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This week’s Unbelief Brief continues to take us to Iran, where a rapidly escalating uprising has been met with mass violence, information blackouts, and renewed efforts by the regime to reassert control. In EXMNA Updates we spotlight EXMNA’s Director of Operations, Aysha Khan, who recently appeared on the podcast Beyond Belief to discuss her journey out of Islam and the realities of ex-Muslim advocacy today. Finally, in This Week in Islamic History we revisit one of Islam’s most consequential myths—the Miʿraj—and examine how a fantastical night journey continues to shape religious authority and political claims in the present.

Unbelief Brief

Since last week, protests in Iran have exploded. Although currency devaluation and other economic woes lit the spark, protesters appear intent on toppling the Islamic Republic if they can. A near-total internet blackout has made the transmission of information into and out of the country difficult, but Iranian officials have acknowledged at least 2,000 deaths. Other estimates place the number far higher at 12,000 or more. Gone are the regime’s initial attempts at a conciliatory approach. The Supreme Leader Khamenei, has appeared to greenlight opening fire on crowds of protesters, labeled “rioters” and “terrorists” by the regime. Citizens are reportedly subject to curfews as trucks armed with machine guns patrol “deserted” streets. A campaign of terror to re-enforce obedience seems to be working.

The biggest question at the moment is how this episode of protests—an “uprising,” as Iran analyst Gregory Brew calls it—ends. Speaking to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Brew cites the unity of regime authorities, their sophisticated repressive apparatus, and lack of organization among protesters to argue that the regime is likely to survive, even with US intervention. The extent of that intervention, if it happens, makes things yet more uncertain. Regardless, some Iranians now seem to be resting their hope on this prospect as a widespread sense that they “can’t win without help” sets in.

However this uprising ends, it has exposed cracks in the regime’s foundation that cannot be ignored or easily fixed. Regime authorities proclaim that the protests have died down and that they are again in “full control,” but there is no such thing as full control when most of the populace hates you and a litany of serious economic and social problems remain. This is the second serious threat to the Islamic Republic’s stability this decade and the bloodiest in its history.  While a potential collapse in itself, could  pose new problems for stability in the region, it would represent the first hope of a secular rebirth in Iran for the first time in most Iranians living memory.

EXMNA Updates

Our very own Aysha Khan, Director of Operations at EXMNA, recently appeared on the podcast Beyond Belief: Tales of Religious Exodus, hosted by Freidom Fighter.

In this episode, Aysha shares her personal journey of leaving Islam—growing up in a moderately conservative Muslim family in New York City, navigating a multicultural upbringing, and confronting the intellectual and emotional questions that ultimately led her away from faith. She reflects on formative moments like 9/11, reading the Qur’an in English for the first time, and the quiet balancing act of maintaining family relationships while hiding her true beliefs.

Aysha also speaks candidly about life after leaving religion, finding community, and the realities of ex-Muslim advocacy. Drawing from her work at EXMNA, she addresses free speech, criticism of religion, and the persistent challenges ex-Muslims face—while offering thoughtful advice to others on a similar path.

If you haven’t listened yet, it’s well worth your time.

This Week in Islamic History

The Miʿraj, Muhammad’s alleged Night Journey, occupies a central place in Islamic tradition and continues to shape Muslim claims to Jerusalem today. According to canonical accounts, Muhammad was transported in a single night from Mecca to Jerusalem on a winged, horse-like creature called Buraq, tethered at what is now known as al-Masjid al-Aqsa, before ascending through the heavens to meet earlier prophets and Allah himself. This story is not merely theological folklore; it is one of the primary reasons Jerusalem is considered Islam’s third holiest city after Mecca and Medina. 

Buraq, described in Islamic sources as a supernatural beast somewhere between a mule and a donkey with wings, is essential to this narrative. Its role is purely mythological: a divine mode of transport meant to bypass physical limits of distance and time. Yet believers are expected to accept Buraq as literal truth while recognizing other fantastical creatures as childish superstitions. If divine magic can override all known laws of nature, the inclusion of a winged animal becomes narratively unnecessary—unless the story itself emerged from a pre-scientific worldview where such creatures felt plausible.

The journey’s second half, the ascent through seven layered heavens, reflects ancient cosmology long abandoned by modern science. Muhammad is said to encounter prophets stationed in different celestial levels, a structure that mirrors outdated conceptions of the universe rather than any observable reality. Islamic scholars have long debated whether the Miʿraj was physical or merely visionary, but mainstream doctrine insists on belief regardless. If physical, the journey raises obvious questions about bodily absence, survivability, and space itself. If spiritual, the demand for literal belief collapses the distinction between revelation and dream.

The Jerusalem connection is particularly revealing as Al-Aqsa’s sanctity in Islam was shaped over time through the Miʿraj narrative and later reinforced by Umayyad-era construction of the mosque complex in Jerusalem. Today, this mythological episode is invoked to justify sweeping religious and political claims over a city sacred to multiple faiths. For Muslims, these claims are anchored in a theologically mandated belief in the Miʿraj, an event that remains unverifiable outside of faith.

Rather than demonstrating divine truth, the Miʿraj illustrates how religious authority is built: through narratives that demand the suspension of reason which are then used to sanctify land, power, and control.

As a reminder of the absurdity of Islam’s claims about Mir’aj, we’re reposting last year’s doodle on our socials that sparked much heated conversation!

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Until next week,

The Team at Ex-Muslims of North America

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