Earlier this month, 23-year-old journalism student Mashal Khan was viciously beaten, bludgeoned, and lynched by a mob at Abdul Wali Khan University in Pakistan for allegedly posting “blasphemous” content of the Prophet Muhammad online.
It’s the type of murder that inspired former Muslim Omar Mahmood to say that Mashal Khan could’ve been him.
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“I am an apostate from Islam,” Mahmood wrote in his most recent op-ed in USA Today. “This brutal spasm of violence in the country where some of my family still live is the latest reminder that Islam has lost its way. Even though I was born in Chicago, I can imagine the same thing happening to me.”
In an interview with Red Alert Politics, Mahmood elaborated that while he still feels the love for the faith that left several years ago, criticism of the faith is so badly needed even if labels you an “Islamophobe.”
“There is this sort of aura of danger around Islam,” Mahmood said. “You can’t touch it. It’s protected by several layers. One is if you try to criticize Islam, open the book on the religion, you are labeled an Islamophobe more by the left than the right. That creates a special privilege to the religion. It’s a hallowed victim now.”
Mahmood explained that this special privilege impedes critical and academic inquiry. He even admitted that he hasn’t shared his article on Facebook out of respect for his family.
Listen to the full conversation with Mahmood below:
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