Danish Youth Converts to Islam

The last study of Danish converts to Islam "New Muslims in Denmark" from 2007 shows that teenagers form a big portion of converts to Islam.

Nørrebro-imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen explains that Danish teenagers make Muslim friends and then convert to Islam. He also says that he has participated in about 30 conversions this year in Copenhagen and only some of these were over 30 years old.

Samir El-Rifai, head of the Islamic Faith Society in Fyn also points out that most converts in recent years are between 19 and 25.  "The youth read about Islam and have Muslim friends in school.  Almost all who convert are either done with studies or getting an education, and therefore are slightly older.  Today they"re sincerely interested in Islam when they convert," says Samir El-Rifai.

According to the convert study from 2007, about 2100-2800 people converted to Islam in Denmark since the mid 1970’s and until 2005. Most converts are women and almost 80% is under 30.