Established in April 2017, Alliance of Former Muslims is a not-for-profit organisation providing assistance to individuals who have renounced Islam. The Alliance functions as both a support group and social network for Ex-Muslims primarily based in Ireland, empowering those who feel compelled by relatives or associates to keep their apostasy a secret. As an affiliate of Atheist Alliance International, we cooperate with freethinkers worldwide in the struggle to normalise dissent from religion.

The Alliance is guided by a simple truth – namely, that in a free society, no one should have to conceal their beliefs. Those who manage to escape the fanaticism of the Islamic world should not have to fear reprisal by those same fanatics in the West. The Constitution of Ireland guarantees freedom of expression to all Irish citizens, be they religious or secular (Article 40.6.1). Ensuring the implementation of this article is vital, if we are to avoid regressing to the intolerance and superstition of the Dark Ages. Recognising that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, we stand on guard against any attempts to subvert democracy, be it those of the Alt-Right or the Regressive Left. We give no quarter to jihadist sympathisers posing as ‘anti-fascists’, who have deluded themselves into thinking that Islam is the religion of the oppressed – and thus, that Ex-Muslims are oppressors.

The Alliance completely rejects the charge of ‘Islamophobia’ – an Orwellian term designed to render Islam immune from criticism, by implying that any such criticism must ipso facto be phobic. Indeed, a passive observer of Islam in Ireland will detect a climate of intellectual fascism on the subject: witness the abhorrent treatment of Maryam Namazie by Trinity College Dublin in February 2015, who was not permitted to speak freely on the rights of apostates by the college management, owing to pressure from the Muslim Student Association. Contrast this with the freedom awarded to Kamal el-Mekki, known for his defence of the death penalty for apostates, who was allowed to speak earlier in the month without any such restrictions. Thus we see how the Islamist movement has led academic institutions to protect Muslim sensitivities at the expense of free speech.

Institutions like the Clonskeagh Mosque employ the charge of Islamophobia to divert attention from their jihadist agenda, one which has led Ireland to become a major logistics base for the Muslim Brotherhood. The imam of the mosque, Hussein Halawa, is a mouthpiece for the Brotherhood and a disciple of the late Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who described the Holocaust as God’s punishment upon the Jews and regarded the killing of apostates as necessary for the survival of Islam. Their spokesman, Ali Selim, has refused to condemn Osama bin Laden or even acknowledge that the 7/7 bombings were carried out by Muslims. The mosque has also been host to jihadist preachers such as Anjem Choudary, and has employed suspected terrorists as religious teachers, e.g. Abdul-Rahman Katrani, who is wanted by the Government of Morocco for his role in the 2003 Casablanca bombings.

The Alliance opposes the indoctrination of children and young adults by jihadist mosques and madrassahs (faith schools), which teach that the world is divided between the House of Islam (Dar al-Islam) and the House of War (Dar al-Harb) – and hence, that non-Muslims must either live in perpetual subjugation or be killed for their disbelief. We insist that members of the LGBT community and ethnic minorities are protected from persecution and violence, and, understanding that Muslims are the first victims of Islam, extend this demand to all liberal believers and minority sects within the faith – including Ahmadiyya Muslims, who suffer regular intimidation and violence from jihadist fanatics on the ground. Witness the murder of Ahmadi shopkeeper Asad Shah in Glasgow in July 2016, whose only crime was to hold a broader view of Prophethood as a concept.

The Alliance sees no racism whatsoever in criticising Islam. On the contrary, racism is the appalling suggestion that those of us who come from Muslim countries are so devoid of agency that Islam should be seen as our race; that we are so incapable of handling criticism of Islam that it should be seen as racial abuse. Indeed, the idea that we should be judged by a lower standard is precisely what allows for shari’ah courts, whereby the most vulnerable in our midst – women, mainly – are summarily punished by self-imposed ‘community leaders’, with faux liberals turning a blind eye in the name of multiculturalism. We thus reject shari’ah and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms, and oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostasy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 44 of the Constitution of Ireland.

The Alliance affirms the values of rationalism and humanism as universally applicable, given that we are all members of the same species, with the same fundamental capacity for reason and empathy. Echoing the spirit of classical anti-colonial thinkers such as C.L.R. James and Frantz Fanon, we recognise Western imperialism as a betrayal of the progressive ideas of the Enlightenment, not representative of them. We enjoin academics everywhere to embark on a fearless examination of the sources of Islam, and to promulgate the ideals of scientific and historical inquiry without apology. We affirm the essential message of the St. Petersburg Declaration, i.e. that before any of us is a member of the Ummah, the Body of Christ or the Chosen People, we are all human beings, with a responsibility to nurture this world for future generations to enjoy.

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A lone woman protests against the killing of homosexuals under Islamic law. This practice is endorsed wholeheartedly by the Clonskeagh Mosque.