Only Half of Me

A Muslim boy goes to a madrassa in Mogadishu to learn the Koran. His parents take him on two pilgrimages to Mecca. He arrives in Britain as a child just as Somalia collapses into a state of civil war that will continue throughout his childhood and prevent him from going home. To the media, government and general public this is the classic background story of the most feared figure of our the young, male, black, British Muslim. It is also the story of Rageh Omaar's childhood. Rageh Omaar's unique and profoundly moving book is the story of his childhood in Somalia, his family's attitude to religion, his double life as a British Muslim and that of other British Muslims. Full of humanity and rage, empathy and insight, Only Half of Me takes us into lives that are widely misunderstood, and tries to make sense of our own fractured world.