The coverage of Islam in the media is becoming more sophisticated, and there is more access to knowledge.
From Leila Aboulela
I read a lot of fiction.
My faith was started off by my grandmother and mother, and so I always saw it as a very private, personal thing.
I grew up in a very westernised environment and went to a private American school. But my personality was shy and quiet, and I wanted to wear the hijab but didn't have the courage, as I knew my friends would talk me out of it.
It was 1989, and the word 'Muslim' wasn't even really used in Britain at the time; you were either black or Asian.
That's what religion teaches: that life is a temporary thing which is going to dissolve one day.
I was 24 years old and stuck in a strange place with two boisterous little boys, and my husband was working offshore on the oil rigs. It was a life for which I wasn't prepared.
Sudan is not Arab enough for Arabs and not African enough for Africans.
My characters are not role-model Muslims, but they struggle to make choices using Muslim logic.
I wasn't trained to write non-fiction.
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