A former right-wing Dutch politician and ally of Freedom Party leader (PVV) Geert Wilders has announced his conversion to Islam.
In a local newspaper interview, Joram van Klaveren - who once called for the banning of burqas - said he came to the decision while writing an anti-Islamic book.
"I thought: if everything I have written so far is correct, if I believe all that, then I am de facto a Muslim," he told local newspaper NRC Handelsblad.
As a politician, Joram van Klaveren campaigned for banning the burqa. Source: Getty Images
"It felt a bit like coming home, in a religious sense."
The announcement comes ahead of the release of his new book, titled Apostate: From Christianity to Islam in the Time of Secular Terror, which will now shine a positive light on Islam.
As a member of PVV, Mr van Klaveren, 40, was a vocal critic of Islam. According to local media, he once said: "'we don't want any Islam, or at least as little as possible in the Netherlands."
Mr van Klaveren split with Mr Wilders and the party in 2014 after the leader's controversial comments about the number of Moroccans in the Netherlands. After the split, he attempted to form his own far-right party, For Netherlands, but quit politics after failing to win a seat in the 2017 elections.
In Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, Mr van Klaveren said he regretted his previous position.
"I only looked politically at faith, not religious. And yes: that was polarising, that is regrettable afterwards," he said.
PVV party members Joram van Klaveren (L) and Geert Wilders (R) at the Dutch parliament in 2013. Source: Getty Images
According to local media, Mr Wilders compared his former ally's conversion to a "vegetarian working in a slaughterhouse".
"I expect a lot, but I didn't see this coming," he said.
Some people have labelled the move a PR stunt for his new book, but the former politician refuted those claims.
"You do not set aside your faith to sell a book," he told Algemeen Dagblad.
"If this really isn't a PR stunt to promote his book, then it really is an extraordinary choice for somebody who had a lot to say about Islam," his former For Netherlands co-founder Jan Roos also told the Algemeen Dagblad.
"But we have religious freedom in the Netherlands. He can worship whomever he wants," Mr Roos said.
Said Bouharrou, who serves on the Board of Moroccan Mosques in the Netherlands, praised Mr van Klaveren.
"It is great when somebody who has been so critical of Islam ... realises that it is not so bad or perverse," he said.
"It is brave that he's prepared to do it in public."
Around five per cent of the Dutch population of 17 million people, or some 850,000, are Muslim, according to the Dutch Central Statistics Bureau.
Despite Mr Wilders' objections, the religion is growing, with experts expecting that number to double by 2050.
The Netherlands also last year introduced a partial burqa ban in some public places such as schools and hospitals, ending years of discussions on the hot-button issue.
Mr van Klaveren is not the first high-profile PVV member to convert to Islam. He follows in the footsteps of Arnoud van Doorn, a former Hague-based PVV city councillor who switched in 2013.
Additional reporting: AFP
