[Appearing with Usman Khawaja on ‘When Ussie Met Rachel’ airs on '60 Minutes' on Sunday night, Rachel McLellan said there was neither any pressure from him nor from his family. (Photo: CricTracker.com)]
Sydney: Rachel McLellan, who hit media headlines recently after she got engaged with Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja, revealed live on a television show why she converted from Christianity to Islam.
Appearing with Usman Khawaja on ‘When Ussie Met Rachel’ airs on '60 Minutes' on Sunday night, Rachel McLellan said there was neither any pressure from him nor from his family. It was her own decision taken after she realised how important Islam was to the Pakistani-born Australian cricketer.
“[I felt] no pressure from him, not any pressure from his family,” says Rachel. “I just knew it was so important to him", Rachel McLellan said when asked if she was pressurised to convert to Islam for Usman, reported DailyMail.
Sharing her story Rachel said, “Ussie was the first Muslim I’d ever met. I was very ignorant around Ussie, I will admit to that. I only listened to what I had heard on the news All I read was well, terrorists and awful things.”
For the first Muslim to ever play cricket for Australia, faith has always come first in Uman’s life. So, when 31-year-old batsman met and fell for a 22-year-old Catholic school girl, Rachel from Brisbane, their relationship blossomed. Rachel also shard how the couple faced outrage when their relationship become public after Khawaja proposed her during a New York holiday in July 2016.
The left-hander elegant batsman also said he never put any pressure on Rachel to switch religion for him. “I never was going to put a gun to Rachel’s head and say you have to convert. I told her I would prefer her to convert but she has to do it on her own. Unless it comes from you, comes from the heart, then there is no point doing it", Usman said.
And walking away from her Catholic roots, Rachel finally embraced to Islam last year.
Proud to be the poster couple for combining cultural and family traditions, and balancing a frantic international cricket circuit with newly found-faith, they want to marry in April following the cricket season, in what they’re calling their ‘Big White Wedding.’
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