My faith gives me inner peace

Sep 24 2008 by Emma Pinch, Liverpool Daily Post

Muslim convert Amirah Scarisbrick with her daughter Jasmine _320

After years as a party girl, one mother and her daughter have turned to Islam for ‘protection’ from the excesses of the modern world. Emma Pinch reports

JASMINE SCARISBRICK has just arrived home from school and she’s ravenous. She’s conspicuously not scouring the kitchen for crisps and cheese strings, and she skipped lunch and breakfast. The inspiration for a food-free day for most girls her age would probably be found in the snaps of rake-thin stars in magazines like Heat.

But the reason Jasmine, 14, isn’t eating is that she is observing her second Ramadan.

A Muslim convert, Jasmine admits her faith can distance her from her peers – they describe her fast as “awful” – and her mother, Amirah, concedes from her own experience of school it must be hard for her daughter. Words like “irresponsible” were bandied about when Jasmine first started wearing her headscarf.

But, explains Amirah, bringing her daughter up as a Muslim in modern Britain has benefits which far outweigh the negatives.

“Some people consider it quite extreme, but I see it as common sense,” says the softly-spoken 36-year-old.

“At this vulnerable time of adolescence, being a Muslim offers a lot of protection for her, because there are certain things she can and she can’t do. A lot of her peers are hanging out on street corners, experimenting with sex, taking drugs and some might become pregnant. It’s almost like – they are teenagers, it’s acceptable.

“Jasmine is unique.”

Home for Jasmine and Amirah, who was formerly called Louise, is a Victorian terrace in Wallasey with a view of the glittering Mersey at the end of the street. It’s quietly restful. The living room is lightly scented with incense and framed tracts of curly Arabic adorn the walls.

Amirah herself radiates a serene calm. But since she’s eaten nothing since her suhoor meal of porridge since 4.30am, it might just be weariness. Now and again she carefully licks her lips.

“The hardest test of faith is fajr, where you have to get yourself out of bed, your nice warm bed and go to the bathroom and do wudu,” she smiles softly. “You have to purify yourself with water, cover yourself so just your hands and face are showing, then you have to pray. When you’ve done that you feel quite smug and you can go back to bed for an hour or two.

“It’s not just about giving up food, it’s time to improve yourself – you’re not supposed to get angry. I do miss having a cup of tea during the day and the first few days are very difficult. You have days when you feel very weak, but generally it’s made easy. You know you have a meal at the end of the day. But you see people filling up their trolley at Asda and realise how much we over-consume.”

The discipline her faith demands is actually what drew Amirah to Islam in the first place. She converted seven years ago in October, just as she approached her 30th birthday. In her youth, she says, she was a party girl.

“If you had seen me at 18 and said by the time you’re 30 you’ll be a Muslim, I would have laughed. I was born in Liverpool with no exposure to Islam.

“My father was a musician and I had a lot of freedom, and was more or less brought up an atheist. Christmas was about a nice Christmas dinner and getting presents and being with friends.”

As a young adult, she says: “I loved my wine and I loved dating, going out and enjoying myself.