I was quite surprised when I stumbled upon this article, which was caused by the news of Tony Blair's sister-in-law of Islam.

It turns out that her appeal was not an isolated incident and that indeed there is a significant trend of western women in the UK, which also follow this path.

Although this article would never admit it and instead of contacts reason for the "shallow existence" in the West ..

It was quite obvious to me that what these women were actually working with a hostile dominant culture of the radical feminist who destroyed their natural identity as a woman. There is simply no sanctuary left to them that they can see, except for Islam.

I have mixed feelings about this, because on the one hand, I absolutely support their freedom of choice to achieve their own happiness .. but, on the other hand, just unfortunately means that traditionally female values of heat, and respect for the family to western women completely destroyed. 

Traditional bridges, which once supported and held the women over the water were completely burned to the ground, and now the only bridge they see on the horizon has a large crescent moon adorning it with the "hijab" dress to hide their beauty from the world.

Even more ironic is that I'm surrounded by a truly feminine AND HAPPY Russia Women who have:
No identity crisis.
There is no doubt in their femininity.
There is no confusion in their desire to take care of their men and children.
And no problems with their stunning physical beauty in the world.

I mean it more than a few times in the past, but now it's clearly time to be a little more blunt.

Western women need to learn more about the real femininity from their Russian sisters.

For the vast majority of Western women, this is clearly the way to happiness, compared with that alternative.

Because one side is the goddess-like, beautiful and radiant ..

While others are meant to be obedient and hides.

Why do so many contemporary British women's careers in Islam?

By Daily Mail Reporter - October 27, 2010

Tony Blair's sister-in-law announced her conversion to Islam over the weekend. Journalist Lauren Booth has faith after what she describes as "a holy experience" in Iran.

It is just one of a growing number of contemporary British women's careers do. Here the writer EVE Ahmed, who was raised as a Muslim to failure of faith, is investigating the cause.

In rejecting their faith: Writer Eve Ahmed was raised a Muslim

Most of my childhood was trying to escape Islam.

Born in London in an English mother and a Pakistani Muslim father, I was brought up believing his father to follow without question.

But privately, I hated it. Moment when I left the house to the university at the age of 18, I gave up on it altogether.

As far as I was concerned, being a Muslim meant hearing "No" word again and again.

Girls of my background had been excluded from so many things my English friends took for granted. In fact, it seemed that almost everything that was fun haram or forbidden, for girls like me.

There were so many random, small-scale rules. No whistle. No chewing gum. Do not ride bicycles. Do not watch Top Of The Pops. Do not wear makeup or clothes that show body shape.

Do not eat in the street or put his hands in his pockets. No cutting my hair or painting your nails. Do not ask and answer questions on the back. No keeping dogs as pets, (they were evil).

And, of course, did not sit next to men, shaking their hands or even making eye contact with them.

These basic rules were introduced by my father and I, therefore, it is assumed they must be an integral part of being a good Muslim.

It is not surprising that as soon as I was old enough to have my independence, I rejected the whole package and turned his back on Islam. In the end, that is modern, liberated by British women would choose to live such a life?

Well, quite a lot, it turns out, including the latest surprise Islam convert, sister-in-law Lauren Booth, Tony Blair. And after his break with my past, I have followed with enthusiasm the growing trend of western women prefer Islam.

Broadcaster and journalist Booth, 43, said she now wears a hijab, a headdress, as she leaves the house, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque, "when I can."

She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom, and said: "It was a Tuesday night, and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, only absolute bliss and joy."

Before her awakening in Iran, she was "sympathetic" to Islam and spent some time working in Palestine. "I've always been impressed with the strength and comfort he has given, she said.

How, I wondered, could women be attracted to religion, which I felt was holding me in such a meek, humble place? How could their experience of Islam is so different from mine?

Convert: Lauren Booth, who is half sister of Cherie Blair, has decided to convert to Islam, after what she described as a holy experience in Iran

According to Kevin Brice from Swansea University who specializes in studying white conversion to Islam, these women are part of an intriguing trend.

He explains: "They are looking for spirituality and higher meaning, and usually deep thinkers. Another type of women who turn to Islam, what I call" converts of convenience ". They will consider the attributes of religion to please their Muslim husbands and family, but not necessarily to attend mosque and pray or fast. "

I talked to a diverse selection of white Western converts in an attempt to revise the faith I have refused.

Women love Kristiane Baker, 43, in London, former lead MTV, which resulted in kind of a liberal Western-style life that I longed for as a teenager, but who turned away from him and converted to Islam instead. Her reason?

'Something will go "permissive society, which I coveted were superficial invalid.

The turning point for Kristiane came when she met and briefly dated a former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan and Muslim in 1992, at the height of his career. He took her to Pakistan where she says she was immediately touched by the spirituality and warm people.

Kristiane said: "Although our relationship did not last, I began to study the Islamic faith and eventually converted. Because of the nature of my work, I was interview rock stars, traveling around the world and after every trend, but I felt empty inside . Now, finally, I had contentment because Islam has given me a purpose in life.

"In the West, we stressed to the surface causes, like what clothes to wear. In Islam, everyone is looking for a higher purpose. Everything is done to please God. It was a completely different system of values. Despite my life, I felt empty inside and figured out how to release it was supposed to be a Muslim. To follow just one god makes life cleaner. You are not chasing every whim.

"I grew up in Germany, not very religious Protestant family. I drank, and I celebrated, but I realized that we have to behave well, we now have a good life after death. We are responsible for our own actions.

For a significant number of women, their first contact with Islam comes from dating a Muslim friend. Lynn Ali, 31, from Dagenham in Essex, freely admits that he was a "typical white hard partying youth.

She said: "I would go and drink with friends, wear tight and revealing clothes, and date boys.

"I also worked part time as a DJ, so I was really into the club scene. I used to pray a little, as a Christian, but I used God as a kind of doctor to fix things in my life. If someone then asked, I would say that, in general, I was happy, life is living in the fast lane.

But when she met her boyfriend, Zahid, the university, something dramatic happened.

She said: "His sister spoke to me about Islam, and it was as if everything in my life is set in place. I think underneath it all, I must be searching for something, and I did not feel fulfilled my hard drinking lifestyle. "

Lynn converted at the age of 19 years. "From that day I started wearing the hijab," she explains, and now I never show my hair in public. At home, I'll dress in a normal Western clothes in front of my husband, but never leaves the house.

In a recent survey of YouGov, concluding that more than half the British public believe the negative impact of Islam, which encourages extremism and the oppression of women and inequality, one might ask why any of them would choose a direction for myself.

However, statistics show that Islamic conversion is not just a flash in the pan, but a significant development. Islam, in the end, the fastest growing religion in the world, and the white adoptive parents are an important part of the story.

"Experience shows that the ratio of western women into a male may be higher than 2-1," said Kevin Brice.

Moreover, he said, often these women converts tend to display visible signs of their faith - in particular, the veil - while many Muslim girls are educated in the faith not to do so.

"Perhaps as a result of these actions, which tend to attract the attention of the white Muslims often report more discrimination against them, than among those born Muslims," ​​adds Brice, as happened with Kristiane Baker.

She said: "In Germany there is Islamophobia. I lost my job when I was converted. There was a press campaign against me with insinuations of all Muslims support terrorists - I was criticized. Now, I'm leading on NBC Europe.

"I call myself a European Muslim, which is different from" born "Muslim. I was married to one, Morocco, but it did not work, because it placed restrictions on me, because, as he was raised. As Europe's Muslims, I am subject to question everything - I do not accept blindly.

"But what I love, warmth and hospitality of the Muslim community. London is the best place in Europe for Muslims, Islamic culture is wonderful here and I'm very happy."

For some converts, Islam is the celebration of old-fashioned family values.

"Some of them are drawn to the sense of belonging and community - values ​​that have undermined the West, said Haifaa Jawad, senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham, who has studied the phenomenon of white transformation.

"Many people from all walks of life mourn the loss of a modern society, traditional respect for the elderly and women, for example. These are values ​​that are enshrined in the Koran that Muslims should live," adds Bryce.

This is a values ​​such as these that drew Camilla Leyland, 32, a yoga teacher who lives in Cornwall, in Islam. One mother to daughter, Inaya, two, she turns in her mid-20s to "intellectual and feminist causes.

She explains: "I know people will be surprised to hear the word" feminism "and" Islam "in one breath, but in reality, the teaching of the Koran give equality to women, and while religion was born, the teaching went against the grain of sexist society .

"The big mistake people make is, confusing culture with religion. Yes, there are Muslim cultures that do not allow women freedom of the individual, but when I was little, I felt more oppressed in Western society.

She talks about the pressure on women act like men, drinking and casual sex. "There's no real point to it all. In Islam, if you start a relationship, then there is a commitment of intent".

Raised in Southampton - her father was the director of Southampton Institute of Education and Home Economics teacher, her mother - an interest in Islam began to Camilla at the school.

She went to university and later took a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies. But it was while living and working in Syria, it is a spiritual epiphany. Reflecting on what she read in the Koran, she realized that she wanted to convert.

Her decision was met with shock from friends and family.

"People found it so hard to believe that educated, middle-class white woman would choose to become a Muslim, 'she says.

Although Camilla faith remains strong, she no longer wears the hijab in public places. But some of the women I spoke said the strict Islamic dress was something they found empowerment and freedom.

Lynn Ali remembers the night it hit home for her. "I went to 21 birthday old friend at the bar," she said. "I walked in, wearing a headscarf and modest clothes, my, and I saw how everyone else had so much flesh on display. They were drunk, slurring their words and dancing provocatively.

"The first time I saw my old life through the eyes of a stranger, and I knew I could never go back to it.

"I'm so thankful I found my way to the retreat. This is the real me - I am happy to pray five times a day and attend classes at the mosque. I'm no longer a slave broken society and its expectations."

Kristiane Baker, who wrote a book about his spiritual path, called From MTV to Mecca, said that the new generation of modern, independent Muslims can come together to show the world that Islam is not the faith I grew up in - the one brand of women's rights.

She said: "I know women who were born Muslims who are disillusioned and turned against him. When you dig a little deeper, it is not faith, they turned against it, but culture.

"Rules, such as marriage within the same sect or caste, and education is less important for girls, as they should get married anyway, which says that in the Qur'an? It's not.

"Many young Muslims have abandoned the" fire and brimstone 'version, they were born in the newly opened more spiritual and intellectual approach, it is free from cultural dogma of the older generation. This is how I intend to spend my life showing the world the beauty of true Islam. "

Although I disagree with their feelings, I admire and respect women I interviewed for this piece.

All of them were bright and educated, and thought long and hard before choosing to convert to Islam - and now seem especially their adopted religion. Good luck to them. And good luck to Lauren Booth. But it happens that a word that sums up the difference between their experience and mine - a choice.

Maybe if I felt in control, not control, if I felt empowered, but not stifling, I would still practice the religion I was born, and will not bear the burden of guilt that I am refusing my father's faith.
New! Click the words above to view alternate translations. Dismiss