Why Do Westerners Convert to Islam? (Interview)
Transcript of part of an interview conducted by Dr. Tariq Ramadan with sister Batool al-Toma, director of the New Muslims project at the Islamic Foundation, UK, in the weekly TV program "Islam and Life."
In the interview, sister Batool, herself a convert to Islam, explains the different reasons that encourage westerners to decide to become Muslim.
Tariq Ramadan: This week we are going to discuss the challenges facing people who convert to Islam.
"I have always held the religion of Mohammed in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phases of existence which can make itself appeal to every age." George Bernard Shaw
Why I Embraced Islam?
An Account of a French Scholar Who Accepted Islam - Vincent Montagne
Vincent Montagne is a French scholar and a tourist specialized in the study of Arab and Islamic issues. He spent many years in the eastern and the western Arab countries. He also went to Iran, Senegal and Indonesia, and visited Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Mauritania and Sierra Leone. He published about one hundred theses and articles; this in addition to twenty books on Islam, Islamic civilization, Muslims and Arabic language. Some of these books are the following: Islam in Indonesia, Islam in the USSR, World of Islam, Arabs...etc. Montagne also spent six years of his life translating Ibn Khaldun Introduction to French language. The end of this tour of thought and countries was culminated by his declaration of Islam in Mauritania. "France and The Arab World" journal published a detailed article about his conversion to Islam. The said article was republished in full by the Tunisian journal "La Presse" journal also published parts of the article. But no comment was given of any kind by both papers. Let us now hear what Mr. Montagne has to explain regarding why he embraced Islam.
Marc Springer
"I started to see all of the carefully crafted lies my life was based on crumble around me. I slowly saw all of the truths that my life was based on unravel. It is at this point that I started to question everything in my life, including my religious beliefs. I took the stance that everything in my life was suspect and had to be reevaluated ... In Islam, and the values it promotes, I saw the answer to my problems and questions, and the future of mankind."
Malcolm X
Early Life
Civil Rights Activist. Malcolm X was born as Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, the fourth of eight children born to Louise and Earl Little. Louise was a homemaker and Earl was a preacher who was also an active member of the local chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and avid supporter of the black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Because of Earl Little's civil rights activism, the family faced frequent harassment from white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and one of its splinter factions, the Black Legion. In fact, Malcolm X had his first encounter with racism before he was even born. "When my mother was pregnant with me, she told me later," he said, "a party of hooded Ku Klux Klan riders galloped up to our home... Brandishing their shotguns and rifles, they shouted for my father to come out." The harassment continued; when Malcolm X was four years old, local Klan members smashed all of the family's windows, causing Earl Little to decide to move the family from Omaha to East Lansing, Michigan.
Le Pretre de Vatican et l'Imam El-Bakellani
Un grand prêtre s'est approché auprès du savant musulman, pendant qu'une mission de musulmans venaient visiter le Vatican pour expliquer l'Islam...
Et on lui demanda de s'expliquer sur les accusations qu'on "rapporte" à l'encontre de Aïcha (femme du prophète), des choses que la pudeur répugne, et que ni la pensée, ni le coeur n'arrivent à exprimer !
L'imam, lui répondit : "Il y avait deux femmes pieuses dans l'histoire qu'on a accusé injustement... Toutes les deux ont été accusées et insultées...