{"id":7224,"date":"2010-11-17T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2010-11-17T08:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.org\/?p=7224"},"modified":"2010-11-17T00:00:49","modified_gmt":"2010-11-17T08:00:49","slug":"lauren-booth-converts-to-islam-and-insanity-ensues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/11\/lauren-booth-converts-to-islam-and-insanity-ensues\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Booth Converts to Islam and Insanity Ensues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Lauren Booth is a human rights activist, a British journalist working for Iran\u2019s state channel PressTV, and half-sister of Tony Blair\u2019s wife Cherie Booth. She is also Muslim, and caused a gasping uproar in the British press when she converted to Islam<\/a> less than a month ago, after having a spiritual experience while at the tomb of Fatimah Masumeh in the Shi\u2019ite holy city of Qom.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lauren Booth. Image via Sarah Lee for The Guardian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to initial reports and Booth\u2019s own testimonies, she had always been \u201csympathetic\u201d towards Islam, her sympathy highlighted by her work to fight Islamophobia as well as her political sympathies towards the Palestinian cause<\/a>, indicated by her August 2008 trip to Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement.<\/p>\n

While Booth has seemingly found a piece of heart and mind in having found Islam, her conversion brought with it a media frenzy and public obsession. Initial reports<\/a> <\/em>were filled with condescendingly framed remarks of how Booth hadn\u2019t touched alcohol since converting, was wearing the hijab\u2014truly the most horrific of\u00a0horrors!\u2014and had read to page 60 of the Qur\u2019an.<\/p>\n

<\/em>The backlash against the outspoken journalist also targeted her on various fronts, ranging from being an attention-seeker to her general \u201cnaivet\u00e9\u201d and political \u201cimmaturity,\u201d which of course made her susceptible to falling into the trap of conversion. <\/em><\/p>\n

The most insulting stories have been the pieces that question the apparent rise in conversion to Islam among young British women. In a column from the Tory-lovin\u2019 Telegraph<\/em>, Ed West writes<\/a>: <\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before about the fascination some middle-class Englishwomen have<\/a> with Islam and the Arab world; the paradox is that many who convert come from progressive backgrounds and would be horrified at the idea of embracing Catholicism or one of the more conservative forms of Protestantism\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

No doubt their Islam is partly a reaction to the excesses of the last 40 years, by people too programmed to oppose \u201cRight-wing politics\u201d to become conventionally conservative\u2026Islam is also attractive because it\u2019s so demanding, asking great sacrifices of its followers.<\/p>\n

But partly it is because Islam is, unlike any other faith, more than just a religion \u2013 it is also a political idea. And ever since the decline of socialism and Left-wing intellectuals\u2019 abandonment of the working class, third worldist \u201canti-imperialism\u201d has become the radical chic of choice, especially so with the Holy Land conflict.\u00a0And what better way of embracing the politics of the 1968 generation than by submitting to Islam?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is merit to the idea of Islam becoming a political force of resistance, particularly in the West. The idea, however, that the conversion of Booth or of any English woman of a Christian background as solely a move of political resistance, as opposed to a perspective shift altogether is highly problematic and representative of the sort of essentialism that exists in the understanding and manifestation of \u201cprogressiveness.\u201d Conversion can seemingly never really be just simply a result of a spiritual revelation or occurrence, as this seems completely implausible to the author.<\/p>\n

Another piece was written by former Muslim Eve Ahmed, who asks, \u201cWhy ARE So Many British Career Women Converting to Islam?<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 Sandwiched in between a rather unfortunate personal story of a struggle with faith and the question of choice, Ahmed explores various career-oriented women (with rather public faces and lives) who have converted to Islam over the years. While the particular piece has some redeeming points in its discussion, the overarching fascination is with these women (and always such fascination with women,<\/em> as opposed to the countless men who convert), who are independent, \u201ccareer-driven\u201d and ostensibly \u201cwithout any constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is undeniably a foundational assumption underlying most discussions that focus on \u201ccareer-oriented\u201d women converting to Islam. These articles present the idea that a strong dichotomy exists between being a Muslim woman and being a career-oriented woman; an assumption buttressed with the ultimate theory that Islam coerces women to drop their public lives and submit not only to the Will of God, but to the will of Betty Crocker and Mr. Clean.<\/p>\n

And their husbands. And fathers. And brothers.<\/p>\n

Booth decided to take on the media and public backlash and reaction to her conversion, herself, in a widely read and published piece in the Guardian<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2026[My] conversion to Islam has been an excuse for sarcastic commentators to heap such patronising points of view on to Muslim women everywhere. So much so, that on my way to a meeting on the subject of Islamophobia in the media this week, I seriously considered buying myself a hook and posing as Abu Hamza. After all, judging by the reaction of many women columnists, I am now to women\u2019s rights what the hooked one is to knife and fork sales.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is it so hard for the media and general public to believe that one can choose to completely alter their eschatological perspective with some significant tweaks to everyday life and practice? Do we really need to end the world by way of our media and public outrage every time a successful, career-oriented woman decides to become Muslim? Or are we just so consumed by women, period, that in our quest to grant her promised salvation, we just perpetuate the existence of her chains by continuously casting her private choices into very public and very scrutinizing light?<\/p>\n

Lauren Booth is now a Muslim. Let\u2019s move on, okay? <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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