leaves the Muslim religion should be killed (certainly if he or she does so publicly) and after seeing so many other issues that are at variance with the human, I decided to renounce Islam forever and become an apostate. 

Since the day I left Islam, I live in peace. My view is that Islam is not a religion of openness. History has shown the failure of the "Islamic" model. Muslim countries will certainly be happier with an environment in which religion does not take a prominent place. It is time that women and men in the Muslim world have the opportunity to leave the religion.