Heart And Soul: Christian Mother, Muslim Daughter

For African American writer Patricia Raybon, her Christian faith matters deeply. So when daughter Alana announced that she was converting to Islam, it came as a profound shock.

For ten years, they manoeuvred around the ‘elephant in the room’, as Alana spent less and less time with her mother. Then, slowly and tentatively, through an unusual writing project, they began to make their interfaith peace. In this programme Mike Wooldridge hears their story from both sides.

Seeing one of your children convert to a different faith is difficult for most parents. Yet for Patricia, a former magazine editor and professor of journalism at the University Of Colorado, watching her daughter Alana embrace Islam was exceptionally hard. For Patricia, an African-American and now a full-time writer, is a highly committed Christian.

Alana, in turn, was deeply hurt by her mother's stance to her new faith - and the implication that as a Muslim, she couldn't know God. In this programme, they each tell their side of their compelling story - how they moved from being barely on speaking terms, via a difficult period punctuated with hurt and religious point-scoring, to a relationship which is once again warm and loving, if not straightforward.

"Peace is a journey," says Alana, "and we've got a ticket for the ride."

• Presented by Mike Wooldridge
• A CTVC Production for BBC World Service
• Producer: Paul Arnold

Publicity contact: EM3