Four French Tourists Enter Islam At The Baiturrahman Aceh Grand Mosque

Four French nationals (medium) officially embraced Islam after holding a pledge at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, Banda Aceh, Friday (27/10/2023). (ANTARA/HO/Indra)

BANDA ACEH - Four French citizens (tourists) officially converted to Islam after saying two sentences of creed for the second time at the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, Banda Aceh City, as well as the process of obtaining a certificate.

"The four residents from the City of Mode, entered Islam with their own awareness without coercion," said Head of the Prosperity Section of the Baiturrahman Teungku Mosque, Iskandar HS, in Banda Aceh as reported by ANTARA, Friday, October 27.

Teungku Iskandar said the four French nationals had lived in Aceh for a long time, they all had family and were friends.

After officially becoming a Muslim, the name of the fourth convert to Islam from a foreign country also changed to David Lobre (49) changed his name to Daud Akbar, Estelle Bennedicte Fonte (42) to Balqis Lobre, then Lilou Lobre (10) changed his name Farah Lobre, while Menaut (54) changed to Mahmud Ahmad.

"They will have a more suitable name, and administratively it is in process," he said.

For information, the four tourists before the tsunami traveled to Aceh to surf, and had been addressed in the past on Tuesday (24/10) by the Aceh Besar Beach Tourism Manager T Ayatullah Bani Baet at Mon Ikeun Beach.

"We have also addressed it in Mon Ikeun Village, then we took it to the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque to get certification and redistribute it again," said Teungku Iskandar.

Meanwhile, the manager of the Aceh Besar Tourism Beach, Bani Baet, said that tourists from France had often returned to Aceh since 1996 to surf in the Kuala Babah Beach area. The process of getting to know Islam also took place during their tour.

"They saw that our tourist area was Babah Kuala, a sharia area, then they got along with the community until they finally became interested in our culture. In the end, they wanted to convert to Islam," he said.

Bani Baet also said that this is not the first time foreign tourists have entered Islam in Mon Ikeun Village, there have been dozens of people because they are interested in sharia tourism in Aceh Province.

"Our tourism area is peaceful, the people are friendly, so many tourists have become converts," said Bani Baet.