Converts to Islam are likelier to radicalise than native Muslims
In Britain, converts make up less than 4% of Muslims but 12% of home-grown jihadists
DECADES before he murdered four people outside the Houses of Parliament, Khalid Masood was a schoolboy from well-to-do Tunbridge Wells named Adrian Russell Ajao. Investigators may never learn the true motives for his attack. But one of the few facts known for certain is that Masood’s case fits into a broad but poorly understood trend: Muslim converts in the West are much likelier than their native-born co-religionists to engage in terrorism, or travel abroad to fight for jihadist organisations like Islamic State (IS).
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Zeal of the convert”
Britain April 1st 2017
- The two-year countdown to Brexit has begun
- As it celebrates Brexit, UKIP loses its man in the Commons
- Want to challenge your unfair dismissal? That’ll be £1,200
- British Airways is turning into a no-frills airline
- An attack in London puts Birmingham’s Muslims in the spotlight
- Converts to Islam are likelier to radicalise than native Muslims
- How Brexit damaged Britain’s democracy
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