The Muslims finding belonging in southern Spain

Alora, Spain - The train chugs steadily out of Malaga station, its rhythmic clatter carrying it inland towards the mountains of the Guadalhorce Valley, where whitewashed villages cling to hillsides.Beyond the window, pomegranate trees grow close to the tracks. Palms and cypress trees stand alongside young orange saplings planted in neat rows and, farther out, olive groves whose leaves shimmer between green and silver in the breeze. Above the rugged mountains, small white clouds float across an immense blue sky, like pieces of popcorn.Over the train's rattle, an announcement in Spanish comes through the speakers: “The next station is Aljaima.”The name derives from the Arabic al-khaima, meaning “the tent”, a small echo of another language, another time.And then Alora, where the town rises around a rocky hill crowned by the remains of an old fortress. Some etymologists suggest the town's ancient name may derive from the Arabic al-lawra, loosely translated as "the light".The railway station is quiet in the midday heat.A large black pick-up truck rumbles into the station car park and stops. Henrietta Szovati, a British-Hungarian Muslim, steps out, having driven down from the mountains t...