By Jack Doyle, Home Affairs Correspondent
Last updated at 4:48 PM on 4th January 2011
- About 5,200 people in UK adopted faith last year alone
Convert: Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, attracted a lot of publicity when she announced she had adopted the Islamic faith last year
The number of Muslim converts in Britain has topped 100,000 for the first time - fuelled by a surge in young white women adopting the Islamic faith.
Just ten years ago the total number of converts across the country stood at just over half that level.
The first detailed study of converts in Britain emerged in a report for Faith Matters, a multi-faith organisation.
It has led to claims the country is undergoing a process of 'Islamification'.
The report defended converts, saying they largely saw their religion as compatible with living in Britain.
It said: '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.
'Converts are generally at ease living in the UK and do not feel that British people are essentially hostile to Islam.'
The report estimated around 5,200 people adopted Islam over the last twelve months, including 1,400 in London alone.
A survey of converts revealed nearly two thirds were women, more than 70 per cent were white and the average age at conversion was just 27.
In 2001 there were an estimated 60,000 Muslim converts in Britain. Since then the country has seen the spread of violent Islamist extremism and a number of terror plots against the country, including the July 7 bombings.
Among those converts who have turned to terror include Nicky Reilly who tried to blow up a restaurant in Bristol with a nail bomb, shoe bomber Richard Reid and July 7 bomber Germaine Lindsay.
The survey of converts revealed nearly two thirds were women, more than 70 per cent were white and the average age at conversion was just 27.
The report said the number of converts sucked into extremism represented a 'very small minority', among an otherwise law abiding majority.
THE 'ESCAPE ROUTE' FROM MY FORMER LIFE
One woman who converted to Islam is mother Lynne Ali (below), a 31-year-old former DJ. 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, conducted by Kevin Brice, an academic at Swansea University, asked converts for their views on the negative aspects of British culture.
They identified alcohol and drunkenness, a 'lack of morality and sexual permissiveness', and 'unrestrained consumerism'.
Many said they feared that there was a 'normalisation of immoral behaviour' among a British public that is becoming less religious in its outlook.
More than one in four accepted there was a 'natural conflict' between being a devout Muslim and living in the UK.
Nine out of ten women converts said their change of religion had led to them dressing more conservatively. More than half started wearing a head scarf and five percent said they had worn the burqa.
More than half said they experienced difficulties after converting because of negative attitudes to Islam among members of their family.
Last year 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.
Miss Booth, who is Cherie Blair's half sister, adopted her new faith after what she described as a 'holy experience' in Iran.
The mother of two now wears a hijab, has given up alcohol and visits a mosque 'when she can'. She has also stopped eating pork and reads the Koran every day.
Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters said: 'New Muslims are not a security threat nor are they a population that should be at the mercy of those within Muslim communities who want to push obsolete and unethical cultural practices.'
'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.'
Lauren Booth would do anything for publicity who is this woman just a sister of dear Cherie enough said.
- debbie, norfolk, 04/1/2011 16:13
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