‘Don’t believe in praying five times a day’: Zayn Malik reveals he has left Islam

Born and raised in a Muslim family, British singer Zayn Malik has revealed that he would not call himself a Muslim and has dropped the religion, as he shared his views on some of Islamic ideologies.

The former One Directioner spoke about his faith during an interview for British Vogue, details of which have left his fans surprised. “I just want to keep it [faith] between me and whatever I believe, I feel like that make me move through life in a nice way. If I behave well, I will get treated well. That’s it,” he said.

Although the singer said he does believe that there’s a God, Zayn added that he doesn’t believe in praying five times a day in certain language or only eating particular foods. “I don’t believe you need to eat a certain meat that’s been prayed over a certain way, I don’t believe you need to read a prayer in a certain language five times a day. I don’t believe any of it”, he said.

He further said that his family was fine with his decision and that it was easy for him to drop Islam. Zayn said that his family has always given him the option to choose whatever faith he wants to adopt for himself. "I did go to the mosque, I did study Islam. But they gave us the option to choose for yourself," he said.

However, Zayn added that he was glad for his childhood years at the mosque. "There are definitely beautiful parts for every religion," he said, adding that he was pleased to have built his life around tenets of Islam.

Earlier in an interview in 2017, Zayn said he was raised as a Muslim and is proud of his background, his religion does not define him just like it should not define anyone else.