This is the story a Hindu girl, now Maryam. She says her views about Muslims changed when she came to UAE. She studied about Islam for one year and then decided to become a Muslim
Mumbai: Amidst the rising onslaught and hate campaigns against Muslims, the latest being the demands to down loudspeakers from mosque minarets, a video of 27-year-old Hindu girl who converted to Islam has set social media on fire.
The video, recorded and first published by overcome.tv in 2016, resurfaced on Twitter last night.
In the 4-minute video, the Hindu girl, now Maryam, says she had never interacted any Muslim during her 23-year stay in India.
She says she was taught since her childhood all the bad things about Muslims. But her views changed when she first met Muslims in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“I belong to a Hindu family. (but) Religion was always confusion. Just for the sake of doing it, we used to do it”, she said while talking to overcome.tv.
“None of the family members are so practicing but they are very rigid in their belief”, she said in the video. The ummid.com has not independently verified the video.
She said she had never interacted any Muslim until she came to the UAE.
“Honestly speaking, I was always scared of them because that is what I was taught from childhood… That they are not good people… They are terrorists.. They are bad.. Stay away from them”, she said.
She said she first came across Muslims when she started working in Barclays.
“It was their nice behaviour that first attracted me towards people (Muslims), not to the religion. Not people related to a specific country but people related to Islam. This was what actually attracted me that how come they are so nice? ” she wondered.
“They are so kind. They are so helping”, she said.
“That was the first time I started actually knowing about Islam”, she said, adding she studied about Islam for one year – using books from Islamic centres and online resources.
Maryam broke while sharing her feelings when she took the Holy Quran in her hand for the first time.
“When I took Quran in my hand … Even if now I feel my hands shiver…”, she said.
“It’s like I cried and cried and cried holding it”, she said.
“I just cried”, she added.
“I cried for a little more than half an hour. I just kept crying…”she said, inconsolable again.
Watch The Video
Now viral on Twitter and other social media platforms, the video is receiving varying reactions, with some even saying they too have siblings who have become Muslims in the UAE.
“Reminds me of my sister when she embraced Islam few years ago, and how Islam completely changed her personality”, a Twitter user wrote.
“M also a revert from India Hindu family… My family doesn’t know about it yet. Make dua for me … m a Muslimah (sic)”, another Twitter user wrote after watching Maryam’s video.
The UAE has become another country in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia where reports of people embracing Islam make headlines almost every day. According to a report by Khaleej Times, as many as 2,027 people of different nationalities residing in Dubai converted to Islam in six months from January to June of 2021.
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