MORE NEBRASKANS CONVERTING TO ISLAM AFTER SEPT. 11
By MARGERY BECK, Associated Press, 4/27/2002

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - For much of his life, Leslie Craig struggled to 
reconcile being a black man with an Anglican name.

Then came the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Little more than a month later, 
the 46-year-old Omaha man became Bilal Rohman Abdul-Shakour. He officially 
converted to Islam and adopted his new name on Oct. 19.

Abdul-Shakour is not the only new Muslim in Nebraska. Islamic leaders say 
more people in the state have converted since the attacks, and many also 
have adopted traditionally ethnic Muslim names.

"As the spotlight has been focused on Islam, people have said, `I want to 
learn more about this.' A number of those people have found Islam to be 
something they like and want to follow," said Ahmad Ghosheh, president of 
Islamic Center in Omaha.

Just as the increase in hate crimes against U.S. Muslims can be traced to 
the attacks, so can the growing number of converts, Ghosheh said.

"This gives Muslims in America a chance to show the world what Islam is all 
about," Abdul-Shakour said. "Osama bin Laden is not Islam."

Abdul-Shakour, who was raised Baptist and began studying Islam in earnest 
as a teen during the 1960s civil rights movement, said he took the attacks 
and a car accident he was involved in shortly thereafter as a divine sign.

"The end is coming, and I'm out here in the cold," he said. "I saw it as 
Allah sending me a message…"

Some officials at the Omaha mosque say the number of converts since the 
attacks is about 50 percent to 60 percent higher than the same period last 
year. They did not release exact numbers…

Saidi Liwaru, vice president of the Islamic Center in Omaha, has noticed an 
increase in Muslims in Nebraska adopting habits prescribed by the Islamic 
faith, including more Muslim women covering their hair with scarves.

"Whenever there's turmoil, especially when Muslims are around it, the 
increase in the number of people accepting Islam is phenomenal," Liwaru said.

Zahra Cheema, a 20-year-old journalism student at the University of 
Nebraska at Omaha, has been a Muslim all her life, but only began covering 
her head in March.

The terrorist attacks were not the sole reason she made the decision, but 
were a factor, she said.

"After Sept. 11, every Muslim almost became an ambassador for their 
religion," Cheema said…

On The Net - Islamic Center of Omaha:
http://www.ico-ne.org/

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