Converting to Islam: British women on prayer, peace and prejudice
Around
5,000 British people convert to Islam every year – and most of them are
women. Six of them talk about prejudice, peace and praying in car parks
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| Ioni Sullivan: 'In my heart, I began to consider myself a Muslim.' Photograph: Felicity McCabe for the Guardian |
On Saturday, Guardian Weekend magazine published “Converting to Islam: British women on prayer, peace and prejudice” – a series of
interviews I did with six British women who have converted to Islam.
The piece seems to have hit a nerve: so far it got more than
2000 FB shares and 1289 comments – many far from positive! I was surprised at the level of hostility and defensiveness
of some of comments. To many, converting
to Islam is simply incomprehensible: these women must be stupid or foolish. I thought the six women had explained quite
well why they were attracted to Islam, and I had found their reasons
intriguing. Of course, much of their
original interviews got cut out to fit the allocated space, so their views, feelings
and experiences got rather compressed and simplified in the Guardian article.
My article had been triggered by a comprehensive research by Cambridge University’s Center of Islamic Studies – a 129 page report based on
the anonymous testimonies of 50 converts. The report called "Narratives of Conversions to Islam in Britain: Female Perspectives" gives a much more in-depth
view of the conversion experience - and I
highly recommend it. I had written an introduction to my article
explaining the research, but it too got cut out. Here it is:
Each
year, an estimated 5,000 British people convert to Islam – the majority of
them women. Western women who convert to Islam perplex non-Muslims - or attract
suspicion as in the case of the Boston bomber’s widow, so Cambridge University
researchers have set out to try and find out why so many choose to embrace a
religion that is widely seen as repressing them.
“We wanted to understand the conversion
experience from the inside and dispel misapprehensions of female converts to
Islam,” says Professor Yasir Suleiman, director of the university’s Centre ofIslamic Studies (CIS). With the New Muslim Project of Markfield in London, CIS
brought together 50 British converts of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds for
candid in-depth discussions over several days.
It was the first forum of its kind
in the UK.
The resulting report offers a
fascinating dissection of the conversion experience of contemporary British
women, highlighting broad themes: for example, the tensions between converts
and the “heritage Muslim” community; the poor quality of services offered to
all women in mosques; the ubiquity of dress etiquette in framing the conversion
experience.
It also
addresses issues such as sexuality, marriage, domestic violence and divorce,
and explores the
reasons for women to convert to Islam and their role in countering the
overwhelmingly negative portrayal of Muslims and Islam in the UK media. All the women’s views and experiences in the
report are presented anonymously.
“Our objective is to inform the debate on
conversion to Islam rather than to advocate a particular position or to paint a
rosy picture of the conversion journeys and the cultural norms that surround
it,” says Professor Suleiman, the project leader.
One of the report’s key findings is the disproportionate attention,
verging on obsession, given to white women converts by both the Muslim and
non-Muslim communities. Their conversions are highly visible, so these women
are often considered as “trophy” converts among “heritage Muslim” communities,
but not as suitable marriage partners. Another unexpected finding is the lack
of support available to female converts who live outside traditional networks.
Women, especially single and divorced, talked about the challenge of finding a
suitable husband, feeling lonely and unwelcome, dealing with abusive partners
or obtaining a fair divorce.
“Islam is seen to answer the spiritual needs of
convert women, but some heritage Muslims may fall short of the ideals of Islam
that are so attractive to convert women," Professor
Suleiman says.
The report, which is addressed equally to Muslims (heritage and convert)
and non-Muslims, includes recommendations to better support converts.
“The
debate is just starting and we need to have more informed studies about
conversion to Islam that directly address public interest and concern,” adds
project manager Shahla Suleiman. The next phase of the research will focus on
male converts.
