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Indispensable for anyone trying to understand Islam in the West When the Western mass-media talk of conversion to Islam, we are bombarded with accounts of vulnerable people brainwashed into a culture of extremism. However, in reality, the vast majority who convert are well-educated, and doing so as the result of a long-considered and heartfelt decision. What is more, their numbers are multiplying. The only exploration of this unique group in British society, this well-argued and powerful book investigates the fascinating contribution that Western converts to Islam are making to Islamic thought.
This material on Scandinavian converts tells the unique story of how Europeans embrace a new religion and their tendency to adjust and modify the social message of their new religion to the social values handled by the society they live in.
This is the first study of the modern history, experience, and ethno-religious identity of the Dönme, the descendants of seventeenth-century Jewish converts to Islam, in Ottoman and Greek Salonica and in Turkish Istanbul.
First account of the history and remarkable lives of British converts to Islam during the heydey of Empire.
First Published in 1996. Religious conversion is an immensely complex phenomenon. The term comprises such diverse experiences as increased devotion within the same religious structure, a shift from no religious commitment to a devout religious life, or a change from one religion to another. This study focuses on the conversion experiences of 70 native British converts to Islam. It addresses the following questions - why do people become Muslims, what are the backgrounds of the converts, what are the patterns of conversion to Islam, and how far are existing conversion theories applicable to the group under study. The full range of social and psychological forces at work in the conversion expe...
Every year more and more Europeans, including Germans, are embracing Islam. It is estimated that there are now up to one hundred thousand German converts—a number similar to that in France and the United Kingdom. What stands out about recent conversions is that they take place at a time when Islam is increasingly seen as contrary to European values. Being German, Becoming Muslim explores how Germans come to Islam within this antagonistic climate, how they manage to balance their love for Islam with their society's fear of it, how they relate to immigrant Muslims, and how they shape debates about race, religion, and belonging in today’s Europe. Esra Özyürek looks at how mainstream socie...
In the summer of 1996, Yusha Evans went on a passage through the Bible and its four Gospel. He scrutinized more than five different religions in search of God and His message. In 1998, he reverted to Islam. He yearned for the truth in life which is to “Worship God alone as one, obey Him and His Messenger to go to Heaven,” of which he found through Islam.
Loyal Enemies uncovers the history of the earliest British converts to Islam who lived their lives freely as Muslims on British soil, from the 1850s to the 1950s. Drawing on original archival research, it reveals that people from across the range of social classes defied convention by choosing Islam in this period. Through a series of case studies of influential converts and pioneering Muslim communities, Loyal Enemies considers how the culture of Empire and imperialism influenced and affected their conversions and subsequent lives, before examining how they adapted and sustained their faith. Jamie Gilham shows that, although the overall number of converts was small, conversion to Islam arou...
This is not your average "Welcome to Islam!" book. The New Muslim's Field Guide offers a fresh approach to guiding Muslim converts, focused on helping them grow as Muslims while maintaining their identity and love for God. Drawing on their shared decades of experience, Theresa and Kaighla walk the new Muslim through the hills and the valleys they'll encounter on their journey, helping the newcomer navigate the sometimes slippery cliffs of culture, politics, and interpersonal relationships. Injected with a healthy dose of humor and candor, The New Muslim's Field Guide discusses some of the deeper meanings behind belief and ritual, clarifies common sticky issues, and tells stories of triumph and failure on the journey of Islam.
A look at the developing conflicts in Christian-Muslim relations during late antiquity and the early Islamic era How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Christians across the early Islamic caliphate slowly converted to the faith of the Arab conquerors and how small groups of individuals rejected this faith through dramatic acts of resistance, including apostasy and blasphemy. Using previously untapped sources in a range of Middle Eastern languages, Christian Sahner introduces an unknown group of martyrs who were executed at the hands of Mu...