05
@Glam.Halal
sept-oct. 2019
“Hijrah means to move from one place to another. To me, it means the shift from the place I was before
to where I am now,” Mizz Nina feels her life is much happier after her hijrah.
shows that having a positive influence has
really helped Mizz Nina in her journey.
Noh is the frontman of a Malaysian band
‘Hujan’, who was most active in the early
2000’s.
Mizz Nina claims that performing the
Hajj was a life-changing experience for her.
“In 2013, I went to perform my Hajj with my
mother, sister, husband, aunts and their fami-
lies, and my sister in laws,” Nina claims. ”I saw
a lot of people performing the Tawbah and I
was touched by their stories. That’s where I
learnt to make Tawbah. I know what to ask
for and I decided to break my ego, stop living
for myself or other people and start living for
Allah. The whole spiritual experience was the
turning point. Where I wanted to be a differ-
ent person and live the life of a Muslim.”
An artist in more than one way
Even though she has pulled herself out of
entertainment industry, Mizz Nina never
stopped being an artist. Her art is in the story
telling aspect in her production company that
she started with some of her closest friends,
DOPSTV – a channel dedicated to an Islamic
lifestyle. Her videos can be found on YouTube
where the guests tell their real-life stories
accompanied by Islamic content and discus-
sions – something to accentuate the beauty of
A wave of change
for Yusuf Islam
C
at Stevens – Steven Demetre Geourgiou was born
in 1948. He is a singer-songwriter and multi-instru-
mentalist. Responsible for hit songs in the 60s such as
“Wild World”, “Here Comes my Baby”, and “Father and Son”,
his career was based in London and his work was recognised
by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1977 he converted to Islam after he studied the copy
of an English translated Quran given by his brother, David
Gordon. Before Islam, he had always been looking for a path.
He believes in the higher power where his albums were writ-
ten according to his beliefs. He had looked into Buddhism,
Zen, Numerology, astrology and a few more.
A year before his Islamic conversion, he was at his friend’s
house in Malibu. While waiting for his friend to cook dinner,
Islam (then Stevens), went on a swim. He nearly drowned and
during his moment of struggling for his life, he shouted “Oh
God! If you save me, I will work for you!” He was then carried
by the waves to the shore of his friend’s house back again.
Reading the Quran, Stevens was taken by its content and
the beautiful stories. “These are not the words of a man!”
he exclaimed to himself. The transition journey led him to
Morocco where he first heard the azan and walked his way to
a nearby mosque. He was happily greeted by an Imam, asking
who he was. To that, Stevens responded “I’m your brother.”
He was then welcomed and was taught the beauty of Islam.
Reaction from others
Support from family members can help when
we are improving ourselves. When Mizz Nina
was going through her hijrah, her family
members were easy to accept the changes.
Majority of her friends are generally okay with
it. However some of them were quite worried
of the changes as they described them as
being ‘too drastic’. A lot of adjustments were
made to how she interacts with people as
compared to her previous life. According to
Mizz Nina, there are some friends who left the
circle after her transformation. “Alhamdulil-
lah, Allah has replaced the loss with better
people in my circle. So it’s okay and it’s very
empowering to have good people around you,”
she says.
Some of her fans are quick to judge her
for the transformation. Needless to say, the
former singer faces an array of negativity
from the public and some of the media. To
that, she chooses to turn the other cheek. “It
doesn’t matter what people say, they can keep
their noise but it doesn’t make a different
because I am doing this sincerely for Allah.
I am confident that Allah will protect me
and sooner or later, they will find some other
outlet for their negativity,” she explains.
Islam was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
an Islamic lifestyle.
Her clothing labels have also evolved
through the year – starting from Mizz Deam-
eanor during her Teh Tarik Crew. “After I made
my hijrah, I know this (Mizz Deameanor) is
not going to work anymore so I had to change
my brand.” The thought gave birth to the
street, yet modest urban fashion label known
as Madeena. “It went quite well for a few years
and I came up with a sup-label, Sawdaa which
is more minimalistic compared to Madeena.”
The clothing labels though, has been
placed under a hiatus. However, her passion
for fashion hasn’t been extinguished. “I’ve
decided to come up with some special collec-
tions,” she says with excitement in her voice.
“In Shaa Allah, I will be coming up with a
hijab collection. Not too big but maybe a few
designs by the end of this year.”
To keep up with her upcoming projects,
updates will be posted on her Instagram and
Facebook - @officialmizznina and her Twitter
@mizznina1780.
“I’ve always been
fascinated by the
story of Joseph in
the Quran. When I
wanted to change
my name to Joseph,
an Imam suggested the name
Yusuf because it’s the Arabic name
of Joseph. The original language of
the book I’ve grown to love.”
Since then, he changed his name to Yusuf Islam the next
year as he felt that the Prophet’s story being sold and bought
in a market place relates to his music career over the years.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the story of Joseph in the
Quran. When I wanted to change my name to Joseph, an
Imam suggested the name Yusuf because it’s the Arabic name
of Joseph. The original language of the book I’ve grown to
love,” Islam said in an interview.
Since then, Yusuf took a hiatus in his music career. He auc-
tioned off all his guitars to raise funds for his humanitarian
missions. He helped to found the Muslim Aid charity focus-
ing on Islamic education throughout Africa and European
countries.