Ex-Muslim Studies

Ex-Muslim Studies is an emerging, interdisciplinary field of study that explores issues relating to the thought, culture, sociology, psychology, politics, identity, ideology, and religion (or lack of religion) of ex-Muslims.
Most ex-Muslims belong to one of two categories. Those who have left Islam for no religion (deism, agnosticism, secular humanism, or atheism), and those who have converted from Islam to Christianity.
Origins
Apostasy from Islam to another religion or no religion is as old as Islam itself. However, in the 1960’s substantial numbers of Javanese Muslims in Indonesia started converting to Christianity, up to two million, according to Avery Willis Jr. Since that time it has been possible to move from studying individual ex-Muslims to studying movements out of Islam and communities of ex-Muslims. Later substantial movements out of Islam include Iranian converts from Shi’a Islam to Christianity, both in Iran and in the Iranian Diaspora, the ‘new Christian’ movement in Algeria, numbers of Kosovars converting to Roman Catholicism, and the growth of the Turkish Protestant Church. Other movements in places like Ethiopia, Albania, and Sub-Saharan Africa have also been noted. These are movements from Islam to Christianity.
Research has been carried out on the context of the later half of the 20th Century, asking what factors were present that helped create an environment wherein increasing numbers of Muslims could convert to Christianity. The following list of factors facilitating conversion (in decreasing order of importance) resulted:
# Media
# Exposure to other ways of life/thought/and religion
# Contextualized or culturally-sensitive witness
# Living Abroad/migration
# Prayers/a move of the Spirit/God’s timing
# Dreams/Visions/Miracles
# Greater number of missionaries
# Translation of the Bible and material into local languages/dialects/forms
# Greater diversity in missionary strategies/platforms
# Great boldness in evangelization
Some Muslims have also departed Islam for no religion at all. Many of these ex-Muslims go on to live quiet lives while keeping their apostasy private, especially if they live in an Islamic society where apostasy may be punished by law. Some of these apostates have, however, gained great notoriety by publicly criticizing Islam. Examples are Salman Rushdie; Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel; Ali Sina, author of ; and Ibn Warraq, author of .
Ex-Muslim Christians have also published numerous books telling their stories of conversion from Islam to Christianity. One of the earliest such books is Italic text[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122540534 A Muslim who became a Christian: the story of John Avetaranian (born Muhammed Shukri Effendi) 1861-1919, An Autobiography]Italic text. Some of the other more recent such books are Hannah Shah’s , Bilquis Sheikh’s I Dared to Call Him Father, Steven Masood’s Into the Light, David Nasser’s Jumping through Fires, and Gulshan Esther’s The Torn Veil.
Areas of Research
Ex-Muslim studies is an inter-disciplinary field of study, and draws on insights from fields as diverse as sociology, history, psychology, political science, theology, and economics for the sake of understanding and explaining its research topic. The discipline of ex-Muslim studies is still in its infancy, so many topics remain relatively or totally unresearched. Following are some of the key research questions and topics that have surfaced to date.
Conversion and Apostasy
Why do Muslims leave Islam? A few studies have been conducted. Khalil and Bilici surveyed a number of accounts of ex-Muslims, including both individuals who had left for non-religion and some who had converted to Christianity. They concluded that there are two main categories or types of motivations, and they summarized their findings in the following list:
Intellectual/Ideological Motivations
* 1. The status of women in Islam.
* 2. The contradiction between Shari‘a and human rights.
* 3. The problematic nature of the Qur’an.
* 4. The character of the Prophet and other Muslim leaders.
* 5. Islam as illogical and unscientific (e.g. vis-a-vis the theory of evolution).
* 6. The eternal damnation of good non-Muslims.
* 7. The unnecessary, strict rules and expectations of Islam.
* 8. Islam as not universal, but rather Arab-centric.
* 9. The dubious historicity of the Qur’an and Hadith.
Social/Experiential Motivations
* 1. Encounters with bad, cruel Muslims.
* 2. Muslims as oppressive.
* 3. Muslims as backward.
* 4. Muslim ill-treatment of women.
* 5. Muslim ill-treatment of non-Muslims.
* 6. Muslims in a state of illusion regarding their own religion.

Other studies have focused specifically on ex-Muslim converts to Christianity. J. Dudley Woodberry and Russsell Shubin received information from hundreds of Muslim-background believers (MBB’s). They proposed the following list of reasons for conversion:
# A sure salvation
# Jesus
# A Holy Book: the power of the Bible
# Then you will know the truth (Christianity teaches the truth about God, humanity and ethics)
# Dreams and vision
# The love of God manifest in Christ and the Church
# I have called you friends: relationship with God
# Persecution (both being persecuted and seeing others persecuted)
Abu Daoud presents a similar list, in no particular order:
# Dreams and visions
# The person of Jesus
# The Bible, especially the Gospels
# Assurance of salvation
# Disappointment with Islam
# The witness of Christian communities
Jean-Marie Gaudeul, a Catholic Priest and Missionary of Africa (or White Fathers), studied the conversion narratives of a large number of converts and summarized that the following five reasons are central in relation to motivation for conversion:
# Those who feel drawn to Jesus’ personality
# Those looking for inner certainty
# Those who discover a community of believers in Christian churches
# Those who seek forgiveness and are drawn to the central message of the Gospel
# Those who hunger for a personal experience of God in prayer
Theology and Ideology
When ex-Muslims compose texts, what are they about? What are they advocating? To whom are these texts directed? What is the motive for composing and publishing these texts?
An overarching theme in the writings of many ex-Muslims in the West appears to be related to raising awareness of the perceived dangers of Islamization. However, no comprehensive study of ex-Muslim writings exists at the moment.
Duane Alexander Miller, having read a wide assortment of texts by ex-Muslim Christians, argued that they are engaging in the process of theology-making. Basing his analysis on the work of Robert Schreiter and Shoki Coe, he argues that some of them are creating liberation theologies whereby they seek to subvert the unjust structures of the Islamic shari’a which prescribes death for the apostate by advocating for tolerance and freedom of religion.
Sociology and Anthropology
Kathryn Kraft, in her 2007 doctoral thesis, which is based on studying converts in Egypt and Lebanon, concludes that the converts she interviewed face many difficulties including anomie, disappointment with local churches, finding a spouse, relating to other Christians, relating to the government, and, in general, the development of a stable new identity as a convert.
Seppo Syrjanen, a Lutheran missionary and scholar, came to similar conclusions in his earlier study of conversion in Pakistan. Tim Green has explored in greater detail the difficult social and cultural issues facing ex-Muslim Christians in South Asia in relation to the question of finding a spouse.
Ex-Muslims, when they become Christians, may form churches. This has been the case with some communities of Iranian Christians, both in Iran and in the Diaspora. Roy Oksnevad has studied the sources of tension and problems among leaders in some Iranian churches.
Anthony Greenham, Australian missiologist, has completed a study of ex-Muslim Christians in the West Bank. His focus was on why Muslims converted to Christianity.
Qur’anic and Shari’a Studies
Since one of the key challenges facing ex-Muslims is related to the shari’a, and specifically the law of apostasy, it is inevitable that some ex-Muslims are drawn into this area of study. For some ex-Muslims, the key point is to show that the Islamic shari’a is incompatible with human rights. For others it is to advocate for a vision of the shari’a that will allow for them to legally convert and not be persecuted or forced into exile for their choice.
Among Christian ex-Muslims, there is sometimes a focus on apologetics. This entails using the Qur’an to present the Christian message to Muslims for the sake of evangelism. Some of the key points in reference to this approach consist of the following arguments: 1) That the Qur’an does not teach that Jesus was not crucified, 2) That the Qur’an does clearly not teach that the text of the Torah and Injiil/Gospel have been corrupted, and that 3) the doctrine of Naskh/Mansuukh (Abrogation/Abrogated) is incoherent and illogical.
Politics
Islam is at once a politic and a religion. Therefore, when a person leaves Islam, the larger society often interprets this as treason or a betrayal of the state. Some ex-Muslims are vocal in advocating for secular governance and not allowing for special rights for Muslims or Muslim communities. Others advocate for women’s rights or greater rights for ex-Muslim Christians. To date this advocacy has been, on the whole, unfruitful.
According to the shari’a, a person with at least one Muslim parent is, legally speaking, a Muslim. This means that Carlos Menem, former president of Argentina, is technically speaking an ex-Muslim. A research project in this field asking if his partially-Islamic heritage influenced his political decisions and actions would be appropriate to the field of ex-Muslim studies.
Saiid Rabiipour has composed a record of his post-conversion captivity in Iran, which one scholar has called a ‘theology of freedom’.
British-Pakistani ex-Muslim Hannah Shah has advocated against forced marriages of young Asian ladies.
Throughout Europe a number of councils or boards of ex-Muslims, including both secular and Christian individuals, have been formed. Such bodies exist in the United Kingdom, Austria and Belgium, for instance. Nonie Darwish has founded the US-based group Former Muslims United.
Christian Ex-Muslims, Insider Movements and Muslim-background believers
Insider Movements theoretically require that a person remain within the socio-religious community of their birth. This seems to preclude that someone could be an ex-Muslim and be part of a so-called ‘insider movement’ at the same time. The same is true for so-called ‘messianic Muslims’. Some Muslims claim to ‘follow Jesus’ without becoming Christians. Ex-Muslim Christians understand themselves to be Christians first and foremost, they happen to come from an Islamic background.
In relation to Muslim-background believers (MBB's), some MBB's understand themselves as having left Islam for Christianity, and they are ex-Muslims. Those who do not understand themselves as having left Islam are not ex-Muslims. On the other hand, many ex-Muslims do not embrace the Christian faith.

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