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(Mis)understanding Muslim converts in Canada

11 Jul 2014

Canadian census data shows that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the country, and that although most of the Muslim population growth is related to Muslim birth rates and migra- tion, since 2001 the Muslim population has also increased as a result of religious conversions by non-Muslim Canadians. [...] This pilot study has sought to better understand the causes and processes of Islamic conver- sion, and to try to begin to determine the scale of Islamic conversion growth in Canada through a small study of Muslim converts in Ontario. [...] The first reason for this relates to the ritual of conversion as a simple and often private activity that is not necessarily subject to the involvement of religious authorities or bureaucratic recordkeeping. [...] Undertaking good qualitative research to understand the particular characteristics and 4 TSAS: (Mis)understanding Muslim Converts features of conversion to Islam in Canada is more attainable and will allow scholars to describe the normative and parochial elements of conversion to Islam in the country. [...] Deeper analysis is required to investigate why simple statistics seem to suggest a tendency for converts internation- ally to be overrepresented for involvement in terrorism relative to those who are born Muslim, a pattern observable in Canada as well as the UK, US and Australia.2 By way of example, in the UK there are currently between 60,000 and 100,000 Muslim con- verts or 2 to 3 percent of Bri
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Authors

Flower, Scott, Birkett, Deborah

Pages
24
Published in
Ottawa, Ontario

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