Hello everyone, I'm new here, and I see it's encouraged to give an intro about oneself and I'm happy to share!
Like many, I was born in a Muslim country. That said, I've always had trouble following the religion, it was always so rigid, full of rituals and rules which didn't make sense to me. God gifted me with a very analytical and mathematical mind that has served me well in my professional life, but my spiritual life always suffered because it didn't make sense.

I was always discouraged from reading the Quran because I had to do it with the tafsir books in hand, as us regular people shouldn't try to interpret the book by ourselves. Even better Imams and religious leaders know better and have distilled our religion into rules to follow, I should just do it and shut up. Attend the Friday prayer and listen to the imam, attend religious study groups, listen to TV channels or Radio stations with scholars who know what they're talking about. I'm sure a lot of you here identify with this.

This never sat right with me, and kept me in a state of continuous contradiction One side tells me that our religion doesn't put anyone between us and God, and the other tells me I need to follow rules and authority. Which one is it? Worse yet, I disagreed with a LOT of the rules and teachings, which didn't make sense to me. That was leading me towards leaving the religion. I asked God for guidance, and he inspired me to pick up a Quran and start reading, which I've done.

This decision has changed the whole course of my life. Everything finally started making sense to me. What I was taught since I was a kid was mostly brainwashing for the masses to fall in line and do the biddings of corrupt leaders. Not only is Islam as described in the Quran MUCH simpler and straightforward, it also contradicts most of the teachings I was given since I was a kid, especially those I always disagreed with.

God really speaks to each one of us individually through the Quran. That's why he encourages us to read it and to think for ourselves. That's why religious authorities are so desperate to not allow us to read it alone.

I've told my parents about my discoveries because I was naive, and they instantly went absolutely mad at me. They called me a Kafir, they didn't want to hear anything about it. How dare I not take the Hadith and not elevate the Prophet above everyone else? How dare I read the Quran alone when it's impossible for someone uninitiated to understand it. How can I know how to practice without the thousands of rules that imams crafted over centuries? The Quran alone surely isn't enough! It doesn't matter that there are verse warning us about this exact thing, I should turn a blind eye and listen to the leaders.

My father tried to get a friend of his who's a university teacher of islamic studies, and I sat with him. I had everything ready so he can explain to me what the many verses saying the book is complete, nothing is left out of it, it's simple and accessible to all, that we shouldn't blindly follow what our fathers taught us, that we should reflect by ourselves, that we shouldn't seek books other than the Quran, etc... and he had absolutely nothing aside from calling me names, and saying that what I tell him is dangerous. He also told me I'm a "Quranist" and we are an extremist group.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but I continued my journey. Today I'm in a point in my life where I was feeling very sad and alone, because it felt like I'm the only one seeing how corrupt the so-called islamic world and teachings are, and how far away muslims are from the message of God.

That's when I remembered the term "Quranist" that I've been called before, did a google search about it and found your community. I'm very happy to be part of it, and hope to learn a lot from your experiences and journeys, and hopefully help others here too.