"L'islam attire l'élite britannique".
Islamic Britain Lures Top People
Nicholas Hellen and
Christopher Morgan
MORE than 14,000 white Britons have converted to Islam after becoming
disillusioned with western values, according to the first authoritative study
of the phenomenon.
Some of
|
|
|
|
The trend
is being encouraged by Muslim leaders who are convinced that the conversion of
prominent society figures will help protect a community stigmatised by
terrorism and fundament
Zaki Badawi, chairman of
the Imams and Mosques Council, said: “The community has been unfairly targeted
and these developments encourage it in a time of difficulty.” Meanwhile, the
Muslim Council of Britain has co-opted Joe Ahmed-Dobson, son of Frank Dobson,
the former health secretary, to chair its regeneration committee.
The new study by Yahya (formerly Jonathan) Birt, son of Lord Birt, former
director-general of the BBC, provides the first reliable data on the sensitive
subject of the movement of Christians into Islam. He uses a breakdown of the
latest census figures to conclude that there are now 14,200 white converts in
Speaking publicly for the first time about his faith this weekend, Birt, whose doctorate at Oxford University is on young
British Muslims, argued that an inspirational figure, similar to the American
convert Malcolm X for Afro-Caribbeans, would first
have to emerge if the next stage, a mass conversion among white Britons, were
to happen.
“You need great transitional figures to translate something
Initially, Birt said, he had no coherent reasons for
converting, but: “In the longer term I think it was the overall profundity,
balance and coherence and spiritu
The faith has made inroads into the Establishment. It emerged this weekend that
the great-granddaughter of a British prime minister has converted. Emma Clark,
whose ancestor, the Liberal prime minister Herbert
Asquith, took
Clark, who helped design an Islamic garden for the Prince of Wales at Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home, is now helping create
a similar garden for a mosque in
Many converts have been inspired by the writings of Charles Le Gai Eaton, a former Foreign Office diplomat. Eaton, author
of Islam and the Destiny of Man, said: “I have received letters from people who
are put off by the wishy-washy standards of contemporary Christianity and they
are looking for a religion which does not compromise too much with the modern
world.”
Others have come to Islam through love or marriage. Kristiane
Backer, a former girlfriend of the cricketer Imran
Khan, said she was introduced to the religion through love but converted after
her break-up. She has shrunk from speaking publicly about her religion before
because of fears it might affect her work prospects.
“Imran sowed the seeds, but when (the relationship)
finished (the faith) took on a momentum of its own,” she said. Backer, who is
drawn to Sufi mysticism, said white converts had to overcome prejudice both
from those born into Islam and from non-believers.
“In the mosque women come up and say to me, ‘You have
hair showing: you must cover up completely.’ I say, ‘Mind your own hair, you’re
here to think about God’.”
She has ditched the reve
Some prominent converts are even more wary. The Earl of Yarborough, 40, who
owns a 28,000-acre estate in
Muslim leaders are harnessing modern campaigning methods to promote their
faith. Groups have sprung up on the internet publishing “trophy lists” of white
converts.
The state-funded school in
Fresh evidence came this weekend that Islam has received formal acceptance at
the heart of the Establishment. The Queen has approved new arrangements to
allow Muslim staff at
Le Sunday Times du
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl...1010553,00.html