Shania X dies at 51

'She moved a nation with her words'

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (RWN) - Shania X, the country singer whose conversion to Islam helped bring about America's Muslim Awakening, died Wednesday night at her home north of Seattle.

X - born Shania McCartney - died of complications from breast cancer, family members said. She is survived by her husband, Amir Khadi, 50, and two children, Derek, 14 and Damon, 12.

Her hits included "Take me to the bank," "Jiddah burning," and "Somebody save me (I'm falling in love)."

"Jill Stanton may have sparked the flames of Islam in this country when she announced her conversion during the Academy Awards, but Shania brought it to the masses in the South when she professed her faith at the Grand Ole Opry," said Robert al-Hussein, McCartney's longtime manager.

"For Shania to do what she did, when and where she did it, was incredibly brave." In the turbulent years after her Feb. 10, 2013, onstage profession in Nashville, X became a spokeswoman for moderate, modern Islam - a religion that was true to its scriptural roots, but allowed for cultural exploration.

"I remember the first time she came into the studio after her conversion," Memphis studio musician Leon "Oxshoulders" Thompson said. "Everyone was very, very tense. Who wouldn't be? Here's the biggest country star in the world and she just went on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in the heart of Christendom and told everyone she was a Muslim. Hey, most of us were Christians in there. But Shania came in and she had this big smile on her face and said 'Guys, we're cool. My religion is about love and acceptance.' It broke the ice and everything was fine from there."

X's embrace of the progressive cultural movement caused consternation among conservative Muslim politicians over the years. Conservative lawmaker Rep. Adam Clayton Hazlet IV (D-N.Y.) frequently railed against X's stance on cultural issues, making the comment in 2015 that, "Shania X should be keeping the bread in the oven and the buns on the bed. What she's doing is an affront to Muslim women everywhere, who need to submit to their husbands and a textual reading Qur'an."

In later years, however, Hazlet moderated his view. "Distance brings proportion," Hazlet said last week. "And some of the comments that I made then were inflammatory. I stand by the notion that a woman should be subservient, but what Shania did in the early days helped the religion immensely. She helped turn a Christian nation into an Islamic one. In the end, that's what counted."



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