Richard Dawkins, author, evolutionary biologist and emeritus fellow of New College, University of Oxford, is one of the world’s most prominent atheists. Credit: Fronteiras do Pensamento/wikipedia, CC BY-SA
04 February 2023
When some brain-dead fanatic in Pakistan urges his fellow Muslims to hold Quran in one hand, and atom bomb in the other, should an atheist keep mum?
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“Atheists are ok as long as they mind their own business but if they turn against religion, and then they are generally speaking, beyond reasoning. They have burnt their boats and cannot look back but at the same time, they are not at peace with themselves. They have a need to continually run down religion to suppress their lack of conviction in their position. Atheists who attack religion are fighting their own demons. Enemies of religion will meet a bad end in the Hereafter after ruining their lives in this world also by waging a constant war against religion. They stand to lose in both worlds.”
Once Turan Dursun, a celebrated Turkish ex-Muslim and an avowed atheist got a letter from an Imam, who wrote almost the same things which I’ve quoted above. By the way, Turan Dursun (1934 – September 4th, 1990) was a Turkish Shia Islamic scholar and writer. His work, which is influenced by the 9th-century Persian sceptic philosopher Ibn al-Rawandi, heavily criticizes Islam and the founders of its major branches.
Turan Dursun, originally a Ja’fari Muslim, first worked as an Islamic cleric before becoming an atheist during his study of the history of monotheistic religions. Turan Dursun wrote a number of books about religion, which included interpretations of Islamic texts. He was an open critic of religion and was frequently threatened by Islamic fundamentalists.
He was eventually assassinated on September 4th, 1990; outside his home in Istanbul. After this event, his books sold tens of thousands of copies in Turkey.
Dursun gave a classic reply to that Imam. I’ve translated that from Turkish: ‘An atheist’s perception of the world, esp. of the spiritual world, is unimpeded by religion and god. He sees the world in its stark nakedness and is not influenced by any esoteric belief. His atheism is a cerebral decision which he considers a triumph of reason over brainless servility. When he’s able to see through the nefarious designs of all religions and understand the futility of faith, he makes it the mission of his life to fighting against religions, not just Islam, and their dogmas. It, therefore, must be his lifetime goal to purge this world of religions, scriptures and their fictional gods. I’m doing this for mankind which is in a state of deep slumber. I’m jolting it out of its stupor.’ That he was eventually killed by Muslim zealots doesn’t mitigate the impact of his words.
When some brain-dead fanatic in Pakistan urges his fellow Muslims to hold Quran in one hand, and atom bomb in the other, should an atheist keep mum? An atheist is an indefatigable crusader who debunks all religious shibboleths and declares fearlessly like Josh Malihabadi, “Bashar ke zehan pe qarnon se jo musallat hain / Badal raha hoon gumanon mein un yaqeenon ko” (I’m turning those blind beliefs into doubts that have engulfed mankind for aeons).
There’s no dilemma of decision an atheist suffers from. Here I’m not talking about fashionable schoolboy atheism. That’s a fad and a neo-intellectual idiosyncrasy. I’m talking about the 11th-century Arab atheist Al-Ma’ari’s non-belief who famously said, ” The human race is divided into two: One, man intelligent without religion, the second, religious without intellect.” Atheists don’t fight their own demons.
They aren’t beset by nagging doubts. They militate against the demons, dogmas and obscurantism religions are saddled with. They’re not indolent lotus-eaters to dwell upon Hereafter, Thereafter and all that putrid bilge. Atheists and apatheists believe in this life, in this world and in this existence. Nonbelievers don’t require crutches of faith and god. They believe in themselves and exhort people to use their brains. To encapsulate, atheists want to make this world a more rational, righteous and conflict-free place to live in.