| “ | Stay away from Islam. | ” |
―Apostate Prophet | ||
Ridvan Aydemir (born: February 8, 1991),[1] better known online as Apostate Prophet is an Ex-Muslim YouTuber known for Islamic Counter-Apologetics.[citation needed] He has garnered a follower base since beginning YouTube in 2017.[citation needed]
Personal life[]
Ridvan was born in Germany to a Turkish family of devout Sunni Muslims.[2] Eventually, Ridvan moved to Turkey picking up various ideologies while there, such as being a secular Communist for a short time. Ridvan served his mandatory military service in Turkey and later became heavily interested in Islam. Raised in a conservative Muslim environment, Ridvan's study in Islam became extensive, however, he also had doubts about Islam and its tenets. Several years went by, Ridvan became more skeptical about Islam until he eventually left Islam altogether. This disappointed his parents who were conservative Muslims, and he is now estranged from them.[3] Ridvan eventually immigrated to the United States around 2018,[4] and became a US citizen in late 2021.[5] He is married to his wife and has a child.
Career[]
He created his YouTube channel on May 17, 2017.[citation needed]
Ridvan’s early videos would be him explaining his story on why he left Islam. He would criticize Quranic ayahs as well as hosting guests. He also built a social media profile across Twitter and YouTube.[citation needed]
Apostate Prophet ripped up the Quran in protest to blasphemy laws. This would reach 1 million views and be mentioned in multiple news channels. It led to mass outrage from Muslims, which ultimately led to Apostate Prophet deleting the video altogether.[citation needed]
Views[]
Apostate Prophet states that his political and social views have changed extensively throughout his life. He was raised in a conservative Muslim environment and had an Islamic worldview. He picked up on a secular Communist worldview while in Turkey but later reverted to his Islamic worldview and became a very devout Muslim. Ridvan remained a Muslim but began questioning Islam and its systems. He left Islam and moved to the United States to escape the potential repercussions by the Muslim community.[citation needed]
Ridvan is a supporter of free speech and he has criticized big corporations such as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms for censorship. He calls them cowards for conforming to Muslim demands to silence critics of Islam. Ridvan also believes that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not only ethnic in nature but also Islamic in nature as most of the Muslim world backs Palestine for an Islamic purpose instead of an ethnic purpose.[6]
Ridvan entirely rejects the Islamic worldview and considers it cruel and inhumane towards Atheists, Hindus, Jews, Christians and even towards certain Muslims; especially, towards LGBT people, female children, and women. Ridvan also criticizes the Muslim world for draconian human rights abuses and he opposes Western politicians trying to conform to the demands of Muslim communities in the West. Apostate Prophet also rejects the term Islamophobia as nonsense and another way to silence legitimate criticism of Islam. He also considers the Islamic worldview to be very hateful. He considers “Quran Miracles” to be pseudoscience. He also debunks the notion that Ramadan fasts help people lose weight, and has defended Indian objections to Islam, due to India’s historical bad blood with Islamic Caliphates, although Ridvan has condemned Hindutva multiple times for their extremism. He said the Christchurch massacre, that happened in Christchurch, New Zealand, was being used as a "blame game", and believes Muslims are trying to invade Europe and impose Islam.[7]
Ridvan is an atheist, and has had multiple debates with Christians and Muslims about theological issues such as God's existence and the nature of morality. He credits himself as a "freethinker", and believes that theists are arrogant for believing in God absolutely despite humans knowing little about the universe.[citation needed]
Ridvan has a much more positive view towards Christianity, as he believes it does not harm people the way Islam does, he has praised Christianity at times on his channel.[citation needed]
Collaborations[]
Ridvan is a notable guest on many other channels, mainly discussing his criticism of Islam. Ridvan is a friend of David Wood, and is a frequent guest on his channel. Ridvan also had discussions with many other Christian missionaries such as Christian Prince, Al-Fadi, Jay Smith, and Sam Shamoun. He also had discussions with controversial commentator Robert Spencer on his channel.[citation needed]
Ridvan, as an atheist, is also friendly with many atheists. He is a frequent guest on "The Atheist Experience" talk show, where he debates Muslims who call in into the stream. He is a notable guest on the "Mythvision" YouYube channel, a channel which focuses on comparative religion from the perspective of an Atheist, and is his main guest regarding Islam.[citation needed]
Ridvan has also invited some academics on his show, he invited Bart Ehrman to discuss the Islamic take on Christianity and the life of Jesus in November 2021 as well as March 2022. In Early 2022, he invited reputable historian Robert Hoyland on the history of early Islam. In February 2022, he invited professor Gad Saad to discuss his life, current events, as well as his perception of Islam.[citation needed]
Dialogue with Muslims[]
Ridvan has debated many Muslims regarding various topics in Islam. He first debated Islamist Daniel Haqiqatjou on the Shariah in June 2020. A few months later, he had a dispute with Mohammed Hijab, with Mohammed Hijab using foul language against Ridvan and David Wood (Mohammed Hijab later apologized for this). Ridvan debated Mohammed Hijab on his own channel with Slim and Adam Saleh watching him in September 2020. In July 2021, Ridvan joined the Muslim theology channel the Thought Adventure Podcast on God's existence. In August, Ridvan joined the Hamza's Den, a Muslim Dawah platform, to debate if Islam is alluded to in the Bible.[citation needed]
In October, Ridvan debated Dr. Abdul Majid regarding the veracity of Islam. Ridvan debated a liberal Muslim, The Perfect Dawah, regarding Islamic Shariah in late 2021. Ridvan has also debated Muslim apologist Nadir Ahmad multiple times regarding violence in the Quran and Quranic scientific accuracy. Ridvan debated 17 year old philosophy hobbyist Reformed Salafi on the nature of God's existence in January 2022. A few days later, he had an informal and heated debate with Ali Dawah over Ridvan's YouTube career and God's existence. Ridvan had a debate with a Muslim twitter user named "Dr. Khaled. PHD" on if the apostasy law is justified the next day. In March 2021, he debated a Muslim named "Finding Truth" on the veracity of Islam. Later in April, Ridvan debated Reformed Salafi once again, this time on the veracity of Islam.[citation needed]
Ridvan also has had multiple people respond to his videos, two notable ones are Farid Responds and Detective O Will, who have made series responding to many of his videos. Ridvan responded to Farid on a livestream along with David Wood in late April 2022, but as of now he has not responded to Detective O Will's videos. Ridvan also had disputes with other Muslims, such as Saajid Lipham.[citation needed]
Ridvan is mocked by Muslims, and has received multiple nicknames from Muslims. These include "Apuss", which mocks his anti-Islamic nature, which is likened as being pusillanimous. Originally termed by Mohammed Hijab, it has become the main term by muslim apologists when referring to Ridvan. Another name for him is Apostate for Profit, which is mocking Ridvan for using Patreon as a basis for his lively income, and also mocks Ridvan for alluringly pandering to fanatical Hindutva and Christians so they can continue paying him. Ridvan is also mocked for his alleged "ignorance" about Islamic theology despite him reportedly once claiming that he knew more about Islam than 95% of Muslims. These reported examples about his "ignorance" include him not "knowing" the amount of Rak'ahs in Friday congregational prayer, him being "unable" to recite chapters from the Quran, him not "knowing" about the creed of the Ashʿarī and Maturidi schools regarding God, as well as other examples. According to him, the reason why he does this is because he didn't wanted to do it, not of his "ignorance", but Muslims pointed out how often he stuttered and got nervous at those times. He claims to ''stand up for basic human rights and wants humanity to progress'', the amount of Muslims mocking him does not change his actions.[citation needed]
Ridvan, due to his relatively soft nature towards Christianity, as well as various comments he made toward the past praising the western world, is criticized by Muslims for allegedly being servile to Europe as well as having self-hate for his native Turkish culture. He is also criticized, due to his extremely harsh and provocative attacks on Islam, as well as various comments he made regarding the Muslim World, as someone who is ''trying to encourage vilification and hatred for Muslim community.''[citation needed]
Trivia[]
- Ridvan has been suspended twice on Twitter, first in January 2019 after critiquing a Muslim user, and second in May 2019 for unknown reasons. Ridvan regained his Twitter account in late 2021.[citation needed]
- He is banned from Instagram.[8]
- Ridvan states his parents are first cousins.[9]
- Apostate Prophet speaks German, Turkish, and English fluently.
- Apostate Prophet is the largest Ex-Muslim YouTuber to date.[citation needed]
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ApostateProphet/status/1358781199091720196
- ↑ https://youtu.be/tVTIjbeHSRE&t=72
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ApostateProphet/status/1526057922937200640
- ↑ https://youtu.be/tVTIjbeHSRE&t=248
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ApostateProphet/status/1468726437259751427
- ↑ https://youtu.be/BnR4c38gIgM
- ↑ https://youtu.be/TQ2Mwf4I1Sk
- ↑ https://youtu.be/tVTIjbeHSRE&t=411
- ↑ https://youtu.be/byQ-ZxAifUg?t=28