Sinead O'Connor has revealed why she has chosen to change her name to Shuhada Sadaqat and the importance behind it.

The Nothing Compares 2 U hitmaker told 2FM's Dave Fanning Show that she wants to "smash" the stigma around Islam, explaining: "I’ve been a theology student since I was about seven years of age literally.....I never thought I would choose one religion...and I left Islam for last to study because I had prejudices. But when I started finally reading it...I realised I’d been a Muslim all my life and I didn’t know it. Being a Muslim is actually a way of thinking.

“I want to help to smash some of the stigma around Islam. So that’s why I was very public about it”

“Because I’ve to fight stigma every day in my own life (on perception around her mental health) , I identify hugely with the stigma that Muslims have had to deal with.....I see myself as a soldier.”

Sinead has had a complicated relationship with the Catholic Church in the past. She shocked the Church by previously being ordained as an independent bishop and tearing up a photo of the Pope on live TV in protest of child sex abuse.

The singer first announced her conversion to Islam in October of last year, writing on Twitter: "This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian's journey."

Happy pic.twitter.com/VkJsj2IFAi

— Sinead O'Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) October 23, 2018

My best friend, Elaine just gave me my 1st Hijab and she got chills all over her body when I put it on. Not gonna post a photo because is intensely personal. And I’m an ugly old hag. But I’m a very, very, very happy old hag.

— Sinead O'Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) October 20, 2018

The 52-year-old opened up about feeling suicidal and how she learned to tolerate certain emotions: "In my case I wouldn’t necessarily define it (what she had) as mental illness...what happened was there were things going on in my life that made me feel suicidal and if I hadn’t been in hospital for three and half years.....I wouldn’t be alive to sit here talking....perfectly sane people feel suicidal.”

“What I learned over the last three and half years and what can be done and learned is that you learn to tolerate those feeling without becoming so distressed that you either have to act on them or go to hospital.”