Day by day I begin to wonder more and more if I can even call myself a communist anymore. Its becoming hard to really reconcile my faith with communism if the ideology itself is theorically opposed to it. Bukharin’s book, “ABCs of Communism,” has an entire section on Chapter 11 that directly talks about why religion and communism are incompatible. Communists believe history is driven by class struggle and material conditions. Religious people believe in stuff like divine intervention or divine will. A communist would probably look at islam (my faith) and be like “No prophet was sent a message by God and acted upon it, it was their material conditions that made them act.” I don’t see how one could believe both, it feels like its either or.
Sure, it is perfectly possible for religious people to largely agree with Marxists on such things as historical materialism and present-day class struggles, not to mention struggles for national liberation, against racism, etc. It is possible be anti-capitalist and fight for a classless, moneyless, and stateless society where MOP is colletively owned but at the end of the day, there is philosophical tension.
I feel at best, I can be an ally, but the way I see it, I will never be one of them. I do not belong. My voice does not count equally and my beliefs make me suspect. I have faced hostility from leftists that are atheist and hostile towards religion and been called a revisionist. If this is how me and others are gonna be treated just because of our faith, I’d rather die than simply be used as cannon fodder in a revolution.
There are millions of communist Muslims, surely. With almost two billion Muslims in the world, and 26 million in China alone, the statistics are in your favor. I am a communist Muslim and I know many where I live in a non-Muslim region. Beyond that, communists of other religions would be in the millions as well, especially Christians in LatAm. As others have pointed out, you just need to be able to 1) ignore anti-social people like the types of atheists you are describing. They are never going to be able to organize anything because of their anti-social behavior. Even if one is an atheist, most people are not and if you are mocking them they will be against you.
separate your personal relationship with Allah from your material analysis. If undertaking a material analysis, you can only rely on material data that is empirical.
understand that communism is what we were put here to achieve. An equitable world of peace and prosperity is the vision, and communism is the vehicle to get there. Our faith is what allows us to be dedicated to that mission instead of being constantly pulled off track by self gratification