He wondered at Pakistani schoolkids cheering terrorism

By Kirollos Abdalla —

As the Pakistani school kids cheered wildly the killing of civilians in the Twin Towers on 9/11, Momus Najmi felt very alien.

“There were innocent people that died. The principal of the school led the cheers. How can they celebrate innocent people dying?” says the ex-Muslim immigrant in the UK. “You have to be a bad Muslim if you’re a good person. The only good Muslims are Taliban.”

In the West, a Christian who analyzes, rejects and criticizes the religion of his upbringing is called a free-thinker. But a Muslim who analyzes, rejects and criticizes the religion of his upbringing is called an Islamophobe.

In spite of the double standard, Momus Najmi has the harshest words for his childhood faith. He was born in Kuwait where Muslims were chill but during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, his parents fled to their native Pakistan, where he grew up and witnessed mobs mangle people falsely accused of blasphemy.

The horrifying scenes drove him to question his faith. His first step was to go deep into Islam, practicing all the regimens. The plan was to show the violent Muslims what true Islam was. Unfortunately, reading the Qur’an and the hadiths showed Momus that the violent Muslims were the true Muslims.

“The religion itself is a manual to become radical in terrorism,” he says. “You have to work extra hard as a Muslim to not be radical.”

He left Islam in his heart and then he left Pakistan for the United Kingdom, where he hoped to enjoy freedom of speech but to his dismay feels unprotected from the death threats made to him by radical Muslims in the U.K.

“If something happens to me, the police will find a way to justify it,” Momus says. “The police will put out a statement like it’s not all Muslims, this guy had a mental health issue and stuff we should keep the community together. That will be my story. I’m dead. My family is crying. The story will be let’s not get angry at the Muslims. And that pisses me off.”

Momus married a Polish girl in England and divides his time between Essex and London. On his podcast The World of Momus, he discusses free thought, belief, secularism and critique of religious ideology. He has published a mystery/thriller novel The Silent Betrayal and a collection of poetry Mumblings of a Fool.

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