In an article in today's Times newspaper, Muslim convert and lecturer in Islamic studies, Abdal Hakim Murad (previously known as Tim Winter, older brother of Henry, the football writer) attempts to explain the growing number of conversions to Islam in Britain (100,000 in the past decade compared to 60,000 in the 90s according to Winter). (Actually, 75% of new converts to Islam leave the faith within five years. But that's another story...)
Using the doubtless heroic and selfless British aid worker and Muslim convert Khalil Dale (who was found beheaded in Pakistan this weekend...by Islamists) as a "living challenge to standard Islamophobic sentiment", Murad asks us to question our prejudices about Islam and to consider why so many people are converting.
Apparently he is at a loss to explain, other than to suggest many "spiritual wanderers" find Christianity "too complex" because they are "bewildered by the concept of the Trinity". As disingenuous bollocks goes that surely takes the biscuit. They're only bewildered, matey-boy, because Muslim clerics delight in "explaining" to these "wanderers" the impossibility of God having a son, whilst the Qur'an bizarrely interprets the Trinity as God, Jesus and Mary.
"When asked who converts to Islam and why, I usually have no answer"
But back to the main issue. We have to ask ourselves this question: Is a high profile British convert to Islam, one who writes copiously on the issue of conversion, really unaware of the world-wide efforts of dawah sites such as iERA to con people into believing there are scientific proofs in the Qur'an?
All he needs do is ask ANY BRITISH OR AMERICAN convert (such as poor old "Yusuf Islam" aka hairy rock star Cat Stevens. I'd wager my house that 90% of them would at some stage mention embryology, mountains as pegs, the big bang theory or one of the many other so-called miracles that the bucailleists trot out. That's why, Abdul. Because of the bare-faced lies promulgated by people like Yusuf Estes and spread in such emetic publications as The Man in the Red Underpants.
If you want us to accept Islam as a part of British culture and even as a "reconnection with aspects of Britishness that have been lost to globalisation" (whatever that may mean) then as a representative of British Islam you should be more honest in your analysis.
That guy murad was very patronizing about Christianity at a dawah event I attended with mostly invited Christians (i'm atheist). He even dared to partially quote the ayat about Christians being your greatest allies, but missed out that it also says Jews will be your greatest enemies. Shame I was surrounded by Muslims and too self concious to call him on it.
ReplyDeleteVery good blog posts btw
Martin
Hi Martin, Thanks for that. I was unaware he attended such events. I ought to pop along...
DeleteWhat a bullshit blog... Quran doesn't say that pagan your christian trinity is Jesus, Mary, and God. Read the verse right.
ReplyDeleteHi Anon,
DeleteThanks for your comment.
These are the verses I read. How do you interpret these then?:
(They are unbelievers who say, 'God is the Third of Three (thalithu thalathatin). No god is there but One God. 5:72 ..his mother was a just woman; they both ate food (er...I don't think anyone believes Mary didn't eat food! Not unless you mistakenly think that Mary was a god for some people...). 5:75 ...and when God said, ‘O Jesus son of Mary, didst thou say unto men, "Take me and my mother as gods, apart from God"?’ 5:116)
I believe Abdal Hakim Murad is mostly pretty thorough in his analysis and very well succeeds in analysing sociological trends within a broader societal perspective, just like he does in his conversation on leadership and authority in the Muslim world, which can be found here: http://www.halalmonk.com/abdal-hakim-murad-authority-within-islam Yet when you ask "Who converts and why", you can always point towards certain sociological trends but, in the end, conversion always remains a personal spiritual journey as well and no single seeker-journey can be reduced to the sociological trends, even though they might be influenced by it. His own conversion story (can be found as a download at the bottom of the article) is a good example thereof. It has absolutely nothing to do with the stuff mentioned in this blog post.
ReplyDeleteHi Johan,
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think those who convert to Islam in the West are not doing so because of the lies spread by bodies such as iERA?
Certainly every convert I've talked to says they believe in the Qur'an as a miracle because of the "science" it contains.
Do you think this is a minor issue then?