In the recent past, there have been a number of instances where Muslim men or women have left Islam, because of illogical reasoning behind everything and unacceptable rules. Some of them reverted back to the Sanatan fold, saying, Hindu religion gives them peace. While others started organisations and groups to convince and teach fellow Islamists about the myths and fake ideas propagated by the religious texts or preachers.
Almost three years ago, one such Muslim man, Sahil left Islam saying he does not find the reasoning behind the Quran and Hadits satisfactory. His family members called a cleric, so as to counter his arguments against their religion but Sahil was adamant. With no relief, the family accepted his decision.
Leaving Islam behind, Sahil started a YouTube channel with the name Ex-Muslim Sahil. He used to teach fellow Islamists, about the bad things in Islam, be it their customs or beliefs towards other religions, science or the evolution of Human beings. He used to counter clerics and have debates with them, his channel is quite popular in India.
As of now, Sahil has as many as 3 lakh 81 thousand subscribers on YouTube and 29 thousand followers on Twitter. His Twitter bio says, “I am an Indian ExMuslim and my aim is to present the other side of Islam and Prophet Muhammad SAW in a very simple and non-technical way to Muslim Ummah. Be my voice”.
As per the details available on his Twitter, Sahil’s channel was summoned by YouTube India regarding a video of a debate with Islamic Momina on June 1. Sahil had videos on different topics from Quran and Hadits to clerics. Some of them are: Do Hindu religious texts have mention of Mohammad, What is the need of a Waqf board in a secular country like India, Other topics discussed on his channel can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
On July 6, Shail’s channel was banned by YouTube India. The channel is still active in parts of the world but is banned in India. This decision has sparked questions about the motives behind the ban and who is making these decisions.
Notably, there are numerous Islamic accounts and handles which are spreading lies and hatred towards Hindus and non-Muslims but are still active in India. But a channel critical of Islam is being blocked.
In an interview, Sahil said, he left Islam after reading Quran and Hadits which divide humans as Muslims and Kaffirs. The hidayat mentioned in the religion is misguiding, Islam is supposed to be a religion for all, so the text should be easy, the clerics themselves do not know the meaning of many texts and that is why he left the religion.
Talking about Muslims he said, “I am not against Islam, I am against that Islam with does not believe in co-existence, any person has the right to follow their own religion but Muslims tend to impose their religion on others, which is unacceptable”.
He added Islam promotes fanaticism which needs to be stopped. These fanatics do not know the meaning of true Islam, hence they are lagging behind the other populace, to burst this myth, Sahil came forward.
Sahil also runs an organization for ex-Muslims or the people who left Islam because they no more believe in the reasoning.
Sahil’s channel getting banned in India is difficult to understand. Take this post by Sahil on June 1 for instance, following restrictions on YouTube for a video Sahil wrote, “Why is Indian government censoring Ex-Muslim voices. This is what Pakistan does with us. “
Well, following the ban a hashtag, ‘#UnblockExMuslimSahillnIndia’ is trending on Twitter. The YouTuber also started a campaign asking people to sign a petition to lift the ban. The description of this petition says, “Ex-Muslim Sahil is banned unjustly on YouTube by malicious entities who want to suppress the freedom of speech in my country. Ex-Muslim Sahil discusses various points on Islam and has a reach of up to approx 400k subscribers. It is a shame that he was blocked without proper justification.”
The YouTuber is also organising live streamings demanding restoration of his channel in the country, one such live stream can be seen here.
It is notable that Sahil is not the only person leaving Islam and pointing out the flaws in the religion there are many. For instance, take O Shruti author of the book title ‘Story of a Reversion’. She reverted back to the Sanatan fold, in an exclusive interview with Organiser Shruti said, Islamic clerics teach about Islam and abuse Hindus, they talk about the Arabic way of living and unimaginable customs which is annoying.
When asked about her experience in Maunath- Ul- Islam Sabha, Ponnani she said, “Ideologically they taught us anti-national and anti-Hindu ideas. According to their teaching, Bharat is a Hindu nation. It is the place of Kafirs. Muslims are meant to live in places like Saudi Arabia, where the prophet Muhammed’s body was born and died. They said very bad and vulgar about Hindu Culture. All of their teachings helped increase my liking towards Islam and hatred towards Hindu religion and Bharat. I took an oath of spreading knowledge of Islam, Allah, Prophet. I felt that I became more pressed than a believer by then.”
“They explained about five pillars of Islam. They taught us how to do Namaz, one god concept, and the importance of Roza (fasting). When they taught about Zakath, they criticized Hindus. They said that Islam was teaching people to support one another. The rich should help the poor, especially the Muslims. They taught us that Hindus always ignore the poor. Once a teacher teasingly said that Hindu men and women go to temples and holy places not to pray but to get mingled with and get sadistic pleasure out of it. My earlier studies on Islam, speeches of Muslim preachers especially Zakir Naik, speeches emphasizing jihad and the classes in the conversion centre had turned me into a woman jihadi by then,” she added.
Another woman, 23-year-old Athira left Hinduism to embrace Islam, after her friends and class fellows groomed her, and reverted back to the Santana fold. During the release of the film ‘The Kerala Story; she shared details about her conversion period and how she was groomed and manipulated with the fear of eternal hell-fire.
She said, “During my college days most of my friends were Muslims. Some of them started to initiate religious conversations and they used to tell me that Hindu beliefs were not authentic I didn’t have any response as I knew nothing about my religion.”
She added, Influenced by them, I misunderstood that Islam is the only true religion. They used to give me books to read. I was really frightened after reading the descriptions of hell (Jahannum).
“I used to listen to speeches including that of Zakir Naik. After all of this, I misunderstood that Islam is the only true religion. I blindly believed in Islam. That’s when I decided to choose Islam, ” Athira said.
Notably, Ayisha reverted back to Sanatana Dharma in September 2017. Athira is a native of Kasargod district of Kerala. Upon reverting back to Hinduism she made a public statement in front of the media and started the press conference by saying “Om Namah Shivay”.
Organiser keeps covering the cases of Gharwapsi, some of them can be found here, here, here and here.
