Question:
What will ex-Muslims do if, after death, God actually turns out to be real?
Answer:
We long for it thousands of times more than Muslims do—that even if it's after death, at least once, let God appear before us.
If God turns out to be real after death, we will hold on to Him and demand answers—one by one—for the injustices He allowed to be committed by Muslims against humanity, slaves, slave women, women in general, and non-Muslims.
If we meet Muhammad, we will also question him about the slaughtered children of Banu Qurayza. There are many such matters that need to be accounted for.
In fact, this fear that “what if God actually exists” is the most profound psychological burden. To let humanity get rid of this fear is the greatest service to humanity.
An Alternative Approach to refute Pascal's Wager
Pascal's Wager is an argument, which is used by religious people. It says:
"If God turns out to be real after death, then the believer will be saved, while the non-believer will be doomed. But if there is no God, then no one loses anything. So it's better to believe in God, just in case He exists — that way, you’ll be safe either way."
I am an ex-Muslim. When I began to have doubts about Islam and was in the process of leaving it, I had never encountered the concept of 'atheism' and had no interaction with other atheists. In fact, even today, it's likely that about half of the Muslim population in Islamic countries still has no understanding of what 'atheism' is. So, when Islamic preachers posed Pascal's Wager to me, I had to find my own way to counter it. I ultimately developed the following alternative approach to overcome it.
Even after truly learning that Islam is nothing more than human revelations, I couldn't take the FINAL step of leaving it and had to remain attached to Islam for a while longer.
Especially, the last question was: "What if Allah reveals Himself after my death?" (It is another form of the same question of Pascal Wager)
I contemplated this question from every perspective before directing my last words to Allah:
"Oh Allah! If indeed You exist and You are aware of the depths of my heart, then You would see that I have earnestly sought the truth.
However, my sincere search has convincingly led me to the belief within my heart that You do not exist. It is my inherent sense of humanity that leads me to conclude that your system (Islam) is built upon hostility towards humanity.
Do You truly desire for me to become a hypocrite? Should I outwardly acknowledge Your existence despite the internal denial in my heart and mind?
And if I refuse to be a hypocrite, will You condemn me to eternal damnation, even though my heart is true? Will all the good deeds I have done for the betterment of humanity go to waste, leading me to eternal torment?
Therefore, if I am to be held accountable for my disbelief in You, then 'first,' You must answer for Your failure to provide sufficient evidence of Your existence. You must explain why I couldn't recognize You despite my genuine search for You. Why do you condemn billions of people, born into non-Muslim families by Your design, to burn in eternal hellfire simply because they did not become Muslims?
If You reject my sincere intentions, then either Your promise of 'Verily, the reward of deeds depends on the intentions' is false, or Your promise of eternal hellfire is false."
These were my last words to Allah. I never addressed Him thereafter.
These words served as a "powerful argument" for me, and they encouraged me to finally take that last step of leaving Islam.
A Direct Approach to refute Pascal's Wager
Today, I have access to answers given by Western Freethinkers and other ex-Muslims who refuted Pascal's wager. It enhanced my own thinking process. Here is a refutation of Pascal's wager by a fellow ex-Muslim:
Pascal's Wager may sound convincing at first, but it is extremely superficial, selfish, and immoral.
Look, my friend — if I believe in God solely out of fear that He might exist after death and that belief could save me, then that’s not faith — it’s cowardice. That’s nothing but a trade:
“God, I believe in You only so that You’ll save me from Hell.”
Where is the sincerity in that? Would God truly value such opportunistic followers?Secondly, if we accept Pascal’s logic, then we must also believe in thousands of gods.
What if, after death, it turns out that the Islamic God wasn’t real, and the true god was actually Krishna, Yahweh, or some ancient Egyptian deity?
Dear Muslims, what would happen to you then? You’d be standing in the same rejected line as everyone else.Thirdly, even if a god does exist — would He really be so cruel as to throw a person into eternal Hell just because they honestly searched for the truth but refused to believe due to lack of evidence?
Would such a god be just — or vengeful?And finally:
I choose to be good, honest, and serve humanity without any greed or fear.
If there is a god who is incapable of seeing that I am a sincere and moral human being — and still chooses to punish me merely for “not believing” — then such a god is not worthy of my worship.
Out of the 73 sects in Islam, only one will go to Paradise while the rest are doomed to Hell
If we apply Pascal’s Wager to this, then Muslims should not only believe in their own version of Allah, but also in the gods of Hindus, Christians, and all other religions—because no one knows which god might turn out to be real after death.
Moreover, Muslims should accept all 73 sects of Islam and follow the rituals of each one—because, again, no one knows which sect’s interpretation might actually be correct in the afterlife.
Muhammad himself rejected Pascal's Wager
Interestingly, the author of the Qur'an (i.e. Muhammad himself) rejected this kind of gamble.
According to the interpretation of Surah Al-Kafirun (Surah 109), the pagans of Mecca once proposed a compromise to Muhammad: they would worship Allah alongside their idols, and Muhammad should also worship their gods alongside his own—so that both sides might benefit from what is true.
But Muhammad refused, saying: "To you your religion, and to me mine" (Qur'an 109:6).
All Qur'anic commentators have explained Surah Al-Kafirun this way. For example, Imam Jalaluddin Al-Suyuti, in his tafsir Ad-Durr Al-Manthur, cites the following narration:
Ibn Jarir, Ibn Abi Hatim, and Ibn Al-Anbari in Al-Masaahif reported from Sa'id bin Mina’, the freed slave of Abu Al-Bukhtari, that Walid bin Al-Mughira, 'As bin Wa'il, Al-Aswad bin Al-Muttalib, and Umayyah bin Khalaf came to the Prophet and said:
“O Muhammad, come—let us worship what you worship, and you worship what we worship. This way, we will all share in whatever is true. If our religion is more correct than yours, you will gain a share of it. And if your religion is more correct than ours, then we will gain a share of it.”
So Allah revealed the verses: “Say: O disbelievers! I do not worship what you worship…” (Surah Al-Kafirun) — until the end of the Surah.
Hassan Radwan