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Revision as of 23:47, 23 June 2007 by Arrow740 (talk | contribs) (Undid revision 140202767 by Error1010 (talk))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The following is a list of notable converts to Islam.
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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 - famous Swedish painter.
- Dawud Wharnsby Ali - Canadian Singer/poet, from Christianity.
- Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), American, from Christianity to The Nation of Islam 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.
- Mohammed Knut Bernström - Swedish ambassador to Venezuela (1963-1969), Spain (1973-1976) and Morocco (1976-1983)
- Yahya Birt - journalist and son of former BBC Director General John Birt, also director of The City Circle.
- Art Blakey - American Jazz musician
- Tawana Brawley (changed her name to Maryam Muhammad) - African American woman noted for claiming to have been raped by several white men, a claim determined to be a fabrication by a grand jury. Later in life she converted to Islam.
- 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 and 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 - American 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 Taliban (convicted terrorist)
- 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
- Daniel Moore - from Christianity, poet
- Preacher Moss - American comedian and comedy writer.
- Matthew Saad Muhammad (formerly Matthew Franklin) - from Catholicism, former boxer.
- Pernilla Ouis - Swedish human ecologist, lecturer at Lund University.
- 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 and author
- Poncke Princen – Dutch soldier, later human rights activist.
- Marmaduke Pickthall - famous translator of the Quran.
- William Abdullah Quilliam - from Christianity, poet, ambassador & journalist.
- 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.
- 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 priest.
- Philippe Troussier - French, former football player & trainer of a Japanese football team
- Abu Usamah - Controversial 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 convert from Greek Orthodox to Sufism; head of the Zaytuna Institute.
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.
- Yvonne Ridley - British journalist, from Anglicanism. She converted after she was kidnapped, and subsequently treated respectfully, by the Taliban.
- 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 and convicted rapist, prior to conversion.
- 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- a suspect in an alleged terrorist attack on the United Kingdom.
- Sumita Devi - Bengali actress and filmmaker.
- A. R. Rahman (formerly A. S. Dileep Kumar) - famous Indian music composer
- Kamala Suraiyya (formerly Kamala Das) - Anglo-Malayalam writer of Hindu background
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.
- Anusim of Meshhad, Jewish community forced on pain of death to convert in 1839. Most continued Jewish practices in secret and many of their descendents returned to Judaism in the early 20th century.
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)
See also
- Anusim of Mashhad
- Religious conversion
- List of notable people who converted 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 notable former Muslims
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."
- Roald, Anne Sofie (2004). New Muslims in the European Context: The Experience of Scandinavian Converts . Brill Academic Publishers. pg.28
- 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.
- Roald, Anne Sofie (2004). New Muslims in the European Context: The Experience of Scandinavian Converts . Brill Academic Publishers. pg.130
- 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
- Moore, Abd al-Hayy. CHOOSING ISLAM: ONE MAN'S TALE. University of New Hampshire.
- “Allah Made Me Funny!” - A Popular Muslim-American Comedy. IslamOnline.net
- Matthew Saad Muhammad
- Roald, Anne Sofie (2004). New Muslims in the European Context: The Experience of Scandinavian Converts . Brill Academic Publishers. pg.110
- Queen Noor of Jordan, The Canadian Encyclopedia
- Davidson, Basil. Africa in History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
- Ponke, a human rights hero, is dead
- Islamic Studies : A Research Guide
- William Henry ('Sheikh Abdullah') Quilliam, 1856-
- The Historians' History of the World by Henry Smith Williams, p. 137, published 1907
- http://worldcup.sportinglife.com/football/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/06/07/04/WORLDCUP_France_Ribery.html
- Measuring Success. The Journal of Turkish Weekly. Retrieved June 9, 2007
- 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.
- http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18602182%255E903,00.html]
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- Dr S. M. Abdullah (Khulusi 1963, pp. 234–235).
- French Allege Detained German Is Top Al Qaeda Leader
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3829383.stm
- Ian Munro and Penny Debelle,Bring Hicks home, The Age, Fairfax, December 2, 2006
- PBS.org - Perspecives: American Muslim Issues
- ^ Profiling the Suspects: Converts to Islam
- New Sunday Times, Malaysia. "Tiara's true to her roles" (September 18, 2005)
- Vrijman, L.C. Kaapvaart en zeeroverij / L.C. Vrijman. - Amsterdam,
- http://vypusk.kursk.ru/pic/Beslan.doc
- Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 edited by Philip Rees, (1991, ISBN 0-13-089301-3)
- The Beast Reawakens by Martin A. Lee (1997, ISBN 0-316-51959-6)
- Behind the Egyptian Sphinx: Nasser's strange bedfellows; prelude to World War III? by Irving Sedar and Harold J. Greenberg (Philadelphia, Chilton Co., 1960)
- http://www.adherents.com/people/pm/Lee_Boyd_Malvo.html
- Afaf Lutfi Sayyid-Marsot. Women and Men in Late Eighteenth-Century Egypt. p. 90.
- http://www.eastsideboxing.com/ade2510.html
- Ohio man accused of joining al-Qaida, planning bomb plots in Europe
- U.S. Man Accused of Plot to Bomb Resorts
- "Yvonne Ridley: From captive to convert", By Hannah Bayman, BBC News (online), 21 September, 2004
- Jack Roche: The naive militant
- Tvnz.co.nz
- Pinverbod voor terrorist, the dutch foreign minister bans convicted Hofstadgroep terrorists from any financial transactions, by Rien Meijer and Bart Mos, De Telegraaf, April 20, 2006 (Dutch)
- http://www.history.unimelb.edu.au/tajir/pirateresources/documents/ward/wardintro.htm
- http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP111206
- UPS (May 17, 1975) "Militant is Hanged in Trinidad After Long Fight for Clemency." New York Times.
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- http://members.tripod.com/gopalhome/arrbio.html
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- Maryam Jameelah, Muslim American Society.
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{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Daily Times article reposted at his site
- Profile at a page for converts
- Struggling to Surrender, Some Impressions of an American Convert to Islam by Dr. Jeffrey Lang,