Sinéad O'Connor Converts to Islam, Taking New Name Shuhada' Davitt
The singer says she is ‘very, very, very happy’ and thanks Muslims for welcoming her
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
BY: BEN BEAUMONT-THOMAS
The singer formerly known as Sinéad O’Connor has converted to Islam, changing her name to Shuhada’.
She made the announcement on Twitter, saying her conversion was “the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant.”
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. She also posted a YouTube video of her making the Islamic call to prayer.
Her full new name is Shuhada’ Davitt, using the surname she gave herself when she changed her name to Magda Davitt in 2017. She said at the time that she wanted to be “free of the patriarchal slave names. Free of the parental curses.”
Davitt has candidly documented her struggles with mental health in recent years, posting a Facebook video in August 2017 in which she admitted to suicidal thoughts. “I am one of millions … people who suffer from mental illness are the most vulnerable people on earth, we can’t take care of ourselves, you’ve got to take care of us,” she said in the video. “My entire life is revolving around not dying, and that’s not living.” In a previous update in November 2015, she said she had “taken an overdose”, and a police search was launched for her in May 2016 after she briefly went missing in Chicago, sparking fears for her wellbeing.
Earlier this week, she claimed on Twitter that a healthcare assistant working with her was fired “for spiking me with crystal meth”.
She was ordained as a priest in 1999 by the Irish Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic church – the group are not officially affiliated with the Catholic church, who do not allow the ordination of women as priests.
She became disillusioned with Catholicism in the wake of child abuse scandals in the church, describing the Vatican as a “nest of devils” in a 2011 newspaper article. In an open letter published in August this year, she asked Pope Francis to excommunicate her, and said she had made similar previous appeals to Pope Benedict and John Paul II.
Also in August, she released her first new music in four years, a song called Milestones made with Northern Irish producer David Holmes, whom she met at a birthday party for Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan. She is preparing a new album called No Mud No Lotus, which, she says, won’t be out before October 2019.