Converting to Otherness, Islam, Autobiography and Embracing the Other

For Muhammad Asad, converting to Islam was a matter of continuity notdisjunction with his identity as a Jew. The disavowal happened with his identity as aEuropean in a materialistic context. His symbolic battle is launched against his Westernheritage with all its attendant anti-Semitism and fascism that claimed the lives of his fatherand sister. This symbolic battle is clear in his autobiography, The Road to Mecca (1954).Islam provided Asad with a space from which he could critique Western modernity whichis centred around the material. On the other hand, in her autobiography, From MTV toMecca: How Islam Inspired My Life (2012), Kristiane Backer created a “third space” whereshe tried to reconcile two selves in one subjectivity. The otherness of Islam is tempered bythe internal conversion experience of the new Muslim. So instead of looking at conversionas a radical act that negatively affected her original culture, Backer tried to form somecontinuity with her past self.