For us who went to catholic schools, the prayers we prayed are supposed to cover the next 700yrs. Masses, adorations, way of cross, novena, devotions, Rosaries. What didn't we pray for
CCTV footage captures Muslim worshippers who were preparing for Friday prayers beside the collapsed building fleeing for safety and triggering a stampede.
TODAY IS MY FIRST FRIDAY AS A NON-MUSLIM.
I was a Muslim. I embraced Islam, returned to the mosque, read its books and tried to practise the faith sincerely.
However the laws, words and actions I have witnessed from Saudi Arabia, a country regarded by many as the heartland of Islam, have left me deeply disillusioned.
When people are killed in the name of religion, when executions are celebrated or brutality is defended using God's name, I am left asking a painful question: What is the difference between a man who kills in the name of terror and one who kills while claiming religious authority?
A title, a robe or a religious position cannot make violence righteous.
I cannot reconcile the God I believe in with the cruelty people sometimes justify in His name.
I refuse to pretend that I am at peace with things that trouble my conscience.
Today, I returned all my Islamic books to the mosque.
For me, it was a deeply personal moment. I felt a sense of peace, and I am choosing to move forward without hatred.
Let me be free. Let me breathe. Let me live.
I will respect Muslims. I will respect Christians.
I will respect Hindus, traditional African believers, atheists and even those whose understanding of the divine is completely different from mine. Some worship in churches, others in mosques, temples or beneath sacred trees.
I am not God, and I have no authority to sit in His place and judge the worth of another human being.
I still believe in God. I believe in His oneness and holiness, in accountability, in the reality of death and the possibility of resurrection.
My decision to leave Islam does not mean I have abandoned every belief I hold sacred.
What I reject is the idea that anyone has a monopoly on God, or that violence becomes holy simply because someone attaches God's name to it.
Saudi Arabia's religious establishment and the actions of those who claim to defend Islam have deeply damaged my perception of the faith.
When religious authority is associated with cruelty, it makes religion itself look violent. That is a tragedy for every sincere believer who wants nothing more than peace.
I am not leaving Islam to hate Muslims. I am leaving because I no longer wish to remain in a faith I can no longer reconcile with my conscience.
My new chapter begins with one principle: I will respect your right to believe, provided you respect my right to question, disagree and walk away.
I choose peace. I choose freedom of conscience. I choose humanity.
I am not God. I will not play God. And I will not hate you simply because you pray differently from me.