London, January 05: The number of converts to Islam living in Britain has surged to 100,000 from just 60,000 a decade ago, a report revealed today.
White women are leading the growing number of people in the UK embracing Islam.
Converts have risen from around 60,000 in 2001 to up to 90,000 to 100,000 today, according to estimates in a report for the Faith Matters organisation.
Around 5,200 people in the UK adopted Islam in the last year alone.
Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former prime minister Tony Blair, attracted widespread publicity when she announced last year that she had converted to Islam.
A survey of 122 converts last year showed 56 per cent were white British, with women making up 62 per cent of respondents.
The average age at conversion was just over 27, research conducted by Kevin Brice, of Swansea University, found.
The majority reported difficulties after embracing Islam because of the negative attitudes of their family. However, over time this attitude became more ‘positive’ according to the report.
The majority of the converts saw themselves as both British and Muslim and did not feel disillusioned with British society and culture.
But they felt their own lives had been ‘lost’ and were ‘lacking in purpose’ before conversion. They feared that there was a ‘normalisation’ of ‘immoral’ behaviour amongst an increasingly less religious British public.
Only a very small minority saw celebrating birthdays, listening to music or reading fiction as prohibited by Islam, with fewer than ten per cent viewing attending a family Christmas dinner as forbidden.
A majority said that most or all of their close friends were Muslims but almost all felt that Muslims should not keep themselves separate from non-Muslims.
Most of the women of women had changed their appearance after conversion, with a significant majority adopting the hijab, or head scarf.
One woman who converted to Islam is mother Lynne Ali, a 31-year-old former DJ.
Contented: Lynne Ali, 31, a mother-of-two adopted the Islamic faith when she was 19. She said: ‘This is the real me – I am happy to pray five times a day and take classes at the mosque’
She decided to adopt the religion when she was 19 – and said she is happy to have found an ‘escape route’ from her old life.
‘I went to an old friend’s 21st birthday party in a bar,’ she said. ‘I walked in, wearing my hijab and modest clothing, and saw how everyone else had so much flesh on display. They were drunk, slurring their words and dancing provocatively.
‘For the first time, I could see my former life with an outsider’s eyes, and I knew I could never go back to that.
‘I am so grateful I found my escape route. This is the real me — I am happy to pray five times a day and take classes at the mosque. I am no longer a slave to a broken society and its expectations.’
The survey showed that the majority of converts disagreed with the niqab, or face veil, in spite of supporting the right of women to wear it.
‘Converts do not represent a devious fifth column determined to undermine the Western way of life – this is a group of normal people united in their adherence to a religion which they, for the most part, see as perfectly compatible with Western life,’ the report said.
‘Converts are generally at ease living in the UK and do not feel that British people are essentially hostile to Islam.’
Faith Matters director Fiyaz Mughal said: ‘Conversion to Islam has been stigmatised by the media and wrongly associated with extremist ideologies and discriminatory cultural practices.
‘Converts have an important role to play in supporting community cohesion, and it is vital that mosques can support them to encourage greater understanding amongst non-Muslims.’
Faith Matters is an inter-faith and conflict resolution organisation based in the UK.
Courtesy: Daily Mail