RECORD numbers of British women are converting to Islam, The Sun reported on Tuesday. There are up to 100,000 converts in the UK - up from around 60,000 in 2001 - with white women leading the trend, according to research for the Faith Matters organisation. A study by Swansea University, on behalf of Faith Matters, found 5,200 people converted to Islam in the UK last year. And a survey of 122 converts last year showed 56 per cent were white British, with women making up 62 per cent of respondents.
Emma Taylor, 30, from Reading, Berks, loved partying but converted to Islam. She says: “I was raised a Catholic but after-school partying and living a wannabe WAG lifestyle became my religion. I loved buying awful clothes and indulging in immoral activities. As a filing clerk in an office I only earn £16,000 but until last year I managed to make it stretch by living in a shared house so I could spend my cash on looking and feeling good. However in January last year, with my 30th birthday looming, I began to think that waking up with a hangover most mornings, having no long-term bloke in my life and no real ambition meant something was missing. I’d also just come through a bad break-up and one night my Muslim mate invited me around for dinner. Susan was more stable and content than my friends and I always turned to her for advice even though, at 28, she was two years younger than me. She converted to Islam three years ago. While I was at Susan’s she broke away to pray. I watched and she seemed so at peace with her life. That’s when I asked her about her religion.
She didn’t ear bash me but she suggested websites and that I should go to a mosque. She said everyone was welcome, if respectful of others. On March 2 I went to mosque with her. She’d told me what I should wear and supplied me with a headscarf. The day changed my life. Sitting with the other women I felt a weird sense of relief and acceptance come over me. For an hour my problems disappeared. I liked the boundaries, with the men separated from the women, and the sense of reverence, of kindness. For the first time ever I felt spiritually alive. With my friend’s help, I co any role in my life and I was a stereotypical teenager. I rebelled and got a tattoo and a lip ring. I had boyfriends and would go out drinking with my friends. At uni there was a big drinking culture and I did part-time bar work as well. I didn’t have any Muslim friends and had very stereotypical ideas of what Islam was about - a male- dominated culture where women were oppressed. But all that changed when, aged 25, I went on holiday to Egypt. There I met Muslim locals and found myself absorbed by their culture. Hearing the call to prayer every day awoke something in me and I started to feel a strong spiritual connection to Islam. I was astonished at how respectful the men seemed - not like the letches at home.
Once home I decided to find out more and I got in touch with a friend who had converted to Islam. He invited me to a talk and when I walked in, the room was full of women wearing Niqabs. I thought they would judge me but they were so welcoming. As I explored Islam more, it hit home that I felt a connection because it was what I believed anyway. I realised it made sense not to drink because it’s bad for you and I found covering up was more liberating than being a slave to fashion. Soon afterwards I made my declaration of faith and converted to Islam. It felt like the right thing to do but it took a few weeks for me to tell my family and I was nervous about their reaction. At the time there were lots of terrorism arrests taking place in the UK. My family were worried at first but I made a real effort to show them that I hadn’t changed. I wear a headscarf but I chose not to wear the hijab and my family could see I was still the same person. Now they are very supportive.
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