Julien Drolon is a French convert, former international reporter, and singer-songwriter. After conducting extensive research on religion for many years, he embraced Islam in the Philippines in 2012. Since then, he has been involved in many projects including New Muslim Care, which focuses on the people who have embraced Islam. Through a documentary project titled “Freedom” carried out by Julien Drolon and his beloved wife Zara Shafie, they wanted to give a voice to a community of Muslims during a crucial period when better comprehension of Islam is imperative. Presently, their efforts encompass diverse projects with the aim of reaching out to people and explaining the religion of Islam in the right way.
Could you please tell us about yourself? Who is Julien Drolon?
I am the CEO of Halis Media, a French Malaysian media/event company specializing in producing exceptional world-class media content and conferences with a special emphasis on narratives of convert. I am of French origin and embraced Islam in 2012 while in the Philippines.
How was your life concerning faith before you embraced Islam?
I have a strong Christian background. I got baptized when I was 2 years old. At 8 years old I received my first communion and subsequently ventured into Buddhism during my college years. I tried many types of spiritual practices and even walked 1000 kilometers in 30 days on a famous Christian Pilgrim “The Way of James” in Spain but I used to believe that God was too big for one religion which is a New Age concept.
When was the first time you encountered Islam?
I would say it was when a taxi driver in Abu Dhabi invited me to Islam after realizing that I was touched by listening to the Qur’an on the radio.
What did you feel when you heard the Qur’an?
I felt it was speaking to my heart. It was in a taxi in Abu Dhabi on the radio. It talks to your soul, you can't deny it. As newborn babies recognize the voices of their mothers, human can recognize the sound and message of their creator.
How did you decide to be a Muslim?
I took my Shahada right after listening to an American Convert talking about the difference between the Bible and the Qur’an. After he explained very well the differences, he proved that the Qur’an could only become from God and has not been changed by men which is not the case with the Bible of course.
How did your family and friends react to your conversion to Islam?
At first not so well but then after a while they started to understand and accepted my decision. As for my friends, I lost many of them of course but gained many more within the community of Muslims.
You became the voice of people who embraced Islam from different countries like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, China, Japan, Kenya, England, France, Germany, Poland, Peru, Mexico, Australia, and many more cultures with your documentary called “Freedom”. How did you decide to produce a feature film of 90 minutes?
I got tired of the anti-Muslim propaganda and the lies that the Western media spread about Islam. Back then I used to be in charge of a program to support new Muslims after their conversion. The idea emerged while talking with my wife Zara Shafie. We both came up with the idea to interview all the converts we knew in Malaysia. We interview 50 converts from 25 countries. It took us 2 years. We then did a world screening tour in 10 countries, which was a big success. Our next objective is to do a Turkish Tour in at least 10 major cities in Türkiye. I hope this interview will help us find a partner to screen our documentary: FREEDOM. It has already been translated into Turkish and it will be very good for the young Turkish people to watch it especially. It is now available in English, French, Spanish, and Turkish athttps://www.thefreedomfilm.org/view.
What caught your interest the most while interviewing these people?
Allah guides people to Islam in many different ways. But they all had something in common: they were searching for the truth, they were not satisfied with their lives and their belief systems. They knew something was missing on their spiritual path and they realized that it was Islam.
You are currently in the preparation of a new project called “The Last Hope”. What would you like to say about it?
“The Last Hope” is our new documentary film featuring converts from around the world sharing about the impact that the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon Him, had on their lives after and in some cases before their acceptance of Islam. We are currently raising funds to get the necessary budget to finish the documentary. People can already watch the teaser and teaser trailer of the documentary on our YouTube Channel @halismedia. The documentary is very important to counter the insults about the Prophet Muhammad, may peace upon Him. I think the Ummah is not making enough efforts to tell the world about Prophet Muhammad (saw) and that is why we are also facing more Islamophobia. We hope that we can find some serious sponsors to help us make a big impact with this new documentary. Hopefully, this interview will help the right people to help us in our mission to make sure everyone on earth will know the truth about Prophet Muhammad, the greatest man that came on the surface of the earth and the Last Prophet of mankind.
