Singer Sinead O’Connor has announced she has converted to Islam and changed her name.
The Irish performer, known for her song Nothing Compares 2U, released the news via Twitter and revealed she is now called Shuhada’ Davitt.
The 51-year-old said: “This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey.
Happy pic.twitter.com/VkJsj2IFAi
— Shuhada’ Davitt (@MagdaDavitt77) October 23, 2018
“All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant. I will be given (another) new name. It will be Shuhada’.”
The tweet, posted on October 19, was followed by messages apparently from the Koran as well as selfies of O’Connor wearing a hijab.
She has also changed the name of her Twitter page to Shuhada’ Davitt.
Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, an imam at the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council, helped with her conversion.
He said: “Shuhada has a truthful soul and has always had a strong connection with the scriptures.
“After reading the Holy Qur’an, she came to realise that Islam is the natural conclusion of her search for the truth.”
He referenced the “many challenges” O’Connor has faced in her life, adding: “We warmly welcome Shuhada to the Ummah, the global family around the world and here in Ireland and like a family we will support her through her newly revived spiritual journey.”
O’Connor also shared a picture on Twitter of herself standing 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, or call to prayer, later apologising for any pronunciation mistakes.
She said the “emotions took me from my page… but they’ll be hundreds of others onstage to come”.
On Thursday, she wrote: “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. You can’t begin to imagine how much your tenderness means to me.”
O’Connor has a history of mental health issues. In June 2016 she dismissed reports she was missing and had threatened to jump off a bridge, calling the report “false and malicious gossip”.
In December 2015, she wrote on Facebook that she had been detained in hospital for a mental health evaluation.
A month earlier she wrote another Facebook post claiming she had overdosed on pills in a hotel room in Ireland. She was later found safe and taken to hospital.
O’Connor was ordained as a priest in 1999 by a Catholic group not connected to the Roman Catholic Church, of which she has been a vocal critic.
She ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a Saturday Night Live appearance in 1992.