Zahra Gonzales, converted Muslim from America

Back in the mid and late ۱۹۷۰’s, an American woman got to know about Islam and gradually felt confident that thiswas the religion she wanted to pursue for the rest of her life.

However she did not dare to open up her heart to her mother, who used to be an orthodox Catholic, bringing up her children to follow religion seriously.

She revealed her religion and changed her name to Fatemeh, same name for the daughter of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) while she showed her new pursuit and more than that started to appear with Islamic Hijab in a society that did not turn out to be reconciliatory to her and her two daughters who had just converted to Islam.

They traveled to Iran and visited the place that the older daughter, now named Zahra, was yearning to visit since she had seen the picture on the back cover of a book and that was the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), eighth Shia Imam, in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Young Zahra Gonzales joined Jameatul Zahra Seminary, got married in Iran and the whole story of life changed for her.

Now back from America and in an exclusive interview with Taqrib News Agency (TNA), she is trying to give her American Muslim look at the world with the hope that, as she puts it, “Someone somewhere opens up her mind to the true character of Hazrat Fatemeh and Ahlul Bayt (AS)”.

Zahra Gonzales is a graduate of Jameatul Zahra Qom Seminary and she has also studied Education, English as a Second Language”.