I was basically given an ultimatum: give up the religion or get out.
— Abdul Maalik Tailor
Examining the conversion journeys of nearly 50 British men of all ages, ethnicities and faiths, Narratives of Conversion to Islam in Britain: Male perspectives, allows an unprecedented examination of the challenges and concerns facing converts to Islam in the UK today.
The landmark report, produced by Cambridge’s Centre of Islamic Studies, captures the isolation and dislocation felt by many new converts, and the sense of being a ‘minority within a minority’ as they adjust to life as a follower of one of the most maligned and misunderstood faiths in the UK.
With converts drawn from white, black and South Asian backgrounds from across the UK, Cambridge assembled nearly 50 British males over the course of the 18-month project in an attempt to understand and record the experiences of British male converts to Islam. The converts were from a diverse range of geographical and socio-economic backgrounds.
The Male perspectives report follows Cambridge’s hugely successful report into female conversion in 2013 which has been downloaded more than 150,000 times from the Centre of Islamic Studies’ website and attracted widespread media coverage.
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Image: Uthman Ibrahim-Morrison at prayer in Norwich, 2016
Credit: Louise Walsh
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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