Word: islamics
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Reid was not born to Islam; he is a convert with a convert's zeal. His grandfather was a Jamaican immigrant to Britain, and his father Colvin Robin Reid met and married Lesley Hughes, a white woman who was the daughter of an accountant and magistrate. Richard was born in London in 1973, by which time his father, known as Robin, was in jail for car theft. All told, Robin has spent about 20 years behind bars. "I've seen the inside of most of London's prisons," he says. "I was no great example...
...when he bumped into his father in a shopping mall seven or eight years ago, he seemed depressed and downhearted. "He was born here in Britain, like I was," says Robin. "It was distressing to be told things like 'Go home, nigger!'" For once Robin, who had converted to Islam while in prison in the 1980s, had a suggestion that seemed to make sense. Muslims, he says, "treat you like a human being." Plus, he says, they get better food in prison. Richard took his father's advice. The next time he was incarcerated, he converted...
...long assumed that the growth of Islam in Britain was simply a function of immigration. But that underestimates the religion's appeal. Since the early 1980s, Bangladeshi and Pakistani imams, often associated with evangelist Islamic groups, have targeted young black inmates of British prisons. "Islam is a sort of natural religion for underdogs," says Ziauddin Sardar, a British scholar of Islam, "and that's one reason why Afro-Caribbean people have found its message very attractive." Prison authorities have allowed imams to bring literature into the jails--everything from copies of the Koran to anti-American leaflets highlighting the importance...
...first Reid did not align himself with extremist groups. On leaving prison in 1994, he gravitated to the Brixton Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center, a rundown Victorian house in the heart of black London. The Brixton mosque has a reputation for homeyness. Each morning children stream into the mosque's schools, brought by mothers in head scarves or veils. The mosque doesn't ask many questions about a believer's past. When you come to Islam, says the mosque's chairman, Abdul Haqq Baker, you make a fresh start. Each Friday 400 to 500 worshippers attend prayers, the majority...
Your use of the phrase "mostly Hindu" is unfair to secular and democratic India when you compare it with "mostly Muslim" Pakistan, where Islam is the official religion. India's population is 12% Muslim, giving it nearly as many Muslims as Pakistan. Many Indian Muslims have thrived and excelled in every field. If Kashmir becomes independent, it is sure to invite troublemakers from all over. If there is a chance to hold genuine elections in a quiescent Kashmir, it will be a triumph of democracy, secularism and multiethnic nationalism. VENKATRAJA U. RAO Bombay...