Becoming Muslim: Converting old and new practices through ‘turning away’

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationship between religion/secularism and national identity through the experiences of converts to Islam. These men and women occupy a controversial position in society: they are often born and raised in Europe and have chosen for a religion that is generally associated with ‘foreignness’. In this context, converts are often represented in terms of loss, especially in relation to gender relations. In other words, their conversion to Islam is often read as a turning away from modernity or Western lifestyles, rather than a conscious choice for something new, such as spiritual fulfilment. Coulthard and Simpson however, interpret ‘turning away’ in relation to the politics of recognition and decolonization. This understanding makes it possible to read conversion as an active choice for self-determination. Turning away then becomes a refusal to engage in the hegemonic recognition game of being situated and managed and to be politically consumed by the overarching system. The article will investigate how Dutch converts to Islam negotiate the different aspects of their identities and the boundaries connected to those through a politics of refusal. I will argue that by following Coulthard and Simpson, we can understand converts ‘turning away’– in an alternative, less negative way. They ‘turn away’, as Fanon argues, to find freedom on their own terms and in accordance with their own values.