I guess that the hardest part would be breaking away from the sense of traditional customs and community. Find another interest and break away from those things that are keeping you tied to your religion's customs.

Break free is one option. Go into your own personal "witness protection program!" Move, change your name, sever all connections to your past. Make friends with other "liberal" Muslims such as yourself and start a new life. And keep your head down.
No, seriously, from what I understand of Islam, you have no choice but to put in a false front and learn to live with it. That is, if you you want to maintain family ties, friendships, other associations.

Why would you be living a double life? Just don't talk about religion, don't say how wrong they are. When asked to come to the mosque say no thank you. Don't ram it into their throats. Just smile and say you are ok and hope they are too.

Interacting with people always requires adaptation, even if it's as simple as wearing clothes. I've learned to be okay with putting up a front. It's just part of being human.

I believe that it comes down to a fairly simple choice on how do you want to live your life. Do you want to be yourself and be uncompromising in respecting yourself and your personal freedom or are you willing to compromise? Most people compromise because it is easier and there is nothing wrong with that but I am for the 'To thine own self be true' approach. I accept that I can't change how others act except by setting my own personal example of living the best life I can; that means I will not compromise very much at all in my personal actions but I will live and let live until others try to force me to compromise. You have to growl sometimes for these 'delusional types' to understand that you aren't kidding around and actually have the courage of your convictions and on occasion you may have to bite back when the zealots try to 'save you' but that's okay, just try not to leave too many teeth marks. Eventually, even the religitarded get the message and stop annoying you, perhaps even give you some grudging respect as they nurse their wounds. lol

I remember seeing this problem up-front in the Jehovah's Witnesses. I think it's because the person's whole life is bound up in the faith, not just religious observance. Spouse, children, friends, work are all affected by being part of this community. Because of this, many JWs live a double life. I don't know what effect this can have on the psyche. I can only imagine that there is dissonance in the mind between what is true and what pretends to be true. I think that dissonance must lead somewhere but I don't know where.

I believe these people have the biggest role and most monumental tasks. We are all fighting a continuous battle against BS. But the most dangerous scene is Islamic societies and may be Hindu nationalists and Buddhist monks to a much lesser extent. Islam like Christianity is an expansionist militarist fascist theocratic doctrine and ideology. It's currently a dark age of Islam where people don't accept each other and easily resort to violence. And the biggest change potential lies in those societies

Hey @jlynn37, did that coward @of-the-mountain block you for criticizing his shitty, mean-spirited, and unnecessarily negative comment too? Just curious...

There are plenty. There's a Facebook group called exmuslims of North America. There's atheist Republic who's creator is armin navabi an exmuslim and many chapters. There are plenty of public faces like kosay betar. I find his logic and friendly approach lovable and reasonable. He has Facebook. I'm sure he'll spare a word

Hello there .. You can text me Zack !

Your request doesn't specify your location; which can obviously mean a lot. In the USA, there is no need to live a double life for personal safety at least. For inheritances or family/in-law strife I can understand, but it differs only in degrees from some 'Christian' sects.

What has been learned/seen cannot be unlearned or seen. If we don't externalize the truth our inner core will always cause us discomfort.

I hope you can find a group to chat with about this. In USA we have organizations for people who are liberal Muslim or ex-Muslims. In some ways, it might be harder for Muslims who have given up religion. I chatted with a Somali Muslim in my state - he said he is very lonely because he does not dare come out atheist. He fears his entire community would reject him, and he does not feel that he fits in with mainstream Americans. Hoping you can find people who have gone through this.

In the US & Canada we have a Secular Muslim group called Muslimish [muslimish.org]
I'm not sure what other countries have chapters of that group. But I see you're in London, so the nearest group is likely British Muslims for Secular Democracy [bmsd.org.uk]
All my best wishes to you.

Ex Muslim here, still in the closet so i can understand what you are going through

If you are having that much of a problem maybe you are just fooling yourself!

If you are living a double life you are just fooling yourself, time to go back to what think you are running away from!

Apparently you are not strong enough to resolve your personal faith in life without a crutch to hold you up!