Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik Might Raise Child Muslim

After Gigi Hadid announced her pregnancy with long-time partner Zayn Malik, social media users around the world began questioning what religion they will raise their child.

Sites including Hype wrote articles discussing the couple’s pregnancy and netizens’ speculations about future religious practices.

Model Gigi Hadid, daughter of Palestinian real estate developer Mohamed and Dutch former model Yolanda and sibling of fellow models Bella and Anwar, publicly announced her pregnancy during an interview with Jimmy Fallon. During her appearance, she said: "Obviously, we wished we could have announced it on our own terms but we’re very excited and happy and grateful for everyone’s well wishes and support. Especially during this time, it’s a nice silver lining to be able to be home and be together and really experience it day by day.”

Hadid is expecting with Zayn Malik (known as Zayn), who rose to fame on the musical competition show The X Factor and was later a member of the band One Direction before beginning his solo career. Zayn’s father, Yaser, is British Pakistani and his mother, Tricia, converted to Islam when they married. Zayn was raised as a Muslim, studying Islam and attending mosque. As an adult he initially identified as a non-practicing Muslim. He said in an interview with the Evening Standard that he did not “want to be defined by” his religion or cultural background. However, in a November 13, 2018 interview with British Vogue, he said that he no longers considers himself a Muslim.

Because of this, the social media community has been abuzz wondering what religion the pair will be raising their child. Twitter user @GoodieRachel posted “even if Gigi still practices Islam that doesn’t necessarily mean their baby is gonna do the same. Since Zayn is no longer Muslim they might allow religious freedom in the house, meaning it’s up to the baby.” User @JENJTOP posted, “Gigi half Christian and Muslim and if Zayn ain’t Muslim no more then the baby most likely is Muslim born also Christian.” More polarizing posts demand that the child be raised a specific religion.

However, while netizens have theorized what religion the child will be brought up in, neither of the expecting parents have publicly made a claim about it.