A 62-year-old Russian expat, Liodmila Shtshebynia, passed away just two days after converting to Islam, according to Khaleej Times. With no family in the UAE, her death was announced on the Instagram account @Janaza_UAE, which urged people to attend her funeral with the plea, “She has no one, be her sons and brothers.”
The funeral took place on Monday during Maghrib prayers at the Al Shahaba mosque in Sharjah. “I just received the announcement and posted it immediately. They informed us that she has no one here, and we asked people to attend her funeral,” Abdulla Hussain Almarzooqi, the founder of @Janaza_UAE, told Khaleej Times.
Following the post, messages quickly spread on WhatsApp and other social media platforms, encouraging residents to attend the Janazah (funeral) prayer. One WhatsApp message read: “Please ask everyone you know to join this Janazah. This sister has no family here and please keep her in your Duaa (prayer).”
Abdulla Hussain Almarzooqi has been running @Janaza_UAE for ten years, ensuring that no one is buried without prayers. Through his Instagram and X accounts, he announces funerals across the UAE, with a following of approximately 283,000 on X and 70,000 on Instagram.
Thousands of social media users expressed their condolences, with one commenting, “Her destiny is that she dies as a Muslim.”
This is not an isolated case in the UAE. In March, another Dubai resident, Daria Kotsarenko, aged 29, passed away shortly after receiving her conversion certificate. Hundreds attended her funeral, and her sudden demise was attributed to a heart attack. Faris Al Hammadi, a Dubai Imam, noted that Daria had developed a genuine curiosity about Islam, leading her to convert.