An actor, Imran Ali, is quoted in an article – Listening for a voice of Muslim youth, as saying;

“You see these guys wearing traditional Islamic dress – they would not have been seen dead in it five years ago,” he says.

“It’s got nothing to do with religion. It’s got everything to do with fashion. Many of these lads I know who claim they are good Muslims are more fanatical than Younis. It’s the in-thing.

“They go to mosque and pray five times. They then use the F-word to slag off other Muslims for not being as good Muslims as they are.

“I don’t think that’s particularly Islamic.”

He is appearing in a play by Kashmiri Brummie writer Amber Lone called ‘Paradise’, which is currently playing at the Birmingham Rep Theatre.

If his [Imran Ali’s] assertions are true then, like all fashions, this one will eventually pass. I can’t help feeling that in some cases, his observations are not too far from the truth.

However, I think he may underestimate the power of faith, Islamic or otherwise, to capture the imaginations of individuals searching for answers and identities.