Belizaire's shock and pain after losing his mother and the tranquility and endurance of his younger brother at such a hard time walked him into a new path in life.

"When I was feeling lost and confused….I found that Islam made sense to me," the 28-year-old man from the British city of Bristol, who now goes by the name Mohammed Hakeem, told the Evening Post on Thursday, April 24.

"It gave me a concrete feeling in the existence of God and an afterlife, which helped me deal with the loss of my mother."

Hakeem, who comes from an observant Catholic family, says he owes his younger brother Yusuf, previously Lewis, opening his eyes to Islam.

Feeling lost after his mother's death, he watched his brother, who embraced Islam some 19 months earlier, grow in conviction and happiness.

After some deep thinking he made up his mind.

"It's difficult to describe the feeling when you go through with it and say the Shahadah," he recalls with a smiling face.

"It's a wonderful sensation. It's a feeling of spiritual clarity rather than feeling lost and forsaken."

Yusuf, a law student in London, had quite a different journey to Islam himself.

"Because I was so worried my conversion would create a divide, I waited almost a year to make sure I wasn't being influenced or caught up in something new and interesting," he remembers.

"In January 2006 I felt I'd waited as long as I could. The conversion was a lot simpler than I thought."

He went to Bristol Central Mosque as people were leaving after Friday prayers and announced his desire to become a Muslims.

"I took the Shahadah. Then that was it.

"It was only a couple of lines, but in my heart I felt like something big had happened," says Yusuf.

"It was the best feeling of my life. I couldn't stop smiling. I could then actually start my journey and become a Muslim."

Prejudice

The journey, however, was nothing easy for the brothers.

Yusuf remembers the family was in shock when he announced his conversion.

"My grandmother thought I was moving away from God."

Yusuf, who had read much about religions before his decision, had to appease her fears by highlighting the commonalities between Catholicism and Islam.

He told her that Muslims believe in Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) as one of the Messengers of God.

He also told her that both faiths worship one God.

"I sent her a copy of the Qur'an and she read through it. Over Christmas, she helped me find which direction to pray."

Unfortunately, reaching out to the rest of society was not as easy.

Mohammed, the older brother, regrets how the portrayal of Islam since the 9/11 attack has made life harder for Muslims in the West.

"I despise the negative portrayal of the Muslim community in parts of the media.

"I've heard tales of people receiving aggro because of their religion, but personally I haven't been targeted."

The two-million Muslim minority in Britain complains of a growing Islamophobic climate.

A Financial Times opinion poll recently showed that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims.

"A lot of times people don't know how to take it when I tell them I'm a Muslim convert," says Yusuf.

"Terrorism is the first thing that comes into their minds.

"They are thinking 'please tell me you're not one of them'."

A recent study by the Institute of Community Cohesion found that British Muslims are too often represented as one homogenous group linked to extremism and terror.

"I can totally understand where they are coming from because I was there," notes Yusuf.

What makes him feel better is that once he talks to people, the walls of deep-seated stereotypes and misconceptions start breaking down.

"When I get the chance to speak to them, 90 percent want to know more about Islam."

Source: Islamonline.net