The Curse of God: Why I Left Islam

249 Pages·2018·1.865 MB·English

by  Harris Sultan, Ali A. Rizvi

Th is book is for every person who ever asked unanswerable questions like “Who
created God?”. —Yasmine Mohammed, author of Th e Girl
Who Would Not Submit and Founder of Free
Hearts, Free Minds
“In this searingly honest account, Harris does not attempt to answer these questions
for you, but he does, unequivocally, assert that the answers you were given were
lies. “The Curse of God” outlines how this lie has plagued humanity for way too
many years. It’s time we dispel with these dangerous myths and start to focus our
energies on each other instead of on imaginary friends in the sky.”
—Yasmine Mohammed, author of The Girl Who Would Not Submit
and Founder of Free Hearts, Free Minds

THE CURSE OF
GOD
W i l i
H y e f t s l a m
H s
arris ultan
Copyright © 2018 by Harris Sultan.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018910635
ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-9845-0213-1
Softcover 978-1-9845-0212-4
eBook 978-1-9845-0211-7
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the copyright owner.
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and
such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
Rev. date: 12/19/2018
Xlibris
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Contents
Foreword for the Curse of God by Ali A. Rizvi ................................ix
Introduction ....................................................................................xv
Chapter 1 The Art of Thinking .....................................................1
Change of Mind ...................................................................7
Chapter 2 The Necessity of Religion ............................................11
Depression ..........................................................................32
Chapter 3 The Baggage of Religion ..............................................38
Chapter 4 The God Hypothesis ...................................................55
The Character of God .........................................................59
Angry ..................................................................................59
Hatred for Women .............................................................61
Vengeful..............................................................................73
Genocidal ...........................................................................74
Simply Evil .........................................................................79
Some Other Problems with God .........................................80
Chapter 5 The Character of Muhammad .....................................82
Violent ................................................................................82
Womanising........................................................................86
First Woman .......................................................................86
Second Woman ...................................................................87
Third Woman .....................................................................88
Fourth Woman ...................................................................89
Fifth Woman ......................................................................90
Sixth Woman ......................................................................90
Seventh Woman ..................................................................90
Eighth Woman ...................................................................91
Ninth Woman ....................................................................92
Tenth Woman .....................................................................95
Eleventh Woman ................................................................95
Twelfth Woman ..................................................................96
Thirteenth Woman .............................................................97
Fourteenth Woman .............................................................97
Fifteenth Woman ................................................................99
Sixteenth Woman ...............................................................99
Seventeenth Woman ...........................................................99
Eighteenth Woman .............................................................99
Nineteenth Woman ............................................................99
Twentieth Woman ..............................................................99
Twenty-first Woman .........................................................100
Twenty-second Woman .....................................................100
Twenty-third Woman........................................................100
Twenty-fourth Woman .....................................................100
Tyrannical .........................................................................101
Cult Leader .......................................................................101
Death of Muhammad .......................................................103
Chapter 6 Morality ....................................................................105
Chapter 7 The Quran ................................................................116
Is the Quran the Word of God? ........................................116
Scientific Inaccuracies of the Scripture ..............................121
The Big Bang ....................................................................122
Embryology ......................................................................125
First Way ..........................................................................128
Second Way ......................................................................129
Salt and Fresh Water Fallacy ..............................................134
Body of the Pharaoh (Ramses II) ......................................135
Knowledge of the Mountains ............................................138
Darkness in the Sea ...........................................................143
The Quran and the Cerebrum ..........................................143
Rain and Hail ...................................................................147
Flat Earth ..........................................................................148
Geocentric Model .............................................................151
Sun and Moon Being Similar ............................................156
Moon Splitting .................................................................158
Flying Horse .....................................................................158
Jonah and His Whale ........................................................160
The Sky as a Physical Object .............................................161
Thoughts Come from the Heart .......................................162
Purity of Milk ...................................................................163
The Purpose of Animals ....................................................163
Authenticity ......................................................................164
Incorrect Verses .................................................................167
Lost Verses ........................................................................167
Modification of the Quran ................................................169
Violence ............................................................................170
Meccan Verses ...................................................................170
Medinan Verses .................................................................172
Chapter 8 Islamophobia .............................................................184
Chapter 9 How to Debate with a Muslim Apologist ...................195
1. Claims Absent of Reason ..............................................195
2. Claims with Some Reason .............................................196
UME Technique ...............................................................196
3. Unfalsifiable Claims ......................................................202
GOL technique ................................................................203
Circular Logic ...................................................................204
Personal Beliefs Are Sacred ................................................206
Common Excuses .............................................................207
Final Word ....................................................................................209
References .....................................................................................213
Index .............................................................................................219

FOREWORD FOR THE CURSE
OF GOD by Ali A. Rizvi
We have all heard of lapsed Catholics from magazine articles and
stand-up comedians. In the Jewish community, secular Jews are almost
the default. Former Hasidics are featured in award-winning Netflix
documentaries. Ex-Scientologists frequently score lucrative book and
TV deals.
What, then, of the ex-Muslim? Is it really reasonable to assume that
the world’s second largest religious community – numbering over 1.6
billion – is the only one that hasn’t produced any significant number
of freethinking individuals who favour reason over faith, and morality
over piety?
Of course it isn’t. Yet while lapsed Catholics, ex-Hasidics, and ex-
Scientologists are embraced – even celebrated – ex-Muslims are somehow
dismissed as a fringe faction, as Islamophobic ‘native informants’, or as
self-hating traitors who are party to the demonisation of Muslims by
the anti-Muslim populist far-right.
This, dear readers, is bigotry. It assumes that Muslims are uniquely
unable to tolerate dissent, satire or even dialogue. This book, then, is
much more than just a riveting account of why a once-believing young
Muslim man lost his faith in pursuit of truth and moral consistency;
it is also an opportunity for Muslims to engage in the kind of dialogue
they are widely thought to be incapable of.
ix