![]() ![]() The last chapter in section 4 stands out as the study uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis, in another Muslim majority context. This is contextualized through the author’s analysis of sociopolitical issues in Egypt, particularly the state media, and perceptions of atheism as grounds for moral panic in wider society. ![]() Here, the author demonstrates that there is a range and flexibility within positions of disbelief and disaffiliation where atheism is not always a fixed state or even the final stage. In chapter 13, van Nieuwkerk covers trajectories of doubt, skepticism, and nonbelief in Egypt, a Muslim majority country. The author also makes significant distinctions between terms such as apostasy, defection, and heresy, and importantly shows that there is a “possibility that one can be irreligious and yet belong to, or participate in, a religious organization” (301). Instead, Simon Cottee’s participants are “in the closet” (282) and their apostasy is not known to others, but for participants “Islam continues to be a central reference point” (290). ![]() This chapter importantly links the concepts of conversion and deconversion, which often remain disconnected in the dominant literature on conversion.Ĭhapter 12 on ex-Muslims in Britain and Canada, provides us with an important alternative to the usual framing of ex-Muslims as “native informants” (282). The author considers “disaffiliation” to be part of the “consequences” stage of Rambo’s stage model of conversion, and further makes use of the role-exit stages of Ebaugh’s 1988 study of ex-nuns, to analyze the participants’ narratives (258). The first chapter in this section is by Mona Alyedreessy and compares narratives of conversion with deconversion journeys of the same participants in the UK. This includes Slovak and Czech converts to Islam (chapter 5), Tatar Muslims in Poland (chapter 7), trajectories of doubt among Egyptians (chapter 13), deconversion in Iran (chapter 14), and Lithuanian converts (chapter 15).Īn important contribution of this book to the field of religious change is section 4 on “Narratives and Experiences of Moving Out of Islam,” which is a rather neglected area of research. While the majority of chapters are written from a Western context (including Western Europe, the United States and Canada, which are often the regions cited in the English-language literature on Islam and religious change), it is refreshing that some more underrepresented regional contexts are included in this volume. Other sections cover (de)conversion, race, culture, and ethnicity (section 2), transnational movements of people and organizations as well as intrareligious movements (section 3), narratives and experiences of moving out of Islam (section 4), and lastly, apostasy and deconversion (section 5). It further gives an insight into concepts such as apostasy, deconversion, and disaffiliation. The introduction, written by the editor, and the first section “Conceptualizing Religious Change,” is a useful primer into the concepts and theoretical approaches within the field of conversion to Islam. The collection is made up of sixteen chapters that are divided into five thematic sections. Many of the chapters within the collection highlight that this may also be ambiguous, non-linear in its trajectory, and can be accompanied with doubt. As the book title suggests, religious change is a process that is not always clear cut and has the possibility to be ongoing. ![]() This includes concepts such as conversion, deconversion, non-belief, apostasy, religious (dis)affiliation, and processes in-between. Moving in and out of Islam is an edited collection by Karin van Nieuwkerk, exploring the processes of moving toward and/or moving away from religion, in particular within Islam. ![]()
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