# Quote — V. S. Naipaul, Beyond Belief

> Islam is in its origins an Arab religion. Everyone not an Arab who is a Muslim is a convert. Islam is not simply a matter of conscience or private belief. It makes imperial demands. A convert’s worldview alters. His holy places are in Arab lands; his sacred language is Arabic. His idea of history alters. He rejects his own; he becomes, whether he likes it or not, a part of the Arab story. The convert has to turn away from everything that is his. The disturbance for societies is immense, and even after a thousand years can remain unresolved; the turning away has to be done again and again. People develop fantasies about who and what they are; and in the Islam of converted countries there is an element of neurosis and nihilism. These countries can be easily set on the boil.

- Author: [V. S. Naipaul](https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul.md)
- Book: [Beyond Belief](https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/beyond-belief.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul#Beyond_Belief:_Islamic_Excursions_Among_the_Converted_Peoples_(1998)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/beyond-belief/islam-is-in-its

## More from this book

> To the convert his land is of no religious or historical importance; its relics are of no account; only the sands of Arabia are sacred.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/v-s-naipaul/beyond-belief/to-the-convert.md)