KUALA LUMPUR: Akademi Fantasia Season 6 champion Stacy Anam has converted to Islam.
The popular singer confirmed this during a Press conference held at Astro today.
Yesterday, rumours were rife of her conversion to Islam when a photograph of her wearing the hijab and a video clip of her announcing her Syahadah (declaration of faith) were leaked and circulated on the social media.
Stacy who won Popular Female Singer trophy at the Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian last year, officially embraced Islam at the Johor Baru religious office in Johor at around 10am yesterday.
The 25-year-old Sabahan star announced her Syahadah in the presence of her parents, Agnes Kaloos, 57, and Anam Bayar, 53.
Accompanying her to the religious office was AF Season 7’s Akim Ahmad’s parents. The popular actor and TV personality has been romantically linked to Stacy for the past few years.
“Yes, I have converted to Islam officially yesterday. It was the happiest day of my life,” admitted the singer, who has chosen the name Ummu Syaikhah Stacy binti Anam as her new Muslim name.
“But I still answer to Stacy,” said the singer who was flanked by her parents.
Akim had taken up the matter onto his twitter account, expressing his frustration after the photograph and video were leaked by irresponsible parties.
“It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. But after the photo and video were shared, I felt very down and depressed.
“It is not as if I was trying to hide the good news, but the matter is a personal one as some of my family members are still not in the know about my conversion to Islam. Imagine how they felt when they saw the photograph and video?” she said, adding that, she would still share the news with everyone eventually.
Stacy who has four albums under her belt said that when she declared the Syahadah, she was so focused and excited at the same time that she did not realise someone was recording it.
“It was a sacred moment... a special moment between God and I. So it was frustrating when someone recorded and shared it without my consent,” said Stacy, who admitted of knowing the individual responsible in releasing the materials to the public.
“As a new Muslim convert, I forgive her.”
Stacy’s conversion had also sparked talks of an impending marriage to Akim.
“It’s not true. Honestly, Akim and I have no plans to tie the knot yet. If I had converted because I wanted to get married, I would probably have done so only when a wedding date has been set.
“Being a Muslim is a huge responsibility. There are a lot of things that I need to learn. So my focus now is to learn to become a good Muslimah first, before I can think about marriage,” said Stacy who is popular for her hit tunes as Aku Stacy, Gagap and Bosan.
Stacy also hoped that fans would not question her action to embrace her new faith.
“I was a Christian before and I am proud of it. But this is a matter of the heart, and I have fallen in love with Islam and I am ready to embrace it with all my heart. I hope everyone will respect that,” she said.