By Abu Yaasir
The converts to Islam or the new Muslims are generally not the biggest number of Muslims in a country but they play a very important role for the acceptance of Islam within the European society they live. A German Muslim or a French, for example, knows how to convey the message better through to his country people rather than his Turkish or Algerian brother. The country’s language is his mother tongue he grew up with and he speaks at home with his parents. An average European convert has university education and a good status in society. These are factors that could help the Muslims to show Islam from a different point of view. Big numbers of converts can be found in France, Italy and Germany. Countries like Greece, Portugal, The Netherlands, Finland and Austria have a very small and insignificant number whereas the numbers in Sweden, Belgium, UK, and Spain are in between the first and the second group of countries mentioned. In the U.S. it is interesting and important to distinguish between Muslim Arabs, non-Muslim Arabs, and non-Arab Muslims. In fact, today in the U.S. it appears that most Arabs are Christians not Muslims, and most Muslims (including the 30-40% of whom are African American) are not Arabs.
