The Ghanaian Minaret

Dublin: The family of Sinead O’ Connor, a Dublin-born Grammy winner, has confirmed the passing away of the 56-year-old singer on Wednesday, July 26.

Her death comes almost a year after the passing of her 17-year-old son, Shane Lunny, who was reported to have committed suicide in January 2022.

Though the cause of her death was not provided, the family confirmed the death in a statement and “requested privacy at this very difficult time”.

The mother of four, who grew up in a Catholic family and identified herself as a theologian from childhood, converted to Islam in 2018 and changed her then name, Magda Davitt, to Shuhada Sadaqat.

To announce her embrace of Islam, she wrote on Twitter in October 2018: “This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim.

“This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey. All scripture study leads to Islam. Which makes all other scriptures redundant.”

Almost a year later, in an interview with Ryan Tubridy on Ireland’s The Late Show in 2019, she discussed her journey to Islam.

“I started studying scriptures from different religions, trying to find the ‘truth’ about God… I never thought I would join a religion, but I left Islam until last because I had so much prejudice about Islam,” she said.

“But then when I started reading, I read just chapter two alone of the Quran, and I realised, ‘Oh my God, I am home,” she said. “I had been a Muslim all my life and didn’t realise it.”

She was previously ordained a priest in 1999 by the Latin Tridentine Church, a sect that is not recognised by the mainstream Catholic Church.

Her cover of Prince’s Nothing Compares to You in 1990, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year, shot her to fame.

She also made headlines through activism after she tore up the photo of the pope in 1992 to protest child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church while performing on the American TV show, Saturday Night Live.

The act was later criticised by Madonna, Frank Sinatra, and many others in the entertainment industry.

Throughout her music career, she spoke about her spiritual journey, activism, and socio-political views, as well as her trauma and mental health struggles with Bipolar disorder.

She consistently spoke out on issues related to child abuse, human rights, anti-racism, organised religion, and women’s rights.

Following the death of her son, the singer Sinead broke the news to fans that she wouldn’t be performing again.

She wrote on Twitter, “Just to say, suggestions there’ll be any performances this year, next year, or ever again are erroneous. There will never be anything to sing about again, #DropsMike”.