Call for Papers

Muslim Converts in Britain and Beyond: Transitions and Transformations

9^th January 2025, Cardiff University

The Islam-UK Centre, Cardiff University & MBRN (Muslims in Britain Research Network) invite submissions for academic papers and professional contributions to a one-day conference about Muslim converts in Europe.  This interdisciplinary conference is open to academic scholars, non-academic professionals and practitioners, and members of religious communities.

We will showcase contemporary research and practice in relation to Muslim converts in Britain, and identify topics for future research and practice by addressing the following questions:

1. What impact have British Muslim converts had on Muslim communities and wider British society?
2. What resources do British Muslim converts use to create progress and change in their own lives, and more widely?
3. What are the challenges and needs faced by British Muslim converts in the contemporary context, and how can research help to identify and address these?

State of knowledge

Over the past 20 years, conversion to Islam has captured the attention of academic scholars as well as practitioners and policy-makers from the criminal justice system, health and social care, religion professionals, and the media. In many European societies, conversion can be seen as controversial due to anti-Muslim prejudice and Islamophobia. For converts themselves, whilst conversion can be a joyous and fulfilling experience, it can also create tensions in their inter-personal relationships and in the wider public sphere, including in education and the workplace (Vroon 2014).

Research in Britain, and across Europe, has tended to focus on conversion experiences and the challenges Muslim converts can encounter (Alyedreessy 2016; Brice 2010). Specifically, conversion has been analysed in relation to: ethnicity, race and racialisation (Moosavi 2015; Piela & Krotofil 2023); gender and sexuality (Suleiman 2013, 2016; Van Nieuwkerk 2006); and, incarceration and terrorism/counter-terrorism (Flower 2013; Mullins 2015).

Conversion to Islam in Europe is most often characterised as a sudden and radical move to a ‘foreign’ religion. In contrast to this popular characterisation, research shows that conversion is a longer transformative process, motivated by a spiritual quest involving cumulative knowledge acquisition and a gradual shift in identity boundaries (Al-Qwidi 2002; Midden 2023). Scholarly attention has also been paid to historical evidence of Britain’s early encounters with Muslims and conversion, to counter such narratives (Ansari 2004; Gilliat-Ray 2010). Furthermore, the extent to which converts are shaping a specifically British or European Islam has been conceptualised as the ‘indigenisation’ of Islam (Zebiri 2014).

Convert Muslims have been described as ‘ambassadors of Islam’ in Europe (Van Es 2017). From this perspective, White Muslim converts can act as ‘bridges’ between born Muslims from minority backgrounds and non-Muslim majority populations (Roald 2004; Suleiman 2013). However, convert Muslim communities are ethnically diverse and a focus on whiteness can lead to further marginalisation of Muslim converts of other ethnic groups in both research and the practice of ‘convert care’ (Birt 2022). It is also important to note that converts’ positionality is complicated by colonial and historical legacies (Gallonier 2015).

More recently, scholarly interest in conversion has shifted to examine life (long) after conversion. The ‘Transformational: Muslim Converts in British Life’ is one such study, being conducted at the Islam-UK Centre Centre in collaboration with the Convert Muslim Foundation. This study aims to document and conceptualise the impact of leadership and changemaking activities of Muslim converts in Britain.

Conference Themes

We welcome contributions related to the following (non-exhaustive list of) themes:

• Leadership and changemaking among Muslim converts
• Second or third generation of converts
• Intercultural integration
• Conversion and Islamophobia
• Conversion and social activism
• Converts’ politics
• Converts and (changing) religious authority
• Converts’ long-term spiritual journeys
• Evolved convert organisations
• Gender
• ‘Race’, ethnicity and other dimensions of converts’ diversity
• (Media) narratives on conversion
• Conversion and da‘wah cultures
• Other themes relevant to the conference questions

Submission guidelines

Please submit your abstract or description of your 15-minute presentation (300 words) addressing one or more of the conference questions, along with a short bio (50 words) using this online form:  https://forms.office.com/e/bwKkwzHqDB

This call for papers will close on 31^st October 2024.

You will be notified of acceptance by mid-November 2024.

Conference organisers

Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK: Sophie Gilliat-Ray and Asma Khan

Muslims in Britain Research Network:  Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor; Laura Mora, Qudra Goodall.