Ismail Mohamed

Ismail Mohamed (Alexandria, 9 June 1983 ) is an Egyptian atheist activist, blogger and producer of The Black Ducks programme (برنامج البط الأسود Barnamaj al-Bati al'Aswad, or al-Bath as-Sawda for short ).

He is also a contributing editor to Arab Atheists Magazine (مجلة الملحدين العرب Majalat al-Mulhadayn al-e-Arab).

His last name is sometimes transcribed as Mohammed.

Ismail Mohamed was born in Alexandria on 9 June 1983.

At the age of 5, the family moved to Jordan, and returned to Egypt after 9/11.

(Mohamed was aged 18; he recalled that in Jordan, many people regarded Osama bin Laden as a 'Muslim hero' back in the day).

His father didn't actively practice Islam, and although he lacked a college education, he had a passion for science and encouraged Ismail to read books and gather information online when the Internet emerged.

Unlike Mohamed's father, his uncle, who helped raise him, was a devout man who took him to the mosque and forced him to memorise the Quran.

During his adolescence, Mohamed's love for music, especially Michael Jackson's songs, came into conflict with his religious fervour and his community.

Mohamed began studying the topic of apostasy in Islam when numerous online atheists were imprisoned following accusations of "insulting religion", which is subject to Egypt's anti-blasphemy law.

Although he was a liberal Muslim and knew little about atheism, he questioned whether the arrests were fair.

In the process, he explored atheism and the sciences, including a materialist view of evolution which he was never taught in school.

“The science is sure the story of humans is not Adam and Eve.

This forced me to search.

And I was surprised with many things.

I started to study the religions of the Middle East.

According to Mohamed, the Egyptian revolution of 2011 has enabled young atheists in the country to be heard after decades of censorship.

I read the history of Abrahamic religions.” He also learnt the English language in 2012, which granted access to a lot more information such as the writings of Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins — as well as Egyptian secularist thinkers.

He left Islam in 2012 and eventually came out as an atheist to his parents, who took some time to accept it, but embraced the debate and started questioning parts of Islam themselves, while still holding on to the religion.

In 2013, Mohamed launched The Black Ducks programme, an online talk show which according to The New York Times seeks to "offer a space where agnostic and atheist Arabs can speak freely about their right to choose what they believe and resist coercion and misogyny from religious authorities."

Mohamed himself described the programme as "a show featuring interviews spanning the broad spectrum of Arab atheists and non-religious people from all over the Middle East and North Africa, providing a platform where they can speak freely without fear, sounding their demands for equal rights and demonstrating that they really do exist."

He explained that a 'black duck' is the Arabic equivalent of a black sheep in the English language: "An oddity, a misfit."

The Black Ducks was started in Cairo with nothing more than a computer, speakers and a small piece of paper featuring the show's logo.

Every guest interviewed by Mohamed comes from across the Middle East, usually explaining why they left Islam and how they deal with their apostasy and atheism in everyday life in their respective societies.

In some cases, women from Saudi Arabia appeared on the show from behind their computers unveiled, despite the hijab being mandatory in their state.

Not all guests are necessarily atheists; sometimes religious people, especially from minority religions in the MENA region, or LGBT people, are invited to bring their perspective.

Ismail Mohamed made a breakthrough as the first outspoken atheist appearing on Egyptian television in November 2013, being invited to discuss irreligion not long after posting his first Black Ducks video.

He calmly and 'confidently' made his case for nonbelief, despite being ridiculed by the host and call-in guests.

Amongst the things he said was: "We are not trying to divide the society more than it already is, we simply ask the complete freedom of belief as it exists in any modern state."

A YouTube excerpt of the interview went viral quickly, reaching hundreds of thousands of views within a few months.

Many were amazed, with political analyst and human rights activist Hisham Kassem saying: "I never thought I would see this in my lifetime."

At the time, Mohamed was studying at Alexandria University's Faculty of Education, while working at a laundry shop; he was barred from working at many other companies because of his irreligious activities.

He would go on to become an Internet developer by 2015.

Some people have argued or threatened that Mohamed should be killed for being an apostate, and he has occasionally been beaten up or threatened with death in the streets of Alexandria and Cairo when passers-by recognised him from the show.

In a Cairo café, a few months after being beaten up in Alexandria, he faced a crowd of hundreds of people angrily cursing him for publicly saying God doesn't exist.

He escaped with his life when the police arrived.

Several months later, he and his wife relocated to a town on the Red Sea coast, where he feels safer because of the presence of tourist police.

Despite the threats, Mohamed remained tenacious, arguing that if more former Muslims speak out, leaving Islam will be normalised and there will be fewer threats as a result.

In June 2015, when there were about 18 Arab atheist online talk shows, he was the only host who had not fled his country to seek asylum in the West, having produced about 160 episodes on Egyptian soil.

Unlike other programmes, The Black Ducks is much less aimed at criticism of Islam, and more about advocating the rights of nonbelievers and accepting their growing presence in society.