I am of two minds regarding singer Sinead O'Connor's decision to convert to Islam and change her name to Shuhada Davitt.
It was just over a year ago that O'Connor, now 51, posted a tearful Facebook video in which she declared thoughts of suicide after losing custody of her teenaged son. If her embrace of Islam has helped her overcome suicidal thoughts and bring her peace of mind then it is certainly a positive.
The question is how the onetime Roman Catholic priest will put her newfound faith into practice. Whatever her troubled past, having a prominent woman convert to Islam will automatically make her a global ambassador of sorts. Will she speak of peace or of violence or perhaps both? In other words will she pull a Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Yusuf Islam) and declare Salman Rushdie be put to death for blasphemy? Or will she be more low key like Richard Thompson and let her music do the talking? I cannot help but wonder how her new faith will square with her feminism and her support of liberalizing Ireland's abortion laws.
O'Connor made her announcement alongside Sheikh Umar al-Qadri, a prominent Muslim cleric based in O'Connor's native Ireland. Sheikh al-Qadri has been outspoken in his opposition to ISIS and al Qaeda, interfaith outreach as well as an extending an olive branch to the LGBT community. At the same, however, he has also praised Hamas. On the other hand, al-Qadri has also distanced himself from the Muslim Brotherhood which spawned Hamas in the first place. Under the circumstances, there are far worse people with whom she could have aligned although it will be interesting to see if O'Connor continues her association with al-Qadri or how long she will stick with Islam even at the risk of being an apostate.
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