Table Of Content

All those interested in how humans overcome adversity must read this book. Yasmine is one of the bravest people of our time. She is a shining example    to all of us. ~Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel U n v e i l e d How Western Liberals     Empower Radical Islam Y a s m i n e   M o h a m m e d   Copyright © 2019 by Yasmine Mohammed. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or scanning—without written permission from the author except by reviewers who may quote. Free Hearts Free Minds 126-1644 Hillside Ave PO Box 35054 RPO Hillside Victoria BC V8T 5G2 www.freeheartsfreeminds.com Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: Unveiled: how western liberals empower radical Islam / Yasmine Mohammed. Names: Mohammed, Yasmine, 1974- author. | Free Hearts Free Minds (Organization), publisher. Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190174986 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190174994 | ISBN 9781999240509 (Softcover) | ISBN 9781999240516 (PDF) Subjects: LCSH: Mohammed, Yasmine, 1974- | LCSH: Muslim women—Canada—Biography. | LCSH: Muslims— Western countries—Social conditions. | LCSH: Islam—Western countries—Public opinion. | LCSH: Islamic fundamentalism. | LCSH: Islam—Customs and practices. | LCGFT: Autobiographies. Classification: LCC FC106.M9 Z7 2019 | DDC 305.48/697092—dc23 Printed in Canada   All those interested in how humans overcome adversity must read this book. Yasmine is one of the bravest people of our time. She is a shining example to all of us. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel Too many of us fail to realize that the principal victims of the unspeakable cruelty that fervent adherence to Islam inspires (not to mention the bossy control-freakery that invades even minute details of everyday life) are Muslims themselves. Especially women. Yasmine Mohammed’s heartrending, brave, and beautifully written book brings this home in a way that should finally change the minds of even the most deeply misguided apologists in our well-meaning liberal midst. Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion Women and freethinkers in traditional Muslim communities inherit a double burden. If they want to live in the modern world, they must confront not only the theocrats in their homes and schools, but many secular liberals—whose apathy, sanctimony, and hallucinations of “racism” throw yet another veil over their suffering. In Unveiled, Yasmine Mohammed accepts this challenge as courageously as anyone I’ve ever met, putting the lie to the dangerous notion that criticizing the doctrine of Islam is a form of bigotry. Let her wisdom and bravery inspire you. Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith Insider personal accounts form powerful testimonies. Deeply moving, at times depressing but filled with hope for what can be, instead of what is, Yasmine’s story is no exception. Ex-Muslim women are likely to be the most oppressed minority group around the world. Name one other personal choice that can lead to honour-based violence coupled with mob execution in countries that we consider our allies. No liberal is worth their salt if they neglect these minorities within minorities. And Muslims worldwide must recognize this tyranny within our ranks. I hope Yasmine’s brave personal account can contribute to raising such desperately needed awareness. Maajid Nawaz, author of Radical Yasmine Mohammed is a very courageous woman and a shining example for all women who have faced abuse either under the guise of religion or culture. Yasmine's story is tragic and compelling at the same time. She weathered something no human should endure. Her story is also one of tenacity and courage because "There is no excuse for Abuse" Raheel Raza, author of Their Jihad, not my Jihad   Table of Contents Dedication Foreword Prologue Violence I Prayer Submission I Egypt Honour Secret Santa Abuse Jews Submission II Hijab Muslim School Betrayal Mothers Depression I Tiffers Abandoned Depression II Finding My Feet Home Submission III Violence II My Baby Al Qaeda Escape House Arrest On Our Own The Elephant Freedom Doubt Rebuilding Wayne Doha Love Fighting Back Hope Acknowledgments   For Tiffers     Dedication This  book  is  for  every  person  who  feels  crushed  under  the  enormous pressure and terrifying threats of Islam. I hope my story helps you and inspires you to break free and spread your own gorgeous wings. This  book  is  also  for  those  of  you  who  feel  compelled  to  demonize  all Muslims. I hope you will see that we are all just human beings and that we all battle our own demons. This book is for anyone who feels a duty to defend Islam from scrutiny and criticism.  I  hope  you  will  see  that  whenever  you  deflect  criticism,  you  are deflecting the light from shining on millions of people imprisoned in darkness. And last, but most definitely not least, this book is for my fellow warriors. My fellow ex-Muslims, my fellow atheists, my fellow freethinkers, and my fellow troublemakers.     Foreword By Rick Fabbro At 11:26 a.m. on July 17, 2018, my phone dinged. I am never sure which ding is  associated  with  which  app  so  I  started  scrolling  through  email,  Facebook, Twitter, the word games I play with my friends; finally I opened a messaging text. “Hi Mr. Fabbro. I was your Gr 8 Drama student in 1988/89 . . . I am not sure if you remember me . . .” Upon reading the message my heart took a little skip. Quiet tears wetted my cheeks. “Yasmine, not only do I remember you, I have thought about you many, many times over the last 30 years!” With intense clarity, a memory once again came to mind of a courageous thirteen-year-old  girl  sitting  across  from  me  in  my  office  describing  horrors perpetrated upon her that challenge one’s ability to believe that a human being could  be  so  cruel  to  another,  let  alone  another  so  helpless  and  harmless.  She pledged determination to take her story to the authorities who would rescue her from her dreadful homelife. Authorities were engaged, and I didn’t see her again. I assumed she was whisked off to a safe home and eventually all would be well. At the end of the year,  I  transferred  to  a  different  school  and  was  left  wondering  about  how Yasmine’s future played out. “I just wanted to say thank you. Things didn’t work out, as the judge deemed it ‘cultural freedom’ for my family to abuse me.” My heart sank. Now, instead of merely wondering how her life evolved over the last thirty years, questions burned in me. We arranged to meet. We hugged. We talked and cried. She asked me to read a draft of this book. Unveiled tells the whole compelling story. It answers the questions. Family forces, government forces, religious and cultural forces all tried to exert their power over her. This book, despite moments when she feels defeated, tells how her courage and determination prevail. This is an important book not just for the gripping personal story she shares, but because her story is not unique. Yas’ is a voice that must be heard by people everywhere feeling oppressed by powers hindering their opportunity to live a free life. ~ Rick Fabbro I have found it impossible to talk to anyone about my problems. I couldn’t face the embarrassment, and anyway I lack the courage. Any courage I had was knocked out of me when I was young. But now, all of sudden I have a sort of desperate wish to tell everything to somebody. ~ Roald Dahl, Matilda Prologue The  fact  that  I  grew  up  Muslim  should  be  nothing  more  than  a  distant memory. I broke away from that world in 2004. But the traumatic world I was born into has defined me. It’s in my bones. It runs in my blood. I can’t escape it. I had thought I could escape it. I would start over, redefine myself, live my life on my own terms. But I realized that I can’t escape my own self. The very connections in my mind, the visceral reactions of my body—I have no control over any of that. And I can’t reconstruct myself. At times, I think that I might have overcome it all, that I might be able to live a “normal” life. But as soon as my guard is down, a dormant memory rears its ugly head. The soil I grew up on, the water that nourished me, it was all poisoned with deceit, fear, lies, treachery, anger, sadness, and lots and lots of abuse. I may look like a healthy tree on the outside, but the truth is hidden inside my roots. I manage to fool everyone around me. Friends who I have known for years have no clue. They say things like, “But you seem so normal!” and “How are you not a basket case?” and “I never would have guessed!” Even my husband can’t reconcile the stories of this girl whose life is so far removed from his own with the woman he fell in love with. We met a few years after I had severed ties with my family. I was by no means healed, but I had learned to swallow my pain. There was no outlet. No one would understand. I knew it made people uncomfortable to talk about Islam. So I just pushed it all aside. It wasn’t until years after I had left Islam that I would stumble upon Bill Maher’s Facebook page. Ex-Muslims were responding to Ben Affleck’s reaction to Sam Harris criticizing Islam. His cries of gross and racist are legendary now, almost cliché. I had never even heard the term ex-Muslim before that. I had no idea there were others like me. I kept my sordid secrets to myself. My life is not politically  correct.  I  do  not  fit  the  preferred  narrative.  My  life  story  is  an uncomfortable truth, and people much prefer their comfortable lies. But their reaction to Ben Affleck’s rant made me want to get involved. Sam Harris, a neuroscientist and the author of a groundbreaking book called The End of Faith , was on Bill Maher’s show in October 2014 talking about Islam in his signature commanding yet soft-spoken manner. He approached the topic