Why do Westerners convert to Islam?

[RZehr]

Seems like quite a few black male celebrities convert to Islam. Why is that? What are the reasons that attract them?

And more broadly, not just limited to black, or celebrity, or male, but other westerners included.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African ... %20Muslims.

[Soloist]

I don’t know, the one white lady I spoke to didn’t seem to know the Bible at all and took offense when I asked her questions about Islam that she didn’t know either.

I suspect the Muslims offer community and meaning to people who can’t find it in the church.

[MaxPC]

I suspect the Muslims offer community and meaning to people who can’t find it in the church.

Agreed. This is my perspective as well. I see parallels to those who seek out the Baháʼí and Sikh religions.

[RZehr]

Conversion to Islam is a practice which is common to African-Americans in prison. J. Michael Waller found that Muslim inmates comprise 17–20% of the prison population, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. Waller states that these inmates mostly come into prison as non-Muslims. According to him, 80% of the prisoners who "find faith" while in prison convert to Islam. These converted inmates are mostly African American, with a small but growing Hispanic minority.

Professor Lawrence Mamiya of Religion and Africana Studies argues that Islam's appeal in prison is partially due to the spiritual and theological dimensions of the religion (such as brotherhood along with racial and social justice) as well as the social aspect (such as protection and communal life) it provides the inmate. J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for Strategy at the far-right Center for Security Policy, claims that 80% of the prisoners who find faith while in prison convert to Islam. He also claims that Muslim inmates comprise 17–20% of the prison population in New York, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. Independent studies show similar rates within prisons in the upper Midwest (in urban areas such as Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland) and on the West Coast (in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles). These converted inmates are mostly African American, with a growing Hispanic minority. According to a 2003 estimate by FBI, there are 350,000 Muslims in federal, state and local prison, about 30,000 – 40,000 more being converted every year.

Muslims prisoners have been characterized as a danger or threat for radicalization in the media. Yet despite the fact of there being over 350,000 Muslim inmates in the United States, little evidence indicates widespread radicalization or foreign recruitment. Rather, research has shown that Islam has a long history of positive influence on prisoners, including supporting inmate rehabilitation for decades.

[barnhart]

Seems like quite a few black male celebrities convert to Islam. Why is that? What are the reasons that attract them?

And more broadly, not just limited to black, or celebrity, or male, but other westerners included.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African ... %20Muslims.

Black American Islam has various roots. Many Africans brought for forced labor were from regions colonized or partially colonized by Islamic, Arabic speaking people so they arrived in the Americas with some Islamic beliefs or sympathies. Nation of Islam is not so much rooted in actual history but in an identity movement pushing back against the white supremacy of anglo-protestantism.

[Joy]

Conversion to Islam is a practice which is common to African-Americans in prison. J. Michael Waller found that Muslim inmates comprise 17–20% of the prison population, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. Waller states that these inmates mostly come into prison as non-Muslims. According to him, 80% of the prisoners who "find faith" while in prison convert to Islam. These converted inmates are mostly African American, with a small but growing Hispanic minority.

Professor Lawrence Mamiya of Religion and Africana Studies argues that Islam's appeal in prison is partially due to the spiritual and theological dimensions of the religion (such as brotherhood along with racial and social justice) as well as the social aspect (such as protection and communal life) it provides the inmate. J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for Strategy at the far-right Center for Security Policy, claims that 80% of the prisoners who find faith while in prison convert to Islam. He also claims that Muslim inmates comprise 17–20% of the prison population in New York, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. Independent studies show similar rates within prisons in the upper Midwest (in urban areas such as Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland) and on the West Coast (in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles). These converted inmates are mostly African American, with a growing Hispanic minority. According to a 2003 estimate by FBI, there are 350,000 Muslims in federal, state and local prison, about 30,000 – 40,000 more being converted every year.

Muslims prisoners have been characterized as a danger or threat for radicalization in the media. Yet despite the fact of there being over 350,000 Muslim inmates in the United States, little evidence indicates widespread radicalization or foreign recruitment. Rather, research has shown that Islam has a long history of positive influence on prisoners, including supporting inmate rehabilitation for decades.

Yes, I was going to say that the only answer I can offer from my observation is women who are girlfriends to black prisoners.

Once while lined up for dog sniffing, I watched as the dog circled our small group and came to a halt/sit at a white lady in Muslim garb. Another woman conned into crime by someone who presumably professed love for her. Sad.

[NedFlanders]

“Christianity” in the West as it is represented by the lifestyles of professing “Christians” as a whole is an absolute disgrace.

“Do what you may but you are still going to heaven.” - This just pushes away those looking for truth and Islam holds some biblical values and accountability.

Honestly, as a person who was raised an atheist I never came to Christ because of “Christianity” as it pushed me further from Him. It was rather His drawing when I looked to Christ and who He is that that encounter convinced me. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t be surprised if I were a Muslim by now instead of a Christian.

[Soloist]

Seems like quite a few black male celebrities convert to Islam. Why is that? What are the reasons that attract them?

And more broadly, not just limited to black, or celebrity, or male, but other westerners included.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/African ... %20Muslims.

Black American Islam has various roots. Many Africans brought for forced labor were from regions colonized or partially colonized by Islamic, Arabic speaking people so they arrived in the Americas with some Islamic beliefs or sympathies. Nation of Islam is not so much rooted in actual history but in an identity movement pushing back against the white supremacy of anglo-protestantism.

Wife: this is basically what I’ve heard too. Aside from the popular Christian civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, there was definitely a rise of this during the civil rights movement with people like Malcolm X and Mohammad Ali, and it seems like there was a lot of association with white European Christian colonialism/racism and the fact that Islam was never a white man’s religion. I’ve heard it’s growing a lot in Central/South America, too, and maybe for some of the same reasons.
A little ironic, since there were definitely Islamic empires involved with the slave trade as well, but it doesn’t help that the Bible Belt was also the area that promoted slavery and then later Jim Crow laws saying whites were better than blacks and trying to use scripture to back that up.

[Thomas_muntzer]

“Christianity” in the West as it is represented by the lifestyles of professing “Christians” as a whole is an absolute disgrace.

“Do what you may but you are still going to heaven.” - This just pushes away those looking for truth and Islam holds some biblical values and accountability.

Honestly, as a person who was raised an atheist I never came to Christ because of “Christianity” as it pushed me further from Him. It was rather His drawing when I looked to Christ and who He is that that encounter convinced me. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t be surprised if I were a Muslim by now instead of a Christian.

Yes just like people turning to budhism because they only find churches who serve the demon mammon and lust. Church that resembles more a concert for satan than the house of the Lord

[Thomas_muntzer]

A little ironic, since there were definitely Islamic empires involved with the slave trade as well, but it doesn’t help that the Bible Belt was also the area that promoted slavery and then later Jim Crow laws saying whites were better than blacks and trying to use scripture to back that up.

That's so true many people blame the evil white man for slavery when the biggest slave owner in history was tuppa tip a black muslim african from zanzibar which was the epicenter of slave trade