Muslim Convert Story – Living On A Prayer (Chapter 10)

In a world rich with cultural diversities, it is imperative that we all must understand and appreciate the importance of religious tolerance. This is because such an utmost respect for various beliefs, rituals, and traditions ensures a harmonious society as it promotes the values at the core of existence for every nation.

As we know, there are a lot of belief systems out there in which many of these religions have existed around for thousands of years; creating our world more colorful and vibrant. At the root of every cultural society embedded, everyone has certain inalienable rights.

From Christianity, Islam, and Judaism to Hinduism, Buddhism, and many more, for instance, one of these rights is absolutely the freedom of embracing religion, which means every individual has the sheer right to choose or not to choose a religion, practice it, or even express their convictions.

Bottom line, religious tolerance and respecting everyone's differences are crucial for upholding those fundamental rights, and this article will convey a story of how a well-known public figure from Indonesia decided to convert and become a Muslim.

To kick start with this chapter, we need to keep in mind that religious tolerance is a cornerstone of harmonious coexistence in diverse societies. As it embodies the fundamental principle of respecting and accepting the beliefs, practices, and traditions of others regardless of one's own faith or worldview, the importance of religious tolerance on the other hand cannot be overstated as it fosters peace, understanding, and social cohesion in communities around the world.

From national identity perspectives, for instance, religious tolerance contributes to social cohesion and unity; serving as a unifying force which promotes a sense of belonging and shared identity, strengthening the bonds that hold communities together. In short, religious tolerance is crucial for the advancement of democracy and pluralism because it is this fundamental value that ensures equal rights and opportunities for all citizens across the world regardless of their religious beliefs.

Furthermore, speaking of the phenomenon why do people decide to embrace Islam as their new religious belief, well, the answer of course relies on the basis of individual’s various perspectives and their absolute convictions in the freedom of choosing religion. Surely, you may come across witnessing or hearing several stories (be it on internet or other media channels) about people who decide to choose Islam as their new spiritual faith.

In the West today where Islam is predominantly a religion of migrant minorities and is often perceived to be linked with terrorism and conflict according to www.crestresearch.ac.uk, the reasons differ both intrinsically and extrinsically. For any individual, for example, some motivations are intrinsic or personal to them, while others are extrinsic or external.

In one research study, three Dutch women from different backgrounds (one Catholic, one nonreligious and one from an anti-religious left-wing family) offered different reasons for becoming Muslims. In the first case, for example, the Catholic woman experienced several personal crises with her mother dying and a period of addiction and depression. She met and married a Muslim guy and became part of his family, after which it seemed natural for her to convert to the point where she valued the healthy lifestyle offered by Islam.

In the second case for the nonreligious woman, Islam in which she embraced it through marriage as well, offered stability and discipline following her first restrictive marriage and a period of risky behavior. As for the third case or the one from an anti-religious left-wing family, her conversion to Islam was due to a radical break and act of personal rebellion, but was backed up later on by study and the gradual conviction that she realized Islam was a logical and scientific religion.

Similar to the above three cases illustrated, for those who decide to convert and accept Islam as their religion are compelled by numerous motivations, which are linked collectively to the individual who develops a satisfying narrative of why he or she converted, for which their narrative may also change over time.

Ex-converts or non-Muslims, for example, may initially have felt it was their destiny to become Muslims and may have taken pleasure in their new identity and disciplined life-style, only to reject it later as they tend to describe the old version of themselves as naïve, duped, or just not ready to take such a step. In a nutshell, many of those who have converted to Islam according to www.crestresearch.ac.uk report positive experiences relating to self-identity, gender identity, living a healthy, disciplined and stable life, providing a moral context for themselves and their children, and being part of a community. Nevertheless, the religion so-called Islam is also reported to have assisted those converts moving away from self-destructive or criminal behaviors.

INTRODUCTION (PRELIMINARY STORY)

Basically, the person whose story will be told in this chapter is specifically pertaining to one of the renowned celebrities named "Celine Evangelista" from Indonesia who was reported to ultimately embrace Islam as her new religious belief. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of her. Neither have I been keeping up with her news on television, nor have I been catching up with her latest updates on any of her social media channels.

As far as I can vaguely recall in retrospect, I came across seeing her on TV for the very first time while I was watching one of the local drama series when I was still in junior high school somewhere in 2003 or 2004. It was the time when I had an opportunity to relish my school’s semester break by temporarily returning to my hometown in Makassar which is the capital city of South Sulawesi Province (part of Eastern Indonesia’s territory).

At the time, I decided to pursue my junior high school education outside my city due to my father’s personal request long before he suffered from his business bankruptcy that took place in 2013. With that being said, I am practically not a Jakarta citizen since I spent both my kindergarten as well as my elementary education in my hometown – "Makassar" (following the collapse of my father's business venture, both my family and I have been living in a dire state of financial struggles, yet, we somehow manage to survive with all the supports given up to this day).

Oh by the way, just so you know that the majority of people from my hometown are notoriously known for their "Tough, Intellectual, Strongly Religious, Decisive and a bit Sensitive" characters apart from having a high degree of voice intonation (if you come across speaking to any of us by any chance, for example, you will find us sounding like angry people and thus sometimes others from different provinces often perceive us like we are being mad at them or having a rough accent).

Anyway, let me jump straight to quickly introduce you this well-known public figure based in my country (Indonesia) — the one who accidentally piqued my interest early in December 2024 while I was scrolling down on Instagram as a result of her new spiritual journey. Okay, let’s get started then. Citing from multiple sources of local news platforms, Celine Evangelista is an actress, television presenter, singer and model based in Jakarta.

Born in Rome (Italy) on April 2^nd 1992 as a Catholic Christian, her career journey in the entertainment industry began to shine when she participated in the modeling contest held by Kawanku magazine in the year of 2006, and was subsequently offered an acting role in one of the horror movies in the same given year. Since then, she started receiving numerous offers to act more either for TV drama series or commercial films.

Moreover, when it comes to a glimpse of her personal life, she was betrothed to an Indonesian male singer and got married later on February 14^th 2011. At this stage of her life, she was blessed with a daughter named "Eleeya Xaviera Sompie" who was born on September 1^st 2012.

Prior to the arrival of her first biological child in 2012, the two couple was reported to have adopted a female child early and was named "Jemima Guri Clementine Sompie" where she was born on August 18^th 2011. Unfortunately, her first marriage did not last that long when there was a report stating that she already got divorced in 2013.

Next, following her first marriage breakup, she got remarried with a famous actor whose name I don’t need to mention again on November 10^th 2016 in Bali. In this phase of her life, she was gifted with two children whereby the first one named "Lucio Otthild William" was born on October 9^th 2017 through caesarean section (surgical birth operation), while the second child named "Eadred Koa Lewis Miguel" was born on September 29^th 2019. Again, it was unfortunate for her that her second marriage with the said actor was reported to have ended on October 18^th 2021.

Therefore, you can clearly notice from here that she has four children in total as a consequence of her two previous marriages and since then, she has been carrying out a dual role for her beloved kids by being a father and a mother at the same time (absolutely grueling for a female who is still in her 30s in my opinion to bear with such burden on her shoulders by being a single parent).

CELINE EVANGELISTA — JOURNEY TO ISLAM 

Alright, I have already unveiled a snapshot of her personal background and now here’s the quick summary of how she was reported to convert and become a Muslim. According to www.hot.detik.com, Celine Evangelista has long shown interest in studying Islam. Since 2019, she has been spotted wearing a veil or a headscarf (the so-called ‘hijab’ in Islamic term) at several events, and has actively expressed her comfort in wearing them. In fact, she was often caught on camera attending Islamic lectures delivered by various religious figures.

Additionally, she was later seen in many occasions sitting among the congregation (the people who attended the Islamic lectures) when the occasion was led by a Muslim Preacher named "Ustaz Riza Muhammad" during the Quran recitation. Because of this, it became the trigger of circulating rumors about her becoming a convert to Islam in the first place.

Fortunately, those speculations circulated around her became crystal clear eventually by the time when a notable female Muslim preacher named "Pipik Dian Irawati" in the year of 2024 confirmed the truth by stating that Celine Evangelista had already embarked into Islam and became a Muslim.

Overall, aside from having bestowed spiritual guidance and the level of confidence that she cultivated, she also claimed further that there was another contributing factor to her journey to Islam, which was a high level of serenity that she discovered. In other words, she felt much more peaceful after embracing Islam as her new way of life.

REFERENCES:

1. https://www.instagram.com/celine_evangelista

2. https://www.tiktok.com/@celineevangelista

3. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celine_Evangelista

4. https://hot.detik.com/celeb/d-7501942/umi-pipik-cerita-perjalanan-spiritual-celine-evangelista

5. https://www.liputan6.com/hot/read/5675324/diungkap-umi-pipik-sudah-mualaf-ini-6-potret-perjalanan-hijrah-celine-evangelista

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ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) AND POWER BI

In today’s business landscape, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are crucial for managing operations, resources, and data. On a day-to-day operation, for example, businesses across various sectors regardless of their size grapple with a multitude of data points and often are reaching into hundreds or thousands of reports.

However, questioning whether it is overwhelming for businesses to struggle with such a massive amount of data collection on a daily basis is not necessarily the case. This is because the key lies in utilizing and analyzing a myriad of substantial information simultaneously can be done by implementing the so-called Power BI as an ERP solution which offers a strategic approach to effective business operations.

To kick things off, we need to understand what ERP is all about and how the so-called Power BI can be a powerful tool to assist business activities on a daily basis. According to Oracle, Enterprise Resource Planning or popularly known by its acronym "ERP" basically refers to a type of software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business operations such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management and compliance, as well as supply chain.

The ERP system, in its implementation, ties together a multitude of business processes and enables the flow of data between them. By collecting an organization’s shared transactional data from multiple sources, the ERP system eliminates data duplication and provides credibility on the data retrieved with a single source of truth. In short, such ERP systems are critical for managing thousands of businesses of all sizes in all industries, and they are regarded as indispensable as the electricity that keeps the lights on.

Furthermore, when it comes to discussing what could be the benefits of utilizing such ERP systems, a good ERP system offers many advantages which can vary and depend on how the system is deployed. The benefits of Cloud ERP, for instance, are different than the one on premise type. That being said, several benefits applied to all modern ERP solutions are as follows:

1. High Productivity. Streamline and automate your core business processes to help everyone in your organization to perform more with fewer resources.

2. Accelerated Reporting. You can fast-track your business and financial reporting easily thus this will prompt you to act on insights and improve your organization’s performances in real time.

3. Lower Risk. You can maximize your business visibility and control while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements in order to predict or prevent such potential risks.

4. Simpler IT. By using integrated ERP applications that share a database will help you simplify your IT procedures and render everyone an easier way to work.

5. Improved Agility. With efficient operations and ready access to real-time data, you can quickly identify and react to new opportunities that may occur.

On the other hand, such an ERP system or also called an ERP suite is made up of integrated modules or business applications that communicate with each other and share common a database. Besides, each ERP module typically concentrates on one business area, yet, they work together using the same data to meet the company’s needs.

As an example, the finance, accounting, human resources, sales, procurement, logistics, and supply chain are among the popular starting points where companies can pick the module they want, and they can add on their scale as needed. After all, the ERP systems also support industry-specific requirements either as part of the system’s core functionality or through application extensions that seamlessly integrate with the suite, which can be purchased via a cloud subscription model (software as a service) or a licensing model (on premise).

Meanwhile, integrating Power BI and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) opens doors to data-driven decision-making. This synergy, in fact, transforms data into actionable insights, streamlining operations, enhancing satisfaction, and fostering competitiveness. As businesses embrace digital transformation, such integration between ERP and Power BI (Business Intelligence) becomes pivotal for business success.

Therefore, the so-called Power BI as an ERP solution will enable organizations to streamlines their data management, consolidation, analysis, and automation in real-time; catering to diverse data types and capable of handling various facets of business operations, such as:

1. Customer information.

2. Sales & Marketing data.

3. Transaction records.

4. Insights of customer interactions.

5. Product details.

6. Employee-related data.

7. Supply chain metrics.

8. Operational processes.

9. And many more.

Above all, Power BI’s integration with ERP indeed holds immense potentials which organizations can benefit from. With dynamic visualization and analytics, the so-called Power BI (Business Intelligence) empowers foresight, optimization, and innovation in today’s digital era. As businesses embrace data-driven strategies, the integration of Power BI with ERP envisions real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and AI-driven efficiency.

Note: Below here are two of the most recommended Power BI providers which you can opt to better optimize, automate, and streamline your data management in real-time.

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THE ROLE OF A FINANCIAL MANAGER

Any company, be it a small or medium size to the large corporations such as IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. needs money to operate their business. In order to generate revenue, they must first spend their capital/equity (money) on inventory and supplies, equipment and facilities, employee wages and salaries. With that being said, finance is undoubtedly critical to the success of all companies. Although it may not be as visible as marketing or production, however, the art of managing a company’s finances is just as much a key to the firm’s sustainability.

Basically, financial activities of a company is one of the most important and complex activities. And, in order to take care of these activities, a financial manager is the one who is in charge of performing all the requisite financing activities. At the heart of every financially successful organization, for instance, you will surely find a financial manager – a professional who plays a vital role in steering the financial ship towards organizational profitability and growth.

Although the role of a financial manager has long been one of the key positions at any organizations operating with significant turnover, however, for those who have been working in the financial field or for those who possess a strong grasp of numbers and good analytical and communication skills may be the ideal fit for the position.

Furthermore, the typical financial managers have a complex and challenging job. They analyze financial data prepared by accountants, monitor their company’s financial status, and prepare and implement financial plans. One day, they may be developing a better way to automate cash collections and at other times, they may be analyzing a proposed acquisition. This is simply one of the main responsibilities of being a financial manager. Since there are other critical functions that a financial manager performs, below here are some of the multifaceted roles that are embedded in the financial manager’s duties or responsibilities.

 

1. TRANSFORMING A COMPANY’S REAL ASSETS INTO FINANCIAL ASSETS

One of the core responsibilities of a financial manager is to ensure that the company has enough funds to finance its expansion and meet its obligations. In order to do this, the company issues securities (equity and debt), and the financial manager sells them to financial investors at the highest possible price. In today’s capital market economy, for instance, the role of a financial manager is less a buyer of funds with an objective to minimize cost and more a seller of financial securities. In other words, a financial manager must have the ability to maximize the value of these financial assets while selling them to the various categories of investors.

 

2. FINANCIAL PLANNING AND ALLOCATION OF FUNDS

Financial managers are technically the architects of a company’s financial future. They work closely with top management to develop long-term financial goals and strategies, which includes assessing the company’s current financial position, forecasting future trends, and devising plans to achieve financial objectives. By carefully analyzing data and economic indicators, financial managers help organizations to make informed decisions about investments, expansion, and risk management.

Aside from being a strategic financial planner, one of the primary duties of a financial manager is to allocate funds. Simply put, they allocate resources efficiently in order to ensure financial resources are utilized to the fullest. This involves setting the spending limits for various departments, monitoring expenses, and adjusting when necessary. Needless to say, the effective budgeting that a financial manager executes will help companies control costs, maximize profits, and maintain financial stability.

 

3. MAXIMIZING A COMPANY’S VALUE

The main goal of a financial manager is to maximize the value of the company to its owners. For a publicly owned corporation, for example, it is measured by the share price of its stock whereas for a private company, the value is gauged by the price at which it could be sold. To maximize the company’s value, a financial manager has to consider both short and long term consequences of his company’s actions.

Perhaps, maximizing profitability is one approach; yet, it should not be the only one determining aspect. This is because in some cases, such an intuitive approach favors making short term gains over achieving long term goals. As a quick illustration, questioning what would happen if a company in a highly technical and competitive industry had done no research and development? In the short run, profits would be high because research and development is very expensive. However, if it is in the long run, the company might lose its ability to compete because of its lack of new creativities and innovations.

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPANY STOCKS

Over the years, stocks have proved their worth and deserve a prominent place in any long-term investment plan, such as a retirement account. Since the year of 1926, stocks have beaten the performance of any other major asset class by a wide margin that has a return nearly 10% per year on average.

Due to the fact that stocks by their nature are volatile, their value rises and falls to invest in them requires great cautions, thus, they should ideally be held to meet medium- and long-term goals. In other words, money invested in stocks should not be the money that you might need in three to five years. Nonetheless, stocks tend to deliver handsome returns in the long run, but volatile markets may not cooperate with your short-term cash needs.

 

1. GROWTH STOCKS

Growth stocks are the shares of companies with the potential to consistently generate above-average revenues and profit growth. These companies tend to reinvest most or all of their earnings in their businesses and pay out little or none of their profits to shareholders in the form of dividends. Owing to the fact that growth companies expand faster than the overall economy, hence, you can occasionally find these companies in mature industries. After all, keep in mind that even fast-growing companies are not necessarily good investments if their shares appear to be overvalued.

 

2. CYCLICAL STOCKS

Cyclical stocks are the shares of companies whose sales and earnings are highly sensitive to the ups and downs of the economy. When the economy is performing well, for instance, cyclical companies tend to shine. A contracting economy typically hammers the sales and profits of these companies and hurts their stocks. Whatever it is, cyclical industries include manufacturers of steel, automobiles and chemicals, airlines and homebuilders.

3. DEFENSIVE STOCKS

Defensive stocks describe the shares of companies whose sales of goods and services tend to hold up well even during the economic downturn. Some of the examples of industries that are substantially isolated from the business cycle are utilities, government contractors and producers of basic consumer products such as food, beverages and pharmaceuticals.

 

4. INCOME STOCKS

Income stocks typically pay out a relatively high ratio of their earnings in the form of dividends. The companies that issue them tend to be mature and have limited chances for reinvesting their profits into more attractive opportunities, for example, the utilities providers. In short, stocks that pay large dividends are usually less volatile because investors regularly receive cash dividends regardless of the market cycles.

5. SMALL-COMPANY STOCKS

Small company stocks have generated better returns over time than stocks of large companies. Although these companies tend to grow faster than their larger brethren, however, there is a trade-off - "small company stocks are much more volatile than the shares of big companies". Perhaps, there are a number of ways of defining what constitutes a small company. One common example or definition is that a small company is usually the one with a stock-market capitalization of $1 billion or less (if you have no clue what market capitalization is about, it is basically a company’s stock price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding).

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FDI – FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

Theoretically, the FDI which stands for "Foreign Direct Investment" refers to an investment in the acquisition of foreign assets with the intent to control and manage them. In fact, such companies can make an FDI in several ways, including purchasing the assets of a foreign company; investing in the company, new property, plants, equipment; or participating in a joint venture with a foreign company which typically involves an investment of capital.

Normally, FDI is primarily a long-term strategy where companies usually expect to benefit from it through an access to local markets and resources, often in exchange for expertise, technical know-how, and capital. Subsequently, a country’s FDI can be both inward and outward where the inward FDI refers to investments coming into the country, and the outward FDI are the investments made by companies from that country into foreign companies in other countries. Thus, the difference between inward and outward investments made is called the net FDI inflow, which can be either positive or negative.

Firstly, there are two main categories of international investment – portfolio investment and foreign direct investment. Portfolio investment refers to the investment in a company’s stocks, bonds, or assets, but not for the purpose of controlling or directing the firm’s operations or management. Typically, investors in this category are looking for a financial rate of return as well as diversifying investment risk through multiple markets.

As for the FDI which stands for "Foreign Direct Investment" in other definitions, it refers to an investment made from a party in one country into a business or corporation in another country with the intention of establishing a long lasting interest. This is what generally differentiates FDI from foreign portfolio investments where investors passively hold securities from a foreign country, and a foreign direct investment in contrast can be done by obtaining a long lasting interest through the expansion of one’s business into a foreign country.

Secondly, there are two forms of FDI in the realm of international business, namely are horizontal and vertical FDI. The horizontal FDI occurs when a company is trying to establish a new market such as a retailer, for example, that builds a store in a new country to sell to the local market. Whereas the Vertical FDI refers to when a company invests internationally to provide input into its core operations, which is usually in its home country.

To illustrate this further, a company may invest in production facilities in another country. When a company brings the goods or components back to its home country (e.g. acting as a supplier), this is known as the backward vertical FDI. However, when a company sells the goods into the local or regional market (e.g. acting as a distributor), this is referred to as forward vertical FDI. In any cases, the largest global companies often engage themselves in both backward and forward vertical FDI depending on their industry.

Thirdly, many companies engage in the backward vertical FDI. The auto, oil, and infrastructure which include industries related to enhancing the infrastructure of a country such as energy, communications, and transportation are good examples of the backward vertical FDI.

Companies from these industries invest in production or plant facilities in a country in order to supply raw materials, parts, or finished products to their home country. In recent years, these same industries have also started to carry out forward FDI by supplying raw materials, parts of components, or finished products to newly emerging local or regional markets.

Meanwhile, there are different kinds of FDI – two of which the "Greenfield and Brownfield" are increasingly applicable to global companies. The Greenfield FDI occurs when multinational corporations enter into developing countries to build new factories or stores. These new facilities, in addition, are built from scratch which is usually in an area where no previous facilities existed.

As the name originates from the idea of building a facility on a green field, such as farmland or a forested area, companies build new facilities which can best meet their needs as well as create new long-term jobs in the foreign country by hiring new employees. Bottom line, many foreign countries tend to offer prospective companies tax breaks, subsidies, and other incentives to set up the so-called Greenfield investments.

On the other hand, the Brownfield FDI takes place when a company or government entity purchases or leases existing production facilities to launch a new production activity. One application of this strategy is where a commercial site used for an "unclean" business purpose, such as a steel mill or oil refinery to be cleaned up and used for a less polluting purpose, or a commercial office space and a residential area.

Usually, the Brownfield investment is less expensive and can be implemented faster, yet, a company may have to deal with many challenges including existing employees, outdated equipment, entrenched processes, and cultural differences.

As we know, many governments encourage FDI in their countries as a way to create jobs, expand domestic technical expertise, and increase their overall economic standards. Such countries as Hong Kong and Singapore long time ago realized that both global trade and FDI would help them grow exponentially and improve their citizens’ standard of living. As a result, Hong Kong (prior to its return to China), was one of the easiest places to set up a new company where the guidelines were clearly available and businesses could set up a new office within days.

This is also similar to Singapore albeit the country was a bit more discriminatory on the size and type of business, however, its government offered foreign companies a clear streamlined process for setting up a new firm.

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