THE NEW FACES IN ISLAM

Nick Compton      

At first she tried to resist. She did not want this to happen. She was not that sort of person. After all, there were no gaps in her life, no spiritual ache; she did not need support or direction. But she kept reading and it kept making sense. ‘I had absolutely no expectation or desire to end up where I am,’ she says. ‘It was almost with trepidation that I kept turning the pages and the trepidation just increased. I kept thinking: “OK, where’s the flaw? Where’s the bit that doesn’t make sense?” But it never came. And then it was like: “Oh no, I can see where this is leading. This is disastrous. I don’t want to be a Muslim!”

Caroline Bate is 30 years old, blonde, blue-eyed and pretty, with a soft Home Counties accent. She has a degree from Cambridge. She studied Russian and German before switching to management studies. She is Middle England’s dream daughter or daughter-in-law. And though she has yet to make her formal declaration of faith in Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aalaa) and Prophet Mohammad (SallAllaho alaihe wa sallam) — a two-line pledge called the Shahaadah or testimony of faith — she considers herself a Muslim (but in order to actually embrace Islam, one must recite out aloud the Shahaadah or the testimony of faith whose meaning is ‘there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet and messenger of Allah). It felt good, she says.

Caroline is not alone. Though data is hard to come by, several London Masjids have been reporting an increase in the number of converts to Islam, especially since 11 September incidents. Like Caroline, many of these converts are from solid middle-class backgrounds, have successful careers, enjoy active social lives and are fundamentally happy with their lot.

This is not a new trend, however. Matthew Wilkinson, a former head boy of Eton, became Tariq, when he converted to Islam in 1993. Jonathan Birt, son of Lord Birt, late of the BBC and now the government’s transport guru, converted in 1997. The son and daughter of Lord Justice Scott also converted and Joe Ahmed Dobson, the 26-year-old son of the former Health Secretary Frank Dobson, has recently and, somewhat reluctantly, emerged as the voice of new Muslim converts in Britain. But it is a trend that has been pushed along by recent events. So far, it has gone largely unnoticed, as the press concentrates on some of the more colorful characters that 11 September has thrown up.

A compelling melodrama played out beyond the fringes of Islamic culture in United Kingdom. And while it might be stretching a point — and answering caricature with caricature — to insist that a demure English rose is the exemplar of the modern British convert to Islam, Caroline Bate is certainly more representative than anyone else.

Talking to recent Muslim converts, it is striking how similar the descriptions of their embrace of Islam are. Most were introduced to Islam, Islamic history and teachings by their friends. And given that Muslims, today, are generally, do not have missionary zeal, these were gentle introductions. For most conversion was born of curiosity, an attempt to better understand the people around them.

Caroline first started reading about Islam last April. A school friend she has known since she was 11 was marrying a Tunisian, a Muslim. ‘My best friend was marrying into a different culture, so, I wanted to know more about it,’ she explains. ‘I came at it from more of a cultural perspective than a religious one. But the literature that I picked up just stimulated me. And Islamic teaching made perfect logical sense. You can approach it intellectually and there are no gaps, no great leaps of faith that you have to make.’

Roger (not his real name) is a doctor in his mid-thirties. About a year and a half ago, he started talking about Islam to Muslim colleagues at work. ‘All I had ever heard about Islam in the media was Hezbollah and guerrillas and all of that. And here were these really decent people whom I was beginning to get to know. So, I started to ask a few questions and I was amazed at my own ignorance.’ He became a Muslim a couple of months ago.

For these new converts, embracing Islam is usually a covert operation. They quietly read, talk, listen and learn. The hard part is coming out, declaring your newly acquired faith to friends and the family, and, in some cases at least, facing up to fear, skepticism and even loathing.

Caroline insists that the coming-out process has not been too painful. ‘The reaction has been pretty much what I expected. I’ve had everything from “Do you know how they treat women?” to “Wow, great timing!” But your friends are your friends and I expect them to deal with it.

Others have had a harder time. Eleanor Martin, now Asya Ali (or some other combination of these names, depending on the circumstance), was a 24-year-old TV actress when she met Mo Sesay. She had a regular role as WPC Georgie Cudworth in BBC’s Dangerfield during the mid-Nineties and Sesay, who later starred in Bhaji on the Beach, was also a Dangerfield regular. Sesay is a Muslim.

‘Mo was such a kind man, just a good person. He wanted to know me as a person, there was nothing else going on. And I thought, well, here is this really decent guy and he is a Muslim. And the image I had of Islam was of men beating up women and going round in tanks killing people.

‘The thing is we both had regular parts on the show, but they weren’t very big parts, so we had a lot of time to sit in the caravan and talk. He really opened my eyes.’

Eleanor finally converted in 1996. ‘I wasn’t sure I was going to until the last minute and then it just felt as if everything had fallen into place and there was no other option.’

At first she kept her conversion secret. ‘I was afraid of an adverse reaction from friends and family. I was really worried about what my father would say.’ Her father was a devout Christian. A former radiotherapist, he had taken early retirement to go into the priesthood. But circumstances forced Eleanor’s hand. A few months after she converted, she met a Muslim African-American actor, Luqman Ali, and they decided to get married. ‘I went home and said: “I’ve got some news. I’m getting married and I’m a Muslim.” My mum was great. My dad said: “I think I’m going to get a drink now.”

‘It took Dad time. He went to see his spiritual adviser, a nun, whose brother happened to be a convert to Islam, and that helped. And he’s great now, too. He’s just happy that I’m following a path to God.’

Roger, meanwhile, has yet to tell family or work colleagues of his conversion. ‘I worry it will affect my career prospects,’ he admits. ‘I know first-hand how little people understand Islam. I know there is prejudice based on ignorance. A couple of years ago, if someone had told me they had converted, I would have thought they were odd. I don’t want people to think I am an oddity or a curiosity because I don’t think of myself like that.’

Most converts acknowledge that living in an ethnically diverse city has made conversion easier than it might have been elsewhere. Stefania Marchetti was born and raised in Milan but came to London to study in 1997. She converted to Islam from Catholicism in April last year. ‘It would have been far more difficult for me to convert in Italy,’ she admits. ‘The Italian media is very anti-Islam and generally Italians think that Muslim men are all terrorists and all Muslim women are slaves.’

Certainly Karen Allen, a 28-year-old scheduler for Sky TV from Stoke Newington, has enjoyed a relatively smooth transition period. She converted to Islam last June and soon started wearing the traditional headscarf or hijab. ‘When I first started wearing the hijab to work, there were a few jibes about Afghanistan and stuff, but people are fine now. They say things like: “That’s a nice one you’re wearing today.”

‘I think it might be more difficult outside London, but here there are a lot weirder things to look at than me.’

What is especially striking about this stream of converts to Islam is that the majority seem to be women. Some suggest that twice as many women as men are turning to Islam.

Batool Al Toma, who heads the New Muslim Project at the Leicester-based Islamic Foundation, which offers advice and support to recent converts, suggests this might be exaggeration, but admits that female converts are in the majority. ‘A lot of people seem to think that women are more susceptible to Islam. I think it’s largely because a lot of people are obsessed with the idea of an educated, liberated British woman converting to Islam, which they feel subjugates and represses them in some way. We just get a lot more attention I suppose and that sparks people’s interest.’

The lure of Islam for women is surprising, given that the conversion process may be even more problematic for them than for men. There is the commonly held belief that Islam represses women and female converts often have to deal with recrimination from female friends who view their adoption of Islam as some sort of betrayal. Certainly, all the women I spoke to were quick to refute the idea that Islam imposes a women-know-thy-place ideology. 

‘The perception of how women are treated is completely incorrect,’ insists Caroline. ‘Women have a fantastic position in Islamic society.’

Indeed, many women converts talk about the adoption of the Islamic dress code as a liberation. They see it not as a denial of sex and sexuality but rather as an acknowledgement that these are treasures to be shared with a loved one and them alone. They are not hidden but rather freed from objectification.

Asya insists that the trick is to turn preconceptions on their head. She wears a scarf to show she is a Muslim and a smile to prove she is happy being one.