1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,380
Eric is as Texan as they come.

2
00:00:03,100 --> 00:00:06,800
He was about to become a Baptist preacher when he converted to Islam.

3
00:00:09,380 --> 00:00:13,760
Reconciling Allah and America means white Muslims like Eric have to be resourceful.

4
00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,460
Even in the middle of the game, a man's got to pray when a man's got to pray.

5
00:00:19,020 --> 00:00:21,120
I need to find a place to pray that's out of the way.

6
00:00:23,020 --> 00:00:24,220
That's west, that's east.

7
00:00:25,220 --> 00:00:25,940
That's this way.

8
00:00:25,940 --> 00:00:32,460
Thanks to his Baptist upbringing, Eric has always taken his religion very seriously.

9
00:00:32,780 --> 00:00:35,300
But Christianity wasn't conservative enough.

10
00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:37,860
Eric liked Islam's approach to life.

11
00:00:51,060 --> 00:00:54,500
Since converting, Eric's never missed a call to prayer.

12
00:00:54,500 --> 00:01:02,000
Islam is everything I wanted Christianity to be.

13
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,380
It's got such a magnetic attraction to it.

14
00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:16,460
It's a way of life that chooses to worship an unseen God through a process of daily living.

15
00:01:16,460 --> 00:01:20,680
I'm very patriotic, I love this country.

16
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,880
I was born American, raised American, die an American, but I'm a Muslim.

17
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:38,960
Surprisingly, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the USA.

18
00:01:40,300 --> 00:01:43,400
Texas is home to some 400,000 Muslims.

19
00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:50,060
Eric's mother, Marianne, is a committed Baptist.

20
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,320
She's never visited the mosque before.

21
00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:59,180
Eric's wife, Karen, also a convert, is on hand to show Marianne around.

22
00:01:59,180 --> 00:02:02,360
You have to be very scientific with this, just however you're comfortable.

23
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:04,540
Can you say, salaam alaikum?

24
00:02:04,660 --> 00:02:06,840
Salaam alaikum.

25
00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:16,380
Do you want to keep up with your keys for me?

26
00:02:16,380 --> 00:02:29,300
Eric converted 14 years ago, without telling his mum.

27
00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:36,420
When he broke the news, Marianne, like many of the converts' parents, found it impossible to accept.

28
00:02:36,420 --> 00:02:52,220
She's a wonderful woman, I love her, and maybe someday she'll embrace Islam and be happy for all of us.

29
00:02:55,640 --> 00:03:01,420
Since 9-11, mosques say they've seen more Americans convert to Islam than ever before.

30
00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:05,260
9-11 was a tragedy.

31
00:03:05,260 --> 00:03:07,780
9-11 should never have happened.

32
00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:13,960
Whoever did 9-11 should be sent to hell with the worst of punishments.

33
00:03:15,180 --> 00:03:19,160
I want to make sure, before I go any further, how serious we take 9-11.

34
00:03:19,620 --> 00:03:22,320
Because 9-11 has turned into a blessing to the Muslim community.

35
00:03:22,980 --> 00:03:28,840
What has happened, because of 9-11, is that people have gone out to actually buy a Koran.

36
00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:34,680
They want to actually start to understand Muslims and try to figure out why this behavior, why is this happening.

37
00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,720
People are learning more about Islam every day because of 9-11.

38
00:03:38,940 --> 00:03:41,580
And I don't think they're going into it to become Muslim because they like what they saw.

39
00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:47,900
But I think they want to understand what's going on, and as they do, they start to see the beauty of Islam.

