Silence as Compulsion

India is the world’s first and only country where conversions happen from majority to minority faiths—whether to Islam or to Christianity. And even here, conversions are rarely about genuine faith; they are driven by fear, temptation, or deception. By contrast, Sanatan Dharma is unique: it shows no great zeal or organized campaign to increase numbers through reconversion. There is no tradition of celebrating or welcoming those who convert into Hinduism. Hindus never raised swords to spread their faith, nor sent missionaries across continents. And yet, if someone chooses to embrace Hinduism, it reflects the inherent strength of this dharma—strength enough to survive not merely centuries, but millennia. Its roots run deeper than recorded history.

Consider Kerala’s Ali Akbar, once a BJP state committee member. In October 2021 he quit the party over internal differences. Years earlier, in 2015, he had exposed sexual abuse in madrasas. Later, shocked by the hatred many Muslims expressed against General Bipin Rawat, Ali Akbar renounced Islam. Similarly, Wasim Rizvi, former chairman of the Shia Waqf Board, left Islam on 7 December 2021 at Ghaziabad’s Dasna Devi temple, adopting the name Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi. He had long demanded the removal of 26 “controversial” verses from the Qur’an, declaring Sanatan Dharma the noblest path.

Abroad too, conversions make headlines. Sukmawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia’s former President Sukarno, embraced Hinduism on her 70th birthday, inspired by her grandmother Ida Ayu Nyoman Rai Srimben. Earlier, sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan’s son Ashish Khan, former Miss India Nafisa Ali, actress Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid), classical musician Annapurna Devi (originally Roshanara Khan), Tamil actress Khushboo, gangster Arun Gawli’s wife Asha Gawli, Indonesian judge Ifa Sudewi, and even Hamas founder’s son Mosab Hassan Yousef—all left Islam for other faiths.

The phenomenon is global. Pew Research (2017) reported that in the U.S., of 3.5 million Muslims, about 100,000 leave Islam every year. One in five American Muslims today was born in another faith, and an equal share of those born Muslim no longer practice. In Saudi Arabia, according to Win-Gallup polling cited by The New Republic (2015), 5% of people identify as atheist—over one million souls—while 19% say they are “not religious.” In Lebanon, Arab Barometer surveys show a 43% decline in religious belief in just the last decade. In England, a 2005 Times report said 15% of Muslims had left Islam. In North America, an organized movement—Ex-Muslims of North America—publicly documents such exits.

In India too, Pew found 6% of Muslims identify as atheists, though few openly renounce Islam. Online groups like Ex-Muslims of India (formed 2019, with 100+ members) and Ex-Muslims of Tamil Nadu (300 members) share anonymous testimonies, because fear prevents them from going public.

The fear is real. In Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, and the UAE, apostasy is punishable by death under Sharia. Those who doubt, leave, or question must either flee or hide. Many retain Muslim names to mask their change, protecting themselves and their families. To renounce Islam, in such contexts, is often to gamble with one’s life.

History too reminds us. Only a handful of Mughals, Turks, Afghans, and Uzbeks once arrived in India, yet today 18% of its population identifies as Muslim. Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah himself came from a Hindu Lohana family tracing descent to Lord Rama’s son Lava. His forefathers, once fish traders, converted to Islam after being ostracized. Even today, Jinnah’s cousins in Gujarat remain Hindu.

The story of coercion recurs. Indian spy Mohanlal Bhaskar, jailed in Pakistan, recalled in his memoir I Was an Indian Spy in Pakistan how a prison officer tortured him savagely. Asked why, the officer replied, “Our family was forced into Islam generations ago. Under the British, we longed to return to Hinduism but could not. Since then, whenever I see a Hindu, my blood boils.”

Such accounts make one truth plain: those who leave Islam often have no choice but silence. To live is to hide. To speak out is to risk everything.

(Originally published on 13.12.2021 Revised in September, 2025.)