In the scholarship concerning conversion to Islam in the West, few books or articles have been written that examine non-African American US converts. Furthermore, this literature generally neglects using models of conversion for analyzing US Muslims. This thesis is an attempt to begin such a project. For this thesis, I interviewed 13 converts to Islam over the course of a month and a half at a local mosque: 8 females and 5 males; 9 white, 3 Latina/o, and 1 non-African American black. These converts told me their stories of conversion: beginning with their life prior to conversion, the process leading up to conversion, the conversion experience, and the events that took place after their conversion. In this thesis I compare their responses with other studies of non-African American converts in the West. While these converts share many similarities with their European counterparts, there are 4 prominent differences: the Denver converts, on the whole, had religious upbringings; most have moved several times throughout their lives; European converts tended to have higher education levels; and Denver converts are far less attracted to intellectual aspects of Islam, while being more attracted to spiritual aspects.
","abstract_html":"<p>In the scholarship concerning conversion to Islam in the West, few books or articles have been written that examine non-African American US converts. Furthermore, this literature generally neglects using models of conversion for analyzing US Muslims. This thesis is an attempt to begin such a project. For this thesis, I interviewed 13 converts to Islam over the course of a month and a half at a local mosque: 8 females and 5 males; 9 white, 3 Latina/o, and 1 non-African American black. These converts told me their stories of conversion: beginning with their life prior to conversion, the process leading up to conversion, the conversion experience, and the events that took place after their conversion. In this thesis I compare their responses with other studies of non-African American converts in the West. While these converts share many similarities with their European counterparts, there are 4 prominent differences: the Denver converts, on the whole, had religious upbringings; most have moved several times throughout their lives; European converts tended to have higher education levels; and Denver converts are far less attracted to intellectual aspects of Islam, while being more attracted to spiritual aspects.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bowen, Patrick D."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Liyakat Takim, Ph.D.","Luis Leon","Nader Hashemi"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2009-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:35Z","subjects":["Conversion","Islam","Latino","United States","West","White","Islamic Studies","Religion"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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