When Muslim immigrants first came to the UK they did so for largely socio-economic reasons. Many lacked secondary education and struggled with the language and culture.
This no longer the case. Second and third generation Muslims are achieving positions of real power and prominence. Perhaps even more significantly, Western converts (who presently number more than 10,000) are assuming positions of leadership in Muslim communities.
Abdul Green is a popular Muslim speaker on university campuses and at Hyde Park speakers’ corner; using political, economic and gender issues as platforms to promote Islam and denigrate Christianity. Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) founded the relief organisation ‘Muslim Aid’ while the University historian Professor Yaqub Zaki, a Scottish convert, heads the Muslim Research Institute. The Islamic Party of Britain is led by David Musa Pidcock, while a German convert, Sahib Mustaqim Bleher edits their newsletter.
White converts know how Westerners think and can present Islam in an attractive and comprehensible manner. They are living evidence that Islam is not an Asian, Arab or African religion.
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