Meet Georgette Lepaulle,The Oldest Woman Who Reverted To Islam The 92-year-old Georgette Lepaulle from Berchem (Belgium) is the oldest muslim convert in the world. Last year she became Muslim. “Especially the friendliness of the people attracts me. And Allah has answered my prayers.”
With the introduction Georgette holds her hands deep in the sleeves of her djellaba. She refused the Hand shake. “You should not take this personally, but since I am Muslim, I get no strangers anymore. I will only touch my husband. Not that I have wedding plans. What should a widow of 92 still a virgin? ” Then splashes Georgettes loud laugh at. The roaring laughter of “Muhammad Maddah” is still on.
Georgette and Mohammed are neighbors since last 40 years. Two years ago Georgettes wanted to quit her nursing home. So she joined her neighbor Muhammad and started living with his family.
That was quite normal because Muhammad’s wife, son and two daughters knew Georgette all throughout their lives. Muhammad who lost his own mother found a new mother in the form of Georgette.
“By coming here to attend, I pulled in Islam,” says Georgette. “I saw these people pray together. I saw how caring they interact. How they talk to each other. How important family is to them. Totally different from my cold family. Since my conversion, I have not heard from my 72 year old daughter. “
Last summer Georgette visited Morocco with Mohammed and his family. It was the month of Ramadan, the fasting of the Muslims. “I knew what fasting is, because I’m Catholic. I was baptized, went to the nuns at school, church was twice married and have my two husbands an ecclesiastical burial. During my working life I was a maid in a Jewish family. But religion has never touched me. On the contrary. I lived quite apart from God. On my fifth I smoked my first cigarette and my last on my 78th. On my seventh, drank my first glass of alcohol and till my conversion to Islam, I drank half a bottle of wine every day. That was a habit from my first marriage with an Italian fighter pilot in the war was killed. “
During her participation in Ramadan last year by Georgette a deep religious feeling awakened. She was shocked by themselves. They’re so late in her life another completely new experience would get.
For the first time she had contact with something higher, With Allah. She felt his openness. His love. She asked him the healing of a friend and the rescue of a little boy who was on the wrong track. Her two bedes are interrogated. That was the sign for Georgette to apply to convert to Islam.
Muslim Women washed Georgette completely. That was her ingress ritual. “Then they continued to kiss her. They were so glad because I was a sister of them. I’ve never been kissed so much – you probably know by women – as since entering Islam. I’ve got something that must surrender. Beverage, tobacco, pork and – it is not easy for a woman – even makeup. Previously I put the makeup always in thick layers. “
Back in Belgium, they went to the big mosque in Brussels for a certificate for Noor Islam – that is the new name of Georgette. The mosque in Brussels reported the conversion of the then 91-year-old Belgian woman immediately to the mosque in Mecca.
It’s a dirty question, but they must be asked: Georgette had paid for something to convert to Muslim? She looks very strict and yet again that loud laugh: “Money has nothing to do with it. I took this decision entirely voluntarily. Everyone is free to do so. Others should not follow my example.”
Georgette embraced Islam at the age of 92 and she has set an example that it’s never too late to be guided. Indeed, Islam is a complete way of life.
As long as you are conscious, it’s never too late to accept Islam. Think about it. Do your own research, read the Holy Qur’an and the Biographies of Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and try to learn about Islam.
May Allah guide all of us.