George W Bush may be backed by Christian fundamentalists but in his home state of Texas, Islam is the latest big draw. The Bible belt is transferring its allegiance to the Qur’an because, for many erstwhile Christians, believe it or not, the church is too liberal. Eric was a Baptist preacher before he became a Muslim 14 years ago. Now he prays five times a day – even in the middle of watching a football game. His wife, Karen, also a convert, is covered from head to toe in the traditional Muslim burka. Islam, says Eric, ‘is everything I wanted Christianity to be’. His mother has found it hard to come to terms with her son’s conversion and believes he will return to the Christian faith: ‘Then he will be a dynamic preacher.’ Eric says: ‘Maybe some day she’ll embrace Islam.’
Women are also becoming followers of Muhamed. Yasmine (previously Mindy) arranged a marriage for herself and has three children. Islam, she says is ‘the solution to a lot of the prevailing evils: drugs, adultery, fornication…’ Converts often see the religious laws more clearly than those who have been brought up as Muslims and Yasmine can spot a mistake at 20 paces. She believes that she has a unique opportunity to help people who are born into the religion get back to the fundamentals. Catherine has been a Muslim for two weeks. She came from a privileged background – private school followed by a career in PR. Now the established Muslim women guide her through the purification rituals as she washes before prayer and removes her nail varnish. David is the only white Muslim in his little town on Route 66. He believes his new religion makes him a better American and, far from undermining liberties, gives the individual more rights. He had an arranged marriage and his wife, who was born a Muslim, was shocked by the strictness with which he insists they live their lives. His family – a white man with his wife and daughter dressed in their hijabs (headscarves) –are stared in the streets and supermarkets of their one-horse town. There are 400,000 Muslims in Texas alone and Islam is the fastest growing religion in the USA. Since 9/11 there have been more converts to Islam than ever. Eric believes that people are trying to understand Muslims and want to learn about their religion. Yasmine says: ‘America should not be afraid. If it would be better Muslims were the majority. If a child asks me: “Who made this leaf?” I say, “Allah. Allah made everything.”’
Thank Channel 4 for the programme 'Turning Muslim in Texas'
Channel 4 aired this documentary at 6pm today (Saturday 10 Jan). The programme looked into the lives of conservative Christians embracing Islam. The programme also looked at how rapidly Islam is growing in the US.
Please thank Channel 4 for showing this excellent documentary during prime time.
Call 0207 306 8333 and:
Thank them for showing this programme
Highlight that such programmes are very useful as they help in building better community relations between Muslims and non-Muslims
Suggest that they show more similar programmes in the future
This call should only take about 2 minutes but will encourage Channel 4 insha'Allah.
Note: This programme will be shown again on: Mon 12th @ 02:35 on S4C
Islamic Affairs Central Network (IACN)
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 115 844 9705
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.iacn.org.uk
This semester we invited a former Christian priest, Mr. Yusuf Istes, who converted to Islam and is now a scholar (hes from Texas too) for an MSA speech on Islam. Our university paid us $23,000 in total to arrange for the speaker, the function, the dinner etc. Tonnes of American students showed up to learn more about Islam, from freshman girls to students doing their thesis on subjects in Islam. I was doing a count on class enrollments and am pleased to report that most colleges in the US reported that enrollment in Islamic classes increased considerably after 9/11. Instead of acting irrationaly, most people decided to study more about Islam, which makes them great. They listen to what Islam really offers, and this is why its growing so fast there!
Read more about this former Christian priest, and what motivated him to convert to ISlam.
I too watched that programme, it was very intresting and felt happy too islam was shown in a different light especially to all thoses non-muslims out there.
It was a very nice programme indeed. I think the narrator of the show said how it was inherent in American culture to stand up for the underdog, and some of the converts said how 9/11 had ironically been an opportunity for Islam in the sense that the more Muslims were 'attacked' the more people that were converting to Islam across America.
In my experience new converts/reverts to Islam have always tended to be more committed/practising Muslims than some of us born Muslims. The programme mentioned how the new Muslims may help the wider Islamic community return to the fundementals of Islam, that many have forgotten over the years.
Also watch the documentary Islam-Empire of faith prepared
by PBS.You can buy it from their website. Excellent watch.
Its talks about the spread of Islam and the contribution to
field of knowledge. Its a great watch and you can show it to your friends.
Ben Kingsley was the narrator.(background voice).
I missed it, but it looked like a good programme, After 9/11 the television media was just bombarding us with so many documentaries about Islam while at the same time fighting a war against terrorism that not everyone agreed with, almost distracting out attention from what was really happening, thay always do that on English TV on channel they will be calling muslims terrorists and straight after that their will be a programme, on the spread of Islam recorded 4-5 years ago. This programme is so related to the Iraq war, it just makes you wonder what they are preparing us for.
