Former STONE ROSES frontman IAN BROWN told prison authorities that he was Muslim so he could get better food in jail. The rocker, who in 1999 served two months in a Manchester, England, jail for threatening an air stewardess, didn’t fully convert to Islam - he just wanted to eat the food on the Muslim menu, reports pr-inside.com.



Brown says, “My sister bought me the Koran in 1990. I always thought the stories in it were magical.

“So I’d already had a love affair with it, but when I got in jail the first day, I saw what everyone else was eating. I didn’t know what the f**k was in the pies, but the lads said if you were Muslim you got chickpeas, lentils, rice, chicken curry on a Friday.

“So I said my religion was Muslim.”



It reminds me an anecdote in India. A few years ago, a teacher in Belurghat district in West Bengal province of India narrated an anecdote to me. A Hindu butcher in a nearby town embraced Islam voluntarily. When asked by the teacher about the reason for doing so, the naive butcher said that he had purchased a plot, measuring not more than 100 sq. yard to build a house on the periphery of the town. While laying the foundation work, the Hindu butcher found a number of idols. Since as a Hindu he could not invite the wrath of gods by breaking the idols, he preferred to read the ‘Kalma’ (faith in the Allah) thrice and changed his faith and name. It was so simple for that innocent soul. When asked if the exigencies demanded would he re-embrace Hinduism, the poor chap said ‘yes’.



Therefore, I find similarities in the tale of the person who, for the sake of good food, preferred to be clubbed with Muslims in a prison. The same gentleman won’t mind to call himself a Christian or a Hindu, if need required so.