Irish singer Sinead O’Connor has announced her conversion to Islam, changing her name to Shuhada’ Davitt. She spells her new name, which means “martyrs” in Arabic, with an apostrophe at the end. Last year, O’Connor changed her name to Magda Davitt, a name she took to be “free of parental curses.”
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’
— Shuhada’ Davitt (@MagdaDavitt77) October 19, 2018
“All scripture study leads to Islam,” she said. ”Which makes all other scriptures redundant. I will be given (another) new name. It will be Shuhada’.”
O’Connor then posted a selfie of herself wearing a hijab in front of a board with a message reading: “You have taken my body, you have taken my mind, you have taken my children but you will never take my voice.”
— Shuhada’ Davitt (@MagdaDavitt77) October 20, 2018
In a video posted to the social media platform, she sang the Azan – the Islamic call to prayer – later apologising for any pronunciation mistakes.
Here is my 1st attempt at singing the Azan. I got some pronouncition wrong because emotions took me from my page… but there’ll be hundreds of others onstage to come … https://t.co/vDFyheqOOc
— Shuhada’ Davitt (@MagdaDavitt77) October 19, 2018
“Thank you so much to all my Muslim brothers and sisters who have been so kind as to welcome me to Ummah today on this page,” she wrote following the initial messages. ”You can’t begin to imagine how much your tenderness means to me.”
Happy pic.twitter.com/VkJsj2IFAi
— Shuhada’ Davitt (@MagdaDavitt77) October 23, 2018
In 2015, the mother of four posted on her Facebook page that she had overdosed in the wake of a custody battle involving her youngest son and his father, Irish musician Donal Lunny. Police later said they had located O’Connor and she was “safe and sound.”
