In a video interview aired August 12th of this year, Hicham Nostik, a Moroccan man living in Germany, shared his journey from radical Islam to newfound freedom.  Already radicalized as a young man in Morocco, he moved in the early 1990s to Heidelberg, Germany, and actually lived in a mosque there where, in his own words, he became “even more religious” and more radical as he interacted with jihadis passing through on their way to fight in Bosnia and Hezegovina.  His story reveals three important but seldom heard truths related to Islam. 

First, when radical Muslims claim that Islam is a religion of peace and love, they are consciously lying to the non-Muslim world.  Nostik distinguished between the “glamorous side of Islam,” and “the real Islam” in this statement:

“So I turned more religious and became aquainted with the dark side of Islam.  There is the glamorous side of Islam, which aims to embellish the image of Islam, and present it as a religion of peace, love, and so on.  But in the mosque in Germany I got to know the real Islam – the doctrine of ‘Loyalty and Disavowal,’ and various issues regarding the implementation of the shari’a.” 

The following interchange with his interviewer, Hamed Abdul Samad, revealed the conscious use of deception by devout Muslims in order to lure non-Muslims to Islam:

Hamed Abdel-Samad: What would you say to the Germans when they would come to the mosque? 

Hicham Nostik: From time to time, they would visit the mosque, and we would also hand out flyers and booklets in the main street of the city.  Obviously, we would use the rhetoric of peace and love: “For you is your religion, and for me is my religion,” “There shall be no compulsion in religion,” and everything you want to hear from a Muslim. 

Hamed Abdel-Samad: That Islam honors Mary…

Hicham Nostik: Right.  And Jesus too.  But when we were talking among ourselves, we used the real Islamic discourse.  We talked about making the utmost effort to conquer this country, because this country should be governed by the law of Allah.  It cannot remain the way it is.  It must be governed by the law of Allah, and this day will come. 

Muslim apologists will tell you what you want to hear, but their goal is the conquest of the world for Islam. 

Second, the Qur’an is wrong in its assessment about Christianity.  If it is in error on this major matter, it cannot be the perfect revelation of Allah.  If it is imperfect, Islam is destroyed, because Muhammad’s claims rest on the validity of the revelation he claimed to bring to humankind. 

Nostik left Heidelberg to join some friends in Frankfurt.  While there, he enrolled in a Christian university, believing it would present a wonderful opportunity for him to do da’wa (Muslim evangelism) and convert Christians in droves to Islam.  In the process, he discovered that his Quranic understanding of Christianity did not match up with what Christianity actually teaches about itself. 

Hicham Nostik: Then, I left the mosque and moved from friend to friend.  Afterwards, I got an opportunity to live in Frankfurt with some friends, and I enrolled in a Christian university there.  I was living on campus, and I got to know people there – conservative Christians who had come to study Christianity.  I thought this was a great opportunity to do some da’wa.  I believed that with my knowledge of Christianity, gained from the Quran…

Hamed Abdel-Samad: You’d be able to knock out your enemies with their own weapon. 

Hicham Nostik: Of course.  I thought that just like Muhammad had done, I would correct their notions, and they would understand and convert to Islam in droves.  It was as simple as that to me.  But of course, I was completely clueless.  When I started talking to the Germans there, I realized that my understanding of Christianity had nothing to do with theirs. 

This realization began to shake his faith in Islam, so he undertook a study of the history of Christianity, and came face to face with a dilemma: either you believe the facts of history or you believe the Qur’an; you cannot embrace both.  As he studied the Qur’an more critically, he discovered it was riddled with errors:

Hicham Nostik: I started to study the history of Christianity, and this had an impact on me. 

Hamed Abdel-Samad: It backfired…

Hicham Nostik: Absolutely.  I entered a complex labyrinth… I realized there is a dilemma: Either you accept the historical facts, or you accept what the Quran says…. 

I found mistakes [in the Quran] that even a young Sunday school student would not make.  So how could it be conceivable that the Lord of the Universe would make such mistakes? 

Third, Allah, as portrayed in the Qur’an, has a morally flawed character, and so cannot be the true God. 

The coup de grace for Nostik came as he now pondered the immoral behaviors commanded by Allah in the Qur’an. 

Hicham Nostik: The final straw for me was the moral issues.  It is inconceivable that a God, who is supposed to be merciful, and more compassionate than a mother toward her child, would sell people in the marketplace, and legalize slavery and all those barbaric punishments, like the killing of apostates. 

The facts that the Qur’an (Allah’s direct revelation) legalizes the rape of female captives, the buying and selling of slaves, the demeaned status of women over against men, the slaughter of those who refuse to submit to Islam, the amputation of limbs or the practice of crucifixion for various crimes, and the execution of apostates, raise grave questions about the god behind these timeless directives. 

It seems likely, though as yet I haven’t confirmed it, that Hicham Nostik became a Christian in the process of his departure from Islam.  Regardless of whether that is the case, his observations concerning Islam stand on their own, and deserve a full hearing, especially by those in the West who continue to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that Islam will make a wonderful addition to our civilization. 

(With thanks to memri.org for the translation in subtitles.)