ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on several people who made the decision to convert due to their own attraction to and study of Islam. Converts to Islam from Han and other traditionally non-Muslim ethnic groups are generically called "new Muslims" as opposed to "old Muslims", those who were born into the Hui or other Islamic minorities. Conversions to Islam and Salafiyya both feature individualized pursuit of knowledge and self-cultivation, which challenges traditional ethnic identities and local authorities with the ascendance of transcendent religious identity and claims to membership in a global ummah. While Ma Zhi Qiang is primarily concerned with measuring the proliferation and present status of Salafism, the chapter examines the subjective experiences that lead people to convert to Islam or alter their sectarian affiliation. Salafis suggest that Salafism is more welcoming to new Muslims and other outsiders who do not understand idiosyncratic traditions of different sects and localities.
