‘Islam answered all my questions’: K-Pop star Daud Kim performs second Umrah

Popular South Korean pop singer and YouTuber, Daud Kim, has posted a picture of himself wearing the ihram in front of the Kabaah in the holy city of Makkah, where he performed Umrah for the second time since becoming Muslim in 2019.

In a heartfelt post shared on Instagram on Saturday, Kim said “I arrived at Makkah again”, describing Islam’s holiest site as “my hometown”. Reflecting on his life prior to converting, Kim said “Islam gave answers to all my questions. The reason I was created, and the reason I live. And finally to where I’m going, even after this life. So, I am so lucky to have been chosen by Allah”.

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A post shared by Daud Kim (@jaehan9192)

In September 2019, the singer, formerly known as Jay Kim, announced in a YouTube video that he had accepted Islam. Since then, he had often expressed his wish to visit the sacred cities of Makkah and Madinah, on the platform where he currently has 3.95 million subscribers. Last year, Kim performed Umrah for the first time during the holy month of Ramadan, describing himself as the “luckiest person”.

In South Korea, the Muslim community make up less than 1 per cent of the population, the majority of who are foreigners, including migrant workers and international students. The first mosque in South Korea, the Seoul Central Mosque, was built in 1976. Today there are 15 officially registered mosques across the country, along with 150 to 200 musalla, or houses of worship that are smaller in size than a mosque.

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