Ex-Muslims of Kerala

Ex-Muslims of Kerala
	കേരളാ ; മുൻ മുസ്ലിങ്ങൾ ; (EMK)
Founded	2020; 6 years ago
Location	Kerala, India;
Affiliations	Associate Member, Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham

Comment: Please don't be in a hurry to bring the article into the main name space. Keep updating the article. The article needs more paragraph writing and will need to wait at least for a few more mainstream news media/book references. (For that one needs to cross their fingers, no other option.) But don't lose hope! Keep coming back and keep editing without being in haste to bring it into the main space. One day one or other experienced users will do it on their own, don't worry, keep editing, happy editing. Bookku, 'Encyclopedias = expanding information & knowledge' (talk) 10:09, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

Ex-Muslims of Kerala is a non-profit organization advocating for acceptance of religious dissent, promoting secular values, and aiming to reduce discrimination faced by those who leave Islam in Kerala^[1]^[2]. They conduct several discussions on Islam and Atheism on social media and public debates with Islamic scholars^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6].

History of The Movement

First recorded instance

As such, collation of the early history of Kerala's ExMuslims is understudied and difficult.

Early social reform movements in Kerala were mainly inspired by the desire to educate people and uplift them to a life of knowledge and dignity, and Islam and criticism of Islam was rarely a matter of priority in those days. Another reason, apart from the fewer numbers of Islamic fanatics and extremists, is that the Muslim community of Kerala was led by the Sunni leadership, and they were relatively tolerant, mostly peace-loving and most of them were aligned to the national freedom struggle and other national political movements. They were also the converted descendants of the native Keralite population who used to relative religious peace, harmony, and tolerance, and usually did not disrupt the then prevailing religious harmony in Kerala.

In Malaparamba, Malappuram district, on August 2, 1947, Ramasimhan and his family, namely his brother Dayasimhan, Dayasimhan’s wife Kamala, their cook Raju Iyer and other members of their family were brutally killed by Islamist Jihadis, merely two weeks before the independence of India, for a bizarre, yet, heart-wrenching reason: since they chose to renounce Islam and accept Hinduism as their religion. This incident was one of the early recorded instances that marks the birth of Islamic terrorism in Kerala on account of leaving Islam.^[7]

The Kerala Yukthivadhi Sangham (KYS), roughly translated as “Kerala Rationalist Association”, was the first platform for activism spearheading rational thinking among people, and invoking their critical opinion vis-a-vis various belief systems, religions, customs, and traditions, which were revered by the people, of whom a majority were illiterate, poor and oppressed.^[8]

Criticism since 1970s

(Note to article editors: Can you also write with direct references from KYS magazines (do mention editorial board of very old magazines on talk page) and news papers or literature will be better than exmuslimsofkerala.org. Do not copy paste but try to write in your own words or at least change some words to avoid copy right issues. If any sources are in Malayalam please provide original Malayalam quotes with English translation on talk page of this draft article, and then use in the article. )

Meaningful criticism of Islam had begun under the banner of KYS in the 1970s, by Keralite Muslims who left Islam to adopt rationalism. KK Abdul Ali, an Arabic teacher from Kappad in the district of Kozhikkode, who began to write as well as speak against Islam, was one of the very early critics of Islam. Dr EV Usman Koya, a general physician from Cheruvannoor in Kozhikkode, was another early prominent name in the history of ExMuslims and criticism of Islam in Kerala. Abdulla of Meppayoor, Kozhikkode joined them, and the trio can be referred to as the very first well-informed and researched critics of Islam in Kerala. It was from this trio that the well-known critic of Islam in recent decades, EA Jabbar, who was a school teacher from Malappuram, took lead and began his journey of rationalist ExMuslim activism.^[9]

The four of them worked together, wrote articles and handouts which were published by Kerala Yukthivadhi Sangham (KYS), and expressed themselves publicly against the many inadequacies in Islam. Saidh Mohammed, a writer and critic of Islam, who was from Anakkayam in Malappuram, also later joined them. Saidh Mohammad wrote many articles criticising Islam in magazines which were published by KYS.^[10]

21st century atheist Ex Muslim movement in Kerala

In present times, well-known public ExMuslims are Liyakkathali CM, Arif Hussain Theruvath, Sherin Rashid, Surumi Salman, Fouzia Teacher, Safiya PM, Jazla Madasseri, Ummer Pookkayil, Shafeeq MK, Suhail Kalliyath, Jazar Mohamed and many others, represent New Atheism among Ex Muslims of Kerala. The dawn of the internet and social media has helped the Ex Muslim movement gain commendable confidence and reach out to the public to make them aware of the difficulties from Islam in their personal and social lives.^[11]

E.A.Jabbar's challenge

I challenge, if you can bring a new piece of knowledge or information from Quran, which was not known by Arabs of that time but revealed through Quran and they had understood it from Quran at that time and followed it, and later proved by the scientific community to be true, for example, the earth is round or the day-night phenomena is happening due to earth's rotation, etc., which was not known to Arabs of that time when Muhammad introduced Quran, but they got this knowledge through Quran at that time itself, and later science validated or discovered it to be true, then I will recite Shahadah Kalima and will become Muslim again.
The three conditions for the piece of information from the Quran should be:

1. It should be a new piece of information or knowledge, which Arabs of that time didn't know

2. This new piece of information or knowledge should be understood by the Arabs of that time through Quran by Allah

3. This new piece of information or knowledge should later be validated by science as true.

(ഖുർആൻ വഴി , അന്നത്തെ അറബികൾക്ക് അറിയാത്ത ഒരു പുതിയ അറിവ് കിട്ടുകയും ,അവർക്ക് അത് മനസ്സിലാവുകയും ചെയ്യുകയും , അത് പിന്നീട് ശാസ്ത്രം ശരിയാണ് എന്നും തെളിയിച്ച ഏതെങ്കിലും ഒന്ന് ഖുറാനിൽ നിന്ന് കാണിച്ചാൽ ഞാൻ ശഹാദത് കലിമ ചൊല്ലി തിരിച്ച് വീണ്ടും മുസ്ലിം ആവാം.

ഉദാഹരത്തിന് 'ഭൂമി ഉരുണ്ടത്' ആണെന്നും 'പകലും രാത്രിയും ഉണ്ടാവുന്നത് ഭൂമി കറങ്ങുന്നത് കൊണ്ടാണെന്നും' ഒക്കെ ഉള്ള വിവരം അന്നത്തെ അറബികൾക്ക് അറിയില്ലായിരുന്നു. ഇത് അള്ളാഹു ഖുർആൻ വഴി അറബികളെ അറിയിച്ചു കൊടുക്കുകയും അന്നത്തെ അറബികൾക്ക് അത് ബോധ്യപ്പെടുകയും ചെയ്യുകയും , ഇന്നത്തെ ശാസ്ത്ര ലോകം അത് ശരി വെച്ചതും ആയ ഖുറാനിൽ നിന്നുള്ള ഏതെങ്കിലും ഒരു കാര്യം കാണിച്ചാൽ ഞാൻ ശഹാദത് കലിമ ചൊല്ലി തിരിച്ച് വീണ്ടും മുസ്ലിം ആവാം)^[12]
— E.A.Jabbar

Abdul Khadar Puthiyangadi

Abdul Khadar Puthiyangadi^[13]