Dr. Noha Mahmoud Salemhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsIB5l4zIuc..........Noha Mahmoud Salem, 53, describes herself as a former "fanatic" and Salafi. She began wearing the niqab, or veil, at the age of 21. At 24, she married a conservative Muslim and they had three boys together. But around the age of 30 she began having doubts about religion, and she stopped praying.
Both Noha and her husband thought she might have a psychological problem. She went to see specialists who told her she was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and needed strong medication. The medication didn't seem to help, and she was still questioning her faith, so she was given stronger and more harmful drugs. She became like a zombie, she said.
"It stopped my thinking and I was afraid that some damage had been done to my brain," she recalled. "When I stopped the medication, my brain gradually recovered."
But her questioning of religion continued. Noha finally got divorced from her husband in 2007, after nearly 25 years of marriage. She does not, however, describe herself as an atheist. "It is better to say I am a 'Muslim' but 'an intellectual Muslim,'" she said, "because when I say 'I am a Muslim', people will begin to hear me. Otherwise they will be my enemies."
Yet she cannot get her three sons to listen to her. Her relationship with them is a big source of anguish. She describes them as Salafis. They treat her harshly, and warn her that she is going to hell; meanwhile, she tells them there is no hell.
"They always tell me that I am psychologically troubled," she says. A few months ago, Noha got a certificate from a psychologist in Alexandria proving that she is mentally well. What did her family say? "No, the doctor is wrong; he didn't give you the right diagnosis."".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs2BV-2qn24