ALARM bells started to ring for Nafees Rafique when he found the extremist DVDs hidden in his brother’s bedroom.

Nafees and his family were, he readily concedes, “your Joe Bloggs type of Muslims”. Their faith was important, but when it came to the dictates of Islam they were neither very learned nor particularly devout.

Living in Bradford, West Yorkshire, his priorities were clear. The focus was not the local mosque but his work to support his wife and two children. With two jobs to hold down, Nafees, 36, had never felt inclined to hold a family debate on the finer nuances of Islamic doctrine. He watched the DVDs with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and “realised that something had gone very wrong”.

Nafees and his four younger brothers are second generation British Asians. Their parents left Bangladesh in the early 1970s to make a home among the small Bengali community in Bradford. When his father died, Nafees became the head of the family and accepted responsibility for his brothers’ welfare, keeping a particularly close eye on Khaled, 15 years his junior.

For so long it had looked so promising. Educated at a grammar school, sports-mad Khaled was popular and was a talented footballer. By the age of 17 he had signed with a professional club and his dream of making a living from sport seemed almost within his grasp.

The experience of life at a football club was shattering. From the snide remarks of fellow players to the jibes and “Paki” taunts of opposition fans, racism was rife. Khaled tried to brave it out, but it became intolerable. He turned his back on football and drifted among the terraced streets of inner-city Bradford.

Nafees sensed that Khaled was beginning to feel the alienation common to second-generation Asians who did not ask to be born in Britain and feel that they are not fully accepted here. “Khaled’s experience at the football club was brutal, but there is no British Asian who has not been made to feel, at times, like a foreigner in his own land,” he said.

“The British are polite, reserved and very good at hiding their animosity, but you can often sense it. Indirect racism is everywhere.”

When his little brother began to show an interest in religion, Nafees was relieved. He had been concerned that Khaled might get sucked into a world of alcohol or drugs.

Khaled devoured Islamic literature and spent hours discussing his faith with friends the family did not know. One day, three years ago, he announced that he wanted to join a local group whose radical interpretation of Islam was winning many young disciples.

It was then that Nafees decided to search his bedroom. The DVDs made for powerful viewing and offered a chilling lesson in the ways by which extremists seek to seduce young Muslims into a loathing of the West.Nafees had been aware that such bile-filled propaganda was readily available if you knew where to look. He was determined that his brother was not going to be brainwashed. The brothers confronted Khaled. Nafees argued with him and said he would not allow him to join the group.

Instead, he took him to the local mosque and introduced him to the imam, a moderate man who embarked on the first of a series of lengthy discussions with Khaled which ultimately proved his salvation.

Three years later, Khaled, now aged 22, is working in a bank, earning good money and in his free time, according to Nafees, is “busy enjoying himself with girls and discos”.

Nafees is convinced that his brother’s experience illustrates the identity crisis suffered by so many second-generation Muslims in northern England.

“As children we all start out wanting to belong to this country, but eventually, no matter how hard you try, you realise that you are never going to be fully accepted,” he said.

“You’re so proud of your tolerance, but that’s often a mask for the stupidity and political correctness which has allowed people to create sealed-off communities in which impressionable young people are rich pickings for extremists.”

• The names of Nafees and his brother have been changed to protect their identities.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth