A 29-year-old woman from Ukraine tragically passed away in Dubai just hours after converting to Islam earlier this week, as reported by a prominent social media account dedicated to funeral prayers in the country.
The woman, citing a Khaleej Times report, identified as Daria Kotsarenko, received an outpouring of support from both Emiratis and expatriates who gathered at Al Qusais cemetery mosque on Friday to offer funeral prayers, as evidenced by photos shared by janaza_uae on X.
♦️جمُوع غفيرة أدت صلاة الجنازة على الشابة الاوكرانية داريا كوتسارينكو … شرح الله صدرها للاسلام وأكرمها بعد موتها بهذه الجموع ودعاء الناس لها
— خدمة جنائز الإمارات (@Janaza_uae) March 29, 2024
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم اذا أرادَ اللهُ بعبدٍ خيرًا عسَله قيلَ وما عسَله ؟ قال يُفتَحُ له عملٌ صالِحٌ قبل موتِه فيقبضُهُ عليهِ pic.twitter.com/fvrSwcDBBv
According to janaza_uae’s post on Thursday, Daria had no family or relatives in Dubai, intensifying the community’s grief over her loss.
Daria, who arrived in the UAE as a tourist and was seeking job opportunities, discovered the beauty of Islam during her time in the country. A widely shared document revealed that she formally converted to Islam on March 25, but tragically, she passed away from a suspected heart attack just hours later, while fasting for Ramadan as a new Muslim.
The show of solidarity and support at Daria’s funeral mirrored similar instances in the past, including the death of 93-year-old Louis Jene Mitchell, also known as Um Yahya, in November 2022. Um Yahya had also recently converted to Islam while in the UAE, prompting a large attendance at her funeral in Abu Dhabi.