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Revision as of 20:09, 10 June 2007 by Bless sins (talk | contribs) (rv, please don't misrepresent sources)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)This is a list of notable people who have converted to Islam sometime during their lives.
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From Christianity
- Thomas J. Abercrombie - Photographer
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) - American, from Christianity, retired basketball player & the NBA's all-time leading scorer
- Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (Chris Jackson) - American, from Christianity, retired basketball player
- Tariq Abdul-Wahad - originally from France, former basketball player for the Mavericks and Kings
- Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar (Sharmon Shah) - American, from Christianity, former NFL football player
- Michel Aflaq - Iraqi politician (deathbed conversion rumored by media)
- Ivan Aguéli - Artist
- Dawud Wharnsby Ali - Canadian Singer/poet, from Christianity.
- Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), American, from Christianity to NOI to Sunni Islam to Sufism, SI's Sportsman of the Century
- Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley - British soldier and peer.
- Ryan G. Anderson - former Lutheran, convicted of charges of espionage for Al Qaeda
- Nicolas Anelka - French football player
- Yasin Abu Bakr - of Trinidad and Tobago, under trial for an attempted coup as of March 9, 2006
- Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker - professor of Urdu, former chair of the University of Minnesota's Department of South Asian studies and creator of the Tékumel fantasy world.
- David Belfield - American, fled to Iran after assassinating Ali Akbar Tabatabai, an Iranian dissident, is charged with murder
- Józef Bem - Polish-Hungarian general, considered a national hero of Poland.
- Yahya Birt - journalist and son of former BBC Director General John Birt, also director of The City Circle.
- Art Blakey - Musician
- Tawana Brawley (Maryam Muhammad) - African American, after an unsuccessful rape trial against several white men.
- Willie Brigitte- French convert to Islam who associated with al-Qaeda in Pakistan and was possibly involved in a plot to conduct a terrorist operation in Australia.
- Dolores "LaLa" Brooks - American musician.
- Torquato Cardilli - Italian ambassador; converted from Catholicism.
- David Chappelle – Comedian & television star
- Benjamin Chavis - Controversial former head of the NAACP; joined the Nation of Islam
- Jerôme Courtailler and David Courtailler - two French brothers, convicted by French authorities in 2004 for abetting terrorists
- Muriel Degauque - Belgian suicide bomber
- Jerald F. Dirks - author of several Islamic books and former Christian minister.
- Isabelle Eberhardt - from Lutheran Christianity, 19th century explorer & writer
- C. Jack Ellis - from Christianity, Mayor of Macon, Georgia
- Keith Ellison - American, raised Catholic, Representative from Minnesota's 5th congressional district, first Muslim to be elected to Congress
- Yusuf Estes - from Christianity, former preacher and federal prison chaplain.
- Chris Eubank - British boxer
- Adam Yahiye Gadahn - spokesperson for Al-Qaeda; on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list
- George XI of Kartli - Saffavid commander.
- René Guénon - from Christianity, French Author in the field of metaphysics
- Murad Wilfred Hofmann - from Catholicism, NATO official
- Knud Holmboe - Danish journalist and explorer; converted from Catholicism.
- Bernard Hopkins - Boxer
- Ahmed Huber- Swiss Neo-nazi journalist, holocaust denier and terrorist supporter
- Jermaine Jackson (Muhammad Abdul Aziz) - former member of The Jackson 5 and brother of popstars Michael and Janet Jackson.
- Sarah Joseph - commentator on women's issues and founder of emel magazine.
- Nuh Ha Mim Keller - from Catholicism to agnosticism to Sufism, Islamic scholar.
- John Walker Lindh - the American soldier of the Taliban
- Germaine Lindsay - participated and died in the 7 July 2005 London bombings
- Ingrid Mattson – Canadian scholar and current president of the Islamic Society of North America (2006)
- Iyasu V – Ethiopian emperor.
- Bruno Metsu - French coach of the Senegal team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup
- Preacher Moss - American comedian and comedy writer.
- Matthew Saad Muhammad (formerly Matthew Franklin) - from Catholicism, former boxer.
- Queen Noor of Jordan (formerly Lisa Najeeb Halaby)
- Emin Pasha - physician, naturalist, and Egyptian governor.
- Judar Pasha - conqueror of the Songhai Empire.
- Bilal Philips - from Christianity, Islamic scholar & author
- Poncke Princen – Dutch soldier, later human rights activist.
- Marmaduke Pickthall - famous translator of the Quran.
- Ilie II Rareş – prince of Moldavia.
- Kanuri Qawi - Activist who fought for the rights of violent mentally ill patients to refuse medication, recently charged with murder
- Richard Colvin Reid - Shoe Bomber (convicted terrorist)
- Franck Ribéry- a French soccer player. His name after he converted to Islam is Bilal.
- Yvonne Ridley - British journalist, converted from Anglicanism after being after being treated kindly by the Taliban
- Ahmed Santos - Filipino, from Roman Catholicism, fugitive, founder of the Rajah Solaiman Movement & suspected by Filipino authorities to be an Al Qaeda operative
- Scarface - American rapper
- Idris Tawfiq - British writer, who lives and works in Egypt, was a former Catholic priestCite error: A
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- Abu Usamah - American-Born Imam of Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham, UK accused of preaching messages of hate towards non-Muslims and has links to a suspected Al Qaeda operative Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri.
- Siraj Wahaj - African-American Imam, noted for his efforts to eliminate Brooklyn's drug problems.
- Danny Williams - British boxer
- Malcolm X - American, from Christianity to NOI to mainstream Islam, African-American civil rights leader.
- James Yee - Former U.S. Army Muslim chaplain.
- Mohammed Yousuf - from Catholic, Pakistani cricketer. Known for holding the world record for the most Test runs in a single calendar year.
- Hamza Yusuf - American Islamic scholar.
Undetermined Former Religion
- Mumia Abu-Jamal - Journalist, Black Panther, political activist, convicted murderer
- Claude Alexandre de Bonneval - French noble
- Hasan Akbar- sentenced to death for the murder of two fellow soldiers during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq
- Elaine Atkinson - British public figure.
- Kevin Barrett - University lecturer, 9/11 conspiracy theorist.
- Robert "Kool" Bell - musician.
- Ronald Bell - musician.
- Mohammed Knut Bernström - Swedish ambassador.
- Khaled Edward Blair - banker, member of the Royal Family of Jordan.
- Bizzy Bone - American rapper.
- Omar Bongo - Gabonese, President of Gabon
- Charles Brooks, Jr.- convicted murderer- first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States
- H. Rap Brown - civil rights activisit.
- Jackiey Budden - mother of Jade Goody
- Titus Burckhardt - Swiss writer and scholar.
- Amir Butler- Author, Engineer and Islamic activist
- Kérim Chatty- Swedish suspected aircraft hijacker
- Jimmy Cliff - Jamaican raggae musician.
- Aukai Collins - Irish American, fought in Chechnya, paid FBI informant, author of an autobiographical book
- Common - American rapper.
- Jill Courtney - Australian, girlfriend of convicted killer and drug trafficker Hassan Kalache, arrested on March 26, 2006 for attempted murder of unnamed people
- Robert D. Crane - former Presidential advisor and ambassador.
- Ice Cube - Gangsta rapper and actor
- Bob Denard - French mercenary.
- Jeffrey Mark Deskovic - served 15-year wrongful imprisonment sentence.
- Isabelle Eberhardt - explorer and writer.
- Baron omar Rolf von Ehrenfels - Austrian anthropologist and orientalist.
- Everlast - Irish-American rapper and singer-songwriter.
- Sultaana Freeman - sued the state of Florida for niqab restrictions.
- Christian Ganczarski- Head of "al Qaeda in Europe".
- Jemima Goldsmith - British socialite, upon marrying Imran Khan
- Gigi Gryce - American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator.
- Walt Hazzard - former NBA player.
- David Hicks- Convicted Australian terrorist
- Craig Hodges - former NBA player.
- Ibrahim Hooper (Douglas Hooper) - Islamic activist, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
- Abdullah Ibrahim - South African Jazz musician.
- Umar Islam - one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom
- Tiara Jacquelina - Malaysion actress.
- Ahmad Jamal - Jazz pianist.
- Jan Janszoon - Dutch pirate.
- Larry Johnson - retired American professional basketball player.
- Vladimir Khodov- leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis- converted in prison
- Ghostface Killah - member of the Wu-Tang Clan.
- Johann von Leers - advisor to Muhammad Naguib known for his anti-Semitic polemics
- Lee Boyd Malvo - convicted of capital murder and arrested for the Beltway sniper attacks, for being involved in 16 murders and 7 additional attempted murders.
- Jacques-Francois Menou - French general
- John Allen Muhammad - convicted serial killer, known as the Beltway Sniper
- Anthony Mundine - Australian Boxer
- José Padilla - the respondent in Rumsfeld v. Padilla currently on trial as an alleged al-Qaida operative, converted while in prison for aggravated assault
- Christopher Paul (aka Paul Kenyatta Laws aka Abdulmalek Kenyatta) - American citizen, alleged member of al-Qaeda
- Dwight Muhammad Qawi - former boxing world heavyweight champion.
- William Abdullah Quilliam - from Christianity, poet, solicitor, ambassador & journalist.
- Jack Roche - convicted of involvement in an al-Qaeda plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra.
- Ilich Ramírez Sánchez - aka "Carlos the Jackal", convicted murderer and terrorist, currently in prison in France
- Ibrahim Savant - one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom
- Divine Styler - American hip-hop musician.
- Apisai Tora - Fijian politician
- Mike Tyson (Malik Abdul Aziz) - former heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
- Abdul Waheed (Don Stewart-White) - accused of participating in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
- Jason Walters - of the Netherlands, member of the Hofstad Network, convicted on charges of terrorism
- John Ward- (Yusuf Reis) pirate known for raiding ships in the Mediterranean.
- Rakan Ben Williams- Suspected al-qaeda terrorist
- Michael Wolfe - American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation.
- Michael X - civil rights activist in the United Kingdom and convicted murderer.
From Paganism
- Abu Bakr - the first Muslim Caliph
- David Myatt - from Paganism, Neo-Nazi-activist
- Atik Sinan - Ottoman architect.
From Hinduism
- Dhiren Barot- Convicted terrorist from the United Kingdom.
- Sumita Devi - Bengali actress and filmmaker.
From Judaism
- Rashid al-Din – 13th century Persian physician
- Maryam Jameelah - from Reform Judaism, essayist, poet, journalist & author
- Lev Nussimbaum - prolific author on the topics of Middle East and Russian history; the Nazi propaganda ministry included his works on their list of "excellent books for German minds" before discovering he was an ethnic Jew.
- Leopold Weiss (Muhammad Asad) - Viennese journalist who became Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations
- Sabbatai Zevi – 17th century mystic and pseudo-Messiah, given choice between conversion and execution.
From Non-Religious to Islam
- Charles le Gai Eaton - British diplomat and writer.
- Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) - British musician and singer (nominally Christian upbringing, but never a believer in it)
- Jeffrey Lang - American, Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas. (Raised Catholic, but atheist from age 18 to conversion)
- A. R. Rahman (formerly A. S. Dileep Kumar) - famous Indian music composer
- Kamala Suraiyya (formerly Kamala Das) - Anglo-Malayalam writer of Hindu background
See also
- Anusim of Mashhad
- Religious conversion
- List of notable converts to Christianity
- List of notable converts to Hinduism
- List of notable converts to Judaism
- List of notable converts to Sikhism
- List of people by belief
- Lists of Muslims
- List of former Muslims
- Devshirmeh
References
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- Interview at Bayweekly "Q: Am I right that you became a Moslem in the mid-1960s? Answer: I think it was '65 or '66."
- NY Times Archived Short Book Review of Giant Steps by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Peter Knobler.
- Did You Know that the Radicals of the Middle East Used to Be Christians? "As a supreme irony, in their obituaries for arch-secularist Michel Aflaq, the Iraqi media declared that he had experienced a deathbed conversion to Islam."
- Aguéli Museum states "He changed his name to Ivan Aguéli. Later he converted to Islam."
- History of the London Central Mosque and the Islamic Cultural Centre 1910-1980, A. L. Tibawi, Die Welt des Islams, New Ser., Bd. 21, Nr. 1/4 (1981), pp. 193-208
- Gary Fine, Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games As Social Worlds, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1983. Reprinted in 2002.
- Józef Bem. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.
- Question time
- Art Blakey official site In 1948, Art told reporters he had visited Africa, where he learned polyrhythmic drumming and was introduced to Islam, taking the name Abdullah Ibn Buhaina.
- Brigitte terrorism trial nears ABC News
- [http://www.liberation.fr/page. php?Article=217105]
- Raised as Catholic in Belgium, She Died as a Muslim Bomber" by Craig S. Smith, New York Times December 6, 2005
- ^ Elizabeth Omara-Otunnu (11-17-2003). "Ramadan Awareness Event Designed To Debunk Negative Images". Advance, University of Connecticut.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Isabelle Eberhardt: Explorer
- CNN: Macon, Georgia, mayor converts to Islam
- ^
- Telegraph.co.uk - Lengthy queue to join religion that offers 'sense of direction'
- ^ Cite error: The named reference "adam" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- "INSIGHT". CNN. March 5, 2002. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Putting a good glossy on the Muslim lifestyle. Times
- Keller, Nu Ha Mim. Becoming Muslim.
- <
- MSBC Article's title says "Raised Catholic, this Muslim professor is bringing the moderate viewpoint to the world."]
- Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia (London: James Currey, 1991), p. 121.
- http://www.iht.com/articles/2002/07/31/soccer_ed3__8.php
- “Allah Made Me Funny!” - A Popular Muslim-American Comedy. IslamOnline.net
- Matthew Saad Muhammad
- Queen Noor of Jordan, The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Davidson, Basil. Africa in History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
- Ponke, a human rights hero, is dead
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- The Historians' History of the World by Henry Smith Williams, p. 137, published 1907
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- "Yvonne Ridley: From captive to convert", By Hannah Bayman, BBC News (online), 21 September, 2004
- American-Born Imam Spews Message of Hate in England Fox News- January 18,2007
- Kohn, Rachael. The Black imam of Brooklyn
- Official website of Malcom X: Biography
- Mohammed Yousuf
- The religion of Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted murderer
- Mumia Abu-Jamal case in court today
- The Associated Press. (2003). "Motive a mystery in grenade attack" CNN.com. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
- Barrett's personal website
- BBC Profile: Gabon's 'president for life
- Last Statement from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved 22 August, 2005.
- FourCorners Opinion: Amir Butler
- "Bodybuilding stuntman who turned to Islam". BBC News. 2002-09-30. Retrieved 2006-12-27.
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- French Allege Detained German Is Top Al Qaeda Leader
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- Afaf Lutfi Sayyid-Marsot. Women and Men in Late Eighteenth-Century Egypt. p. 90.
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- Ohio man accused of joining al-Qaida, planning bomb plots in Europe
- U.S. Man Accused of Plot to Bomb Resorts
- William Henry ('Sheikh Abdullah') Quilliam, 1856-
- Jack Roche: The naive militant
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