Heart and Soul: How the war in Gaza helped me find God

Vanessa’s Fridays saw her dancing the night away in the night clubs of Liverpool, having drinks with friends, sometimes staying out all night. But now Fridays are times of prayer with new friends at the mosque. She took her vows – shahada – to become a Muslim within a month of Hamas attacking Israel and the resulting military campaign in Gaza and says the unshakeable faith of Palestinian Muslims then was the catalyst for her conversion. Now, wearing a full hijab, she has made it clear to all around her, her life has totally changed. She no longer sees the friends she used to spend so much time with. But that loss has partly been made up through the support of her new friends, many of whom are also converts to Islam. In Liverpool where she lives, the South African born Vanessa, plans to change her name to Amina, after the prophet Mohammed’s mother, further marking herself out as Muslim and identifying with the global Muslim community – or Ummah.