To become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam.
Following the global spread of violence, British Muslims are facing more scrutiny, criticism and condemnation than any other religious community. And, depsite the often negative potrayal of Islam, thousands of Britons are adopting the religion every year. Presently, the number of converts living in Britain cannot be given because census data does not differentiate between whether a religious person has adopted a new faith or was born into it.
In the previous estimation, there were 60,699 converts living in Britain in 2001. With no new census planned, the researchers polled mosques in London to try to calculate how many conversions take place in a year. The results gave a figure of 1,400 conversions in the capital, which when extrapolated nationwide, would mean approximately 5,200 people adopting Islam every year. The figures are comparable with the studies in Germany and France which found that there were around 4,000 conversions a year.
In America, throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, Islam had seen much growth. Today there are many Muslims across the country who are holding elected offices as local city council members, state representatives, mayor and judges. And there are many muslims in every profession, such as Doctoors, scientists, engineers, lawyers, teachers, among others. Islam is the second largest religion in the United States and the fastest growing religion in America.
A nationwide survey conducted in 2003 by the Pew Research Centre and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported that the percentage of Americans with a favourable view of Islam increased to 34 per cent in 2003. At the same time, the percentage responding that Islam was more likely than other religion to encourage violence fell from 44 per cent in July 2003 to 36 per cent in July 2005.
According to the German Central Institute IslamArchive (de), the total number of Muslims in Europe in 2010 were 44 million. Few of this are as follows:
Country Muslim population (2010)
Russia 16,379,000
France 4,704,000
Germany 4,119,000
United Kingdom 2,869,000
Italy 1,583,000
Netherlands 914,000
Belgium 638,000
Austria 475,000
Switzerland 433,000
Cyprus 200,000
But if one could ask, what are the reasons behind this adoption of Islam by the West. The reason cannot be far fetched.
Let me start with the saying of Harun Yahya. He said, ‘During the last 20 years, the number of Muslims in the world has been increasing steadily. Today, every fourth person is a muslim. It is probably that the muslim population will continue to increase and that Islam will become the world’s largest religion. The reason for this steady rise is not only the increasing population in Muslim countries, but also the growing numbers of people who are turning to Islam, a phenomenon that has gained momentum, especially after the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11,2001. This attack, deplored by everyone, especially Muslims, has suddenly turned the attention of the people of West to Islam. After the attack, people in the West started talking on what kind of a religion Islam is, what the Quran says, what obligations come with being a muslim and how muslims are to conduct their affairs. This research work carried out by Western people, has naturally brought about a rise in the number of people in the west turning to Islam. So, the commonly heard prediction after the attack that this attack will change the course of world history’ has indeed started to come true. The process of returning to religious and spiritual values, which the world has been experiencing for a long time has become a turning point for Islam. Indeed, Islam is the only religion of Allah.
To buttress my point, I could remember the story of Malik Tyson, who converted to Islam upon the reading of translated Quran three times. Another notable convertee is Maryam Jemila, who saw English Quran on her sick bed, in a hospital. She read it and later accepted Islam. If people of the world, could create or find time to study this religion (Islam), they will discover that Islam is the religion which all the prophets came with as stated in the Quran. Moreso, the uniqueness and universality of the way of our worshipping, makes it to be the true religion of Allah in which no other religion has such quality (Q30 verse30). Finally, Allah says in Quran chapter 3 verse 85 that “whoever takes any other religion beside Islam, it will not be accepted from him or her. And he or she will be among the losers on the day of judgement.” May Allah save us from this.
By Ishaq Abd Azeez, is of the Department of English Language, University of Ibadan.