© Rami Khoury/Al Bawaba News
Social media fallout has followed Shady Srour's Facebook post where the Egyptian YouTube star announced he was leaving Islam, citing how the "racism and cruelty" of its adherents had almost led him to suicide.
"I left Islam because of racism and cruelty in the hearts of people who are supposed to believe in God but in fact, they are a bunch of insincere hypocrites," 24-year-old Srour wrote in a
post on Friday, blaming his former religion for the excessive cyberbullying which almost cost him his life late last year.
Over the weekend,
the status generated over 100,000 comments and was shared across social media, with most reactions divided between staunch support and harsh opposition.
The most popular comment on the status came from another victim of bullying, TV presenter Sherif Madkour, who wrote that Srour didn't truly understand Islam, advising him to "ignore people with shallow minds, be yourself and trust your beliefs," adding "God be with you."
Srour eventually backpedaled from his comments in a YouTube video where he made it clear that the bullies he had called out were not true Muslims, and that Islam itself hadn't played a role in the hatred he had experienced.
Comment: While the US is trying to regime change elsewhere in the Gulf, in Haiti it appears to be 'regime maintain'...