British security agencies often target new Muslim converts to recruit them as informants, a recent study by Cambridge University has revealed.
About 50 British men of all ages, ethnic groups and backgrounds, recently converted to Islam, were approached by researchers from the Centre of Islamic Studies.
According to some of the participants, spies working for British intelligence agency, MI5 personally approached them, asking to work for the agency.
One participant, who found the attempted recruitment to be flattering at first, said the conversation soon turned into ‘veiled intimidation’ if converts rejected the offer.
Another convert termed the agents’ tactics, as ‘seedy’.
“Agents operate from ‘a bird’s-eye view of society’ rather than from ‘a ground-level view’ that took into account ‘how people live,’” he said.
The report revealed that though some converts may voluntarily report any suspicious activity, some felt uncomfortable with the tactics used by the intelligence agencies.
The new coverts confessed they faced distrust from both Muslims and non-Muslims.
These converts are more often than not, cut off from their families and are “tenuously integrated within heritage Muslim communities,” the study added.
The study also highlights converts claiming as falling victim to stereotypes about extremism and radicalisation, and being subject to shame and ridicule.
Abdul Maalik Taylor, one of the participants in the study, who converted to Islam from Hinduism about two decades ago, said media portrays a wrong image of Muslims, hence adding to the negative perception of converts.
“You find a number of stories that concentrate on radicalisation,” he said.
“If there are successful Muslim converts who have contributed to society and to Britain, they won’t get highlighted by the media.
“In the West, conversion to Islam has been tarnished by claims of extremism – both violent and non-violent – radicalization, and, sadly, terrorism,” says Centre of Islamic Studies director Professor Yasir Suleiman.
“Some participants reported that involvement with the security services would threaten the ability of a convert to practice Islam with integrity and transparency, especially as some heritage Muslims believe that some converts were pretending to be Muslims and were in fact employed by the government to infiltrate various [Muslim] groups.”
