Was This Woman Forced To Embrace Islam?

Shuhada Davitt (before & now)

Shuhada Davitt was born as Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8th December 1966 in Dublin Her parents are Sean O'Connor, a structural engineer later turned barrister and chairperson of the Divorce Action Group, and her mother
is Marie O'Connor. 

She is the third of five children, sister to novelist Joseph, Eimear, John, and Eoin. Shuhada has four children namely: Jake John, Roisin John, Shane Donal and Yeshua Francis Neil Bonadio and was married four times.  

On a 4th October 2007 broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Shuhada disclosed that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder four years earlier and had attempted suicide on her 33rd birthday on 8th December 1999.  

The ex-singer formerly known as Sinéad O’Connor and who is best known for her 1990 hit version of the song Nothing Compares 2 U converted to Islam in October, changing her name to Shuhada. 

Her version of the song which was originally sang by Prince Rogers Nelson topped charts across the world and spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, earning her three Grammy nominations. 

Before sister Shuhada embraced Islam, she was ordained a priest by Bishop Michael Cox of the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in the late 1990s.

As Sinead O'Connor, she released 10 solo albums. In August 2018, she released her first song in four years, called Milestones. Before she embraced, she revealed that she would be releasing a new album titled ‘No Mud No Lotus’ before October 2019. That is not likely to happen anymore.  

At 6:42 PM on 19^th October, Shuhada posted on twitter, “This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant. I will be given (another) new name. It will be Shuhada”. 

She has since documented her new faith, writing that she was “very, very, very happy” after being given her first hijab, and expressing thanks to “all my Muslim brothers and sisters who have been so kind as to welcome me to Ummah”, meaning the Islamic community. On Thursday 25^th October, Irish Imam, Shaykh Dr Umar al-Qadri, posted a video of the ex-singer saying the Islamic declaration of faith (Shahadah). On 26^th October she posted a YouTube video of herself making the Islamic call to prayer (Adhan). 

Sister Shuhadah follows the path of numerous other westerners who had fame, wealth and influence but decided to put all aside for the Islamic way of life. In October 2009, famous award-winning female French rapper, Melanie Georgiades who was popularly known as 'Diam's', embraced Islam in very Islamophobic France.

Just like Melanie Georgiades, Shuhada suffered mental disorders prior to embracing Islam.

Revertions such as this one helps put the locks on the lips of those who make assertions such as 'Islam was spread by the sword' and 'Islam oppresses women'.

There has being a growing wave of westerners embracing Islam especially after 9/11 and it is only natural for women to be the most receptive of the Message.

On 6th November 2011, The Indepedent in the UK published an article by Richard Peppiatt titled Women & Islam: The rise and rise of the convert in which it was stated: of the 5,200 Britons who converted to Islam last year, more than half are white and 75 per cent of them women. In the past 10 years some 100,000 British people have converted to Islam, of whom some three-quarters are women.