Opinion | How Islam Killed New Atheism

Isn't it interesting? Alhamdulillah! What started as a hip and modern reinvention of social norms and tradition — a rebellious take on the navigation through life — has now seemingly fallen to the wayside of, well… conservative, well-practising religion. I.e. Islam. Atheism was certainly cool a decade ago, propelled by the likes of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris; however, as their argumentation was slowly pulled apart through the mobile phone, projecting their inconsistencies and hypocrisies for the whole world to see. Many started to wonder what they had actually ended up subscribing to: a fitting identity of the times, or an entrapment of subjectivity, disorder, and disillusion. Let's discuss, in shaa Allah:

New Atheism's foundations were laid through the release of Sam Harris’ 2004 book: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. As well as Harris, Richard Dawkins was seen as the main sort of figurehead of New Atheism, the archetypal atheistic individual who favoured science and “reason”, over religion and well… reason; this led him to the founding of his very own Foundation for Reason and Science two years after Harris’ best-selling book. David Dennett was also doing his bit across the Atlantic, where he penned both Darwin's Dangerous Idea and Breaking the Spell; he was also a member of the Secular Coalition for America advisory board, and pushing the New Atheism argument in universities and colleges alike throughout the United States. The late, not-so-great, Christopher Hitchens was also prominent in this movement, organising a meet-up between these four individuals in 2009 at Hitchens’ residency in DC, where they taped the meeting and titled it “The Four Horsemen”, later, though, officially being labelled “The Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse”.

In the next five years, these individuals went on any and every broadcast/podcast to spread their new atheistic jargon. From Sam Harris on Bill Maher to Richard Dawkins in the debate society of Oxford: Oxford Union, many were deceived into a new type of atheism, a breath of fresh air from “regressive” and “old-fashioned” religion — or so they thought…

Through the advent of the Internet and the current younger generations being exposed to all different types of issues, opinions, and thought. What could have been is a generation grown up by the likes of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and all other sorts of post-liberal archetypes — but that didn't happen. Whether because these individuals weren't particularly cool or masculine, I don't know, but what I do know is that throughout this time, social media became flooded with pro-Islamic content and even benefited the likes of conservative orthodox Christianity. This certainly wasn't the plan, but atheism became somewhat uncool, too pretentious, and lacking in substance. What didn't lack substance, however, was Islam.

Islam took itself very seriously; it didn't have time for innovation or progression. It was believed to be good just where it was. This became attractive to a younger generation — young men, especially. However, young women, also, even more so, actually, as two-thirds of reverts to Islam are women. This seriousness amidst an uncertain-of-itself New Atheism led to the Four Horsemen in disarray. And yeah, it is true to say that in 2019 they did collectively publish their book The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution, but it didn't make much of a splash if I'm being honest: it wasn't a New York Times best seller, didn't spark much of a conversation despite the ironic title, and, frankly, faded into irrelevancy quicker than New Atheism itself. It was clear, the horsemen were in disarray, and something shinier had taken its place.

The year is 2025, and Islam has officially cemented itself as the fastest-growing religion on the face of the planet; nobody can take that away from Islam. Nobody! Alhamdulillah. What’s more is that New Atheism has essentially vanished at this point.

Palestine has also now united the world through the collective condemnation of killing. More importantly, though, it is that the world has seen through these past two years the perseverance of the Palestinian plight, and attributed that to, of course, Islam. Non-believers have become believers because of the Gazans’ unfazed patience, unrelenting persistence, and everlasting endurance through the most trying of times. That itself has brought many to Islam. Alhamdulillah.

Finally… TikTok. I must caveat that I cannot stand the app myself; however, I must be open and honest about the number of brothers and sisters who have reached out to me, informing me of their deen strengthening and increasing ever since using the app. Pro-Islam and Palestinian voices are being heard loud and clear on TikTok, whether believing brothers and sisters learning about fiqh and aqeedah, or open and sincere individuals who are reverting to Islam at an unprecedented rate. It's crystal clear, TikTok is massively benefiting the ummah towards us all being better practising Muslims. Which of course means the obvious apparently… American interventionism — because I'm sure now having major Jewish shareholders (e.g. Larry Ellison of Oracle; Michael Dell of Dell Technologies) will not make a slight of a difference. Let's see…

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Just to note, also: the blog going forward will be moving up to Mondays instead of the usual Wednesdays; timing will stay the same, though (12 p.m. GMT), in shaa Allah.

Jazak Allah khair for your time and attention throughout!

Faithfully, STN.