Reply #47: I have my doubts

[Lithos]

The source of the Al Qataani seems to come down to a single blog reference by Joel Rosenburg who runs the Joshua Fund site which is in the business of obtaining funds for conversions. I would not qualify as being anything but biased as his own income and fund raising is based on success. Most of the citations he makes on his blog are anecdotal, heresay and without confirmation.

Even assuming his trends are correct, the numbers are grossly over-inflated (Iran has a population of 71 million - and given the state of events, you WOULD have most definitely heard on the mainstream presses when over 1% of the population would have converted under a theocratic Islamic dictatorship), extremely bogus conversions (you let me baptise you or you don't get to eat at my food kitchen), or represent conversions of non-Islamic people (such as ethnic Russians who now live in Kazhakstan) who through word-spin are made to look like they were Islamic conversion.

That said, I do agree it is more than 4, though most probably occur way outside of traditional Islamic countries.