Why Some Muslims Dislike Atheists & They’re Not Alone
It saves all the arguments about moral equivalence and whataboutery when choosing between two sides, if you just look to see who hates you the most. I’m an atheist. It’s my right under the HRA 1998, ECHR, UDHR etc.
Not all countries feel that way. Around 12 countries have the death penalties for atheism, as well as other punishments for blasphemy. All these countries are Muslim. They are guided in this by the words of God spoken to their prophet by the Angel Gabriel. You can’t argue with a supreme being, so the rights and wrongs of the thing are immaterial. It is what it is.
God’s law for Muslims is called Sharia. Palestinian Basic Law, as it is called under that country’s constitution, states that “The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be a principal source of legislation.” Sharia and therefore Palestine just don’t like me. That’s fine, and they’re free to feel that way, just as I am free to feel the same way about Sharia and Palestine. Their Prophet even had a special name for people like me.
Kafir-o-Phobia
Kafir is an Arabic term to describe people who don’t believe in the Muslim god. Kafir, and its plural kuffaar, is used directly 134 times in Quran, its verbal noun kufr is used 37 times, and the verbal cognates of kafir are used about 250 times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafir
Kafirophobia is not a made-up word, and I can’t claim credit for it. It is referenced here as – “Kafir-o-phobia”
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/79986/pdf/
There is a variety of Islamic tradition and opinion on the topic:
“They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level (with them). So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them.” — Quran 4:89
Most Islamic ire though is directed at those who leave the religion, and that includes fellow atheists – The Prophet said ‘Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him’. (Bukhari 9.84.57)
British Muslims & Sharia
In a 2016 NOP poll of British Muslims 36% said that they would prefer to have fellow Muslims as neighbours. Asked if they would prefer to live under Sharia law or British law, 30% said Sharia. Asked about attitudes towards free speech, 78% of Muslims thought that the publishers of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed should be prosecuted, 68% thought those who insulted Islam should be prosecuted and 62% of people disagree that freedom of speech should be allowed even if it insults and offends religious groups.
So a substantial minority want Sharia, not British law and about the same number said they dreamt of a time when the UK would be a Muslim country. Most British Muslims want a law against blasphemy too, although I doubt they would extend religious protection to pagans, given what’s in the Koran. 19% said they respect Osama bin Laden (6% said they highly respect him), 17% respected Saddam Hussein and 16% respected Abu Hamza.
Cross-referencing these results, NOP characterised 9% of the Muslims they surveyed as “hardcore Islamists” – people who thought that it was perfectly okay to speak in support of terrorism, but thought people should be prosecuted for insulting Islam. This small minority tallies with NOP’s other questions on terrorism – 9% of respondents said it was acceptable for religious or political groups to use violence.
Nine per cent of British Muslims amount to about 350,000 people who maybe think that in a perfect world I shouldn’t exist. If you think that’s an exaggeration, then consider this. Of the 18 terrorist attacks since 2010 taking place in Great Britain, 15 of them were carried out by Muslims. They left 43 dead and 280 injured from Islamist attacks. More recent evidence of ‘them’ just generally not liking ‘us’ was to be found on a pro-Palestinian march in London on 14 October 2023, when marchers attacked people waving English flags and singing “We love you England”. They found it offensive.
Attitudes towards Atheists
Generally speaking, followers of a religion think more highly of fellow believers than believers of a different religion. That is perhaps only natural, and religious people prefer that their family members don’t marry outside their religion. 33.5% of Americans would disapprove if their child married a Muslim (the second least popular group in America) an amazing 47.3% would disapprove if their child married an atheist, according to a 2010 study. Muslims may have mixed feelings at having so much in common with the ‘Great Shaitan’.
In a 2018 American study atheists were significantly more disliked than any other religious group. Atheists rated Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Hindus as favourably as they rated their own atheist in-group, but rated Muslims less positively (although this effect was small). Christian theists showed pronounced in-group favouritism and a strong dislike towards atheists. No evidence could be found to support the contention that atheists are hostile towards religious groups in general, and towards Christians specifically.
According to ONS data 37% of the population of England and Wales have no religion. Nine per cent of UK Muslims don’t like them either, because in a separate survey of British Muslims, they said that the one group they distrusted more than the Jews were the atheists. Is it any wonder why some people might feel aggrieved at being called Islamophobic? After all, nobody calls out Muslim Kaffirophobia, which in an English context feels like a form of racism. It’s not as if rabid mobs of atheists have been attacking Islam; blowing up things and stabbing people.
Other References:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-religion-atheists-idUSBRE9B900G20131210
https://www.voanews.com/a/in-northern-nigeria-atheism-can-be-automatic-death-sentence-/7297686.html
https://humanists.international/2017/04/man-sentenced-death-atheism-saudi-arabia/
https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Palestine_2005
https://pollingreport.uk/articles/nop-poll-of-british-muslims
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHxBqgnKVaQ
http://maryamnamazie.com/more-restrictions-at-universities-and-words-of-warning/
For what seems a pretty good overview of the issues, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadith
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/quranalyzeit/2014/02/14/blasphemy-and-apostasy-laws-islam-or-hislam/
