This book should be required reading in all middle and high schools in the United States and every member of Congress.

Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out was not what I had expected it to be. The book itself is a collection of first-person accounts from individuals who, in some capacity or another, were previously involved in the Muslim religious community. I expected a comprehensive, globalised, overview of the atrocities perpetuated by Islam the world over; essentially, a macro-view of Islam's role in world politics, coupled with discussion of individual experiences in the religion and ideology.

There are about twenty individual accounts. Some are written better than others; the introductory five are really the most well-written in the entire book. The editing can be a little dodgey, but the overall writing quality is good.

It is necessary to contextualize my review, because my personal politics dictate to me how I feel about this book. As a self-identifying atheist, I am comfortable with directly addressing the uglier aspects of religious and theological thought.

This is very much a book where one finds what one is looking for: individuals who are stringently anti-Islamicization are going to find more fodder for their beliefs, while those who belief Muslims are marginalized will find support for that, too.

Upon its release, Why We Left Islam was regarded as extremely controversial, because all of the testimonies brought forth are less than favorable. Most recount sheer barbarism in the name the religion: excessive misogyny, physical abuse, and sheer terror are all consistently perpetuated upon the writers. Each experience in the book is written by separate individuals, yet they maintain the same themes: subjugation of women, tunnel-visioned ignorance, and blind hatred towards the West.

Thoughtfully approaching this book is absolutely imperative. It is an important book to read, because it presents a different viewpoint than is generally propagated in Western media outlets. There is a lot of difficulty, particularly in our 'free' society, in critically exploring faith (Islam, particularly, in light of the 'touchiness' to its links with global terrorism)

Certainly, the threat to Western values of freedom (of speech, thought, belief, religion, conduct (generally), etc,) are clearly endangered by the influx of Islamic values into Western Europe (and to a lesser extent, America). Much like Pim Fortuyn's politics, "tolerating the intolerant" presents a very dangerous situation. How can European and American countries compromise prized values, in an attempt to 'tolerate' a religion that will not rest until the rest of the world is converted, subjugated, or killed? ...There aren't easy answers to the issues that arise in multicultural societies, and the problems are only going to increase in the coming years.

Notably, too, is that WND (WorldNetDaily) books published this collection of essays. WND is known for being a conservative news site, and they have published numerous other books exploring the 'darker' elements of Islam. The book is critical of Islam, but such criticism is not without merit. Clearly the editors of this book are aware how dangerous it is to promote and release such a title. Similarly-written books about Christianity, Judaism, etc, do not face the violent backlash that this book has driven.

This book consists of articles written by people who have been on both the giving and the receiving end of Islam. Only they can truly describe the inner workings of this unforgiving religion. The authors have relied on several native Islam believers who were brought up in this religion and who witnessed the hate that it espouses. From the stated hypocrisy that women are equal to the unmitigated hate that Muslims carry for non believers, this book describes the personal pain that each author underwent in his/her journey away from hatred and into love.

Some reviewers have labeled this book as a work of neocons and reactionaries. This is untrue. It has nothing to do with American politics and all to do with the dealing of religious hate and the intolerance of freedom. Those who describe this work as politically motivated in favor of the Right are both naive and self deluding for its really a collection of articles covering the subjects of courage under fire and a struggle to escape the demons of intolerance and hate.

We,as Americans, have it easy compared to the 23 individuals in this book. We take for granted our freedom and find it hard to believe that these stories are true. But true they are, and after having read this book you'll want to pass it on to others. They found freedom in leaving Islam and you'll find the truth about it within its pages.

"Why we left Islam, former Muslims speak out" gives the impression that Muslims don't criticize their faith because they love it but because they are afraid of it.

Any decent human being who is impartial would see through the author's bias in trying to recycle the Muslims are incapable of thinking for themselves age-old canard.

The twenty five ex-Muslim's profile doesn't seem to add up or can be independently verified. It also seems their words match often af if they were coached to say exactly what the author wanted. Keep searching this book was not satisfying at all.

It's a funny thing. When one makes the seemingly straightforward observation that the vast, vast majority of terrorist attacks in the world are perpetrated by Muslims, one is told that one is tiptoeing close to the dreaded "Islamaphobia" line, and that more education about Islam is needed to rectify this backwards view of one of the world's great religions.

Then, something even funnier happens. The more one learns about Islam, the MORE accurate the initial impression becomes. This book, a candid discussion of a religious third rail that most Westerners simply refuse to acknowledge, let along confront, throws into stark relief the burdens and perils of both living under Islam, and having the temerity to dare leave it. One finally sees through the veneer of Westernized language to discover that Islam does indeed offer freedom of religion: you can choose Islam, or you can choose death. Islam truly is a religion of peace - so long as the death of "innocents" is narrowly defined to protect only fellow Muslims and the mere fact of being a kaffir is grounds for summary execution. The list goes on and on.

The 23 accounts in here provide gripping, factual representations of just what it is actual Islam holds for those it engulfs. The fact that it is controversial that this book "dares" even print a picture of Muhammed shows you the depths to which truly free speech has sunk even in our nation (it's also telling that some of Amazon's 'tag suggestions' for this book include 'sad, bias, drivel, polemic' and 'anti-islam'). Understand the "logic" here: this is a truthful book about people's experiences trying to leave Islam, and that alone is considered "anti-Islam". I encourage everyone to read this book to truly educate themselves as to what Islam has in store for all of us.

I got this book as a result of the NY Daily News article and found it both fascinating and shocking. I never realized just how thoroughly Islam dominates the lives of its adherents and those born into it. Women being stoned to death for dating the wrong man, fathers turning their sons into the authorities for the simple crime of questioning long-held beliefs...

It's just unbelievable that such things are happening in the 21st century, and that there are people in Western countries who actually find these abhorrent, barbaric acts justifiable by way of multiculturalism, which is itself a blight and a sham. I can't imagine reading this book and coming away unmoved, and I commend the publisher for the cover art and all it implies.

This is a great book to read and will explain a lot to those who are looking for what really goes on within the Islamic Faith.

My response to the 1st Review written: Apparantley the reveiwer has never been to Malaysia or Indonesia. IT IS ILLEGAL TO CONVERT FROM ISLAM TO ANOTHER RELIGION in those countries. There is not freedom of religion, unless you want to convert from a non-islamic faith to Islam, but not the other way around. There was just a big court case in Malaysia this last year where a Malaysian lady converted to Christianity and wanted her ID card changed to reflect she was no longer Muslim. This was not allowed and she was also fined, denied jobs, and may possibly receive a jail sentance.

Islam is not a religion of peace, but of violence and war. Read about the history of Islam and its slaughter/genocide of Jews in Medina.

Other good books to read if you want to know the truth are: Secrets of the Koran, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, and An Inconvient Book.

God Bless.

Hello everyone. I heard about this book on WND (an ultra right-wing, anti-Muslim site) and wasn't surprised even a bit to learn that the book was agenda-driven, maliciously false, and written in a childish perspective to "woo those of the Islamic faith to leave it," by "educating them about their own religion." This book is a collection of accounts of those claiming to be former Muslims, 'apostates' if you will, who as it often turns out happen to be non-Muslims bent on making a quick buck and quick fame (like the noted Ayaan Hirsi Magan, Wafa Sultan, and the "former Muslim terrorist" Walid Shoebat). They get paraded around by the oft-gullible press as true examples of courage only for their stories to unravel and the press' own bias exposed...most glaringly done by the sensationalist Fox News Channel.

This is one undertaking that is highly laughable if not quixotic by the authors since they know the percentage of Muslims who leave their faith is not high, so they set out on a preconceived thesis to show Islam as inherently evil by cheerypicking those stories that substantiate all of their arguments of why someone would leave Islam. But instead of saying so themselves, they create this anthology whereby they leave it up to others to themselves do the "speaking out."

A clever strategy at attacking Islam but letting insiders do the job as if to imply to the wider world, "If Muslims themselves don't like their religion, then there MUST be inherent evil within it." However facts, no matter how unappealing they are to the author's liking are simply overlooked. It is not mentioned, for example if few Muslims are leaving, how many thousands are embracing it?

If leaving Islam is forbidden in Muslim societies (a false presumption to begin with since the largest Muslim societies allows conversion including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc) why then after immigrating to the West, where there IS freedom of religion, we don't we see even hundreds of Muslims flocking to leave their faith en masse? There might be instances but I have yet to see it or read it considering the voracious appetite I have on this subject.


The book quite astonishingly does more to educate the readers, especially non-Muslims about the author own anti-Muslim bigotry seeping throughout the book and to the vitriolic and systematic campaign to discredit this world faith by the likes of right-wing hatesites like WorldNetDaily and other pro-war propaganda websites. All, if I were to guess, to further demonize Muslims and Middle Easterners to justify more wars to "liberate them."


I have no doubt this book will be in the library collection of any agenda-driven polemics. Just browsing through the names of those who have written a review yields America's 2 pre-eminent Islamophobes and Muslim-bashers: Robert Spencer of JihadWatch and Daniel Pipes of CampusWatch.

Just like Robert Spencer who many have criticized for his shallow, partial, and shoddy scholarship of Islam and an apologist of his own Catholic faith....his co-reviewer Daniel Pipes (author of CampusWatch and ultra warhawk and apologist for Israel) praise for this book speaks volume to the crowd of dishonest "intellectuals" this book appeals to.

But to any serious reader who actually doesn't have a preconceived bias and therefore has a sense of basic fairness, this book would be a quite bigoted way to spend your hard-earned money. For the intellectual value of it is empty and its drivel all over the internet.

The author Mr. Joel Richardson can't even level with his readers the most basic of facts, the most glaring of example of which is displayed in his previous book that Islam's Messiah is not the anti-Christ. However any one vaguely familiar with Islam knows, the faith considers Christ himself as the Messiah akin to the Christian view of Jesus.

Therefore I recommend this book only for the bigots amongst us.

But for those who yearn the fair, objective, and unemotional view that is required for an ounce of research, this isn't it. There isn't even one simple counter example as to help explain why one would want to remain a Muslim, even in such difficult times?

One would think to write something worthy of being called, "a book" but as always with the attention-seeking Mr. Spencer, Mr. Pipes, and Mr. Richardson it is a selective drivel and waste of the paper such words are written on.


I hope you found my review of the book helpful and would recommend everyone to visit the Middle East and ask Muslims themselves about what they think of their faith.

Thanks!