Choosing Islam: a study of Swedish converts

This article discusses the conversion of Swedes to Islam from an individual perspective. Conversion is understood as a process comprising different ph ases. During this process the religious identity is gradually formed. One p hase of the conversion process is that people feel attracted by certain tho ughts and lifestyles in the religion in question. For converts in Sweden tw o spheres of attraction may be distinguished. One is the conception of an e ssential womanhood and manhood as well as of the patriarchal nuclear family . The other is the idea of a stable system of norms (above all on private m orality) and the idea of Islam as the objective truth. Later in the process of conversion is the reformulation phase. Converts have begun to change th eir thoughts, feelings and patterns of behaviour, particularly through conf licts and at the beginning of the process when earlier experiences are deva lued and the new context is idealized. It is, however, paradoxical that the features that originally attracted the converts are later seen as sources of conflict.