It’s surprising, but this trend has strengthened over the last decade: the number of atheists or atheists in Islamic countries has increased significantly. What’s the reason?
Although perhaps only preliminary, several studies reveal that there is an upward trend in the number of people turning to atheism in the Middle East or Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Morocco, and several others.
In 2014, Cairo’s Al-Azhar University conducted a poll. As a result, as many as 10.7 million people from Egypt’s 87 million population claim to be atheists. This data is reinforced by the Egyptian Court report in the same year, revealing thousands of women filed for divorce from their husbands. The reason, their husband, was an atheist. When the husband is not Muslim, a Muslim woman can file for her husband’s divorce in Egypt.
The same trend is also happening in Saudi Arabia. Based on the results of research by WIN-Gallup International in 2012, it’s known that around 19 per cent of the total population of Saudi Arabia admits not to be involved in religious practices, and another five per cent are atheists. Thus, as many as one million citizens of Saudi Arabia claim to be atheists, and nearly six million people are not religious.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, based on a survey by the socio-political research institute Konda, the atheist population has tripled in the last ten years. In Iraq, the virtual world is filled with atheistic social media accounts, and their followers reach tens of thousands. Also, in Iran. In this land of mullahs, as reported by the Statistical Center of Iran in 2011, about 0.3 per cent of the total population associate themselves as non-believers. They have their institution or network, whose followers are also increasing.