Faith

In a new series on BBC Tyne, people from the region talk about their faith and moments in their lives when it has been tested. This is Lalon's story.

"But to be honest I wouldn't say I'm religious. I mean, even after that experience I'm more of a moderate Muslim - if there's such a thing as a moderate Muslim.

"But I'm still very God conscious about right and wrong... If I do something I'm always thinking 'actually that's a sin' or 'that's good what I've done'.

"Islam isn't just about having a hat and some beads and going to the Mosque and having a long beard. Islam's about everyday life - whether that be helping someone across the road, giving someone directions and living side by side with your neighbour... That's what the Qur'an teaches and that's the Qur'an that I [know]."

Lalon spent four years at Islamic boarding school

I don't recognise the Islam of the terrorists...

"I think that when you look at the things happening on TV with Iraq and [so on] it makes you more religious - it makes you more conscious about what happens to Islam, how Islam's name is getting tarnished..."

"Even if I didn't want to become conscious, every time I put on the news there's something about Islam so I think 'I might as well just study it'..."

"The Islam that I followed and got taught was something different to the misinformed or misled terrorists because obviously their Islam and my Islam doesn't mix.

"So I think: 'how did they go wrong?' Did they misinterpret something, or did they get misled, or are they doing it as just like another motive in the name of God? And I think it's just another motive or they're just doing it because basically... we got taught to do it in a democratic way..."

The Mosque is a place of peace.

"I think that basically what's happened is that people have misconstrued [things] when they look at a terrorist they think that everybody - all the Muslims - must have hate towards America, towards the west and all that, but if that was the case then we wouldn't be wearing western clothes and having a western lifestyle.

Have I had doubts?

"I've questioned more not the religion but the people that follow the religion Islam - like the extremists like Osama Bin Laden.

And I've questioned are they really Muslims or, you know, which part of the Muslims - because I know that the Prophet Muhammad, (peace be upon him), the Prophet of our religion, he had anticipated that there would be different divisions in Islam like there is in Christianity.

"So I've questioned their belonging rather than my own religion. Because I think most, 100% Muslims would never have any doubts about their religion whatsoever, because the first part of being a Muslim is to submit yourself to Allah."

Lalon grew up in South Shields

Lebanon strengthened my beliefs...

"I think the Lebanon war, it strengthened my religious beliefs a lot more.

"Because I can remember, you know, just looking at the news every day and when people were saying - white people, black people, - everybody was saying stop the war in Lebanon and it took them two weeks to come up with a resolution or something … at that time I just thought to myself 'is it really true what people say that is a Muslim's blood not as valuable as a white person's blood?'..."

"People say that not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims, but the other side to that is that all Muslims are dying in the war on terror. I hope that the media can look at that bit of the ordinary Iraqi or the ordinary Lebanese person that died or the Palestinians that are dying and think that these are just people.

"Forget the Muslim tag or the Arab tag or the Middle Eastern tag [they are] human, and I think that's what lacking in this world now, this human vision, we've put it into sects."

If you would like to take part in the Testing Faith project contact BBC Tyne at tyne@bbc.co.uk