Catholic woman: one of 500 most influential Muslims In the world

Georgetown University of Washington announced Sarah Joseph (39), CEO and Editor of Emel -the Muslim lifestyle magazine in United Kingdom, was named as one of 500 most influential Muslims of the world.

Sarah Joseph grew up in a Catholic family and studied Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College in London. At the age of 16, she converted to Islam. She expresses her conversion as follows:

“My family comes from a diverse Christian background and tradition. We always had faith in Allah and Christianity was the only way for me to express my faith. I even thought of becoming a nun to serve at a Church. Then I started to study Islam and I learned that in Islam that not only did they worship Allah, but they also revered and respected all of the prophets also All Muslims believe that Mary (pbuh) gave birth to Prophet Jesus (pbuh) and he is one of the prophets of Allah. I was really impressed by Muslims at that time but had not decided to convert to Islam yet. So, I started to pray to Allah. Over time I realized that Islam means surrender oneself to Allah and that is exactly what I wanted. I do care about what Islam says about Prophet Adam (pbuh) and Eve and how salvation will come true and who Prophet Jesus is. Christianity is in harmony with Islam but of course there are differences and these differences made me more curious and interested about Islam. It was tough for my family to accept my decision as I was only sixteen years old. I told them I would choose my Lord, Allah, if they had forced me to make a choice, however they finally approved of my conversion.

Every day Islam influences all of us and consequently all of civilization. We express this view in Emel Magazine. We always give place to the success of women. It is not enough to explain the rights of the women in Islam but we should also live by these rights and contribute to our society. Muslim men should follow the Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) as a role model. Our Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) always gave women freedom and behaved in a kind and in a polite manner with them.”