My conversion story starts when I was 14 years old and changed school because of a lengthy hospital stay. The new people around me, those I got to know, were the first Muslims I ever got in touch with intensively. I wasn’t raised religiously for my family are all atheists and so was I. When I was with my new friends, I would participate in their religious and cultural daily lives. For me, it was the most exciting and fascinating thing for a long time. It didn’t take long before I had the strong wish to convert and wear the hijab. I fell in love with the religion of Islam in general and its practices, like the prayer. I remember when I first fell in tears on my prayer mat and regretted my past life and the wasted time without Allah. The hijab was my loyal companion from day one of my conversion and even before I converted officially. Although I struggled with finding new long and halal clothes, I was ready to take every burden on my back, only to have a proper hijab on my skin and hair.

After some months, I got to know my (future) husband who was not Sunni but a Shi’i. My head was filled with many prejudices towards the Shi’i religion, but I listened to him and his family. They explained to me several events like the killing of Sayyeda Fatima al-Zahra or Ghadeer Khum. Step by step, I opened my heart to these new things that I learned. With time, I changed my beliefs and principles entirely from the Sunni perspective to a perspective full of love towards Allah and the Ahlulbayt. Shi’ism guided me through hard times and will always be part of my identity. Also, I’m convinced that pulling off the hijab will never be an option. It protected me in many situations.