I stumbled on this post, made by a lady going by the name 'throwaway425423', on reddit:

So first off I'm an Indian Muslim born and raised in America.

To put it simply, I don't "feel" Muslim, and looking back I don't think I ever have. A lot of people claim they feel close to God when they pray or read Quran, but I've never felt anything like that. Prayer has always been a hollow ritual, never really having any special meaning for me. Quran is the same way. Both prayer and quran are things I've come to almost loath inside of me, yet I see other Muslims love prayer and such, one girl at the masjid even said she feels passion within her heart just looking at pictures of the kaabah.

I know I must seem really close minded and dismissive of Islam and the true details of it, please hear me out first. When I was younger I went to Islamic school and put as much effort as I could to being a good Muslim. I even spent a couple years in an Islamic private school. Despite all this, I feel I've lost my connection to God. I thought that maybe the school's teaching style just wasn't with my learning style, and I tried looking into Islam and such myself, but in the end I still could not rebuild any connection to Allah.

I honestly have no idea what to do, and I am on the verge of accepting that Islam might not be for me. I've done everything I can think of to rebuild that spiritual connection with Allah yet I get nothing. Simply put the deen just isn't for me. I don't want to keep trying and failing my whole life, I feel like its gotten to the point where the more I try the more miserable I get. In short I don't think being Muslim has enriched my life in anyway. In fact its the opposite, I feel like it's hindering my happiness.

I remember once when I was a child I asked my parents if I could go to a friends house and spend the afternoon there. At first they were OK with it, until they found out her parents drank wine. All of a sudden spending the afternoon with my friend was completely out of the question. There were dozens of moments like in my childhood, far too many to count. I feel like I missed out on some great memories because of it, and that Islam has made me separated from modern society and most of the community when I was in grade school. And that's not even mentioning the number of friends I've been forced to let go simply because we happened to be the opposite gender, all because good Muslim girls don't have male friends.

I don't want to be Muslim anymore, I just want to be normal. I want to take off my hijab and feel the wind through through my hair. I want to stop having to avoid certain foods just because they have a certain meat in them. I want to be able to go out on my own and enjoy some independence for once. I feel so suffocated by my family's beliefs and I just want to end it all, stop being Muslim move out of my family's house and just enjoy life.

The worst part of it all is that I don't think I can realistically do any of that. I feel like I've been forced into a corner and that I have no choice but to depend on my family, to the point where I simply can't do the things I want to. I'm not even sure if I can tell my family since I have no clue how they'll react to me coming this close to losing Islam. I'm not even sure why I'm posting this, I guess I'm hoping someone here might be able to relate and maybe offer up some advice. Sorry for writing a novel, I just needed a place to vent.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/5xdthl/my_faith_in_islam_is_nearly_gone/

What's your advice for her? You can post your response here or on reddit, whichever forum suits you more.

From the write up so far I think her parent caused it all. I used to tell who cares to listen, Religion is like bird, you don't hold it too tight because if you do you kill it. How could you deprive your daughter from mixing with her peers all the name of religion. She was raised by extremists and that is the major reason she loss interest in Deen ISLAM.

I will advise her to try Sufism.

I don't want to be Muslim anymore, I just want to be normal. I want to take off my hijab and feel the wind through through my hair. I want to stop having to avoid certain foods just because they have a certain meat in them. I want to be able to go out on my own and enjoy some independence for once. I feel so suffocated by my family's beliefs and I just want to end it all, stop being Muslim move out of my family's house and just enjoy life.

ok, you've told us exactly why you want to leave Islam, NEXT?! .

madridguy:
From the write up so far I think her parent caused it all. I used to tell who cares to listen, Religion is like bird, you don't hold it too tight because if you do you kill it. How could you deprive your daughter from mixing with her peers all the name of religion. She was raised by extremists and that is the major reason she loss interest in Deen ISLAM.

if depriving a child the ability to go and be friends with a child of drunkards is extremism, then i wonder what kind of a muslim you are. as if you dont know Allaah's messenger cursed wine(drinking) and everything associated with it.

don't you know "a man is upon the religion(way of life) of his close friend, so one should look at who he befriends"? ~ The messenger of Allaah.


nawa for you ooo.

I will advise her to try Sufism

oh! you are a sufi?! abajo, some sufis take alcohol and say they are feee from the shareeah(rulings of alcohol) of Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam), so I'm no longer amazed that you see it as nothing.

You need to broaden your knowledge about Islam.

AbdelKabir:


ok, you've told us exactly why you want to leave Islam, NEXT?! .



if depriving a child the ability to go and be friends with a child of drunkards is extremism, then i wonder what kind of a muslim you are. as if you dont know Allaah's messenger cursed wine(drinking) and everything associated with it.

don't you know "a man is upon the religion(way of life) of his close friend, so one should look at who he befriends"? ~ The messenger of Allaah.


nawa for you ooo.



oh! you are a sufi?! abajo, some sufis take alcohol and say they are feee from the shareeah(rulings of alcohol) of Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam), so I'm no longer amazed that you see it as nothing.

madridguy:
You need to broaden your knowledge about Islam.

I'm sorry i had to tell you the bitter truth, its as sharp as a dagger right?!

mr sufi, you need to know that alcohol(drinking) is cursed in Islam and a Muslim should hate it and anything that surrounds it, so her parents are not extrimists for having excommunicated her from people who drink it.

To the one who says "I want to enjoy life" Allaah says;

Surah Al-Hadid, Verse 20:

اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ

Know that this world's life is only a play and amusement and gaiety and boasting among yourselves, and a vying in the multiplication of wealth and children, like the rain, whose causing the vegetation to grow, pleases the husbandmen, then it withers away so that you will see it become yellow, then it becomes dried up and broken down; and in the hereafter is a severe chastisement and (also) forgiveness from Allah and (His) pleasure; and this world's life is naught but means of deception.


Surah Al-Qiyama, Verse 20:

كَلَّا بَلْ تُحِبُّونَ الْعَاجِلَةَ

Nay! But you love the present life,

Surah Al-Qiyama, Verse 21:

وَتَذَرُونَ الْآخِرَةَ

And neglect the hereafter.


via iQuran

So who is supporting Alcohol? Go back to my post.

AbdelKabir:



I'm sorry i had to tell you the bitter truth, its as sharp as a dagger right?!

mr sufi, you need to know that alcohol(drinking) is cursed in Islam and a Muslim should hate it and anything that surrounds it, so her parents are not extrimists for having excommunicated her from people who drink it.

AbdelKabir:


ok, you've told us exactly why you want to leave Islam, NEXT?! .



if depriving a child the ability to go and be friends with a child of drunkards is extremism, then i wonder what kind of a muslim you are. as if you dont know Allaah's messenger cursed wine(drinking) and everything associated with it.

don't you know "a man is upon the religion(way of life) of his close friend, so one should look at who he befriends"? ~ The messenger of Allaah.


nawa for you ooo.



oh! you are a sufi?! abajo, some sufis take alcohol and say they are feee from the shareeah(rulings of alcohol) of Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam), so I'm no longer amazed that you see it as nothing.

Not all sufis drink wine....

Not all sufis worship graves....

This is how other muslims do takfeer on another group just because tyhey see some commit some sins, as if they are the best!!!

Go and learn more about tasawwuf, dont just buy a pamphlet and read, then think you know everything about it....

madridguy:
So who is supporting Alcohol? Go back to my post.

one of the reasons you tagged her parents extremist was because they excommunicated their daughter from a child of alcohol drinkers.

Lagusta:


Not all sufis drink wine....

Not all sufis worship graves....

This is how other muslims do takfeer on another group just because tyhey see some commit some sins, as if they are the best!!!

Go and learn more about tasawwuf, dont just buy a pamphlet and read, then think you know everything about it....

this would've made sense if i didnt put the word "some" in my post.

Lagusta:


Not all sufis drink wine....

Not all sufis worship graves....

This is how other muslims do takfeer on another group just because tyhey see some commit some sins, as if they are the best!!!

Go and learn more about tasawwuf, dont just buy a pamphlet and read, then think you know everything about it....

this is the main thing you were in a haste to type, this is why you failed to understand what you quoted properly..

ok thats old, say something else.

I would just advise the lady to mix with sisters in her community... there she can share experiences especially with muslim reverts and how they found inner peace with islaam...

Being harsh on her wont help matters.... many non muslims (especially with the help of the media) has already portrayed islaam as a harsh, cruel and backward religion, which shouldn't be so...

It"s quite normal with kids of her age to behave like this, its called "youthful exuberance". What the parents should have done is to sit her down, talk to them and make her see the bad sides in what her friends do....

They should ask why she has to expose her body anyhow so that all sorts of guys would take her as a commoner, she has to see herself as special when she covers up....

No need to waste time here, what she needs is good advice, not harsh words....

AbdelKabir:


this is the main thing you were in a haste to type, this is why you failed to understand what you quoted properly..

ok thats old, say something else.

E pain you because say na true talk i talk.... chaaaaiiii

AbdelKabir:


this is the main thing you were in a haste to type, this is why you failed to understand what you quoted properly..

ok thats old, say something else.

AbdelKabir:


one of the reasons you tagged herher parents extremist was because they excommunicated their daughter from a child of alcohol drinkers.

did you understand madridguy"s post before quoting him??

Lagusta:


E pain you because say na true talk i talk.... chaaaaiiii

sorry you cant play a psychological game with me, try something else.

Lagusta:


did you understand madridguy"s post before quoting him??

He called the parents extremist for excommunicating her from people of alcohol.

how does this justify your misunderstanding of my post?

You are only talking about the Alcohol area and you blind folded where she was denied liberty to play with her age group just because they're non-muslim.

AbdelKabir:


He called the parents extremist for excommunicating her from people of alcohol.

how does this justify your misunderstanding of my post?

madridguy:
You are only talking about the Alcohol area and you blind folded where she was denied liberty to play with her age group just because they're non-muslim.

I'm sorry but where did she mention that? I only noticed the part where she talked about the opposite gender.

madridguy:
You are only talking about the Alcohol area

Yes, a Muslim should hate alcohol, and not call other Muslims extremist for going far from it.

and you blind folded where she was denied,liberty to play with her age group just because they're non-muslim.

kindly point out where that was mentioned in the post.

I and this sister share things in common, welcome to the club.

Wetin concern me

Rilwayne001:
Wetin concern me

wetin you con dey do here ehn?

tintingz:
wetin you con dey do here ehn?

Wetin concern you

Rilwayne001:


Wetin concern you

Lol

AbdelKabir:


.

# People like you with your fanatical and troglodytes' behavior are the reason Islam is being bashed sometimes. You only think about your "righteous" self. You never respect the feelings of other. Never gave them excuse or see through their inner feelings not to mention of analyzing the root cause of their problem, sensibly, and proffer way out.

# Nigeria is a case study today. The rate at which Christianity is growing is alarming. When troglodytes like you will look into such matter, nothing sensible will ever come out of it other than usual bashing of Christianity.

# Even the simplest rule of worship in Islam is "Knowing God before you (start) worshipping Him". 65% of Muslims today are Muslim because they are (were) born into the religion and find themselves in Muslim community. Why are they Muslims, they don't know. Salat, fasting, hijab etc become a kind of cultural norm rather than knowing the intellectual and philosophical basis behind these. This kind of problem is pass down generations. That's why a Muslim convert is sometimes 2X aware of his new religion than person born into it.


# Islam is being understood and viewed as a kind of robotic religion with killer set of rules. That make things difficult for weaker mind. Mind need to be convinced not tamed and plagued with rules with scary consequences. With this, the freedom inside will radiate and it will be easier to abide by these beneficial set of rules which are primarily designed to guide towards a better living.

# Whenever I travel, you see many people especially ladies with their hijab removed once they enter a " freedom world", and they put it on back once they reach the boarder of their country.

# We are living in the modern age. Eyes, ears, brain etc have developed far beyond the cave age. Stop preaching Islam with scary fatwas and must do and donts; convince people intellectually and with good manners.

^^^You're blessed Albaqir

Imagine that fanatic man called me an apostate and raised an apostate fatwa on me.

AbdelKabir:


if depriving a child the ability to go and be friends with a child of drunkards is extremism, then i wonder what kind of a muslim you are. as if you dont know Allaah's messenger cursed wine(drinking) and everything associated with it.

# Why did her parent decided to raise her in a "Kuffar" environment in the first instance?

And no doubt these are kind of parents that knows nothing about Islam other than to follow set of rules robotically yet they decided to raise their kid in America, a "free world". Why won't she be tired of "forced Islam?"

# Mind is like a spring. You don't put load on it to suppress it. Once the load fall of, the rate at which the spring will jump might not be easily controlled.

AbdelKabir:


kindly point out where that was mentioned in the post.

snapscore:


I'm sorry but where did she mention that? I only noticed the part where she talked about the opposite gender.

This is the part the gentleman is referring to:

All of a sudden spending the afternoon with my friend was completely out of the question.

There were dozens of moments like in my childhood, far too many to count. I feel like I missed out on some great memories because of it, and that Islam has made me separated from modern society and most of the community when I was in grade school.

According to you guys, the American lifestyle especially the one portrayed in the story, is it Islamic or non-Islamic? You yourself have labeled them, "people of alcohol".

AlBaqir:




This is the part the gentleman is referring to:

All of a sudden spending the afternoon with my friend was completely out of the question.

There were dozens of moments like in my childhood, far too many to count. I feel like I missed out on some great memories because of it, and that Islam has made me separated from modern society and most of the community when I was in grade school.

According to you guys, the American lifestyle especially the one portrayed in the story, is it Islamic or non-Islamic? You yourself have labeled them, "people of alcohol".

These set of Muslims a.k.a troglodyte are hypocrites, they call the west all sort of names, kafir, people of hell etc and yet you will see them living in the countries and even using what they invented.

AlBaqir:


# People like you with your fanatical and troglodytes' behavior are the reason Islam is being bashed sometimes. You only think about your "righteous" self. You never respect the feelings of other. Never gave them excuse or see through their inner feelings not to mention of analyzing the root cause of their problem, sensibly, and proffer way out.

# Nigeria is a case study today. The rate at which Christianity is growing is alarming. When troglodytes like you will look into such matter, nothing sensible will ever come out of it other than usual bashing of Christianity.

# Even the simplest rule of worship in Islam is "Knowing God before you (start) worshipping Him". 65% of Muslims today are Muslim because they are (were) born into the religion and find themselves in Muslim community. Why are they Muslims, they don't know. Salat, fasting, hijab etc become a kind of cultural norm rather than knowing the intellectual and philosophical basis behind these. This kind of problem is pass down generations. That's why a Muslim convert is sometimes 2X aware of his new religion than person born into it.


# Islam is being understood and viewed as a kind of robotic religion with killer set of rules. That make things difficult for weaker mind. Mind need to be convinced not tamed and plagued with rules with scary consequences. With this, the freedom inside will radiate and it will be easier to abide by these beneficial set of rules which are primarily designed to guide towards a better living.

# Whenever I travel, you see many people especially ladies with their hijab removed once they enter a " freedom world", and they put it on back once they reach the boarder of their country.

# We are living in the modern age. Eyes, ears, brain etc have developed far beyond the cave age. Stop preaching Islam with scary fatwas and must do and donts; convince people intellectually and with good manners.

just tell us you just learnt the word troglodyte and that's why you are using it all over NL.

sorry, all these you typed won't make anyone convert to Shiism because we know thats your ultimate aim.

We unlike you are not liars and won't because we want to preach Islam to someone lie to them, when at the end of the day, we don't have the power to make the person a Muslim.

I tell you realities and you accept, good for you, if you don't, it's for your unfortunate self, but i won't because of that start sugarcoating.

she already stated why she wants to leave islam, all because she wants to be "free", but dont know that true freedom comes from worshipping Allaah.

this is what i pointed out, and i didnt even use harsh words on her, so what exactly is y'all point?

I was harsh on the mr sufi for calling people extremist because they want to be far from alcohol which is a good thing.

keep trying to look "innocent", we know your taquiyyah styles.

AlBaqir:




This is the part the gentleman is referring to:

All of a sudden spending the afternoon with my friend was completely out of the question.

There were dozens of moments like in my childhood, far too many to count. I feel like I missed out on some great memories because of it, and that Islam has made me separated from modern society and most of the community when I was in grade school.

According to you guys, the American lifestyle especially the one portrayed in the story, is it Islamic or non-Islamic? You yourself have labeled them, "people of alcohol".

I'm still waiting for where she was deprived friendship because they were non Muslims, she was allowed to be friends with a non Muslim until they found out her parents drank alcohol, so try harder. stop trying to imply what the girl did not say in your bid to make some people look bad.

AlBaqir:


# Why did her parent decided to raise her in a "Kuffar" environment in the first instance?

And no doubt these are kind of parents that knows nothing about Islam other than to follow set of rules robotically yet they decided to raise their kid in America, a "free world". Why won't she be tired of "forced Islam?"

# Mind is like a spring. You don't put load on it to suppress it. Once the load fall of, the rate at which the spring will jump might not be easily controlled.

take the next available flight to USA and ask them personally.