The British Musician “Hewitt” Gives up Music

and Wine and Takes Refuge in Allah

Ibrahim : “British mosques have become Asian

communities where white and black Muslims

alike are viewed with suspicion”

The British musician Brian Hewitt had been leading a normal life which had nothing that would stir the curiosity of the press and the journalists till his name was in the headlines of a local newspaper in the region where he lived. This newspaper published an article about Brian Hewitt entitled “Brian Seeks Refuge in God”, thus announcing his conversion to Islam. This is how big changes started to occur in Brian’s life turning it into an extraordinary one.

We will deal with the faith journey which led Hewitt to embrace Islam and change his name to Ibrahim Hewitt. He, thus, gave up music, wine and his red nights, trying hard to abide by Almighty Allah’s commands and avoid his prohibitions.

In 1981, Brian Hewitt decided to become Muslim and be among the tens of thousands of British people who embraced Islam during the last two decades ; he forsook the life of Rock ’n’ Roll. Hewitt had also been a musician in a military music band ; and resigned from his post in an insurance firm so as to devote his time to Da`wa (Call to Allah) and to learn more Islamic teachings and principles.

Hewitt was born in North Shields, but he did not know anything about the Yemeni community in South Shields, which is the oldest Muslim community in Britain. This Yemeni community settled in the beginning of its immigration in North-East Britain a century ago.

In describing himself, Hewitt said : “I might have been an extremely racist person before my embracing Islam, the religion which taught me tolerance and mutual kindness among people and which took away from me the evils of extremism, hatred and cruelty.”

He went on to say :“I think that as a result of my excessive racism and extremism, I did not speak to a non-white person for twenty one years of my life. I was proud of myself and of the colour of my skin more than enough. I lived a clean and civilised life and worked very hard like all people from the north of Britain. I used to think the world ended at Middlesbrough where I grew up.”

Hewitt remarked that, as an experienced musician in a military music band, he took part in playing music with famous music groups. He remembered that he played music with Sting in a show at Albert Hall in London in 1975. This show was part of the contest for the best music band at the national level.

After this show, he went to Johannesburg in South Africa to visit `Abda, his future wife. It was there that his faith journey started, for he went to a mosque in Johannesburg and saw worshippers from diverse races and colours praying together.

Hewitt said : “When I saw that solemn atmosphere -that religion scene, I wondered : What’s the true nature of Islam- This religion which can rally people from all places and various races and colours in South Africa ? When I returned to Britain I decided to start reading about Islam.

Hewitt continued : “After seeing worshippers in that mosque in Johannesburg, where Muslims of all races and colours gathered in the same place to pray and worship Allah Almighty, I told myself, there must be a great secret in this religion which managed to make all these people rally to the love of Allah and of His Messenger (PBUH) and forget their differences. So, I decided to announce my conversion to Islam after having studied this religion in depth. I felt happy in that Allah (Praise and Glory to Him) guided me to take the decision to embrace Islam. I immediately hanged my musical instrument and gave up drinking and going to pubs and red parties. But my new life after becoming Muslim was not easy, for my father was disturbed and embarrassed by my decision.”

“When my father learned about my decision to embrace Islam, he did not welcome it ; on the contrary, he was embarrassed by it, as he thought that I had become a Pakistani and not a British Muslim. He thought that any British person who embraced Islam wanted to become Pakistani. He did not know that Islam is Allah’s religion for all, whether they be Pakistanis or British. They are all equal before Allah, the best among them in the sight of Allah are the most righteous. In the end, my father and I decided to agree on disagreeing about the issue of my conversion to Islam.”

“I cannot say that I had Pakistani friends before becoming a Muslim in 1981.”

It is worth mentioning here that Hewitt lives in north London ; moreover, he worked for two years as a personal assistant for the Muslim Da`iya Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens – the famous pop star. At present Hewitt works in the Islamic Education Council in Britain. Furthermore, he went on pilgrimage to Makkah more than once. However, the change of his culture from a Western one to an Islamic one was not an easy matter.

Hewitt said : “The difference between the Western culture and the Islamic one is a difficult experience which new British Muslims undergo, particularly the new white Muslims. When one of the latter enters a mosque to perform his prayer, he notices that the worshippers turn their heads towards him and stare at him, for no reason except that he is a white person. The looks they give him bear some amount of suspicion and an undefined wondering.

Strangely enough, the British in particular and Westerners in general are suspicious of the new white Muslims, as if Islam is a religion that is confined to black and coloured people only, and to the poor and the lower social classes. In reality Islam is not as such, for it is Allah’s religion for all His creatures, a fact which is illustrated by Allah’s following Words : “O mankind ! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you”. (Surat Al-Hujurat, Verse 13). The Messenger (PBUH) said, too : “No Arab is better than a non-Arab, and no white is better than a black except in terms of righteousness”, and “You are all equals like the teeth of a comb”. It is clear from this that Islam does not discriminate between an Arab and a non-Arab, or between a white and a black except in terms of righteousness. All Muslims are equals like a comb’s teeth.

After examining the staring of those who look at a white Muslim entering the mosque for the same purpose as them, one becomes sure of the fact that they do not stare at him as a fellow Muslim, but as a white man who has intruded into the Asian quarter. Especially after many mosques in Britain have become more similar to Asian quarters since prayer in some of these mosques is confined to Asian communities only, and not to the other British Muslim communities.”

Hewitt added : “Black Muslims, who are the main source of those who embrace Islam in Western societies, face the same suspicious looks given to their fellow white Muslims in British mosques by fellow Asians, particularly of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladesh origins.”

Hewitt called on Muslims in Britain to overlook colour and race and stick to the Islamic teachings which do not accept these types of discrimination. Furthermore, he criticized English Muslims who did not greet their fellow Muslims by using the eternal Islamic greeting : “Assalam `Alaykum wa Rahmatu Allah Ta`ala wa Barakatuh”. He also criticized the way some Asians dealt with their other fellow Muslims, for they treated a new Muslim in accordance with the degree of his conformity to their Asian culture ; if he did not eat their hot food or praise their Islamic culture, they did not consider him as a brother in faith and religion.

It is worth mentioning here that a large number of British Muslims face the problem of differences among cultures, particularly the white Muslims. There are big dissimilarities and essential differences between their original culture – i.e. the Western culture, in the midst of which they grew up, and their new culture, namely the Islamic culture, which they strive to adapt themselves to as much as possible. This is why these new British Muslims (the white ones) are torn between both cultures and endeavour to discover the similarities between them, striving to harmonize the points shared by the Muslim and Western cultures.