When Anisha, a bright, 25-year-old Oxford graduate, broke up with her boyfriend of five years, she felt relieved – she had managed to keep the entire relationship hidden from her strict Bengali Muslim family. Sneaking out and lying to her parents had become an ordeal, but it didn’t end with the break-up of her first serious relationship. Anisha had an even bigger secret she was hiding from her family since she was a child – that she no longer identified as a Muslim.
Although moderate Muslims have worked to change perceptions, renouncing faith – otherwise known as “apostasy” – remains deeply taboo in Western Muslim communities. Anisha is one of potentially thousands of ex-Muslims in Britain, many of whom grew up in the UK but remain in the closet about their apostasy, fearing rejection and isolation if they “come out” to their families.
