Converts to Islamism
Author(s): Mohamed Hineidi — Director at EMAN
On Tuesday, December 28, French authorities ordered the closing of a mosque in Northern France for six months due to the radical preaching of the mosque’s Imam. This is not the first time French authorities have taken such measures. Out of the estimated 2,600 mosques around France, around a hundred have been investigated for incitement and spreading “separatist ideology” – a term used extensively by French authorities to describe radical Islamist trends in the country. The mosque in question is in the northern town of Beauvais, a town of 50,000 people and only 100km from Paris. The mosque was ordered to be shut down because the Imam – a recent convert to Islam – was targeting Christians, Jews and homosexuals in his sermons.
Despite the association overseeing the mosque having claimed that the Imam only preaches occasionally and has since been suspended, he was also accused of calling non-Muslims enemies and for calling for armed Jihad against the “enemies of Islam”. It is a concern that the mosque association allowed a recent convert – presumably with little to no formal qualifications or religious credentials – to deliver sermons, regardless of how occasional those sermons were being delivered. The over-zealous nature of a segment of recent converts is a phenomenon that has become an issue in certain Western countries – especially in countries where radical Islamist elements maintain a sizeable presence such as in France.
It is a duty for religious leaders to ensure that individuals who choose to convert to Islam do not do so for radical intentions. This not only harms converts, but it is also a national security threat. A terror attack in Norway in October 2021 that resulted in the deaths of five people was committed by a convert. Of course, conversion can never be treated as having security ramifications, but the issue should be carefully explored as to why recent converts are drawn to radical Islamism.
It is no surprise that many White European converts are drawn in by the charismatic and radical discourse of preachers within their community, compounded by the vast amount of Islamist content available online. Studies in 2015 in the U.S. showed that a disproportionate number of converts were engaged in radical activity, with as many as 40 per cent of those arrested in America during that time being recent converts. Another study found that as many as 23 per cent of German foreign fighters that travelled to Syria to fight with Daesh in 2015 were converts, despite converts making up only 1 per cent of Germany’s Muslim population.
It is likely that part of the recruitment among converts to Islam reflects a wider selection bias on the part of extremist recruiters to seek vulnerable targets with little to no knowledge of Islam as a religion, coupled with a convert’s zeal that can be harnessed into carrying out an armed attack. With that said, however, literature available online points to the lack of specific causal factors behind why converts tend to be attracted to extremist Islamist narratives. The general reasons behind a particular individual’s descent into violent extremism stem from mental illness, past criminal activity, relationship problems, employment problems and a propensity to be drawn to radical thoughts and a mentality of victimisation. But these trends apply to all extremists, regardless of religion or ideology, and in the discussion above – regardless of whether an individual is a convert or was born into Islam.
It is difficult to ensure that individuals who wish to convert to Islam do so for spiritual and personal reasons, rather than reasons related to disenfranchisement or frustrations with their own governments, particularly those in the West. It is likely that many White Western converts view Muslim communities in their countries, and indeed the Islamic world at large as “oppressed” by Western states and their policies. By converting, therefore, zealous converts view their conversion to Islam as a political statement rather than a spiritual or personal conversion. In certain communities across the Western world – particularly mainland Europe – moderate Imams and religious leaders, which comprise the vast majority of Muslims, can create institutions where potential converts can be interviewed and guided correctly with respect to embracing Islam spiritually, and not for socio-political reasons.
