Conversions to Islam in the West
Theories and typologies of religious conversion developed by scholars of comparative religion and the social sciences (sociology, psychology, anthropology) have rarely taken into account conversions to Islam. This situation has changed in recent years, when the increasing presence of Islam in the West has stimulated researchers to test the applicability of available theories and typologies to the phenomenon of conversions to Islam in Europe and the United States. In line with these developments, the main questions of the seminar will be: (1) What can we learn from the available theories and typologies (usually designed on the basis of evidence related to conversions to other religions than Islam) for a better understanding of the contemporary phenomenon of conversions to Islam in the West? (2) To what extent might the available evidence on conversions to Islam in the West lead us to improve upon these theories and typologies?
The Seminar will convene five times in Leiden during three hours (see below, Program). Before the break of each of sessions 1 through 4 the reading assignments, to be carefully prepared by all participants, will be discussed. These texts will be available to the participants in the form of a Reader which also includes the bibliographical materials related to these texts (see below, Reading Assignments). After the break, one or more participants will present the research publications listed below (see Program), for further discussion. During the fifth session, participants will present the outlines for their research paper (see below, Research Paper).
Programme:
1. Friday 21 October 2005, 10.00-13.00 a.m. (Supervision: Prof. Dr. P.S. van Koningsveld): Islamic Missionary Theology and Activities.
(a) Reading assignment for all participants (to be discussed before the break): POSTON (1992), pp. 145-180; K?E (1996), 31-124 (chapters 2 and 3).
(b) Research to be presented by the main speaker(s): POSTON, Larry: Islamic Da’wah in the West. Muslim Missionary Activity and the Dynamics of Conversion to Islam. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
(2) Friday 28 October 2005, 10.00-13.00 a.m. (Supervision: Prof. Dr. H.L. Beck): Conversions to Islam in the West: Empirical Studies (1)
(a) Reading assignment for all participants (to be discussed before the break): ALLIEVI (1998), 71-145.
(b) Research to be presented by main speaker(s): K?E, Ali: Conversion to Islam. A Study of Native British Converts. London and New York: Kegan Paul International, 1996.
(3) Friday 4 November 2005, 10.00-13.00 a.m. (Supervision: Prof. Dr. G.A. Wiegers): Conversions to Islam in the West: Empirical Studies (2.)
(a) Reading assignment for all participants (to be discussed before the break): ROALD (2004), pp. 79-161.
(b) Research to be presented by the main speaker(s): ALLIEVI, Stefano: Les convertis ?’Islam. Les nouveaux musulmans d’ Europe. Paris: l’Harmattan, 1998.
(4) Friday 11 November 2005, 10.00-13.00 a.m.(Supervision: Prof. Dr. P.S. van Koningsveld): Conversions to islam: Empirical Studies (3)
(a) Reading assignment for all participants (to be discussed before the break): ABDEL RAZAQ (2005), 13-64.
(b) Research to be presented by main speaker(s): ROALD, Anne Sofie: New Muslims in the European Context. The Experience of Scandinavian Converts. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
(5) Friday 18 November 2005, 10.00-13.00 a.m. (Supervision: Prof. Dr. H.L. Beck, Prof. Dr. P.S. van Koningsveld and Prof. Dr. G.A. Wiegers): Discussion of the Outlines of the Papers Drafted by the Participants.
Examination
Participants will write a short research paper of approximately 2500 words on a subject falling within the area of the Seminar. They will present an outline of their paper of one page during the last meeting of the Seminar (on Friday 18 November 2005). The tasks of supervision during the process of writing will be divided among the participating teaching staff. Acceptable subjects may be, among others, (1) a critical testing of the typologies of conversions to Islam in Europe available in recent research publications in the light of new or unused empirical material (e.g: conversion stories, whether published in printed or virtual form (Internet), or written down directly by the student during interviews conducted by him/her); (2) a critical study of the social and cultural consequences of the conversion for the converts as treated in the literature discussed during the seminar, in the light of other evidence, whether published in printed or virtual form (Internet), or written down directly by the student during interviews conducted by him/her); (3) a study of the religious, cultural and/or political views developed by European converts to Islam following their conversion, as they can be derived from their publications or from other public activities. Students are advised to make the choice of their subject as soon as possible with the use of the bibliographical; materials included in the reader and in consultation with one of the members of the teaching staff who can be approached for this purpose by e-mail:
h.l.beck@uvt.nl
p.s.van.koningsveld@let.leidenuniv.nl
g.wiegers@theo.ru.nl
Required reading
Available in the reader, together with the relevant bibliographies:
(1) POSTON, Larry: Islamic Da’wah in the West. Muslim Missionary Activity and the Dynamics of Conversion to Islam. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, pp. 145-180: Part IV: “The Dynamics of Conversion to Islam”: chapters 9 (“Religious conversion: The traditional Western paradigm”), and 10 (“Conversion to Islam”).
(2) KÖSE, Ali: Conversion to Islam. A Study of Native British Converts. London and New York: Kegan Paul International, 1996, pp. 31-124 (chapter 2: “On the Way to Conversion”, and chapter 3: “Conversion Process”).
(3) ALLIEVI, Stefano: Les convertis à l’Islam. Les nouveaux musulmans d’Europe. Patis: l’Harmattan, 1998, pp. 71-145 (I/3: “Le processus”. II/1: “Les itineraires”).
(4) ROALD, Anne Sofie: New Muslims in the European Context. The Experience of Scandinavian Converts. Leiden: Brill, 2004, pp. 79-161: chapters 3 (“The Road to Islam”) and 4 (“Trends of Converts”)
(5) ABDELRAZAQ, Salah: Neo-Muslim Intellectuals and their Contribution to Islamic Thought and the Formation of European Islam. Leiden, 2005 (Ph.D.-dissertation), 13-64: chapter 1 (“Conversion to Islam”).
Other Bibliographical Materials
ADNAN, Adlin: New Muslims in Britain. London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1999. Based on a thesis submitted to fulfil the requirements for an M.A. degree in Islamic Studies at the Muslim College, London, May 1997.
ABU LAUZ, Abu Anas Ali (ed.): Answers to Common Questions from New Muslims. Tr. Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo. Michigan, Ann Arbor: Islamic Assembly of North America, 1995.
ANSARI, Conversion to Islam in The Netherlands. A Sociological Study. Leiden 1997, 30 pp.Paper M.A. Seminar “The Empirical Study of Islam in Western Europe”.
ANWAY, Carol L: Daughters of Another Path. Experiences of American Women
Choosing Islam. Kuala Lumpur, 1996.
ARNOLD, T: The Preaching of Islam. A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith. London 1913.
BALL-HALEEM, Harfiyah: Islamic life: Why British Women Embrace Islam. Leicester: Muslim Youth Education Council, 1987.
BULLIET, Richard: Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period. An Essay in Quantitative History. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.
CHEJNE, A.G: Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View. Islam and Cultural Change in the Midle Ages. Ed. By S. Vryonis, Wiesbaden 1975, 59-86.
DAYNES, Sarah: Processus de conversion et modes d’identification à l’Islam: l’exemple de la France et des Etats-Unies. “Social Compass” 1999(46), 313-324.
DENNETT, Daniel C: Conversion and the Poll-Tax in Early Islam. Cambridge, Mass., 1950.
DOJA, Albert: Politique de la religion dans les recompositions identitaires. Le cas albanais. “Journal des Anthropologues” 85-86(2001), 255-282.
Mass Islamization of Albania in the 16th-18th centuries.
DUDLEY WOODBERRY, J: Conversion in Islam. “Handbook of Religious Conversion”, ed. By H. NEWTON MALONY and Samuel SOUTHARD. Birmingham (Alabama): Religious education Press, 1992, 22-40.
FIERRO, Mirabel: Cuando los europeos se convierten al Islam: noticia bibliográfica. “Awrâq. Estudios sobre el Mundo Arabe e Islamico Contemporaneo”, 20(1999), 295-298.
GERVERS, Michael, and Ramzi Jibran BIKHAZI (eds.): Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands. Eighth to Eighteenth Centuries. Toronto 1990.
GRUNEBAUM, G.E. von: Islam: Its Inherent Power of Expansion and Adaptation. In: G.E. von Grunebaum (ed.), Modern Islam. The Search for Cultural Identity. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1962, 1-12.
JUNDÎ, Anwar al-: Afâq jadîda li-‘l-da’wa al-islâmiyya fî ‘âlam al-gharb. [“New Horizons for the Preaching of Islam in the Western World”]. Bayrût: Mu’assasat al-Risâla, 1984.
KHALIL, Muhammad Gharîb: Conversion to Islam in the Netherlands. Motivations of Dutch people to convert to Islam. Leiden: 1999. M.A.-thesis.
KYRRIS, C: L’Importance sociale de la conversion à l’Islam (volontaire ou non) d’une section des classes dirigeantes de Chypre pendant les premiers siècles de l’occupation turque. Actes du 1er Congrès International d’Etudes Balcaniques et sud-est-Européennes 3(1969), 437-462.
LE PAPE, Loïc: Communication Strategies and Public Commitments: The Example of a Sufi Order in Europe. In: ALLIEVI, Stefano, and Jörgen Nielsen (eds.), Muslim Networks and Transnational munities in Europe. Leiden: Brill, 2003, pp. 225-242. Converts from Christianity in France.
LEVTZION, Nehemiah: Toward a Comparative Study of Islamization. In “Conversion to Islam” (ed. N. Levtzion), New York and London: Holmes & Meier, 1979, pp. 1-23.
LEWIS, Philip: Islamic Britain. Religion, Politics and Identity among British Muslims: Bradford in the 1990s. London and New York: Tauris Publishers, 1994. Pp. 197-202: “Inviting others to Islam: Promise and Predicament”.
LOCKWOOD, W.G: Converts and Consanguinity: The Social organization of Moslem Slavs in Western Bosnia. “Ethnology”(Pittsburgh) 11(1972), 55-79.
MEETING POINT : the Newsletter of the New Muslims’ Project. Leicester, New Muslims Project, The Islamic Foundation, 2000ff.
MURAD, Khurram: Da’wah among Non-Muslims in the West. Some Conceptual and Methodological Aspects. Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1988.
NEWTON MALONY, H. and Samuel SOUTHARD: Handbook of Religious Conversion. Birmingham (Alabama): Religious Education Press, 1992.
NIEUWKERK, Karin van: Gender and Conversion to Islam. Isim Newsletter 12, June 2003, p. 10.
SADLÂN, Sâlih ibn Ghânim al-: Fatâwâ Muslimî al-Amrikân. Ed. Ridwân ibn Ahmad al-Qûtlî. Al-Riyâdh, 2004. 10-11: Fatwa on forbidden money acquired before conversion to Islam; 14: extra-marital children born before conversion to Islam; 14-15: can a Muslim inherit from a non-Muslim family member? 21: can a non-Muslim family-member be a walî (a guardian) at the marriage of a converted woman? 22: imams as the walîs of converted women; 23: relations between converted Americans and their non-Muslim family in matters of religious funerary rituals; 30-31: the fulfillment of religiously forbidden contracts after conversion to Islam; 32-33: the position of the American soldier converted to Islam; 33ff: the status of missionaries is discussed in various fatwas concerning the permissibility of residence in a non-Muslim country like the USA; 43-44: change the name upon conversion; 44: graduality as the approach of the missionary in the West; 45: is this approach also applicable to the person who recently converted to Islam? 57-59: can a recently converted person maintain his mortgage contract? 59: a person postponing his conversion until having sold all his forbidden belongings (alcoholic beverages and the like); 61-62: prayers and other religious formulas in Arabic to be pronounced by non-Arabs.
SAIFY, Mahmoud al-: Muslim Legal Discourse on the Possibility for a Newly Converted Wife to Stay with her nobn-Muslim Hisband: Their Marital Life in Legal terms in the Light of the Fatwa of Prof. Yusuf al-Qaradawi amd Other Relevant Fatwas. Leiden 2002, 56 pp. Paper M.A. Seminar Islam and the West in Fatwa-Literature.
SHATZMILLER, Maya: Marriage, Family and the Faith. Women’s Conversion to Islam. “Journal of Family History” 1996, 21, 235-266.
SKENDI, S: Crypto-Christianity among the Balkan People under the Ottomans. “Slavic Review” 26(1967), 227-246.
WOHLRAB-SAHR, Monika: Konversion zum Islam als Implementation von Geschlechtsehre. “Zeitschrift für Soziologie” 1996,25, 19-36.
—-: Conversion to Islam. Between Syncretism and Symbolic Battle. “Social Compass” 1999(46), 351-362.
X, Malcolm, and Alex HALEY: The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York, 1973.
Admission
The course is open to students of accredited Research Master programmes and to PhD-students. In some cases, research-oriented students from other master programmes may be admitted.
Comments
Registration takes place through the office of NOSTER. Please send an e-mail message to cursusnoster@theo.uu.nl, including your name, postal address, telephone number and the name of the academic institution you are affiliated to. For details of the registration formalities, please contact the secretary of NOSTER, dr. J.G.M. Reuling (noster@theo.uu.nl) or consult the NOSTER-website (http://noster.theo.uu.nl, “Training”).
Students are advised to contact the coordinator as soon as they have completed their registration, in order to obtain their copy of the reader and make arrangements for the individual task they will have to fulfill during one of the meetings of the seminar (see also below, “Program”).