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BBC Talk show: Almost 100,000 Britons have converted to Islam

Epigraph:

He (Allah) it is Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad), with guidance and the Religion of truth, that He may make it prevail over all other religions. And sufficient is Allah as a Witness. (Al Quran 48:29)

Kristiane Backer is a TV presenter, journalist and voice-over artist based in London with a pan-European career.

From 1987 to 1989 she worked as a trainee for the private radio station Radio Hamburg. In 1989 at the age of 24 Backer became the first German presenter (video jockey) for what was then an English-only pan-European music TV channel, MTV Europe, where she interviewed most of the major artists and musicians of her time and presented a variety of shows until 1995. She created and hosted from 1992 to 1995 her own youth show in Germany, Bravo TV, and presented a daily guide to culture and entertainment, The Ticket NBC on NBC Europe. She later studied natural medicine, qualified as a homeopath and presented a health program on RTL. Backer was awarded Germany’s most prestigious TV award, the Golden Camera, and two Golden Otto, for her television work.

Tower Bridge, London

Tower Bridge, London

At MTV, Backer hosted the Coca-Cola Report, the MTV European Top 20, Awake on the Wild Side, Headbangers Ball and Party Zone. After 1996, she worked two years on NBC Europe for the daily culture show, The Ticket NBC.

After many years’ break from the television business Backer hosted again in 2009, including the travel programs for the Travel Channel, and the inter-faith program Matters of Faith for the international channel Ebru TV. She also hosts European business presentations, conferences, galas and award ceremonies.

Kristiane Backer

Kristiane Backer

In 2012 Backer published her memoir From MTV to Mecca: How Islam Inspired My Life in the UK with Arcadia and Awakening.[citation needed] The original book was published in 2009 in Germany and 2010 in the Netherlands. Backer is engaged in intercultural and interfaith dialogue and was nominated Global Ambassador for the Exploring Islam Foundation. In 2010 she was the face of the “Inspired by Muhammad” media campaign.

Myriam Francois-Cerrah

Myriam Francois-Cerrah

Myriam Francois-Cerrah (born Emilie François; 1983) is a British writer[1] and journalist.[2] Former assistant editor and features writer at Emel magazine (2008–2009), she interviewed feminist publisher Carmen Callil, Special Representative for the US Department of State Farah Pandith, academic Noam Chomsky, and artist Hassan Massoudy, among others.

Francois-Cerrah currently works as a freelance journalist, with her articles featured in The Guardian,[3] The Huffington Post,[4] New Statesman,[5] Your Middle East, The London Paper, Index on Censorship,[6] the F-Word[7] and the magazine Emel.[8]

A former actress, her screen career began at age 12 in Ang Lee‘s Sense and Sensibility (1995) in which she played Margaret Dashwood alongside Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.[9][10] She went on to star in Paws (1997) alongside Nathan Cavaleri and Heath Ledger, and New Year’s Day (2000), in which she played Heather.[citation needed] In 2003, following extensive research into the faith, she became a Muslim.[11] She describes herself as both a feminist and a Muslim. She is a regular guest on BBC Big Questions (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)[12] alongside Dame Ann Leslie, Beverly Knight, Rev. Peter Owen-Jones, et al. and Sunday Morning Live.

She has appeared on Newsnight (2009), 4thought.tv (2011),[13] BBC News (2010),[14] Crosstalk (2010), BBC Radio (2012), Sky News[15] and documentaries including Divine Women, presented by Bettany Hughes.[16] In 2012, she commented the French presidential elections for Sky News, as well as the French presidential inauguration and 2012 local elections and regularly comments on current affairs, in particular related to France or the Middle East. She has been a frequent guest on Tariq Ramadan’s television show Islam & Life broadcast by Iran’s PressTV.

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Categories: Europe and Australia, Highlight

6 replies ›

  1. Saudi know how to destroy your nation convert locals to islam .What we need is bar all converts Govt benefits and jobs and free education .and citizenship..

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  3. MORE PEOPLE IN BRITAIN CONVERT TO ISLAM !
    Many who convert face immense challenges with loss of family and friends, adapting to new environments, having to abandon family traditions that are against Islam and the loneliness that this can bring and many other factors that many Muslims born into the faith don’t necessarily need to deal with. With almost 2.7 million Muslims living in Britain, the number of converts increasing means more Islamic representation within the country.
    The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, with one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam, according to news source the Independent. While previous estimates placed the number of Muslim converts between 14,000 and 25,000 an inter-faith think tank estimates the real figures could be as high as 100,000 with nearly 5,000 converts each year nationally.
    A poll by Faith Matters, surveyed converts living in Britain and broke down what proportion of Muslim converts there were living in London. The researchers polled mosques with results showing. The number of Britons choosing Islam doubled in the past decade 1,400 conversions in the capital and when extrapolated this meant approximately 5,200 people converting to Islam each year – figures that were comparable with French and German survey research results. The report also noted how converts were portrayed by the media and noted that more than 62% of news articles made mention of converts and in particular made references to terrorism and extremism.
    Many who convert face immense challenges with loss of family and friends, adapting to new environments, having to abandon family traditions that are against Islam and the loneliness that this can bring and many other factors that many Muslims born into the faith don’t necessarily need to deal with. With almost 2.7 million Muslims living in Britain, the number of converts increasing means more Islamic representation within the country.
    IA
    http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

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  5. Two intelligent,strong woman who have chosen a path of professionalism and faith to which i hope and know they’ll hold firm.

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  6. It is by the grace of Allah who has given them the strength to accept this religion.May Allah give them steadfastness too.

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