Almost Two Sydney Women a Week are Converting to Islam

More Than 100 people - most of them women - are converting to Islam in Sydney each year, and ­ experts warn some new converts are more likely to adopt extremist elements of the religion.

Such radicalism was highlighted by the death last week in Syria of former Queensland Anglican schoolgirl turned Muslim jihadist Amira Karroum, 22, who is believed to have been killed by rebel fighters in Aleppo alongside her US-born husband Yusuf Ali.

Ms Karroum had adopted an extremist form of the faith, praising terrorist Osama bin Laden and supporting the ­violent Muslim riots in Sydney in 2012.

The pair were based in Granville before travelling to Syria to fight in December.

Another Granville man, Caner Temel, 22, has been named as the latest Australian victim of the civil war in Syria.

The Australian New Muslim Association estimates two-thirds of the converts they see each year are female, with more than 60 per cent converting because of their husbands or partners.

Julia Moukhallalati was just 18 when she swapped her Orthodox Christian upbringing for the mosques of western Sydney.

Soon after, Mrs Moukhallalati, 22, converted to Sunni Islam. She met her Lebanese-Australian husband Raed while asking about halal meat in a restaurant. They married just three months later and live in a granny flat behind her in-laws.

Mrs Moukhallalati, originally from Sutherland Shire, said her relationship with her family was still a "work in progress".

"My parents pushed me to be Orthodox but they never had answers to my questions," she said, adding she had always been fascinated with Islam and believed it put women on a pedestal, rather than oppressing them.

"As soon as I started studying it I knew I had to be a part of it," she said. "I loved how a woman was treated. She is treated like a rare diamond, she is honoured in the family."

Mrs Moukhallalati said ­although she believed it was her duty to spread the word of Islam, she didn't agree with travelling overseas to fight.

"It's pretty sad. There are some Muslims who are extreme, but I believe in moderation," she said.

"It's the best thing I have done, but make sure they (converts) go to the right source. A lot of information on the internet could not really be what Islam teaches.

"You want to learn the truth as Islam is, not how some people portray it to be."

Mrs Moukhallalati said she did not feel obligated to wear the face-covering niqab but did wear a headscarf.

"I put in more pride and effort with the scarf on.

"Now that I'm scarfed I feel more beautiful," she said.

Australian Muslim Women's Association head Silma Ihram converted from Christianity during a trip to Indonesia in 1976 at 24.

She said converts were sometimes guided by more extreme interpretations.

That meant they fell out with their families and were susceptible to radical elements, she said.