Four women from different corners of the world, imprisoned in Dubai for various crimes, found a new sense of purpose and faith in Islam ahead of Ramadan. Each of them shared their deeply personal journey with The National. Journeys shaped by hardship, spiritual discovery and an unexpected sense of community behind the prison walls at the Dubai Police Correctional Establishment in Al Awir.
Their paths to incarceration were different, yet their journeys to Islam have a common thread, as all were drawn to the faith through the kindness, resilience and compassion of the Muslim women they had met in confinement.
Last May, Greta, 25, was arrested at Dubai Airport while carrying eight kilograms of cocaine. The Brazilian had been convinced by a childhood friend to smuggle the drugs into the UAE in exchange for Dh19,000 ($5,175), money she desperately needed to cover the last two years of her physiotherapy degree.
“I was terrified,” she told The National. “Not just because I was arrested, but because everything around me was unfamiliar. I didn’t speak English and for the first time I saw so many women covered in Islamic dress. It was overwhelming.”
As she awaited sentencing, Greta was astonished by the kindness of the Muslim inmates and prison officers. “They were the ones who comforted me the most. They told me God never forgets anyone.”
Curious about the faith that fostered such kindness, she began attending Islamic lectures in prison. Nearly four months ago, she was looking for a Quran in her language and a police officer played a recording of the Quran in Arabic for her instead.
“I don’t know how to explain it but when I heard it I felt a deep connection with God,” she said. "There was no fear, no heaviness in my heart, just peace. That’s when I decided to embrace Islam.”
Now Greta is preparing for her first Ramadan. “I learnt about fasting from the women around me. They told me how it cleanses not just the body but also the soul.”
Salvation through faith
Aadhya’s journey was one of inner turmoil, addiction and self-destruction. Before her arrest last April, she had struggled with substance abuse for years, prioritising drugs over everything – including her six-year-old daughter. “I didn’t care about anything except getting high,” the 25-year-old told The National.
Her mother, who works in the UAE as a domestic helper, arranged for her to work in a supermarket in the Emirates but Aadhya was arrested at the airport for carrying drugs before she could start the job.
Aadhya, from India, said she had grown up believing that Muslims were to be avoided. “I was told not to talk to them, not to sit with them, not to eat with them. So, in my mind Islam was something negative.”
While in temporary detention, she had nothing to do and started reading books in her native Malayalam and it was then that she picked up on Islamic teachings. “At first, I read to pass the time but then I started wondering 'why does this religion focus so much on kindness, charity and self-improvement?' It was so different from what I had been told.”
After nine months, she was transferred to the central prison, where she met Muslim women who answered her questions. “I attended lectures, listened and observed. The more I learnt, the more I wanted to be part of it.”
She embraced Islam last May, one month after being sentenced to 25 years in prison. “I called my mother and told her. She said, ‘if you are sure, then maybe Islam will be better for you, especially with your addiction'. She was right.”
For Aadhya, Islam was not only a new belief system, it was her salvation. “Addiction was my prison before I entered this one. But in Islam, I realised that drugs are not just a crime punishable by law; it's a sin because they destroy you and those around you. That changed my perspective completely.”
The first few months of withdrawal were brutal. “I was aggressive, I fought with the police, with other inmates. My body would shake from withdrawal. But the more I read, the more I stopped focusing on the pain. Now, I am clean and I feel free.”
And she regards this holy month as a second chance at life. “Ramadan will be my golden opportunity to reflect on who I was, who I am now and who I want to become,” she said. “Before I was just surviving but now I am living.”
Chance of fresh start
Bidemi, 39, from Nigeria, was last year sentenced to 10 years in jail for drug-related charges, after spending two years in detention. Despite the difficult circumstances, Bidemi’s life took an unexpected turn five months ago when she embraced Islam.
“I didn’t know anything about Islam,“ she said. "One day, I was walking past the prison mosque and heard the call to prayer. I don’t know why but I felt an overwhelming rush of emotions, and I started crying.”
Though she initially had no intention of converting, she was fascinated by how Muslim women prayed. “I asked one of the Muslim inmates to teach me how to pray, even though at the time I wasn’t thinking of becoming Muslim,” she said. “Then I started reading about Ramadan and how it’s a month of self-improvement, kindness and charity. The more I read, the closer I felt to Islam. Eventually, I decided to convert.”
Her biggest surprise came right after her conversion. “I had prayed, asking God to let me leave this place and see my daughter again,” she said. A few days later she received Dh5,000 and, shortly after that, she was granted a pardon. She is now preparing to travel back to Nigeria.
Source of hope
Her fellow inmate Shannon, 42, from South Africa, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for drug-related charges in 2023. She was pregnant at the time of her arrest and her sentencing was delayed until after she had given birth to her daughter, Angel, in November of that year.
“The moment I heard my sentence, I completely broke down,” she said. “I was filled with fear, sorrow, anxiety and exhaustion, mostly for my daughter.” After returning to her cell, it was the Muslim prisoners who consoled her. “They hugged me, comforted me and spoke with such kindness and love that I started listening to them more. I became curious about their faith, about Islam, and how they believed God could change everything.”
Gradually, Shannon found solace in the teachings of Islam and converted last February. Since then, she has seen what she describes as miracles unfolding.
“Before Islam, everything was dark, including my sentence, my financial struggles, my loneliness,” she said. “But things started to change. The prison gave me money, donors sent gifts for my daughter, then came the news that changed my world – I was granted a pardon.”
*Names have been changed for privacy
