SG Narratives held a conversation between Latiff and Hakeem, a Muslim and ex-Muslim respectively. You can watch the conversation in the video above. Both Latiff and Hakeem talked about the definition of God and describing the Islamic faith to someone who has never heard of Islam. Hakeem also asked Latiff what scared him most about being a Muslim.
This video is interesting because it is a rare moment in Singapore where an ex-Muslim has spoken about leaving Islam openly in front of a camera. Although discussing ex-Muslims is a sensitive topic in Singapore, ex-Muslims are part of parcel of Singapore society and it is a discussion that must be had, sooner or later. Four minutes into the video, Latiff asked Hakeem to describe the moment he knew he could no longer remain a Muslim. Latiff also asked Hakeem about the biggest misconception that people have about being an ex-Muslim.
On the first question, Hakeem said he reached a stage in his life where he wanted to know who he was serving and worshipping. He wanted to know whether the belief system he was in was the right one. As Islam claimed to be the ultimate truth, Hakeem felt it should be able to withstand “ultimate scrutiny”. Hakeem began a long process of questioning and eventually, he couldn’t reconcile what he knew about matters pertaining to the nature of God as proclaimed or asserted by the Quran, and by all Abrahamic religions as well.
With regards to the biggest misconceptions that people have about ex-Muslims, Hakeem said many believe that ex-Muslims were “never Muslims to begin with” and they had left the wrong religion. Hakeem felt this was an unfair comment that doesn’t do justice to a lot of ex-Muslims because many ex-Muslims had an Islamic upbringing and had spent a lot of effort studying and practicing Islam. According to Hakeem, he knows ex-Muslims who had graduated from Madrasahs and visited Mecca. Thus, ex-Muslims were as Muslim as many other Muslims are.
