Coping with a New Liminal Life: White Converts to Islam.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66362/iji.v1i5.22Keywords:
Islamic law, Islamic history, juristic disagreement, legal pluralism, ᶜilm al-ikhtilāfAbstract
This paper investigates the post-conversion coping strategies of ten White converts to Islam in a predominantly Canadian context. The participants were interviewed in 2023 using a semi-structured interview guide. There are very few studies of Canadian converts to Islam, and none that look at coping strategies. Following Pargament, I do a thematic analysis of the data and investigate the participants’ religious and non-religious coping strategies of the stressors resulting from their conversion to Islam. White converts sit at an illuminating nexus of “race” and religion in Canada – their whiteness makes them part of the dominant majority, but their Muslimness excludes them. White converts, especially women who wear hijab, experience racialisation and discrimination after conversion. They are both welcomed and distrusted by a Muslim community that, due to their experiences of European colonisation, laurels and dislikes Whiteness. The main coping strategies mentioned by the participants are religious, advocacy, and avoidance. A typical strategy of social support was less commonly mentioned due to their post-conversion experiences of being estranged from their family and friends and difficulties settling into Muslim communities.
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