News of Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams converting to Islam soon after she came back from the space has been doing rounds for a while now.
Claim
A Facebook video on the page, 'Makka Madina = মক্কা মদিনা' explained how Williams allegedly converted to Islam. The video shows images of Williams with a voice-over in Bengali. The text accompanying the video reads, "Why Sunita William embraced Islam when she came back from space?"
The voiceover explains that Williams saw two bright sources of light emanating from Earth when she was in space and she was surprised to know that they were Mecca-Medina (holy places of worship for Muslims).
"Her parents are Hindus. Williams used to loathe Islam before but she's now proud of it. She declared that she converted to Islam while addressing a press conference in Hill Town hotel. She even went to Mecca-Medina and said not everybody is lucky to go there," said the video.
Verification
While the voice-over asserted that both of Williams' parents were Hindus, a quick Google search tells us that her father is Hindu and her mother is Christian.
Williams had addressed the rumours regarding the conversion in an interview with the Condé Nast Traveller in October 2010.
"I don't know where that started. It's not like I mind and I don't have favouritism for any religion. But my dad is Hindu and I grew up trying to understand what Krishna, Ram and Sita mean. My mother is Christian. So then, what does Jesus mean? Me personally - not something to do with NASA - I do think there is a God and it's somebody looking out for us and trying to guide us to live a very happy, productive life. There is further meaning. That's just my thought," she said.
Williams also referred to her connection with Hinduism in an interview with NDTV in February 2016. She had said that she is a devotee of Hindu God Ganesh and thinks that he is her good luck charm.
In another 2013 interview, Williams mentioned the Gita and Upanishads and how they speak about what is important in life.
Rumours regarding her alleged conversion to Islam have been made since 2008 with a Pakistani blog first writing about it.
Conclusion
Through William's statement, it can be concluded that the American astronaut has not converted to Islam.
