FROM CAPTIVE TO CONVERT

(Newsweek ? August 26 2002)

Excerpts from the interview


LAST SEPTEMBER, AS TENSIONS MOUNTED in Afghanistan,
and Washington prepared to invade, British tabloid
journalist Yvonne Ridley made headlines around the
world. Clad head to toe in burqa, Ridley was
captured by the Taliban after sneaking into
Afghanistan on the back of a mule. In her native
Britain, the incident provoked heavy criticism. Ridley
was accused of pulling a dangerous stunt at a
sensitive time, endangering herself, her guides and
the fragile state of international diplomacy. Now
nearly a year later, the veteran journalist is once
again in the news. She recently announced plans to
convert to Islam.

So why are you converting?

When I was captured, I was visited by an imam who
asked me if I?d like to convert. I thought if I just
said yes, he?d say I was a fickle woman, and if I said
no, then it would be a huge insult to Islam. So I
promised that if they release me, I?d study Islam when
I got back to London. And what started out as an
academic study has now turned into something much more
spiritual. I?m very impressed with what I found.

What was the point at which your academic interest
tipped over into a personal or spiritual one?

I can?t define one particular thing, but I can define
the moment that I lost faith in Christianity. And that
was during the siege of Manger Square, when the
Israelis were shelling the Church of the Nativity, the
holiest shrine in Christendom, and not one single
church leader in this country condemned what was
happening. Children up and down the country re-enact
the Nativity every Christmas, it?s so pivotal to the
whole religion and not one lousy bishop or archbishop
? not one of them - stood up. If they don?t have the
conviction to stand up and shout about the abuse
that?s happening to the holiest shrine in Christendom,
if they couldn?t care less, why should I care?

What sort of conversations did you have with your
captors in Afghanistan? Did you ever talk about Islam?


? [They] said, the whole world had ostracized us, and
we had decided we were going to get rid of these rocks
[statues of the Buddhas], and suddenly the whole world
wanted to talk to us. We have millions of people
starving, nobody gives a damn about us. We say we?re
going to destroy a few rocks, and suddenly the whole
world gets very agitated, everybody wants to come and
talk. So we thought, stuff them.


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