Makkah: World class soccer player Paul Pogba who is on his first visit to the holy city Makkah on Umra (minor pilgrimage) has said that Islam has made him become a “better person.”
According to reports in international media, Paul Pogba’s mother is a Muslim but did not raise her three sons to be Muslim. But the Manchester United’s midfielder connected with religion as an adult through friends. He says that Islam is often misunderstood.
“Islam is not the image that everyone sees, terrorism…What we hear in the media is really something else. It is something beautiful,” says he.
Reports said that after going through some difficult personal times Pogba has committed to his new faith. Last month he was pictured on a pilgrimage to Makkah.
“It made me change, realize things in life. I guess, maybe, it makes me more peaceful inside. It was a good change in my life because I wasn’t born a Muslim, even if my mum was. I just grew up like that, respect for everyone,” he was quoted as saying.
“It came because I have a lot of friends who are Muslim. We always talk. I was questioning myself in a lot of things, then I started doing my own research. I prayed once with my friends and I felt something different. I felt really good.
“Since that day I just carried on. You have to pray five times a day, that’s one of the pillars of Islam. It’s something that you do. The meaning why you do it, you ask forgiveness and be thankful for everything you have, like my health and everything.
“It’s really a religion that opened my mind and that makes me, maybe, a better person. You think more about the afterlife. This life has a test. Like when I’m with you, here. Even if you’re not a Muslim, you are a normal human. You have a human relationship and respect you for who you are, what religion you are, what color and everything.
“Islam is just this – respect of the humanity and everything,” he added.