Mumbai: A German man who converted to Islam on his deathbed and a Brazilian Pilot who pronounced Shahada flying about 18,000 ft above Saudi Arabia besides Muslim UPSC Civil Services passouts in India are among the top newsmakers of 2018.
The videos of the German man embracing Islam minutes before his death and the Brazilian Pilot Amalo pronouncing Shahada mid-air were seen and shared by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
Both of them embraced Islam in a span of three months. While the video of the German man surfaced in August, the Brazilian pilot hit the headlines in November, 2018.
The ailing German in the video was gravely ill when he decided to become Muslim, while his Muslim son was helping him to recite the Shahada (testimony), “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad (PBUH) is His messenger.” After the testimony, the son recited the call to prayer (azan) in his dying father’s ear.
Shahada is an Islamic creed, one of the five Pillars of Islam, declaring belief in the oneness of God (Tawhid) and the acceptance of Muhammad as Allah's prophet.
On the other hand, the footage of the unusual conversion of the Brazilian pilot was shared online by El Balad News. According to the paper, the Brazilian pilot for an unidentified airline took the Shahada in tandem with a colleague as they operated the controls of an aircraft.
“We are here with pilot Amalo from Brazil. He will say the text of the Shahada during our flight to Taluka,” a man sitting in the cockpit can be heard saying, Russia Today reported.
“I testify that Muhammad is the Prophet,” Captain Amalo added, completing his quirky mid-air conversion.
The Muslim UPSC Civil Services passouts who made the headlines in 2018 include Ilma Afroz who left UN and other International assignments to join Indian bureaucracy, Seerat Fatima, a primary teacher, Salman Patel, a villager, and Nooh Siddiqui whose father runs coaching centre for IAS aspirants.
In politics, Indian American Mujtaba Mohammed, Palestinian migrant Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, a former refugee, hit the headlines in 2018 along with 52 other Muslims who won the United States Mid Term elections - a record number in US history.
Imran Khan, the former cricketer who won the 2018 general elections in Pakistan and became Prime Minister after a struggle of 22 long years was also the darling of media in 2018. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman also dominated the media in the last year. He was in the news for his reforms, and also because of the mysterious death of Jamal Khashoggi - a Saudi journalist.
In sports, the Muslim players, including Mohammed Salah, and Paul Pogba and six other Muslim soccer players who played for France in the 2018 FIFA Football World Cup Final got wide media coverage in the last year.
Besides them over two dozen Muslim females from 20 Muslim countries who figured in BBC's "100 Women" were in the media for months because of their inspiring stories. Top among them who made headlines in 2018 are Alina Anisimova - the 19-year-old Muslim student who leads the Kyrgyz Girls' Space School and Reyhan Jamalova - 16-year-old Muslim student from Azerbaijan, and a young entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Rainergy.
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