Thesis advisor: Natana DeLong-Bas / This thesis seeks to investigate female conversion to Islam in the United States, and the role of gender and identity in this process. Utilizing various conversion studies, from four different fields, I will provide the background on conversion in general and will attempt to rationalize the decision for conversion to Islam in an environment, which may not be conducive to these beliefs. By looking at individual conversion narratives, the motivations for conversion, as well as the purposes for the conversion process will be revealed. Ultimately, this research attempts to understand the factors which may drive an individual to convert to Islam, when other religious options are easily accessible. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Middle Eastern Studies.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of History, June 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of History, June 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the topoi found in various writings on the Indian subcontinent, which depict Muslim mystics, the Sufis, as responsible for the conversion, forced or peaceful, of non-Muslim Indians to Islam. Our analysis of various historiographical traditions produced in the Subcontinent between the eleventh and the twentieth centuries, will show that this image of Sufis qua missionaries is more the result of socio-political considerations (legitimization of imperial order; posthumous images of Sufis in the eyes of different folk audiences, etc.) than the reflection of historical reality. This thesis also examines the processes, most of them indirect, in which Sufis were involved and which on the long run led to the acculturation and to the Islamization of certain non-Muslim groups, thus opening the way for the birth and then consolidation of a Muslim identity.

This study presents the complex situation of non-Muslim (Christian and Hindu) / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, December 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 440-483). Also available on the Internet.

In this Research Document I would attempt to quantify the degree of Cultural Alienation that fellow South Africans (from the major ethnic, racial and religious groupings) experience when they embrace Islam. A secondary objective would be to quantify the degree to which one 's worldview changes (views on the Middle East conflict, America and the West and South African politics) on embracing Islam. I will attempt to do so by employing both qualitative and quantitative methods in the Research process. Questions such as: is culture a separate entity from religion and if so what is the difference? What are the ingredients that comprise this concept we call culture? I will also look at the theoretical and theological arguments surrounding these issues in Islam from its original sources and scholars. A survey will be conducted by way of a questionnaire, with reverts to Islam, to establish the degree of their alienation with regard to food, dress, Arabic as a language, rejection from family and friends and views on the Middle East conflict, USA and the West and South African politics. Since all data collected will be analysed according to acceptable statistical methods, it will be assumed that the average results obtained would be a good indicator of the degree of cultural alienation a fellow South African (from a particular ethnic / cultural group) would have to undergo when contemplating embracing Islam. The Research findings indicate that cultural alienation does indeed take place when someone embraces Islam, but that it varies and is dependent on both individual, external and cultural factors . The Research findings also show that in the case of reversion to Islam, changes in one's worldview also take place, the extent of which is dependent once again on individual and external factors . One of the main findings of the research is that there is no specific quantum percentage with regard to the extent of cultural alienation for any given individual embracing Islam, as there are many variables. There are however, general trends and patterns, which do provide helpful guidelines for someone contemplating embracing Islam. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Thesis (M.A.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-89). Also available on the World Wide Web.

The dissertation focuses on the conversion experiences and individual processes of twenty-four native British Muslim converts and fifty-two native German Muslim converts, based on personal interviews and completed questionnaires between 2008 and 2010. It analyses the occurring similarities and differences among British and German Muslim converts, and puts them into relation to basic Islamic requirements of the individual, and in the context of their respective social settings. Accordingly, the primary focus is placed on the changing behavioural norms in the individual process of religious conversion concerning family and mixed-gender relations and the converts’ attitudes towards particularly often sensitive and controversial topics. My empirical research on this phenomenon was guided by many research questions, such as: What has provoked the participants to convert to Islam, and what impact and influence does their conversion have on their (former and primarily) non-Muslim environment? Do Muslim converts tend to distance themselves from their former lifestyles and change their social behavioural patterns, and are the objectives and purposes that they see themselves having in the given society directed to them being: bridge-builders or isolators? The topic of conversion to Islam, particularly within Western non-Muslim societies is a growing research phenomenon. At the same time, there has only been little contribution to the literature that deals with comparative analyses of Muslim converts in different countries. This dissertation is based on the conversion research methods by Wohlrarb-Sahr (1999) and Zebiri (2008), and further concentrates on the acute challenges and personal understandings of Muslim converts regarding cultural, religious, and moral changes, changes in belief and adoption of religious practices as well as social relations. Dissatisfaction with the former faith or given social norms, the appeal of the Muslim tenets, the search for identity and the desire to have a sense of belonging included the participants’ motivation for conversion. Taking the former into consideration enabled the result of providing a personal, lively yet rational insight into the lives of British and German Muslim converts.