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List of former Muslims

Former Muslims or ex-Muslims are people who were Muslims, but subsequently left Islam.

Although their numbers have increased in the US, ex-Muslims still face ostracism or retaliation from their families and communities due to beliefs about apostasy in Islam.

In 23 countries apostasy is a punishable crime and in 13 of those it carries the death penalty.

Part of an unorganized religion or no religion

Became non-religious

  • Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – Turkish field marshal, statesman, secularist reformer, and author. Sources point out that Atatürk was a religious skeptic and a freethinker. While his specific religious views are unclear, he was a non-doctrinaire deist. According to Atatürk, the Turkish people do not know what Islam really is and do not read the Quran. People are influenced by Arabic sentences that they do not understand, and because of their customs they go to mosques. When the Turks read the Quran and think about it, they will leave Islam. Atatürk described Islam as the religion of the Arabs in his own work titled Vatandaş için Medeni Bilgiler by his own critical and nationalist views.
  • Nyamko Sabuni – politician in Sweden
  • Sajid Javid – British politician
  • Zayn Malik – English singer of Pakistani and English-Irish descent and boy band One Direction.
  • Mansiya V.P. – Bharatnatyam exponent from Kerala, India. Non-conformist on religious front but believes in God.
  • Luai Ahmed – Yemeni-Swedish journalist, columnist and influencer considered as a controversial critic of the radical Islam and the anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel inherent in it. He is affiliated with Sweden Democrats, a Swedish right-wing nationalist party. Ahmed is openly gay and considers himself Zionist.
  • Nas Daily – Israeli-Palestinian vlogger, he identifies as a non-religious Muslim.

Became deists

Became agnostics

Became atheists

  • Abdullah al-Qasemi – one of the most controversial intellectuals in the Arab world because of his radical change from defending Salafism to defending atheism and rejecting organized religion.
  • Afshin Ellian – Iranian-Dutch professor of law, philosopher, and poet.
  • Ahmed Harqan – Egyptian human rights activist and outspoken atheist.
  • Ahmed Sharif – Bangladeshi humanist book seller, human rights activist and secular humanist.
  • Al-Ma'arri – blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer.
  • Alexander Aan – Indonesian atheist and ex-Muslim of Minang descent, who was attacked by a mob and arrested in 2012 for posting "God does not exist" and other antireligious writings on Facebook, attracting international attention.
  • Ali A. Rizvi – Pakistani-born Canadian physician, writer and ex-Muslim activist
  • Ali Soilih – Comorian socialist revolutionary; president of the Comoros.
  • Ali Dashti – Iranian rationalist and member of Iranian Senate.
  • Ali Sina – pseudonym of the founder of several anti-Islam and anti-Muslim websites.
  • Aliaa Magda Elmahdy – Egyptian internet activist and women's rights advocate.
  • Aliyah Saleem – British secular education campaigner, writer and market researcher, activist and co-founder of advocacy group Faith to Faithless.
  • Anwar Shaikh – British author of Pakistani descent.
  • Armin Navabi – Iranian-born atheist and secular activist, author, podcaster and vlogger, founder of Atheist Republic
  • Aroj Ali Matubbar – self-taught Bangladeshi philosopher
  • Arzu Toker – German-speaking writer, journalist, publicist, translator of Turkish descent, cofounder of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims in Germany.
  • As'ad Abu Khalil – Lebanese professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. He describes himself as an "atheist secularist".
  • Asif Mohiuddin – Bangladeshi blogger and secularist
  • Ayaz Nizami – Pakistani Islamic scholar became atheist, founder of realisticapproach.org. an Urdu website about atheism, and Vice President of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan He is currently detained under the charges of blasphemy and could face the death penalty.
  • Ayman Odeh – Israeli politician
  • Aziz Nesin – popular Turkish humorist and author of more than 100 books.
  • Barack Obama Sr. – Kenyan senior governmental economist, and the father of 44th U.S. President Barack Obama.
  • Bisi Alimi – Nigerian gay rights activist based in the United Kingdom
  • Catherine Perez-Shakdam – French journalist, political analyst and commentator; formerly a convert to Islam, born to a Jewish family
  • Bonya Ahmed – Bangladeshi-American author, humanist activist and blogger, wife of Avijit Roy; hacked to death after receiving threats related to his promotion of secular views.
  • Cenk Uygur – American political commentator of Turkish descent and the main host of the liberal talk radio show The Young Turks.
  • E. A. Jabbar – Indian ex-Muslim, orator, writer, retired school teacher of Kerala. Editor of Yukthiyugam Malayalam Magazine
  • Ebru Umar – Dutch columnist of Turkish descent, critic of Islam and of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
  • Enver Hoxha – Communist dictator who declared Albania the first atheist state, and who has been identified as an "arch-atheist".
  • Fatima Sana Shaikh – Indian actress
  • Faik Konitza – Albanian stylist, critic, publicist and political figure that had a tremendous impact on Albanian writing and on Albanian culture at the time.
  • Faisal Saeed Al Mutar – Iraqi-born satirist, human rights activist, writer, founder of the Global Secular Humanist Movement (GSHM).
  • Farhan Akhtar – Indian actor, singer, songwriter, playback singer, producer and television host.
  • Fauzia Ilyas – founder of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan
  • Hafid Bouazza – Moroccan-Dutch writer.
  • Hamed Abdel-Samad – German-Egyptian political scientist, historian and author.
  • Hassan Bahara – Moroccan-Dutch writer.
  • Humayun Azad – Bangladeshi author, poet, scholar and linguists.
  • Inkulab – Tamil rationalist poet/writer and Marxist activist. Born as Sakul Hameed.
  • Irfan Habib – Indian historian.
  • Ismael Adham – Egyptian writer and philosopher.
  • Ismail Kadare – world-renowned Albanian writer.
  • Ismail Mohamed (activist) – Egyptian atheist human rights activist, host of The Black Ducks programme.
  • Javed Akhtar – noted Indian writer and lyricist.
  • Kacem El Ghazzali – Moroccan-Swiss writer and activist.
  • Kanan Makiya – Iraqi-American academic and Islamic and Middle Eastern scholar.
  • Kareem Amer – Egyptian blogger.
  • Kumail Nanjiani – Pakistani American stand-up comic and actor.
  • Lounès Matoub – Algerian Berber Kabyle singer.
  • Maryam Namazie – Iranian communist, political activist and leader of the British apostate-organization Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.
  • Massin Kevin Labidi – Dutch atheist activist of Tunisian descent, known for criticism of Islam.
  • Mina Ahadi – Iranian-born pacifist, founder of the German apostate-organization "Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime".
  • Mirza Fatali Akhundov – 19th century Azerbaijani playwright and philosopher.
  • Muhammad Syed – Pakistani American speaker and political activist. Co-founder of Ex-Muslims of North America.
  • Nahla Mahmoud – Sudanese-born British writer, secularist, environmentalist, and human rights activist, and spokesperson for the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.
  • Parvin Darabi – Iranian born American activist, writer and woman's rights activist.
  • Pelin Batu – Turkish actress and television personality
  • Rahaf Mohammed – Saudi Arabian refugee in Canada whose January 2019 flight attracted international attention and involved diplomatic intervention.
  • Ramiz Alia – Albanian communist leader and former president of Albania.
  • Rana Ahmad – Saudi Arabian refugee in Germany, author, women's rights activist and founder of the Atheist Refugee Relief.
  • Razib Khan – Bangladeshi-American writer in population genetics and consumer genomics.
  • Sagopa Kajmer – Turkish rap musician, songwriter, record producer and DJ
  • Salman Rushdie – British-Indian novelist and essayist.
  • Sam Touzani – Belgian actor, TV presenter, choreographer and comedian with Moroccan roots, critic of both the far-right and Islamism.
  • Sarah Haider – American writer, speaker, political activist and co-founder of Ex-Muslims of North America.
  • Sarmad Kashani – seventeenth-century mystical poet and sufi saint, arrived from Persia to India, beheaded for assumed heresy by the Mughal emperor, Aurungzebe. Sarmad renounced Judaism, briefly converting to Islam and then Hinduism. He later denounced all religions and rejected belief in gods.
  • Sofia Ashraf, Indian rapper and actress.
  • Sibel Kekilli – German actress of Turkish origin, known for her role as 'Shae' in Game of Thrones. Kekili was raised as a Muslim, but does not belong to any religion anymore, and although she stated she respects all religions, has criticised the physical mistreatment of women in Islam.
  • Sherif Gaber – Egyptian political activist and blogger.
  • Taslima Nasrin – Bangladeshi author, feminist, human rights activist and secular humanist.
  • Turan Dursun – Turkish author and Islamic scholar. He was once a Turkish mufti and later authored many books critical of Islam.
  • Urfi Javed, Indian actress and model.
  • Valon Behrami – Kosovo-born Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Watford.
  • Waleed Al-Husseini – Palestinian philosopher, essayist, writer, blogger and co-founder of (CEMF).
  • Yasmine Mohammed – Canadian-born human rights activist, founder of Free Hearts, Free Minds and author of Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam.
  • Zackie Achmat – South African anti-HIV/AIDS activist; founder of the Treatment Action Campaign.
  • Zara Kay – Tanzanian-Australian activist, founder of Faithless Hijabi.
  • Zineb El Rhazoui – Moroccan-born French journalist and former columnist for Paris-based satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
  • Zoya Akhtar – Indian director and screenwriter.

Undetermined current belief system

  • Charles Bronson – British criminal and self-styled "most violent prisoner in Britain".
  • David Hicks – Australian-born Guantanamo Bay detainee who converted to Islam and was notorious in his homeland for his once support of radical Islam and for the circumstances surrounding his incarceration, is believed to have renounced Islam whilst incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay.
  • Gérard Depardieu – French actor, had converted to Islam in his youth after listening to Umm Kalthum's recitation of the verses of the Qur'an at a concert, he was a practicing muslim for a few years before abandoning Islam.
  • Khalid Duran – specialist in the history, sociology and politics of the Islamic world.
  • Lex Hixon – not raised religious; Conversions to Hinduism, Sufism. Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and possibly Zen.
  • Linda Thompson – British folk singer who, along with her husband Richard, converted to Sufism in the 1970s. The couple have since divorced and she has left the religion.
  • Trie Utami – Indonesian singer who after a stormy divorce is known to have left Islam after 2005, but she refuses to declare to what religion she converted.
  • Wesley Snipes – American actor, film producer, and martial artist.
  • Zayn Malik – English singer and songwriter.
  • Tarek Fatah – Canadian activist born in Pakistan, who call himself an Indian.

Converted to an Indian religion

  • Piro Preman, first female Punjabi-language poet who lived in the 19th century. Born a Muslim but became an apostate after joining the Gulabdasia sect

Converted to Sikhism

Converted to Buddhism

Converted to Hinduism

Converted to an Abrahamic religion

Converted to Judaism

  • Amina Dawood Al-Mufti – Jordanian Muslim of Circassian origin, converted to Judaism upon marrying an Israeli Jewish pilot in secret in Vienna. She later became a spy for Mossad. An Arabic TV series called An Eastern Girl (فتاة من الشرق) (Fatah min Asharq) was made about her starring Suzan Najm Aldeen as Amina. The book (مذكرات أخطر جاسوسة عربية للموساد .. أمينة المفتي) was written about her.
  • Avraham Sinai – Lebanese former Shi'ite who converted to Judaism. He served as an informant for the Israelis while serving in Hezbollah, until his actions were uncovered. He fled to Israel and subsequently converted.
  • Dario Hunter – American politician. Became the first Muslim born individual to be ordained a rabbi.
  • Yasmeen Ali – British adult actress of Afghan origin. Converted to Judaism while dating her Jewish boyfriend.

Converted to the Bábí and Baháʼí Faith

These were mostly people who were followers of the Bahá'u'lláh at the time he founded the Baháʼí Faith. They were formerly Muslims.

Converted to Christianity

Religious founders

  • Adi ibn Musafir – founder of Yazidism
  • Akbar the Great – Mughal emperor and founder of Din-i Ilahi, a religious movement whose followers never numbered more than 19 adherents, although Akbar never renounced Islam publicly or privately, and modern scholars have argued that it was a spiritual discipleship program rather than a new religion.
  • Ariffin Mohammed – founder of the Sky Kingdom who claimed a unique connection to God. In spite of renouncing Islam in 2001, he stated that there was no restriction on practising your own faith and at the same time belonging to the Sky Kingdom.
  • Báb – founder of Bábism. Most of his followers later accepted Bahá'u'lláh and thus joined the Baháʼí Faith.
  • Bahá'u'lláh – after the Bab's death, claimed to be the prophet the Báb spoke of, thereby founding the Baháʼí Faith.
  • David Myatt – founded the Numinous Way
  • Dwight York – African American author, black supremacist leader, musician, convicted child molester and founder of the religious doctrine called Nuwaubianism.
  • Kabir – 15th-century mystical poet and founder of the Kabir panth. Born to a Hindu widow but adopted and raised as Muslim by a childless Muslim couple, later denouncing both Hinduism and Islam.
  • Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi – founder of the spiritual movements Messiah Foundation International and Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam.
  • Sultan Sahak – founded Ahl-e Haqq

See also

Other apostasy-related lists

References

External links