Idk why this happened
I**’m Saudi and spent my whole life living in Madinah in a Muslim society. When I moved to the UK for my scholarship studies, I met many people who discussed religion almost like formal debates, and some of them had left Islam. I’m not judging anyone — everyone has the freedom to choose their beliefs — but I noticed that many of the men I met who left religion strongly disliked the idea that human beings should restrain their desires or accept moral limits on pleasure.
To me, it’s like sitting at a table with a cake in front of everyone, and then someone tells you the cake is poisoned. Everyone around you is eating it and enjoying themselves, while you are left with two choices:**
either trust what you were told and stay away from it even if others seem happy,
or join them simply because the pleasure is in front of you, even though you believe the consequences are harmful.
I also noticed that some women said they left because of the hijab and because they felt it restricted their freedom. But I think the issue is much deeper than a piece of cloth. The discussion is really about what freedom means in the first place. Is life simply about following every desire we feel in the moment, or are there higher values and boundaries that matter more than temporary urges?
Not every desire a person has should automatically be fulfilled just because it exists. Human beings can desire harmful or destructive things. If someone feels the urge to kill another person, does the existence of that desire suddenly make it morally right? Of course not. So the idea that “I want it, therefore it must be good” is not a sufficient moral framework for building a healthy society or stable relationships.
The same applies to modern ideas about relationships. Is it really a good thing for a man and woman to live together, have sex, have children, and then years later decide whether they actually want marriage or commitment? Is that genuine freedom, or have modern societies started prioritizing temporary desires over stability, responsibility, and family?
I**’m not saying every person who leaves religion does so because of desires. Some have philosophical questions, bad experiences, or serious intellectual objections. But I also think many modern discussions reduce religion to “restrictions” simply because it places limits on certain behaviors and impulses.
And finally, if you disagree, I’**m looking for a serious and respectful discussion — not a teenager sending pictures of Osama bin Laden or making 9/11 jokes and thinking that counts as an argument.