In spite of many obstacles and restrictions for Muslims in western countries and the Islamophobia megaproject which has been carried out vehemently in these countries, official statistics reveal that inclination towards Islam has seriously increased especially among women.

The Pew Research Center, based in the US, published a report in which it has touched upon the growth of the number of Muslims in the EU member states. According to the report, currently, Muslims constitute 5% of the EU community, but this number will tilt to the benefit of Muslims by 2025. The report adds that if Europe continues the closure of its borders to halt the trend of accepting migrants and refugees, the number of Muslims in the EU will amount to 35 million which means 10% of the European population. Britain, France, Germany and Italy, exercising the most severe restrictions on Muslims, will witness the highest increase of Muslims' number within the next 20 years. As per another opinion poll conducted in 2016 in Australia, the number of those people who have announced their tendency to profess Islam has increased spectacularly. The results of studies also show that during the years 1991-2016 the tendency toward Islam has soared up to 160%.

Some observers believe that this increase is related to reproduction among Muslims; whereas evidence indicates that the number of European non-Muslims who embrace the truth of Islam is on the rise. Bernard Godard, the cultural official at the French Interior Ministry, says there is no doubt that tendency towards Islam has turned into a common issue and it has been undeniable and dazzling, especially after 2000.

According to an opinion poll carried out by Swansea University, UK, the reason for tendency toward Islam among Europeans is that people are fed up with and frustrated at the breakup of family structure, prevalence of immorality and unbridled consumerism.

The report of Gatestone Institute, as an anti-Muslim think tank, also approves the growth of tendency towards Islam among Europeans. The point to note is that according to the opinion poll of Faith Matters, whose motto is to work to reduce extremism & interfaith & intra-faith tensions between faith communities, two thirds of the Britons embracing Islam are women and more than 70% of them are white aged 27 on average. Channel 3 of the French TV, also, reported that many of those who become Muslim are women; while France is among the European countries which have wielded a lot of pressures and restrictions against Muslims and the French government has been one of the bases of spreading hatred toward Islam and Muslims. The issues such as the law to ban hijab in universities and desecrating cartoons against the Prophet of Islam in some of the French magazines and dailies, have been some of the anti-Islamic measures of this country with 65 million people.

Now let us listen to the comments of the expert of the program, Ms. Elham Akhundan, "Tendency toward Islam in the western communities, especially among women, is an irrefutable issue. In spite of the efforts of the media and statesmen to conceal the wave of professing Islam, we witness that this wave has attracted the public attention and the ever-increasing tendency toward Islam especially among the women of these communities is visible. It seems that the efforts of western governments which costs them billions of dollars to promote Islamophobia among western communities has backfired. The new generation of young western women, unlike the previous generations, is not that interested in showiness and wearing see-through clothes. People have tended towards being more veiled. The main cause of this issue is promiscuity which has been common during recent years and, now in reaction against it, the inclination toward being more veiled is increasing among young and adolescent girls."

Dr. Haifa Jidad, professor of Birmingham University in Britain, comments on the increase of western women's tendency towards Islam, "This phenomenon is indeed the reaction of many women against immoralities in western communities. They have a pleasant feeling with the support and participation that Islam grants them."

Karin Van Nijok, an expert of issues related to neo-Muslim Dutch women, says, "These women are attracted by the view that Islam maintains on man-woman relation; because in Islam they find more chance for maternity and family. Women in Islam are not merely a tool for sexual pleasure."

One of the most noted European women, who has embraced the truth of Islam, is the British journalist and former British premier Tony Blair's sister-in-law, Lauren Booth. She became Muslim after traveling to Iran. Lauren Booth wears hijab and performs 17 rak'at ritual prayer every day. She is one of the famous advocates of the rights of Palestinians in Britain. Lauren Booth had taken a trip to Qom and performed pilgrimage to the shrine of lady Masoumeh in this religious city in 2005. This pilgrimage had a deep impact on her so much so that, after returning to her country, she became Muslim. In an interview in 2011 with Daily Mail, she described the increase of Muslims in Britain as a useful event for the country and said that, since becoming Muslim, she has been a more diligent employee and a better mother for her children.

Jayne Kemp, British police officer, is another lady who has become Muslim and goes to work with hijab.  After embracing the truth of Islam, she adopted Amina as her name. She explains her becoming Muslim, "I used to think that Islam forces women to be imprisoned in kitchen; but now I understand that that Islam means generosity, patience and respect for others. The more I studied Islam the more I found similarities between Islam and Christianity like helping the neighbors and caring for the elderly. At that time, I was not looking for any religion, but Islam answered all my questions. I think I love Islam."

 Ms. Amina says that since she has become Muslim she looks happier and this has attracted her family toward Islam, too. After seeing her spiritual state, her sister also converted to Islam.

Experts are of the opinion that tendency toward Islam in the west is more a public need rather than a social current. Meanwhile, the share of women higher than men. This indicates the reaction of many women against immoralities in the west.

Professor Madeleine Zilfi of Maryland University, who specializes in Middle Eastern Studies and Islamic History, speaking on the increase of tendency toward Islam among educated stratum of society in the US, says, "The speed of this trend has made me keen. I have seen several times that Islam has granted identity to girls. Now Muslim girls study Islam with a stronger motive and are more serious on their beliefs. We can say with certainty that women's tendency toward Islam is a reaction to the moral deviations in the western society. They are inclined toward the sense of belonging, support and participation that Islam puts forward for all."

RM/SS