How an ex-Muslim blog persuades: 5 findings from a Malaysian study

The study found that the blogger built two identities through her writing: an opponent of religion, and an ordinary, conversational blogger.^[3] She wrote as someone intelligent and unafraid, and she invited readers to question her decision to leave.

That invitation did work of its own. By opening a space for argument, the researchers observe, she reduced her critics to those willing to argue with her on intellectual terms.^[3] A writer who welcomes challenge looks confident, and the readers who stay are those who accept her terms.

Muslims have no reason to be unsettled by this posture. The Quran itself tells its opponents to bring their proof if they are truthful, and it commands Muslims to argue with others in the way that is best.^[4] A reader who takes up the invitation on those terms stands where the Quran asks her to stand.

Almost every entry was a story from her own life, above all the turning point at which she left Islam.^[5] The researchers note that storytelling lets a writer place readers inside her experience, so that they feel what she felt before they weigh what she claims.

A story is hard to rebut with a proof text. A reader who has just shared someone’s distress is poorly placed to hear a verse quoted against her.

Islam knows the power of narrative well. The Quran calls the account of Joseph the best of stories, and a large part of it is told as the lives of earlier prophets.^[6] The lesson for a Muslim reply is to listen to the story first and to treat the pain in it as real. Reasons come after that, in the same voice and at the same pace. A reply that skips the story reads as a refusal to hear it.

The researchers found all three classical modes of persuasion in the blog: appeals to her credibility, to readers’ emotions and to reasoning.^[7] Her appeals to emotion rested heavily on the insults and threats she had received, told so that readers would sympathise with her and support her.

They add a caution of their own: sympathy of this kind can cloud a reader’s judgement about what is true.^[7] That caution applies to any testimony, from any direction, and it is worth keeping in mind before either accepting or dismissing one. The same holds for a convert’s moving account of finding Islam, which persuades by feeling as well.

The Quran gives the rule for it: when a report comes, verify it before acting on it.^[8] A moving story proves that someone suffered. Whether the suffering shows that her conclusion is correct is a separate question that the story cannot answer.

The researchers classified the comments readers left. Of those analysed, 174 were supportive, about 40 percent; 109 were hostile, about 25 percent; and 36 offered advice, about 8 percent.^[9] The percentages imply a sample of roughly 430 comments, with the rest falling outside those three groups.

The supporters were moved chiefly by sympathy for what she described. Many added experiences of their own, which kept the conversation going and bound her readers more closely to her.^[9]

These figures describe one blog and one writer. The study is a case study of a single author, so it cannot show how typical she is of people who leave Islam or of their readers. Hostile comments were a quarter of the total, and supportive ones outnumbered them by about three to two. A blogger whose critics mostly shout is easy to defend, and the numbers show that this is the situation she was in.

The hostile comments fell into two kinds. Some were insults with no argument, written to vent anger with no expectation of an answer. Others questioned her beliefs with statements and evidence, and invited a reasoned reply.^[10] Insults and threats, as the third finding above describes, were at the heart of the sympathy she drew from readers.

The Muslim readers who offered advice did something more skilful. They were firm in asking her to stop attacking Islam and gentle in inviting her back, and they combined reasons with an appeal to her feelings. The researchers judge that with sound reasons and the right approach, such replies might have changed her mind.^[10]

The Quran sets the same standard: repel evil with what is better, and there is no compulsion in religion.^[11] Classical jurists did discuss a penalty for apostasy, and their views differed on its nature and on whether the apostate should be called to repent. On the classical view a penalty belongs to a court, and no private person may impose or threaten it.^[12]