Rahman goes the extra mile to impress Cardiff citizens
When an indigenous British man opened up a shop in Cardiff, UK, it was more than just a business idea. It was to create a platform for people of different faiths and backgrounds to get in and chat without any kind of prejudice, so as to encourage harmony.
But he got more than he bargained for. He faced open hostility from people, some spitting at his shop, others banging on the windows.
Abdur Rahman, now a Muslim and earlier known as Denis, lives in a city where Islam is not that favored. However, with his new faith, he took up the courage to take that extra step to open up an Islamic shop that could engage people of various backgrounds in a dialogue about their beliefs.
Denis was not always a Muslim. “If somebody had told me earlier to embrace Islam, I would have laughed at the idea,” he says.
About seven years ago, the world around him seemed to be collapsing. He had gone through divorce and his dad had just been diagnosed with cancer.
“I was in a really bad place. I would have a whole bottle of Jack Daniels easily,” Rahman recalls the times he was known as Denis.
While walking in the market, he entered a shop called ‘Serenity’. He showered the Muslim owner and proprietor of the shop with question about Islam. Denis left the shop that day with books which convinced him to “try out Islam”.
He discovered a new face of the British society. Rahman experienced discrimination from his loved ones and friends, shunning and poking fun at him.
“I lost all my family and friends in this country,” Rahman explains. He was facing all kinds of stigmatization he had read about in newspapers or seen Muslims complaining on TV.
“It took about three years for my own [two] children to accept my decision,” Rahman recalls rubbing his thin beard.
While Rahman’s mother did not support the direction he had taken, his father eventually came round to respecting his Muslim son, shortly before his passing.
After sometime, he married a woman of Pakistani origin. Even that was not without challenges. His wife’s family did not want a white man for an in-law.
“For six months, they did not speak to us. Whenever my wife visited them, nobody would talk to her,” he shares the ordeal with a smile.
Rahman’s wife never gave up until the mom accepted the situation and agreed to meet him. The in-laws found him a good man.
It was a hard time acclimatizing to new life, as not only was he taking up Islam, but also integrating in the culture of Pakistani community.
The number of Muslim converts in Britain passed 100,000 last year with average convert being 27-year-old white woman, reveals a study by multi-faith group, Faith Matters [2]. The report identifies increase in the ratio of young, white Muslim women. The same organization estimates that the figure of British converting to Islam has almost doubled in a decade. Over 70 per cent converts are white, with at conversion was just 27. Dispelling the impression of Islamisation, the survey noted that converts see Islam as ‘perfectly compatible’ with living in the country.
Past all the family issues, Rahman had more to face upon opening a shop, ‘The Essence of Islam’, offering Islamic gifts, fragrances, books and garments.
He had decorated the windows with Islamic mannequins and people started spitting, peeping and hitting on the windows. At some point, protests by a far-right group in Cardiff led police into warning him against opening up the shop for his own security.
Rahman then saw his shop offering an opportunity to dispel misconceptions about Islam and others’ beliefs and cultures, and celebrate diversity.
He toned down the Muslim touch of his shop to show openness all.
“People react badly towards Muslims because of negative media portrayal, and their own follies. It’s only a handful of bad ones, so I try to make people understand that 9 out of 10 are good ,” he says in a convincing tone.
Denis also notes that even in the Muslim community, different groups have diverse views and rituals. “Sometimes it gets confusing what to follow,” says Rahman with a wrinkled forehead. It was shocking for him to see different Muslim groups not getting along well with each other.
“I am trying to pull all these different opinions together and change negative perceptions,” he says. Often, he was advised against serving non-Muslims. “Everybody is welcome in his shop,” he says is his permanent reply.
After years of his work, Rahman notices change in attitude amongst the British people as well as the Muslim immigrants.
Asked why it matters that there is integration between people of different faiths and backgrounds, Denis says: “To me everyone is the same. My religion tells me we are one people”.
Rahman’s message is clear: it is not compulsory to agree on religious faiths or cultural values but its obligatory to respect each other as human beings.
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