About the Book - My Islam My Choice

About Us

I was Brainwashed by Brainwashed Muslims

This book is my voice—for anyone who loves God but feels pushed away by others who claim to represent Him. Do not loose faith in Islam because of Muslims who focus on “You Cant Do That – You Have to Do This”.

These Muslims spend more time on debating and telling others what to do than they do remembering God and doing good. For decades I was haunted by their voices in my head and I was miserable. I was living my life in fear. Then I began to see hypocrisy in Muslims and wonder if these people even prayed. I saw more debating and intellectual displays and politics than I saw humble worship and human kindness.

If you share my experience I invite you to remember Allah / God and come to Him as you are and follow your heart. Much of what these radical people say is based on personal opinion and tribal tradition and culture.

My book, My Islam My Choice teaches you that you dont have to abandon your religion because of a Million knuckle Head extremist Muslims that have given the religion a bad reputation. I highlight verses in the Quran that contradict the behavior of these extremists jihadists radical Muslims. Think about it, how can cutting off the head of a person just because they have a different religion be acceptable to God?

That’s just one example. Some countries have Muslim or Moral police that beat you on the street or put you in prison if you speak to a woman or dont grow a beard.

None of this has anything to do with Islam. I want to tell the world that there is a difference between a revolutionary a militant a politician and a Muslim. I’ve battled guilt, judgment, and voices telling me what I can or cannot do as a Muslim. I’ve been made to feel wrong for questioning, wrong for being human.

I’ve seen hypocrisy—those who hide behind religion, judge others, yet sin in silence. But Islam, to me, isn’t a prison. It’s a path I’ve chosen after living through darkness.

This book is my voice—for anyone who loves God but feels pushed away by others who claim to represent Him. You’re not alone. My Islam My Choice teaches you that you dont have to abandon your religion because of a Million knuckle Head extremist Muslims that have given the religion a bad reputation. And this is my choice.

I became Muslim at age 16, I chose it I was not born into it. I was a child looking for God. One day I became fed up with the voices in my head of other Muslims judging me and telling me what I can and cannot do. For decades I lived as if I was not good enough and I lived in fear of going to hell. I asked myself, is this piety or politics? These people talk as if they spoke to God directly and they know what He thinks.

No matter what we read, Bible Quran or a comic book, it's all personal opinion. Do you see the moon? So do I. We each have our personal point of view. I say it's partly sunny you can say it's partly cloudy. You have no right to outcast me or kill me or cut off my head or blow up a building because you are mad that I don't share your point of view. You can sugar coat it all you want, the scholars this - the great imam that. The Hadith this - the Hadith that. It's all second hand information - FILTERED by a BIAS. A tribal tradition a culture. If I read a spooky Hadith and I choose not to believe it. That's my choice.

...........................Website under construction and edits please excuse misplaced text ......................

What would happen if I entered a mosque looking like this, that's me, in the above picture? What do Muslim men say to Muslim women that don't cover their head? It's always judgment. They say we are not real Muslim they say we are going to hell. Basically what they are saying is that we shouldn't even pray and fast and read Quran or give charity. We are evil and we are going to hell. Forget that we wake up at dawn to make morning prayer and forget that we gave a poor person $100 when we ourselves are poor and in need.

These Muslims are so self righteous and have their head so deep into the Quran and Hadith and what ancient scholars say that they ignore that we fasted 30 days in the blazing summer to please a god that we cannot see, feel smell touch taste or hear.

Yet it is these same Muslims that walk over a hungry person on the street and don't give him or her a dollar because he or she is from a different country or he or she is not a Muslim.

Basically to them it means nothing that I am a Muslim despite being from a infidelic culture and a nationality where Islam is looked upon as a thing of evil. I get no credit for that but yes, I wear a gold chain or I dress nice and my name is Sam and not Abdullah and for that I am not a real Muslim.

Do you preach righteousness and fail to practice it yourselves, although you read the Scripture? Do you not understand? Quran 2:44 Yet these are the same people that cut off people heads for daring to ask a question and they kill Jews and say Allahu Akbar, (God is Great). Think about it. If you and I have a difference of opinion on a political or religious issue and I refuse to see it your way. You cut off my head or put me in prison for a moral crime. You outcast me from the land. Yet you preach righteousness you pray you quote religious scripture and you kill Jews and Christians you cut of their heads and say Allahu Akbar (God is Great). How stupid is that?

I fear God / Allah and I pray and I am a Muslim. On my terms and what I do or do not do is between God and myself. That's what this book is about. It's not necessary to abandon your religion or stop praying or reading Quran because you are confused or because you don't believe in something. Come to god as you are.

Does that mean my prayers and my fasting and my good deeds are no good? The guy tells me "If a woman plucks her eyebrows she is going to hell" "Woman can only wear black and dark blue, not light colors because she may entice a man to feel sexual". I met a guy in the mosque, after a nice chat he asked me, "whats your name brother?" I said, Sam. He said, "I don't know about that SAM STUFF, I'm going to call you Abdullah.

I'm Muslim since 1976, 48 years, I think that's bullshit. I don't believe in these stupid traditions. I am fed up with the bullshit but I will never abandon my religion or stop making my prayers or reading the Quran. I will never use peoples foolishness as an excuse to not pray and abandon the remembrance of God. That's why I wrote this book. It's OK to say, I EMPHATICALLY REJECT that Hadith. That's between God / Allah and myself. But no! These people block me from a Facebook group. Outcast me in the mosque. Stop talking to me. And in some countries, they would cut off my head. That shit is so stupid. Oh, I cursed, am I going to hell.

These self righteous people have their head so deep into book and the Quran they they miss the spirit of the true message. They are out of touch with reality and too many Muslims are frozen in an ancient mentality in a modern time. They rely on ancient scholars and people whose perception of Islam is FILTERED by bias, tribal tradition and male chauvinistic mentality. Their foundation is rooted in a tribal culture where it is not permissible to disagree or ask questions.

Dismissing women's opinions or contributions
Believing women are “naturally” less capable in leadership, logic, or independence
Expecting women to serve, obey, or exist only in domestic roles

As an American Muslim convert, I, Samuel Arcelay share how freedom in Islam only came when I filtered tradition through the Qur'an—not people. I decided to ignore the voices in my head of Muslims imposing their beliefs and opinions on me. I got tired of people telling me what I cant do and what I have to do. It was as if these people had one goal in life, "to look for fault in others and judge".

Haunted by voices in my head

You cant do this you cant do that. You have to do this you have to do that. I’ve been Muslim for over 40 years, but I’ve struggled with how culture, race, and ego shape the Muslim experience. I’ve asked tough questions: Are we truly following God or just trying to please people? Do hijabs, beards, and Arabic names and Arabic clothes define a Muslim?

If a woman refuses to wear Hijab and I choose Sam over Abdullah or Muhammad as my name. If I like fancy clothes and jewelry. Does a Muslim moral police have the right to judge me and tell me my pray and my fast and my remembrance of God are no good? My charity and the good that I do? Would you believe a Muslim refused to call me Sam and said to me “I will call you Abdullah”?

My Faith. My Voice. My Islam.

I didn’t inherit Islam—I chose it. This is not about fear or pressure. It’s about finding God beyond the noise, and reclaiming faith on my own terms. This is my Islam. This is my choice.

Islam Is a Choice, Not Force

We don’t choose where we’re born—but we do choose who we become. This space is for those who’ve chosen Islam with open hearts, beyond judgment, beyond fear. Through our book and community, we speak to those who feel unseen—connecting tradition with truth, and creating space for real, honest conversations rooted in sincerity and spiritual freedom.

Piety or Politics?

I believe that faith should come from the heart—not from pressure or tradition. My Islam My Choice is here for Muslims who choose belief with purpose and sincerity, not fear. Through personal stories, honest reflections, and the powerful message of The Quran, we can reclaim Islam from cultural expectations and returning it to where it belongs. The Quran is full of verse that contradict the un-islamic practices of these extremist Muslims.

Piety or Politics? How can a religion forbid you from asking questions and honestly saying, I dont believe, I have doubt, I reject that? The Quran clearly states, “to you be your way to me be mine” “There is no compulsion in religion” “You are forbidden to inherit women against their will” It teaches us to fight oppression, not to become oppressors.

These radical people follow tribal traditions and culture and they use religion to justify their personal desires and ideology. They pick and choose what part of the book and the Hadith they will follow. If you ask questions or disagree or speak out, they kill you. Put you in moral prison. Then they come to USA and they try to enforce the same ideology.

Personally I have become ashamed to be Muslim because of the bad reputation these radical have given to our religion.