SHARE SHARJAH // Bilal Abdul Alim has had a colourful journey from growing up in racially divided Texas, converting to Islam and becoming a doctor and TV host in Sharjah. Born Julius Phillips Jr in 1951, his father a doctor and mother a teacher, he grew up in the racial segregation of the 1950s, waking up to see burning crosses on the lawn set by Ku Klux Klan racists. Church was a big part of life for the young Julius. His father, a civil-rights activist long before the days of Martin Luther King, was a part-time preacher and founder of the only black hospital serving north Louisiana, the JA Phillips Hospital. He took his young son to church every Sunday. It was only after his father's death that Julius began to question his links to the church.