How to leave the most peaceful religion in the world

 The caged virgin is an amazing book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, unfortunately the book is banned in Malaysia. When the book was held at customs for inspection, I ironically wanted to recite Surah Yaseen for 40 times so god could blind the enemies of the book! Although I didn't, I think Allah was on my side and the book landed safely in my hands 🤣.

Leaving Islam is the toughest journey for anyone who was / will be born to this religion! 1.8 billion followers demand a strong reason for leaving their "most peaceful religion" without realizing the "capital punishment" for leaving a religion contradicts the notion of a peaceful coexistence within the faith.

Not everyone can make the great escape! Ayaan's sister was living with her in the Netherlands, but soon she regretted all her actions against her religion and went back to Somalia to revert back to her religion. She was beaten to death regardless!

When Angel Gebrael told Mohammad: "you're the chosen one and god wants you to be his prophet", asked him to keep it as a secret for a while! Slowly he instructed him to spill the beans with his wife, then his cousin! Whoever wants to leave Islam, needs to make their leave in a more secretive way! Ayaan wrote a 10 step plan in her book!

When it rains, it pours

 I enjoyed reading the Blue Sky Mansion novel. It’s about the journey of a Chinese girl called Mei Choon from China to Penang, Malaya. After her father’s death, her life takes on a dramatic turn.  

Her widowed mum couldn’t bear the living cost of two children (her and her younger brother) and had to sell her to a wealthy family at age of 6 without telling her. The wealthy man dies shortly. On funeral day, she sneaks inside his tomb and, not knowing once the tomb was sealed, there’s no way to get out of there, she was trapped!

Later on, Chen Tong opens the tomb in search of golden bowls disguised in bronze and saves her, taking her with himself and his wife to another city in China not knowing the city was just hit by a plague. After Chen Tong’s wife passed away due to the plague, Chen Tong reveals to Mei Choon that her mum sold her and if she travels with him to Penang, Malaya she can have a better life and access to education, not knowing what is waiting for Mei Choon in Penang. 

Chen Tong asks one of his relatives to take care of 16 years old Mei Choon after his death, but that person betrays him and sells poor Mei Choon to a brothel. Mei Choon second attempt to escape the brothel was successful. After the great escape, she ties the knot with a gambler whose friend tells him that he needs a wife for coping with his gambling habit. They live 30 years happily ever after until he dies in a Japanese air bombing. 

We don’t know what happens to Mei Choon after the Japanese invasion in Malaya, but the author assures us as she overcame multiple adversities in her life, she survived the Japanese invasion as well! 

A refugee’s life is full of adversity! One always feels like when it rains, it pours! Someone like Mei Choon if lucky enough, can escape hardship but someone like her friend Ying Hua might end up hanging herself to end all the pain and suffering.