"I do not know how it happened or why, but one day Allah, the ‘Turner of Hearts’, just turned my heart to Him. He extinguished the burning heat with the coolness of His guidance. I sat on a prayer mat and mumbled the profession of faith,” writes German-born Dr Claudia Seise in her new book, Finding God. Published in September, Finding God shares stories, from Indonesia to the Australian outback, of more than 40 people who have found spiritual renewal through Islam — the fastest-growing religion in the world, according to Washington DC-based think tank The Pew Research Centre.
As a Muslim born in New York, who has witnessed post-9/11 Islamophobia across the Western world, I’ve always been interested in hearing what inspires others to embrace my faith in spite of anti-Muslim sentiments. And while the coverage of Palestine has highlighted much hypocrisy and prejudice, the calamities taking place there have evidently been a propelling force for converts. In July, Morocco World News reported that the rate of conversion to Islam across Europe has allegedly increased by 400 per cent since the Gaza war. “It was 90 per cent of the reason why I converted,” Dubai-based American expat Abbey Hafez tells MOJEH. While having been married to an Egyptian Muslim husband for two years, Abbey had never been pressured to convert to Islam, and made her shahada, or verbal declaration of faith, in November 2023 — just weeks after the bombardment of Gaza began, flooding her social media feeds with harrowing footage of families torn apart by bombs and bullets. “We didn’t hear them cursing the ones that did this to them, or questioning God. Instead, I heard Palestinians saying, ‘Allahu Akbar’ — or God is Great,” says Abbey. “They were praising and thanking Allah, and I sat back and thought to myself, ‘I could not do that, with the faith I have now. My faith would crumble. I need to see what is in the Qur’an that is creating such unshakeable faith, because despite everything they’re going through, they still stood strong — I’ve never seen something like that in my life.”
Melanie Elturk, the founder of American headscarves label Haute Hijab, explains that the incredulity onlookers feel when confronted with the spiritual strength and resilience of the Palestinians has sparked renewed interest in Islam. “There’s no doubt that what happened in Palestine has played a huge role,” she says, adding that this accelerated conversion rate goes hand in hand with a widespread feeling of disenchantment and lack of direction.
“It’s clear that there’s a crisis of consciousness in the world today,” Melanie tells MOJEH. “Many people are very disillusioned and lost — and so when they’re asking questions that are intrinsic to human nature, like ‘why am I here, where did I come from and what’s the purpose of life’, a lot of people are finding truth and comfort in Islam, which answers all of those questions clearly and succinctly with a direct line to salvation, to our creator, and to peace within. So it makes sense why people would flock to this religion.”
Melanie points to a Tweet once written by late Irish singer Sinead O’Connor: “I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant.” Over the years there have been numerous celebrity converts to Islam, including Mike Tyson, Dave Chappelle, Kyrie Irving and, earlier this year, American rapper Lil Jon. A study in the 2019 PSU Research Review, owned by Riyadh’s Prince Sultan University, even estimates that within the next 100 years Muslims will become the majority in European nations such as Sweden, France and Greece, as immigrant populations expand and the religion attracts more converts.
While the process of becoming a Muslim is simple — making the verbal declaration of belief in one God, and the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] — the conversion often marks a metamorphosis of one’s worldview and lifestyle. “Picture in your mind that the sky is blue, and then one day, you find out it’s actually pink. It’s that big of a change,” says Abbey, who, in the weeks leading up to her conversion to Islam, says she felt a divine pull towards the Qur’an. “I felt God telling me, ‘read the Qur’an, read the Qur’an’, and when I finally did, it blew my mind from the very first verses. There was so much beauty in it,” she explains. In a video that went viral on TikTok, Abbey shared her experience, speaking about how reading the Qur’an gave her more peace than her 25 years as a Christian did. Today, she carries around an annotated pocket-sized English Qur’an featuring a decorative blue and orange floral cover, brimming with sticky notes and bookmarks.
Besides this intimate dimension of the faith, where one’s soul might feel polished by a sense of peace, becoming a Muslim can help converts improve their notions of self-identity, providing direction and purpose through a justice- centred moral compass and establishing a sense of communal belonging. Elements of the religion can enhance one’s professional life too, believes Dubai-based Kristina Krasovitskaia, who has been Muslim for a little over a year. She previously lived in the Netherlands, where she was inspired to research the faith after observing her business partner pray at work. In addition to the close spiritual connection one can achieve with God, she has seen practical benefits in cutting out distractions such as alcohol, irresponsible partying and dating without an intent to settle down in marriage. “Islam helped me in achieving the career and life goals that I already had, faster, with no setbacks and wasted time,” she explains. In 2022, Kristina co-founded ‘New Girl In Town’ as a way for women living in foreign countries to connect with one another, and she hosts regular meet-ups in the UAE.
Melanie’s Haute Hijab platform also offers way for new Muslims to form friendships. She says that her brand has been like a “magnet” for converts, because her approach to Islam circumvents culture and avoids alienating any demographics. “I don’t let culture play into my approach to religion — it’s been more about the spirit of Islam, of hijab, and of sisterhood. I’m making a very conscious and intentional effort to build community on sisterhood, and that’s what so many converts are seeking, and are starved of,” she explains.
While community is key for women who are new to Islam, like all faith groups, it can be a double-edged sword, with factions that are judgemental and critical of those who don’t abide by more conservative interpretations of scripture. Some take to social media to air their judgements about how Muslim women should look and act. Kristina, after converting, came to the conclusion that though she believes Islam is perfect, many Muslims are not, and it is the latter who often perpetuate stereotypes about oppressiveness by policing other women. This in turn, can dissuade prospective converts to the faith. “I have heard stories of people being scared to revert to Islam simply because they are not sure if they can do everything correctly from the start, like wearing hijab or praying five times daily,” she says. Western stereotypes about Islam, and Muslim women, might also be a deterrent — but not for Abbey, who says she had witnessed true Islam from the way her husband and his family embodied the faith. “None of the women in his family are ever seen as less than, because of what they wear,” she explains. Abbey started her Qur’an and Coffee Club over Telegram, which eventually gained over 600 members, to discuss matters of religion within a safe and non-judgemental space. “There are a lot of scholarly opinions and these are all good for research and knowledge, but I think that there is a space that’s open in the Muslim community for reflection and personal connection — connecting to the Qur’an with your heart,” she explains.
While there are those in Muslim communities who preach strict and inflexible interpretations of scripture, Islam, at its core, is about one’s submission to God — not to human gatekeepers of the faith. Spiritual ideals of love, justice and compassion are what ultimately draw many converts to the religion. Muslim poet Rumi once wrote: “Come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving, it doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.” Dubai-based nursery teacher Rania Deeb, who converted to Islam in 2012, says that she had previously been exposed to fear-based teachings centred around God’s wrath, but was inspired by Islam’s stories of God’s mercy — like the one about a prostitute who was forgiven because she gave water to a dog dying of thirst. “I fell in love with the religion,” Rania tells MOJEH, adding that she feels peaceful and grounded by the rituals of prayer. “To bring yourself back to earth five times a day and sit before your creator really reminds you how small you and your problems are, in the grand scheme of things. It’s like doing a full mind and body reset.”
Originally Published In The October 2024 Issue Of MOJEH
