Problems of study of conversions to Islam in the Sufi communities of the West: socio-cultural context, institutions, charisma

Abstract

Present paper examines the processes of native Europeans conversion to Islam in relation to the Sufi communities in the West. It deals with theoretical aspects of the study of Western Sufi communities, the conceptualization of religious conversion and its motives, as well as collective factors and individual trajectories of conversion on the basis of own field research in the Sufi communities in Western Europe and materials presented in the relevant studies. The paper shows that conversion to Islam through Sufi communities is characterized by the transition from religious individualism to collectively shared normativity, while the charisma of the shaykh largely determines the collective identity of the community and affects the life trajectories of its members.