Women Embracing Islam: Gender and Conversion in the West

Book Description

Many Westerners view Islam as a religion that restricts and subordinates women in both private and public life. Yet a surprising number of women in Western Europe and America are converting to Islam. What attracts these women to a belief system that is markedly different from both Western Christianity and Western secularism? What benefits do they gain by converting, and what are the costs? How do Western women converts live their new Islamic faith, and how does their conversion affect their families and communities? How do women converts transmit Islamic values to their children? These are some of the questions that Women Embracing Islam seeks to answer.

In this vanguard study of gender and conversion to Islam, leading historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and theologians investigate why non-Muslim women in the United States, several European countries, and South Africa are converting to Islam. Drawing on extensive interviews with female converts, the authors explore the life experiences that lead Western women to adopt Islam, as well as the appeal that various forms of Islam, as well as the Nation of Islam, have for women. The authors find that while no single set of factors can explain why Western women are embracing Islamic faith traditions, some common motivations emerge. These include an attraction to Islam's high regard for family and community, its strict moral and ethical standards, and the rationality and spirituality of its theology, as well as a disillusionment with Christianity and with the unrestrained sexuality of so much of Western culture.

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An excellent ethnography of conversion to Islam.

Conversion to Islam
Ali Köse
Manufacturer: Kegan Paul
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 071030546X

Book Description

This study focuses on the conversion experiences of seventy native British converts to Islam. Köse addresses the following questions: Why do people covert to Islam? What are the backgrounds of the converts? What are the patterns over time? And how far are existing conversion theories applicable to further group study? He examines a full range of social and psychological forces at work in the complex conversion experience.

Chapter One deals with the history and present situation of both life-long Muslims and converts living in Britain. Chapter Two focuses on childhood and adolescent experiences. Chapter Three examines the background of the convert regarding religion. Chapter Four looks at the post-conversion period, the relationship between converts and to parents and society at large. And Chapter Five reveals the findings on conversions through Sufism. Comparisons between conversions through Sufism and through new religious movements in the West are also made.

Sure to be an important addition to the study of religious conversion, this work is one of the only documentations which considers conversion to Islam either from outside or within Islam.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent ethnography of conversion to Islam........1998-06-17

Conversion to Islam by Dr. Ali KOSE is an original piece of work which deals with why and how non-Muslims embrace Islam in an age of secularism which presupposes that religion will lose its influnce in modern society. This book is a rare example of an ethnographic study which fills a significant gap especially in the fields of psychology and socilology of religions with special reference to Islam. An important value of the book is its innovative interdisciplinary method comprising participant observation, depht interviews and an insighful analysis of ethnographic findings in the light of growing theoretical works on the psychology and sociology of conversion.

The book is written with a non-specialised language which makes it readable not only by the acedemic community but also by the general reader. Conversion to Islam is based on the experiences of British converts who embraced Islam. The author argues that a number of motives stimulated the informants of this research who were coming mainly from Catholic and Protestant religious backgrounds to chose Islam. He found that intellectual and spiritual search for meaning in life were the primary motives for conversion. The book not only concentartes on conversion experience but also provides important analysis of pre- and post-conversion processes while taking into account the works of grand theorists such as Freud and Jung as well as contemporary writers on conversion.

Conversion to Islam is well a researched and balanced book. Is must be recommended to graduate and post-graduate students in the fields of psychology and sociology of religion.

Customer Reviews:

Poor and lacking.......2007-07-08

This book is in fact a collection of papers delivered at SOAS concerning the conversion to Islam in various societies and cultures. The book includes works by a number of 'scholars' in 'Islamic' studies.

Problem with the book though however, is that apart from the chapters by Levtzion on West Africa and O Fahey on Dar Foor this book is very poor.

Take for example the chapter on China by R Israeli. It is difficult to believe that this person even knows the first thing about Islam and to say the least, very worrying that this person holds a post in a university. He seems to be completely ignorant of the Islamic world veiw; that mankind share a common ancestor (Adam) who had knowledge of revealed truth as did his descendents who gradually drited away from divine truth thus, God sent down prophets to bring them back to the fold, therefore, every nation has been sent a prophet or messenger and thus, from the Islamic veiwpoint a new culture would not be seen as automatically 'different' but rather just another chain in the link of divine revelation. For every one thing that may be different in that culture there may be two that are the same.

Israeli however mocks the Muslim historian who claims a Chinese emperor descended from Adam (has Israeli not read the bible?) mocks the idea that the Chinese Muslims would see comparason with their religion and the teachings of Confucianism (It would seem then ignoring the traditional Islamic belief that every nations has been sent a prophet or messenger) dismisses most of the Islamic sources of Chinese Islams history while quoting Broomhall without question (Is he not aware that Broomhall's book 'Islam in China' was written with the sole intent at establishing Christian missionary work amongst Chinese Muslims? Hardly an objective book then is it?)

His theory being that Chinese Muslims regarded themselves distinct and only attempted to assimilate after the demise of both the Abbasids and then later Mongol power in China and made up some kind of shared history to do this is frankly laughable. I can only pity those who study under him.

Next we have the spread of Islam in Anatolia. Now having read T.J. Winter (A.H.Murad) nonsense on this subject this is not much better. Still producing the same nonsense concerning the spread of Islam dating from the Seljuq Turks only (There were Muslim colonies in Anatolia long before that and even a Muslim quater in Constantinope see the Tafsir of Omar Blimen for further details) That Islam came in 3 classes. 1 The Seljuq higher class of Hanafi scholars 2 The 'mystics' followers of Ibn Arabis teachings 3 The ghazis warrior class 4. The Babas (a group he would later compare to witch doctors!!!)

First off, The Ghazis and the Babas were vertually one in the same. Many were Turkomans who studied the teachings of the great Ahmed Yasawi (who I can asure you was not some 'Witch doctor' but a Sunni/Sufi scholar) Many of these Babas (of whom the Bektashi order would come from) Took his teachings and joined the ranks of the Muslim armies fighting the crusades in Anatolia.

I will not bother to go into the nonsense commnents he begins his paper with concerning the expulsion of Christians from Anatolia during the population exchange (though he did seem to ignore the Christians of Central Anatolia who were in large numbers) This has been repeated time and time again of course ignoring the fact that Muslims were equally expelled from Salonica, there were once over 4 Mosques in Athens, hundreds of Tekkes in Southern Greece and large Muslim populations in almost all of the Greek Islands especially Crete and Lesbos.

Practically nothing is written on the importance of the Sufi orders in conversion in Anatolia (see the book by Arnold "The preaching of Islam")

We are then given an even more pointless paper on "Then conversion myths of Indonesia" Now if you regard them as 'myths' then may I ask what exactly is the point of repeating them? The book is filled with this "Acording to Muslim historians such and such king had a dream a result of which he converted to Islam; which of course is nonsense" So why bother printing it then???

Other chapters cover early conversion to Islam and conversion in India but it would take up too much space to cover all the nonsense in this book.

I must say, I can see now why it was only priced at about $10!!!

At least O'Fahey and Levtzion cover areas of the Islamic world less covered by others (the teachings of ibn Idris and the Sanusi order, West Africa) You would have thought for the others they would have done a better job than this!

Sultanes de Berberia en Tierras de la Cristiandad/ Sultans of Berberia in the Land of Christianity: Exilio Musulman, Conversion Y Asimilacion En La Monarquia ... Assimilation in the Hispanic Monar (Alboran)

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Sultanes de Berberia en Tierras de la Cristiandad/ Sultans of Berberia in the Land of Christianity: Exilio Musulman, Conversion Y Asimilacion En La Monarquia ... Assimilation in the Hispanic Monar (Alboran)
Beatriz Alonso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 8472903052

The Martyrs of Cordoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion

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The Martyrs of Cordoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion
Jessica A. Coope
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0803214715

Book Description

Between 850 and 859 (Christian Era), the Muslim government of Córdoba ordered the execution of forty-eight Christians. With few exceptions, these Christians invited execution by committing capital offenses: some appeared before the Muslim authorities to denounce Mohammed; others, Christian children of mixed Islamic-Christian marriages, publicly proclaimed their Christianity.

Coope investigates the origins of this “martyrs’ movement” in Córdoba, then flourishing as a center of Islamic culture. She cites the fears of radical Christians that conversions to Islam were on the increase and that still more Christians were being assimilated into Arab Muslim culture. These fears were well-founded, and the executions further divided Cordovan Christians: some believed the executed to be martyrs, others argued that these were not martyrs but fanatics and troublemakers. For their part, the Muslim authorities, disposed to be tolerant, would have preferred sectarian peace; the martyrs were given every opportunity to recant.

Using Christian sources (particularly the hagiographies of St. Eulogius) and Arabic accounts to understand the complex tensions in Muslim Spain between and among the Muslim majority and Christian minority, Coope presents a valuable and fresh view of this society at the apogee of al-Andalus, Muslim Spain.

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Excellent and Timely
mediocre writing but true conversion
What God Can Do
Too much to be believable

Out of Islam
Christopher Alam
Manufacturer: Frontline
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1591858909

Book Description

Christopher Alam's life and ministry have been filled with one adventure and miraculous event after another. Out of Islam traces the adventures of Alam as a young Pakistani convert to Christianity from a traditional Muslim family to his emergent worldwide evangelistic and healing ministry. With his father being a devout Muslim and lifelong military officer who once trained fighters alongside Osama bin Laden, and his mother an India-born performing artist, Alam knew a privileged life that few experience.

After Alam's conversion, his father had him arrested and sought to have him beheaded for betraying the family faith. Through a series of miraculous events, Alam ultimately escaped to Sweden, where he met and married his wife, Britta. Together they have launched their ministry, which has been praised by evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, the late Kenneth e. Hagin, and Ray McCauley. Alam has preached in more than sixty nations, with millions making first time decisions for Christ and hundreds of new churches started. This book will encourage the hearts of readers to rise above hardships and move into the supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit, while offering faith lessons for evangelists.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent and Timely.......2007-04-01

I encourage anyone who is skeptical that God can transform people in the spiritually darkest places of the world to read this book. If God can take a young man who is a direct descendent of Mohammed (Hashemite Arab; Shareef) and use him for His glory, He can do it with anyone.

I have had the privilege of meeting and getting to know the author in the past 6 months. He is a humble man of God. Having moved to the US years ago, he lives in Lancaster, PA ("Amishland"). He certainly is not the flamboyant evangelist that often comes to mind with some with his ministerial training/background.

A normal reaction might be that there is too much 'fantasy' in the book (it pales in comparison to the popular "Heavenly Man" book from the Chinese house church movement). Indeed, some of what happened to Christopher Alam does parallel some of the more miraculous events in scripture, but then, Christians are to believe such things are truly possible.

For instance, many Westerners might find it hard that a shaman/magician might be able to make things disappear (p. 54), I would only remind Christians that the ultimate illusion of magic in the West is that it's all illusion. Think about it. The banishment of those who practice the 'magic arts' in Revelation 21 and 22 is not because they were doing card tricks!

I have seen the miraculous (both good and evil) up close and personal myself. Christopher Alam has seen much more and has been wonderfully used by God. I encourage you to read his story and believe that God still does amazing things.

How could people in the days of the apostles have 'missed it' when there were humble men of God walking among them being extraordinarily used by God? Easy. We're still often 'missing it' today.

The way to overcome Islam is not with cruise missles. The only way is the way outlined in this book. That's why it's so timely.

mediocre writing but true conversion.......2007-03-21

Christopher Alam's writing is mediocre at best. However, his conversion seems genuine. Of concern is his initial favorable mention of the notorious cult, the Children of God. Later in the book, he says that they "changed" and he severed his ties with them. He is also a great supporter of Kenneth Hagin, one of the main proponents of the prosperity gospel and a modern-day gnostic. But Mr. Alam does write about his experiences with a humble spirit and seems to have a genuine desire to give glory to Jesus Christ.

What God Can Do.......2006-09-30

Years ago, D L Moody overheard the famous quote, "ÿThe world has yet to see what God will do with a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to the Holy Spirit.ÿ"

Christopher Alam may be such a man, and his book "Out of Islam" stands as one of the Church's strongest testimonies. It's a testimony of a life covered by Jesus' blood, and committed in life to the death, which overcomes the evil one, (Rev 12:11).

My heart is still stirred by one quote, where Alam writes,

"There is no material thing valuable enough to live for, and I decided to turn my back to all that this world has to offer. Nobody could prevent me from preaching the gospel of Jesus. I had everything to gain and nothing to lose."

His life story is a thrilling account of what God can and will do in the life of a man who is yielded to Him. In our day of unbelief and disbelief, "Out of Islam" is a strong reminder that God has not changed, His purposes remain, and what He has said in His Word He will do.

If you are tired of powerless living, Christ-less Christianity, and leading a life that bears no resemblance to what you read in the Bible, I would encourage you to spend a few hours with this good book. It will encourage your heart and renew your passion.

For many, it will be a "word in season" that the same God who brought down the Berlin wall can certainly tear through the Muslim curtain. The work of missions begins in the work of the heart, and "Out of Islam" describes how God took a young man and changed Him for His glory into a powerful man of God. It is full of many examples of miracles and deliverance, and throughout there is some wonderful teaching, but what caught my attention more than anything else was Alam's strong emphasis and declaration in saying, "Missing the mark doctrinally reveals a lack of knowledge, but pride and arrogance reveal something more serious -- a lack of character."

For me, this book breathed the breath of God, and beat with the pulse of His heart. How God can use one man, save him, change him, teach and train him, and then thrust him into a world wide ministry is enough to wake anyone up from their lethargy, and to realize that more can be done for Jesus sake.

I heartily recommend it.

Too much to be believable.......2006-08-25

I bought this book with great expectations after dubbing in a spot for it at the Christian radio station where I work. The subject matter sounded fascinating and I couldn't wait to read it. But very quickly, much of this tale began to wear thin. For starters, the writing style is somewhat juvenile. I understand that the author is originally from Pakistan, but he's supposedly fluent in about a half-dozen languages, not to mention he has an editor working with him. Nonetheless, the style struck me as being very much a first-time effort from a writer who is less-than-gifted.

Let me pause here to qualify something, though. I'm a devout Christian, non-denominational. I have NO doubt of the depth, sincerity, authenticity and power of Alam's Christianity. I think his conversion is a fabulous miracle and I wish him only Godspeed in his continued ministry and the thousands of souls he's reaching. My problem with this book has NOTHING to do with Alam's faith.

As I read the book, there began to emerge a trend of a few too many tales to really be believable. From the mattress and sheets that 'disappeared' when thrown into a well by a 'wizard', to the endless fortunate events that all took place at EXACTLY the right time to enable Alam to journey away from persecution and into freedom... after a while it becomes more than the reader - even a believer such as I - can reasonably expect to swallow. The crux for me though, was a combination of Alam's disappointment in other members of his new-found faith, especially Pentecostals and Charismatics, and THEN Alam discovering faith-healing. I believe that God can perform any miracle He so desires, but when the discussion of speaking in tongues or faith healing comes up, it turns me off. This is my own personal view and certainly you can choose to disagree with it. But at the point in the book, approximately 3/4 of the way through, when Alam dove headfirst into tongues and mystical healings, I'd had enough. Instead of an authentic and genuine journey of a former Muslim into the deep-rooted belief of Christianity, I got a fairytale of so many far-fetched stories that I became bored and disillusioned. I simply can not recommend this book.

Don't Keep me Silent! One Woman's Escape from the Chains of Islam

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Don't Keep me Silent! One Woman's Escape from the Chains of Islam

Manufacturer: Print Partners
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 096747440X

Product Description

This is the true life story of converted Muslims to Christianity. These converted Muslims have paid a high price for their Christian faith.

Islam and the West: Conflict, Co-Existence or Conversion

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A Great Survey of the Issues

Islam and the West: Conflict, Co-Existence or Conversion
Colin Chapman
Manufacturer: Paternoster Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 085364781X

Book Description

For 1400 years Islam and the West have come into frequent contact, often in unfriendly circumstances. Today three possible states of being: conflict, co-existence or conversion must be considered when describing the meeting between Muslim counities and Western countries. Addressing several key issues including education, mission, apologetics and human rights, the author explores Muslim attitudes to life in the West and the increasingly secularised societies in which Muslims find themselves living.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Survey of the Issues.......2002-06-13

My title says it all. Chapman reviews all of the major questions of Christian/Western-Islamic relations with knowledge and objectivity. Good sources. Clearly written. I would recommend it highly.

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The Conversion Experience in America
James Craig Holte
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313266808

Book Description

From the early narratives of such colonial writers as Jonathan Edwards to the more recent conversion experiences of Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, America is rich in both conversions and autobiographies. This volume provides a sourcebook for the study of American religious conversion narratives. It includes entries providing biographical, bibliographic, and critical commentary on thirty significant writers of conversion narratives. The subjects include writers of early colonial America, such as Mary Rowlandson and John Woolman, nineteenth-century women writers, such as Carry Nation and Ann Eliza Young, and writers from the twentieth-century social gospel movement, such as John Cogley and Dorothy Day. Chapters on subjects such as Jim Bakker give insight into the rise of televangelism. Finally, chapters on such writers as Frederick Douglass, Eldridge Cleaver, and Piri Thomas cover the conversion experiences of those who lived outside mainstream American culture. The chapters are arranged alphabetically. Each one is divided into sections providing a short biography, discussing the narrative, covering criticism of the narrative, and a bibliography. The work concludes with a bibliographic essay and a full subject index.

Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tukles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition (Hermeneutics, Studies in)

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Magnum Opus in the field of Islam/Religious Conversion
A major scholastic feat, combing history and epos.

Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tukles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition (Hermeneutics, Studies in)
Devin Deweese
Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia

ASIN: 0271010738

Customer Reviews:

Magnum Opus in the field of Islam/Religious Conversion.......2001-10-29

In this book, Devin Deweese states that his overall mission is to uncover and revise current views on the Islamization of Central Asia through examining what meaning and function a Muslim conversion narrative had for the people that lived there at the time. This is largely uncharted territory for Central Asian studies, and Deweese's book represents a significant achievement in this area.

This text is monumental and meticulously researched, yet it's premises are simple. Deweese examines the historical context of a conversion narrative, both in its Islamic missionization aspects and the history of pre-Islamic Central Asia geography and religious practice. Then he proceeds to analyze two separate narratives-the conversion of Ozbek Khan to Islam and the different narrative versions of this conversion that circulated at different times and in different geographies in the local region. The meat of the book begins, though, with the telling of the earliest recorded version of the coming of the Sufi shakya Baba Tukles and his trial by ordeal, proving Islam the one "true" religion." The rest of the book is concerned with analyzing this myth, which was so central to the dominance and persistance of Islam in the region.

Deweese is careful to note that in popular and academic discourse, the idea persists that Islam has a policy of forced conversion or death for conquered peoples, and also that Islamization often does not graft itself onto populations at a deep level, since "belief" or faith is not emphasized over ritual action. He believes both notions are false, and I agree that the historical evidence is in his favor.

Deweese clearly demonstrates that within an Islamic worldview, the production of "eventually" correct ritual behavior can be a gateway for the grace of Allah to produce correct belief, so there need not be such an emphasis on early zeal for a convert. In other words, you didn't have to understand everything right away to be a good Muslim. Significantly, although Deweese criticizes the common image of Islam as a religion of the sword, he does note that up until the Islamization of Central Asia the main motif of conversion narratives within Islam was that of the "holy war." Deweese understands this as a metaphor for the internal struggle of the individual to submit to Allah. Indeed, this is by far the more common meaning of "jihad" outside of the overt militancy that the American media has a fascination for.

This brings us to the rich exposition Deweese has of the Tukles narrative. He finds that the motif of the traveling founder or progenitor is common in Central Asia mythic motifs. Thus the development of the Tukles conversion narrative is evidence of a syncretic production between the structure of Muslim narrative and the structure of indigenous Central Asian motifs. In other words, conversion stories are the result of what the potential convert brings to the experience, just as much as the party that advocates for conversion.

The most interesting section to me was the section that expounded on the mythic meaning and function of the image of the "crucible" as part of the conversion narrative. Deweese contends that this constitutes a mythic identification with the shamanic figure-a common motif of the transformed individual through sacred disassembly and ritual reassembly. Instead of following early work on this too closely, Deweese asserts that this should be understood not only as the creation of a new individual, but the ritual founding of a new progenitor/First Man and also a sacred Muslim community at the same time.

It's difficult to say anything bad about this book. Deweese, in the Introduction, tells you explicitly what his project is...a analysis of a conversion narrative -- and its different versions and motifs relating to a particular community. About the only thing that one could accuse him of is perhaps viewing the religious community in Central Asia as monolithic, and not exploring the different political functions of the myth to legitimate internal power.

But then again, this is a huge book, and this is only a small omission given the grand scope of the book.

A major scholastic feat, combing history and epos........1999-10-11

A fascinating study through several centuries, cultures and linguistic strata, concentrating on islamization narratives and national self identification within their context, this book is a fascinating collation of sources both medieval and modern; it is a remarkable achievment, detailed and interestingly argued, on what at first might be taken to be a topic of little relevance, but is in actuality one of the most basic of all human concerns, how societies perceive and identify themselves. Although more scholarly than a light read, I'd reccomend it to any person with a desire to further their understanding of both the scholarly process and the societies it touches upon.

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