WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:07.840 It's 1 p.m. in Mission Viejo, California, when Angela Collins answers the call to prayer. 00:09.020 --> 00:14.980 It's her second prayer of the day, and following custom, she'll pray three more times before the day is done. 00:15.260 --> 00:20.840 Now I have this belief, and I love my belief, so I have to respect it and follow the rules. 00:21.280 --> 00:22.480 The rules are not easy to follow. 00:22.860 --> 00:26.040 Angela is Muslim. She has been for almost five years. 00:26.040 --> 00:30.920 Raised Catholic, she learned about Islam after meeting Muslims while traveling overseas. 00:31.620 --> 00:34.820 She converted just two months after September 11th, 00:35.120 --> 00:39.540 a time when the war on terror was almost synonymous with a war on radical Islam. 00:39.980 --> 00:45.080 I saw a very dark persona of Muslims in general to Americans, 00:45.900 --> 00:50.620 and I realized it was so far removed from my actual experience abroad 00:50.620 --> 00:54.640 that people had to know this is not who they are. 00:54.640 --> 00:56.260 This is not how they are. 00:56.760 --> 01:01.960 There are an estimated 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide, and most are not Arabs. 01:02.500 --> 01:07.560 Here in the United States, while the Muslim contingent numbers an estimated 7 to 8 million, 01:07.940 --> 01:09.060 it's growing rapidly. 01:09.180 --> 01:13.700 20,000 new converts each year, four times as many women as men. 01:13.980 --> 01:17.280 In the Quran, it says that women were created independently of Adam, 01:17.420 --> 01:19.300 that Eve was an independent creation of God. 01:19.300 --> 01:24.420 And so for a lot of white American women, that really appeals to their sensibilities of equality, 01:24.420 --> 01:26.700 and it's very liberating for them. 01:26.760 --> 01:28.080 Maybe I'll help you put something. 01:28.520 --> 01:33.500 Julia Roach converted to Islam after being introduced to the religion by her husband, Chris. 01:33.760 --> 01:35.200 They weren't married at the time. 01:35.580 --> 01:37.040 He is also an American. 01:37.420 --> 01:41.760 When I found out he was Muslim, I told him, I believe, right away, 01:41.760 --> 01:47.300 I will never become a Muslim, I will never cover my head, I will never be this person. 01:47.680 --> 01:50.780 So don't ever ask me to be that person. 01:50.960 --> 01:51.960 And he never did. 01:52.160 --> 01:55.100 But she did have lively discussions with him about religion. 01:55.660 --> 02:00.640 She was raised a Christian and said she converted after she was able to see past the stereotypes 02:00.640 --> 02:03.060 and learned about the values of Islam. 02:03.060 --> 02:09.820 The concept of freedom and liberty of each individual person and the rights of each person, 02:10.040 --> 02:14.100 and that's all wrapped up in the theological teachings of Islam as well. 02:14.340 --> 02:15.260 Yes, I'm an American. 02:15.560 --> 02:16.740 I'm very outspoken. 02:17.300 --> 02:21.200 I'm pretty assertive and very happy person. 02:21.600 --> 02:24.980 And it's not the typical stereotype that people see with a Muslim woman. 02:25.320 --> 02:27.620 We're going to eat green eggs and lamb. 02:27.620 --> 02:33.400 Five years after converting to Islam, Angela Collins is now the director of an Islamic school. 02:34.100 --> 02:36.540 It took her a while to get used to wearing the hijab, 02:36.680 --> 02:41.400 but now instead of being a fashion emergency, it's become a fashion accessory. 02:41.700 --> 02:44.300 Yeah, people looked and they were curious, but they never, 02:44.720 --> 02:47.920 a lot of the times they didn't realize I was a Muslim wearing hijab. 02:48.000 --> 02:51.840 They thought, oh, she must be some French designer coming up with a new fashion. 02:51.980 --> 02:57.000 It's not a new fashion, but maybe a new face on the world's second largest religion. 02:57.000 --> 03:00.140 George Lewis, NBC News, Los Angeles.