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Box 11 0 8 9 2301 EB Leiden The Netherlands t e l e p h o n e +31(0)71 527 79 05 f a x +31(0)71 527 79 06 e - m a i l i n f o @ i s i m . n l h o m e p a g e h t t p : / / w w w . i s i m . n l 9 Isa Blumi Indoctrinating Albanians: Dynamics of Islamic Aid 2 2 Aki Nawaz Fun Da Mental: Radical Music, Political Protest 2 7 Lara Deeb Women's Islamic Community Service in Beirut 3 3 Joel Beinin Neo-Conservatives Threaten Academic Freedom Circulation 8,000 December 2002 40 pages 1 1 Continued on page 26 These three tales of converts to Islam also have in common that they all deeply affect- ed the American imagery and brought about a reawakening, or even the discovery of an interest in the Islam of converts, which until recently – with few exceptions – was mainly considered to be a phenomenon limited to the black Muslims movement of Elijah Muhammad and nowadays of Louis Farrakhan (of whom John Allen had been a follower), and consequently almost thought of as an 'ethnic' oddity. In Europe, attention paid to conversion to Islam has begun to gather momentum in the last years and has opened up to research into the role of some Sufi groups, trajecto- ries of the feminine conversions, and the role of converts in Muslim associations. Nev- ertheless, literature on the matter remains rather scarce, especially when compared to that of the so-called 'new religious move- ments', some of which have a smaller mem- bership compared to converts to Islam. The highest number of conversions to Islam is brought about by a cause that has little to do with the search for spirituality, namely marriage (following the Islamic rules, a non-Muslim male cannot marry a Muslim woman without converting). Such a reason for conversion may contradict the principle of freedom of religion and of con- science as it developed in the West, but is normally lived without special problems by people who, often, are hardly religious, and are consequently little disturbed by this choice. These conversions have generally no great impact on the lives of the individu- als and of the couples, and often not even on that of their offspring. As a matter of fact, conversion under these circumstances is a means to reach another aim (marriage), not an end in itself. However, other trajectories to conversion, which, like the previous ones, can be called 'relational', even if far less numerous, are the ones that have the greatest impact: on the lives of the individuals, but also on that of the Islamic communities in Europe. In the list can be included the 'discovery' of Islam through meeting Muslim believers, while as a tourist or on a business trip to Muslim countries, or through meeting an immigrant in Europe and eventually falling in love with him or her (it is the case of several mixed couples, even when the conversion is not compulsory, as in the case of a non-Muslim woman marrying a Muslim man). A different model of conversion is that of the 'rational' conversions. Here we can refer to the intellectual conversions, 'cold' so to speak, which are due to the reading, even by chance, of the Qur'an, for all sorts of rea- sons and in the most diverse situations: ei- ther received as a gift, as happened to one of the most well-known European converts, former pop singer Cat Stevens, who became Yusuf Islam, or because it was found in the prison library. Others became acquainted with Islam through books of Islamic mysti- cism, notably Sufism, which have attracted a wide Western readership. Other books that have influenced certain conversions are those of traditionalist authors such as René Guénon, Fritjof Schuon, and Titus Burck- hardt, all of whom became Muslims. Sufism is, however, a specific way to enter Islam, or rather a special facet of it, and leads to embracing Islam through the role of the turuq, not often connected to the 'Islam of the mosques'. For many converts the background of conversion is political, both (even extreme) right and left: Islam, the religion of praxis that does not distinguish by principle be- tween the 'city of men' and the 'city of God' but rather willingly superimposes them, seems to constitute an ideal way to 'spiritu- alize' a militant commitment that previously was only social or political. It is not merely by chance that we find these converts in the leadership and in the intermediate centres of the Islamic associations in Europe, in the mosques, and in promoting political initia- tives such as requests to be recognized by the state. In short, they are closely in touch with the Islam of the immigrants. F u n c t i o n s A distinction can be made between the actual and potential functions of converts – with the aim of trying to understand the dy- namic and evolutionary aspect of the process. One can speak of a function of cul- tural mediation, of linguistic translation, and of interpretation, in a broad cognitive sense. In practice, the following acquire great importance: the contribution in terms of social know-how; the pooling of a net- work of relationships (including the politi- cal, institutional, and religious ones), which already exist and which can be developed further; the peculiar intellectual function that is shown through the capacity to medi- ate and to produce culture both within the community (books and reviews, but also testimonies and sermons) and, chiefly, out- side of it through the contribution made to the formation of the image of Islam (confer- ences, public relations, and on a larger scale the simple explanation of personal behav- iours like wearing the hijab: as one of our in- terviewees stated, 'I am a walking symbol'). In a more general sense, the converts con- stitute (and are perceived as) a crucial ele- ment in at least three fields. They offer legit- imation in the eyes of society: a function ful- filled especially by the intellectuals who have converted. They are present also in the academic milieu, for instance among the orientalists, and they contribute to produc- ing the image of Islam and its contents. The converts also provide confirmation for the benefit of the migrant community, especial- ly those with a weaker sense of identity: their shahada, when enunciated in an Islam- ic centre, or in publications, are a 'proof' of the superiority of Islam and a confirmation of the rightness of their faith for those immi- grants who are often less integrated and less well-educated. Finally, they comprise an element of guarantee: a convert is a citi- zen – and a militant or an Islamic leader as a citizen can not be expelled, or surrendered, to this or that native Islamic country. If that is the present situation in several European countries, in spite of significant variations of weight and importance be- tween the one and the other (which ought to be analysed individually), the potential situation, the possible evolution of the func- tion of the converts, is not the same. Indeed, some of the present functions served by the converts are transitory: for instance, they fill a gap in terms of leadership and cultural elaboration because of the lack of immi- grants capable of doing so. However, they could be substituted by a new leadership, which may come from abroad but will more likely be produced within the second and third generations of immigrants, something that is currently happening in several Euro- pean countries. Nevertheless, the lasting importance of the converts must be emphasized, mainly in the institutional interface and in the 'power games', which are linked to the national or regional representation of Islam, particular- ly with respect to the host society and its in- stitutions: a role that the passage of genera- tion among the Muslim communities will not be able to cancel in the short term, even though one might hypothesize that the overestimation of their role in cultural and organizational leadership that is now attrib- uted to the converts – very visible in some countries, namely those where immigration The visibility of converts to Islam in the media has re- cently undergone an exponential increase – mainly in the United States. There was the case of Jonny Walker, labelled 'Jonny the Taliban', born into the wasp upper class, who was apprehended as mujahid in Afghanistan. Then there was José Padilla, the would-be terrorist who was seized in an airport loaded with explosives. Finally, John Allen Williams came on the scene. Of Jamaican ancestry, born in Louisiana, this former American soldier in the Gulf War became the serial killer that terrorized Washing- ton in October 2002 by killing 13 people in cold blood. These three tales have nothing in common, apart from the fact that all three protagonists are converts to Islam. Converts and the Making of E u r o p e a n I s l a m STEFANO ALLIEVI Former British pop star Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam. Image not available online