The questions on the ads aren’t subtle: Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you?
A conservative activist and the organizations she leads have paid several thousand dollars for the ads to run on at least 30 city buses for a month. The ads point to a website called RefugefromIslam.com, which offers information to those wishing to leave Islam, but some Muslims are calling the ads a smoke screen for an anti-Muslim agenda.
Pamela Geller, who leads an organization called Stop Islamization of America, said the ads were meant to help provide resources for Muslims who are fearful of leaving the faith.
“It’s not offensive to Muslims, it’s religious freedom,” she said. “It’s not targeted at practicing Muslims. It doesn’t say ‘leave,’ it says ‘leaving’ with a question mark.”
As someone who has lived in the Middle East for several years, in both Islamic and non-Islamic countries, this is the quote that bugs me the most:
“Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the ads were based on a false premise that [i]people face coercion to remain with Islam.[/i] She said Muslims believe faith that is forced is not true belief.” (emphasis mine)
Really? I don’t think she understands her religion very well. Muslims desiring to leave their religion for ANY other religion are declared apostate and it is entirely permissible (and I would say, expected) for them to be killed. It is written in both the Qur’an and the [i]al-hadiith[/i] (sayings of the prophet Muhammed). It doesn’t matter that she’s living in the United States, land of religious freedom. This kind of thing is happening in Europe with increasing frequency, so I think it’s entirely ridiculous to bring up the “no compulsion in religion” when murder and death seems like a pretty strong deterrent for leaving Islam.