Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

List of converts to Islam

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The following is an incomplete list of notable people who converted to Islam from a different religion or no religion. This article addresses only past professions of faith by the individuals listed, and is not intended to address ethnic, cultural, or other considerations. Such cases are noted in their list entries. The list is categorized alphabetically by their former religious affiliation.

Contents

Lists of converts to Islam from various major religions

  • List of converts to Islam from Christianity
  • List of converts to Islam from Judaism
  • List of converts to Islam from Buddhism
  • List of converts to Islam from Hinduism
  • List of converts to Islam from Zoroastrianism
  • List of converts to Islam from paganism
  • List of converts to Islam from nontheism

    • Sabianism

  • Hilal al-Sabi – historian, bureaucrat, and writer of Arabic
  • Sinan ibn Thabit – physician and son of Thābit ibn Qurra

    • A

  • Ahmed Abdullah – American jazz trumpeter
  • Maria Chin Abdullah – Malaysian activist, Chairwoman of Bersih 2.0
  • Thomas J. Abercrombie – photographer and writer for National Geographic
  • Shaheed Akbar – rapper who converted to Islam
  • Akhenaton – French rapper and producer; born Philippe Fragione
  • Baba Ali – Iranian-born American film developer, games developer and businessman
  • Muhammad Ali – former world heavy weight champion
  • Lewis Arquette – actor; father of actors David, Rosanna, Patricia, Alexis and Richmond Arquette; son of Cliff Arquette

    • B

  • B.G. Knocc Out – American rapper
  • Yasin Abu Bakr – leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a Muslim group in Trinidad and Tobago
  • Mutah Beale – better known as Napoleon, former member of Tupac Shakur's rap group, the Outlawz
  • Maurice Béjart – French choreographer
  • Robert "Kool" Bell – musician
  • Mohammed Knut Bernström – Swedish ambassador
  • Wojciech Bobowski – Polish musician; Bible translator
  • Lauren Booth – British broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist
  • Charles Brooks, Jr. – convicted murderer, first person in the United States to be executed using lethal injection
  • H. Rap Brown – civil rights activist
  • Jonathan A.C. Brown – American Islamic scholar and assistant professor at Georgetown University
  • Laurence Brown – American writer, novelist,ophthalmologist
  • Abdullah ibn Buhaina – American musician, also known as Arthur "Art" Blakey, American jazz drummer and bandleader; stopped being a practicing Muslim in the 1950s and continued to perform under the name "Art Blakey" throughout his career
  • Titus Burckhardt – Swiss writer and scholar
  • Amir Butler – UK/Australian author, engineer and Islamic activist

    • C

  • Celestino Caballero – boxer and former Super Bantamweight Champion
  • Dave Chappelle – American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist
  • Kérim Chatty – Swedish bodybuilding stuntman who was once suspected of attempted hijacking; the preliminary inquiry was dropped
  • Zachary Adam Chesser – American Muslim convert to Sunni Islam; sentenced to 25 years in a federal prison on February 24, 2011
  • Lady Evelyn Cobbold – Scottish noblewoman
  • Louis du Couret – French explorer, writer and military officer

    • D

  • Uri Davis – Middle East academic and activist who works on civil rights in Israel, Palestinian National Authority and the Middle East
  • Bob Denard – French mercenary
  • Jeffrey Mark Deskovic – served 15-year wrongful imprisonment sentence
  • Diam's – French female rapper, born Mélanie Georgiades, converted in 2010
  • Deso Dogg – former rapper who went to fight in Syria

    • E

  • Isabelle Eberhardt – explorer and writer
  • Baron Omar Rolf von Ehrenfels – Austrian anthropologist and orientalist
  • Keith Ellison – U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district; converted to Islam at age 19
  • Everlast – American rapper and singer-songwriter

    • F

  • Alys Faiz – human rights and peace activist; converted at the time of her marriage to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz
  • Michael Finton – converted to Islam while in prison; attempted to bomb the Paul Findley Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman Aaron Schock in downtown Springfield, Illinois in 2009
  • Patrice Lumumba Ford (of the Portland Seven) – part of a group based in the U.S. charged with aiding the Taliban and al-Qaeda
  • Jeff Fort – former Chicago gang leader, co-founder of the Black P. Stones gang, and founder of its El Rukn faction; convicted in 1987 of conspiring with Libya to perform acts of domestic terrorism
  • Philippe Fragione – French rapper and producer of French hip hop
  • Sultaana Freeman – attempted to sue the state of Florida in order to wear a face veil for her driver's license picture

    • G

  • Christian Ganczarski – German citizen convicted by a French court sentenced to 18 years in prison for the bombing of a synagogue
  • Juan Carlos Gomez – former Cruiserweight Boxing Champion
  • Khalid Gonçalves – Portuguese American actor and musician (born Paul Pires Gonçalves), convert to Islam from Catholicism
  • Abdur Raheem Green (born Anthony Greene) – Islamic preacher and founder of iERA
  • Philippe Grenier – French doctor; first Muslim MP in France
  • Gigi Gryce – American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator

    • H

  • Walt Hazzard – former NBA player
  • Yusuf Hazziez – American musician, born Joseph Arrington, Jr.; formerly known professionally as Joe Tex
  • Aribert Heim – Austrian SS doctor, also known as Dr. Death
  • David Hicks – convicted by the United States Guantanamo military commission under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, on charges of providing material support for terrorism
  • Tony Hussein Hinde – Australian-born Maldivian surfer and surfing pioneer who converted to Islam
  • Lim Yew Hock – Singapore’s second Chief Minister from 1956 to 1959
  • Ibrahim Hooper (Douglas Hooper) – Islamic activist, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

    • I

  • Abdullah Ibrahim – South African jazz musician
  • Andrew Ibrahim – convicted of preparing terrorist acts in the UK
  • Umar Islam – one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom
  • Yusuf Islam – English singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and activist; born Steven Demetre Georgiou; known professionally as Cat Stevens
  • Abu Izzadeen – spokesman for Al Ghurabaa, a Muslim organization banned under the Terrorism Act 2006 for the glorification of terrorism, that operated in the United Kingdom

    • J

  • Tiara Jacquelina – Malaysian actress
  • Ahmad Jamal – American jazz pianist
  • Maryam Jameelah – formerly Margret Marcus; author of many books covering several subjects, including todernism, sociology, history, jihad, theology and technology
  • Jan Janszoon – Dutch pirate
  • Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi (born Lex Hixon) – syncretist, Sufi convert, and co-founder of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in the United States
  • Larry Johnson – retired American professional basketball player
  • Gustave-Henri Jossot – French caricaturist, illustrator and Orientalist painter
  • Jemima Goldsmith – British socialite and ex-wife of Imran Khan

    • K

  • Frédéric Kanouté – French Malian football player
  • Peter Kassig – American aid worker, taken hostage and ultimately beheaded by The Islamic State; while in captivity, Kassig, formerly a Methodist, converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig sometime between October and December 2013
  • Khalid Kelly – former leader of Al-Muhajiroun in Ireland
  • Saida Miller Khalifa – British author, originally named Sonya Miller
  • Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan (born Yvette Blanche Labrousse) – Miss France 1930, wife of Aga Khan III
  • Vladimir Khodov – leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis; converted in prison
  • Abd al Haqq Kielan – Swedish cleric
  • James Achilles Kirkpatrick – was the British Resident in Hyderabad
  • Pavel Kosolapov – Chechen rebel wanted by the Federal Security Service of Russia for suspected terrorist attacks

    • L

  • Colleen LaRose – alleged intended assassin of Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks
  • Yusef Lateef – American jazz musician
  • Johann von Leers – advisor to Muhammad Naguib known for his anti-Semitic polemics
  • Gary Legenhausen – American philosopher and writer
  • Omar Ong Yoke Lin (1917–2010) – Malaysian politician, former government minister and founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association

    • M

  • Abd al Malik (born Régis Fayette-Mikano) – French rapper of Congolese descent
  • Brandon Mayfield – American lawyer who was erroneously linked to the 2004 Madrid train bombings
  • Monica – former Indian film actress, starred predominantly in Tamil language films; reverted to Islam in 2014
  • Jesse Curtis Morton – co-founder of Revolution Muslim, jailed for threats against the creators of South Park
  • Ali Shaheed Muhammad – member of A Tribe Called Quest
  • Idris Muhammad – American jazz musician
  • John Allen Muhammad – convicted murderer who carried out the Beltway sniper attacks of October 2002 with 17-year-old partner, Lee Boyd Malvo; John Allen Muhammad was later executed
  • Anthony Mundine – Australian boxer; former two-time Super Middleweight champion

    • N

  • Li Nu – Chinese scholar in the Ming dynasty who visited Persia, converted to Islam, married a Persian or an Arab girl and brought her back to Quanzhou in Fujian

    • O

  • Susanne Osthoff – German archaeologist who had worked in Iraq since 1991 and had been taken captive there for three weeks

    • P

  • José Padilla – respondent in Rumsfeld v. Padilla currently on trial as an alleged al-Qaida operative, converted while in prison for aggravated assault
  • Wayne Parnell – South African cricketer
  • Cory Paterson – Australian professional rugby league player
  • Christopher Paul – member of al Qaeda, who has pleaded guilty to acts of terrorism
  • Charles John Pelham (Abdul Mateen) – 8th Earl of Yarborough

    • R

  • Raekwon – American rapper, born as Corey Woods
  • A. R. Rahman – Indian composer, musician, singer-songwriter, producer and philanthropist; he converted to Islam (his mother's religion) with other members of his family in 1989 at age 23, changing his name from A. S. Dileep Kumar to Allah-Rakha Rahman
  • Yuvan Shankar Raja – Indian musician; music director from Tamil Nadu
  • Rakim – rap musician of Eric B. & Rakim, famous for the 1987 album Paid in Full
  • Nicky Reilly – convicted of the 2008 Exeter attempted bombing
  • MC Ren – American rapper and hip-hop producer
  • Franck Ribéry – French national football team player
  • Hamza Robertson (born Tom Robertson) – English singer
  • Jack Roche – convicted of involvement in an al-Qaeda plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra

    • S

  • Malik ul Salih – established the first Muslim state of Samudera Pasai
  • 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
  • Frithjof Schuon – Swiss metaphysician and scholar of religions
  • Stephen Schwartz – American journalist, columnist, and author
  • Derrick Shareef – charged in a plot to set off four hand grenades in garbage cans at the CherryVale Mall in Rockford, Illinois during the Christmas rush
  • Sahib Shihab – American jazz saxophonist and flautist
  • Roger Stockham – responsible for the 2011 Dearborn mosque bombing plot
  • Divine Styler – American hip hop musician
  • Nahshid Sulaiman – alternative hip hop artist
  • Kabir Suman (born Suman Chattopadhyay) – Indian singer, songwriter, musician, music director, poet, journalist, political activist, TV presenter, and occasional actor; he stated, "I wanted to keep the name my parents gave me, so I kept Suman. I took the name Kabir after Sheikh Kabir, a Bengali Muslim poet who wrote Baishnab Padabali."

    • T

  • William Thorson – former Swedish poker player
  • Apisai Tora – Fijian politician
  • Rodrigo de Triana – sailor and the first European since the Vikings known to have seen America who converted to Islam from Judaism or Christianity
  • Mike Tyson – boxer, performer; convert to Sufism

    • U

  • James Ujaama – convicted felon who was found guilty of supporting al-Qaeda

    • V

  • Jorvan Vieira – Luso-Brazilian football coach
  • Bryant Neal Vinas – Hispanic American convicted of participating in and supporting Al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S.
  • Pierre Vogel – German former boxer, now an Islamic preacher
  • Julia Volkova – Russian singer and actress best known as a member of the Russian pop duo, t.A.T.u.

    • W

  • Jason Walters – Dutch member of the Hofstad Network, convicted on charges of terrorism
  • Sonny Bill Williams – New Zealand rugby player and heavyweight boxer
  • Michael Wolfe – American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation

    • X

  • Malcolm X (1925–1965) – black revolutionary and civil rights activist

    • Y

  • Felixia Yeap – Malaysian supermodel, former Playboy Bunny
  • Mohammad Yousuf – former Pakistani cricketer
  • Hamza Yusuf (born Mark Hanson) – American Islamic scholar and co-founder of Zaytuna College

    • References

    List of converts to Islam Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA