My review as promised - I was going to review it all, but this post has gotten a lot longer than I expected. However, I think there's enough here to give you a good idea of what this book is about.
PrefaceThe book starts off with Irtaza Hussain's unfortunate story. For those of you who haven't heard of him, he was an ex-muslim who couldn't cope with the misery that apostasy brings and eventually ended his own life.
Simon discusses how he met Irtaza who agreed to be interviewed for his book. Describes Irtaza as a person and how passionate he was about his views on Islam/secularism. And also how difficult it was to get him to talk about his family life, which was obviously a very painful subject for him.
The chapter goes on to describe Irtaza's life, his relation with his family post-apostasy, his posts on CEMB which grew increasingly desperate, and finally his death. A very emotional chapter, and and a worthy dedication to his memory.
Principle CharactersThis book mentions 35 interviewees. Their brief introductions are described here,
Glossary of Arabic and Islamic TermsSelf-explanatory.
IntroductionThis section starts off by explaining how there has been little literature on religious defection throughout history, and concerning Islam it is virtually non-existent as it is a high politicised subject making it difficult to write about. (And even when one finally gets the green light to write about it, actually getting it into publication sometimes comes with further difficulties as was the case with this book).
He describes how he found the interviewees for this book, and mentions the forum. The rest of the chapter is dedicated to what this book is about, and also what it is not about (which, amusingly, takes up nearly half the chapter
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Aspects of ApostasyThis part deals mainly with the sociology of in-group dynamics, and how it is affected by defection/apostasy from within the group. He does an excellent job of describing why apostasy is deemed so offensive.
He talks about the different ways that apostasy can manifest itself, and identifies 7 'main' ways that apostates typically choose to exit, and the reasons for it.
This chapter includes an excellent point about how the definition of what constitutes as apostasy is growing ever wider, and how different groups of muslims have their own unique rules. A horrifying story is mentioned about an Egyptian academic named Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd who's work was declared of being an affront to Islam. This eventually led to him being called out as an apostate by a newspaper. His marriage became nulled as a consequence despite appeals, and finally they called for his death. He left the country. He was never given any chance to appeal against the false allegations of apostasy.
Becoming an ApostateThis chapter explains the different phases an apostate goes through. He begins by talking about doubt, how the people interviewed started to initially question their faith and how the questions impacted them. Our interviews are mentioned heavily from here to the rest of the book.
Feelings of guilt seemed to be a big theme here. Simon has an interesting finding amongst respondents showing that paradise meant very little to them as it's descriptions seem rather vague and abstract (rivers of milk and honey? meh...). Hell on the otherhand is described far too well, causing a source of great anxiety amongst doubters.
In order to suppress doubts, many went in search for answer online. Some tried questioning families/friends. He hows how the (non-)answers recieved impacted the doubters.
There's an interesting story of how one person hoped that hajj would reignite their faith as it is well-known for having an emotional impact on people. But that impact was absent in this particular person, and the consequences of this further weakened their faith,
Feelings of panic and desperation seem to be common when one is unable to rekindle their faith. For some it eventually leads to apathy.
Eventually, doubters ended up reading either the Quran in english to make more sense of it and/or reading atheist works for another viewpoint. This was incredibly impactful. Many respondents expressed how Islam was becoming increasingly alienating for them and how they could no longer identify with it anymore. This begins their eventual realization that Islam is not the one true religion.
The final moment, when one concludes once and for all that they are no longer a muslim is a memorable one for almost all respondents. A testament to how big a moment it is for us all, and Simon describes it well.
Topic: The Apostates by Simon Cottee is out!