Editor's Note: We are resharing this piece, originally written in 2019, in the wake of Sinéad O'Connor's death, which was confirmed by her family on July 26, 2023.
The Irish singer, who took on the Muslim name of Shuhada Sadaqat, spoke about her passion for Islam and defending it against stigma.
Becoming a Muslim was no passing fad for Sinéad O’Connor. The singer gave her first expansive interview in 2019 after converting – or “reverting,” as she said – to Eddie Redzovic, an American YouTube star and Muslim convert who hosts a weekly interview show that apparently has millions of fans around the world.
Sinéad converted to Islam in 2018 and didn’t want to publicize her choice. “I felt that I didn’t want to as it was a private decision, and…I didn’t want to justify it to people. I felt like I don’t have to explain why I became a Muslim…I feel passionately about Islam and passionate about defending it against stigma.”
So why exactly did she formalize her connection to Islam? “Revert is the right word. I was always, always a Muslim and I didn’t even know it,” she replied.
Sinéad – or Shuhada Sadaqat, her Muslim name – was pretty clear that she doesn’t feel her calling is to convert others. The interviewer asked her about reaching out to her old pal Conor McGregor for a sit-down, but Sinéad nixed that plan.
“Allah will take who he wants,” she said.
Nor does she know another famous celebrity Islam follower, Lindsay Lohan, who likely isn’t as serious about the religion as Sinéad is.
“I didn’t realize until after I converted that she had done the same. I had seen an article about it. I was delighted to know. I don’t know her; I’ve never met her,” she said.
The 56-year-old, who battled mental health problems for years but seemed to be doing well at the time of the interview. She revealed during the discussion that her father was also learning more about Islam.
“He is very interested in it. He would like to read the Quran but I say don’t read it, listen to it,” she said.
Irish people are relating more and more to the Muslim faith thanks to the sex scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, Sinéad felt.
“That’s why people like me are reverting. We can see completely and utterly through it because of what’s happened in our own church, the scandals…everything that people have been discovering. The lies, the horrible smell of oppression of the most vulnerable."
* Originally published in 2019, updated in July 2023.
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