1778: Zilan on Leaving Islam in Algeria, Women’s Rights, Religious Fundamentalism, Secularism, and Freethought
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/10/26
“According to what I have experienced here in Southern Algeria, I think that the core of religion is represented to the tribal bonds; it is the primitive system that gives the right to its entire members to determine. Your personal lifestyle interferes with your decisions, and if you try to refuse their interventions, or even objecting it, that means you refuse the judgments of ‘ALLAH’, which makes you a pariah of the tribe, and threatened by everyone.”
“I am from a fundamentalist Islamic family, living in southern Algeria. The environment here is similar to the environment of the Arabian Peninsula, where the Prophet ‘Muhammad’ grew up.”
“The majority here can speak Classical Arabic; they spend the first years of their lives in very rigorous ‘Quranic’ schools, and that’s what I’ve experienced like any girl who lives here; I was forced to wear the ‘hijab’ when I was ten years old, and before I study anything, they teach me the ‘Quran’ without any understanding.”
“At first I didn’t imagine I would abandon Islam, or even convert to another religion, Because of the indoctrination that similar to brainwashing; despite the physical abuse, when I refused to pray, and the imposition of the legitimate Islamic dress; Islamic religion for me was surrounded with an aura of holiness. I considered the Islamic religion as the ideal system to live, and my freedom is the price that I pay to buy a place in ‘JANNAH’ or paradise.”
“I spoke with some of them and this was the first shock, which made me wondered; is it normal for a human to assault others people in this way, only because God placed them in another family who didn’t share the same faith with him.”
“After that, I began to read ‘Quranic’ interpretations in an academic way, for the first time I discovered the horrible things that it contains. Then I just renounced the Islamic religion. Then I became non-religious.”
“Leaving religions is hard, for women in general, and Muslim women in particular, or at least we can say that men can leave their religion more easily than women in my country. Because the woman’s personal choices, her life and even her dress are all things that are governed by laws initiated by religion, and there is no way to gain her independence in this case, except to leave her society and try to escape to a society that respects her and treats her as a human being.”
“In every Friday sermon, you can hear direct incitement to Violence Against Women on the mosque’s loudspeakers, and everyone hears it without any objection.”
“The fundamentalist prefers relations of belief over the relations of blood and friendships they do not care if you are the closest person to them they can harm you, what matters is that you share their beliefs. It called the loyalty doctrine.”
“Once they have an income, they will be able to raise their voices and impose changes in the society. Financial independence creates a space for women to form bonds and friendships with other women have a deep knowledge of their rights and role as a woman who rejects religious extremism.”
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