In London in the late 60s, a steady stream of hippies are introduced to Islam through Ian Dallas, a Scottish playwright and actor who had encountered Islam in Morocco in 1967. Dallas returns to Morocco and introduces his small group to his spiritual master, Shakyh Muhammad ibn al-Habib. The shaykh gifts them his book of devotional poetry and tells them to return to England and 'call people to Islam'. With a strong sense of purpose, made poignant by the shaykh's unexpected death, the group return to London to carry out their task. They set up a Sufi community in Maida Vale, the first of its kind in Britain. Many of the members were artists and musicians; including Richard and Linda Thompson, Martin Stone and Ian Whiteman of Mighty Baby, and filmmakers Jack Bond and Jane Arden, among others. As well as inviting Westerners to Islam, the community has a broader cultural impact that can be seen today. Eric Clapton, for example, was famously inspired to write ‘Layla’ after Dallas gave him the Persian love story ‘Layla and Majnun’, an allegory of man’s longing for the Divine. The community grows and the decision is taken to leave London and build a self-sufficient ‘Muslim village’ on the grounds of a crumbling country estate in Norfolk. An odd combination of extreme asceticism and communalism, with attempts to do without modern conveniences proved impossible. Eventually, the community moves into the nearby city of Norwich, where they establish a mosque. Meanwhile, in 1980s Brixton, a group of West Indians searching for a new spiritual, cultural and political direction find themselves unexpectedly drawn to Islam. This community purchases their own mosque at Gresham Road amid a surge of interest in the faith. Self-exploration and empowerment take a back seat, however, when a few extremist preachers peddling a puritanical ideology gain a foothold in the mosque. Tensions rise, leading many of the new Muslims to question whether their new faith is right for them.
