Muhammad Omar Al-Amoudi
THE number of atheists in the Arab world is increasing at an alarming rate. It is said that atheism is now widespread in places that have been thought to be safe in the past. Undoubtedly, there are outside players who are working day and night to spread atheism in the Arab world with the help of certain satellite TV channels, social media websites and radio.
Some reports claim that atheism is very common among educated segments of society, mostly university graduates. Shockingly, the Arab world is not taking drastic action nor is it making great efforts to fight the wave of atheism. It should be noted that the reason behind the spread of atheism among the youth in Muslim countries is not to attack Islam only, but also to create some spiritual void in people’s hearts and make them stop worshiping their Creator. I have been to an Arab country where there are cafés for atheists. I know a street called Atheist Street in an Arab country.
Some say that the number of atheists in our societies is on the rise because of the hardline and extremist thoughts and ideologies that have overpowered the principles of moderation. Some blame today’s Muslim scholars for this wave of atheism because scholars have overlooked the problem and have decided to focus on other issues that are less important. Others attribute the reason to unemployment, rampant corruption, oppressive regimes and negligence.
Unfortunately, most scholars do not give clear and complete answers to the reasons for the increase in the number of atheists. The same thing is true for teachers who do not have good answers as to why the Arab world has a large number of atheists.
