Dubai: Famous Filipina TikToker embraces Islam

A famous Dubai-based Filipina TikToker Fiona James has embraced Islam during the holy month of Ramadan.

Fiona, who has approximately 0.8 million followers on the famous social media app TikTok, changed her name to Zainab after she accepted Islam at Islamic Information Centre in Satwa, Dubai, in the first week of Ramadan.

A resident of the Philippines capital Manila, Zainab moved to UAE more than eight years ago and was always intrigued by the azan (call to prayer) from the mosques.

“Actually, whenever I heard azan, I felt calm. In fact, I memorized some parts of the azan also. This also made me inquisitive about the religion,” Zainab told Khaleej Times in an interview.

She is currently taking online classes from Islamic Information Centre to learn about Islam and hopes to complete the course in one month.

She is also studying and memorising smaller chapters of the Holy Quran.

Zainab said her family is happy and very supportive of her decision.

“I feel very nice and very calm inside me. I embraced Islam on my own. No one forced me to accept this religion,” she added.

Sharing the details of the reaction of her friends and followers, she said: “They were very happy and very supportive of my decision.”

A certificate of being the new Muslim has also been issued to her.

She said her Pakistani friend Salman also helped to study and get early know-how about the religion.

Salman is also a TikToker with two million followers and both have made dozens of videos for the social media platform together.

“We are friends for five years. In Islam, one cannot be forced to embrace religion. Instead, it’s all about getting the right information and meeting the right people. Sometimes we used to discuss it also as she used to ask me questions time and again. I believe this encouraged her to come into the fold of Islam,” said Salman.

“I used to receive a lot of comments on my videos to make her accept Islam. But we didn’t force her and it’s her personal choice,” he added.

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