Neha Patil (Editor)

List of former Muslims

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List of former Muslims

Ex-Muslims or former Muslims are people who have been Muslims for some part of their lives, but left Islam for another religion or a nonreligious philosophy. Following is a list of notable ex-Muslims.

Contents

Converted to Buddhism

  • Tillakaratne Dilshan – Sri Lankan cricketer
  • Kenneth Pai – Chinese American writer of Hui descent
  • Bunnag family - Thai family of Persian descent.
  • Sri Sulalai - princess of the royal family of the Sultanate of Singora. Rama II of Siam took her as a concubine.
  • Suraj Randiv - Sri Lankan cricketer

    • Converted to Hinduism

  • Bukka I – King of Vijayanagara empire who converted to Islam, then reverted to Hinduism. The early life of Bukka as well as his brother Hakka (also known as Harihara I) are relatively unknown and most accounts of their early life are based on theories.
  • Nargis – noted Bollywood actress, politician, and social worker. Mother of actor Sanjay Dutt she converted to Hinduism and took the name of Nirmala Dutt on her marriage to actor Sunil Dutt
  • Chander Mohan – former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana State in India. He was born Chandra Mohan he converted to Islam after marriage and again reverted to Hinduism after his divorce.
  • Annapurna Devi (born Roshanara Khan) – surbahar (bass sitar) player and music teacher in the North Indian classical tradition. She converted to Hinduism upon marriage.
  • Happy Salma – Indonesian actress, writer, model become princess and member of the Lordship of Ubud after marriage.
  • Harilal Mohandas Gandhi – son of Mahatma Gandhi. Upon converting to Islam he adopted the name Abdullah Gandhi, but later again reverted to Hinduism.
  • Asha Gawli – (born Ayesha) wife of Arun Gawli, notorious gangster turned politician from Mumbai, India. She converted to Hinduism upon marriage.
  • Harihara I – King of Vijayanagara Empire who converted to Islam, then reconverted.
  • Aashish Khan (born Ustad Aashish Khan Debsharma) – Indian musician
  • Hassan Palakkode – Malayali writer on Islam.
  • Netaji Palkar – Maratha noble and commander-in-chief of the army of Shivaji, 19 June 1676.
  • Sarmad – 17th century mystical poet and sufi saint, arrived from Persia to India, beheaded for assumed heresy by the Mughal emperor, Aurungzebe. Sarmad renounced Judaism, briefly converting to Islam and then Hinduism. He later denounced all religions and rejected belief in god.
  • Anwar Shaikh – British author.
  • Ifa Sudewi – chief judge for the 2002 Bali bombing trials
  • Khushboo Sundar – Tamil movie actress. She converted to Hinduism upon marriage.
  • Haridas Thakura – Prominent Vaishnavite saint, instrumental in the early appearance and spread of Hare Krishna movement.
  • Zubeida – Hindi film actress, on whose life story the film Zubeidaa was based. She converted to Hinduism upon marriage.

    • Converted to a Chinese religion

  • Ding family of Quanzhou – Muslim family in Fujian province of China and Taiwan which abandoned Islam.
  • Guo family of Quanzhou – Muslim family in Fujian province of China and Taiwan which abandoned Islam.
  • Xia family of Quanzhou – Muslim family in Fujian province of China and Taiwan which abandoned Islam.
  • Li Zhi's family

    • Converted to Judaism

  • Reza Jabari – Israeli of Iranian birth who hijacked a flight between Tehran and the Iranian resort island of Kish in September, 1995 while working as a flight attendant for Iranian carrier Kish Air flight 707.
  • Avraham Sinai – Lebanese former Shi'ite who converted to Judaism. He served as an informant for the Israelis while serving in Hezbollah, until his actions were uncovered. He fled to Israel and subsequently converted.
  • Amina Dawood Al-Mufti – a Jordanian Muslim of Circassian origin, converted to Judaism upon marrying an Israeli Jewish pilot in secret in Vienna. She later became a spy for Mossad. An Arabic TV series called An Eastern Girl (فتاة من الشرق) (Fatah min Asharq) was made about her starring Suzan Najm Aldeen as Amina. The book (مذكرات أخطر جاسوسة عربية للموساد .. أمينة المفتي) was written about her.

    • Converted to Christianity

  • Alina Kabaeva – Russian gymnast.
  • Mary Fillis
  • House of Yusupov – former Muslim Genghisid family which converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity.
  • Descendants of Kuchum – former Muslim Genghisid family which converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity.
  • Qasim Khanate – some Muslim begs and Khans of the Qasim Khanate converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity.
  • Fathia Ghali – Egyptian princess and youngest daughter of Fuad I of Egypt and Nazli Sabri.
  • Broery – Indonesian singer (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity).
  • Laysan Utiasheva – Russian gymnast, convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
  • Jean-Bédel Bokassa – Central African Republic Emperor (from Roman Catholicism to Islam back to Roman Catholicism).
  • Rianti Cartwright – Indonesian actress, model, presenter and VJ. Two weeks before departure to the United States to get married, Rianti left the Muslim faith to become a baptized Catholic with the name Sophia Rianti Rhiannon Cartwright.
  • Moussa Dadis Camara – ex-officer of the Guinean army.
  • Ibrahim Njoya – Bamum people religion; back and forth conversions from Islam to Christianity. Also created his own religion.
  • Eldridge Cleaver – Conversions/Associations to Nation of Islam then Evangelical Christianity then Mormonism.
  • Maria Aurora von Spiegel – (born Fatima) was a Turkish mistress of Augustus II the Strong and the wife of a Polish noble.
  • Aslan Abashidze – former leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia.
  • Rotimi Adebari – first Black mayor in Ireland.
  • Nafa Urbach – Indonesian singer, actress and model.
  • Mehmet Ali Agca – Turkish ultra-nationalist assassin, who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981. In early 2009, Agca renounced Islam in prison and announced his intention to convert to the Catholic faith upon release.
  • Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad – Former Egyptian Muslim sheikh.
  • Magdi Allam – Italy's most famous Islamic affairs journalist.
  • Mario Joseph – former Indian Muslim preacher & scholar.
  • Hussain Andaryas – Afghan Christian activist and tele-evangelist.
  • Josephine Bakhita – Roman Catholic saint from Darfur, Sudan.
  • Fathima Rifqa Bary – American teenager of Sri Lankan descent who drew international attention in 2009 when she ran away from home and claimed that her Muslim parents might kill her for having converted to Christianity.
  • Abo of Tiflis – Christian activist and the Patron Saint of the city of Tbilisi, Georgia.
  • Don Juan of Persia – late 16th and early 17th century figure in Iran and Spain, converting himself from Shia Islam to Roman Catholicism.
  • Utameshgaray of Kazan – Khan of Kazan Khanate.
  • Maria Huberdina Hertogh – Dutch-Indonesian child kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam during the World War II in 1943 by Malay Muslims but was eventually return to his Catholic family in 1950.
  • Rajah Humabon – first Filipino Sultan convert to Roman Catholicism in the name of Carlos.
  • Rajah Matanda – sovereign of the Kingdom of Maynila
  • Lakandula – Lakan of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Tondo
  • Yadegar Moxammat of Kazan (Yadegar Mokhammad of Kazan) – Last khan of Kazan Khanate.
  • Sayed Borhan khan – Khan of Qasim Khanate from 1627 to 1679.
  • Diana Nasution – Indonesian singer, converted to Protestantism after marriage.
  • Simeon Bekbulatovich – Khan of Qasim Khanate.
  • The Sibirsky family – foremost of many Genghisid (Shaybanid) noble families formerly living in Russia.
  • Daniel Bambang Dwi Byantoro – leader (and Archimandrite) of the Indonesian Orthodox Church.
  • Maria Temryukovna – Circassian princess, and second wife to Ivan IV of Russia who was born in a Muslim upbringing, and baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church on August 21, 1561.
  • The Shihab family – prominent Lebanese noble family. The family originally belonged to Sunni Islam and converted to Maronite Catholicism at the end of the 18th century.
  • Jacob Frank – 18th century Jewish religious leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of the self-proclaimed messiah Sabbatai Zevi, and also of King David. Frank publicly converted to Islam in 1757 and later to Christianity at Poland in 1759, but actually presented himself as the Messiah of a syncretic derivation of Shabbatai Zevi's Messianism now referred to as Frankism.
  • Walid Shoebat – American author and self-proclaimed former member of the PLO.
  • Hassan Dehqani-Tafti – Anglican Bishop of Iran from 1961 to 1990.
  • Ibrahim Ben Ali – soldier, physician and one of the earliest American settlers of Turkish origin.
  • Bob Denard – French soldier and mercenary leader. Converted from Roman Catholicism to Judaism, then Islam and eventually back to Roman Catholicism.
  • Nonie Darwish – Egyptian-American writer and public speaker.
  • Roy Marten – (born Wicasksono Abdul Salam) Indonesian actor whose family was converted to Roman Catholicism during his childhood but who converted later to Indonesian Orthodoxy in 1997.
  • Mehdi Dibaj – Iranian pastor and Christian activist.
  • Hazem Farraj – Palestinian American minister, writer, evangelist
  • Ghorban Tourani – former Iranian Sunni Muslim who became a Christian minister. Following multiple murder threats, he was abducted and murdered on November 22, 2005.
  • Chamillionaire – (born Hakeem Seriki) American rapper.
  • St. George El Mozahem – coptic saint
  • Patrick Sookhdeo – British Anglican canon
  • Mark A. Gabriel – Egyptian writer
  • Ergun Caner – Swedish-American academic, author, and Baptist minister.
  • Akbar Gbaja-Biamila – American football player.
  • Alexander Kazembek – Russian Orientalist, historian and philologist of Azeri origin .
  • Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila – American football player.
  • Qadry Ismail – Former American football player.
  • Raghib Ismail – former American football player.
  • Tunch Ilkin – former American football player.
  • Lina Joy – Malaysian former Muslim converted to Roman Catholicism. The desire to have her conversion recognized by law was the subject of a court case in Malaysia.
  • Chulpan Khamatova – Russian actress.
  • Wu'erkaixi – Uyghur dissident known for his leading role during the Tiananmen protests of 1989.
  • Asmirandah – Indonesian actress of Dutch descent converted to Protestantism in December 2013. Zantman owes her conversion to an experience of having dreamed three times of Jesus Christ.
  • Carlos Menem – former President of Argentina. Raised a Muslim but converted to Roman Catholicism, the official religion of Argentina, due to his political aspirations.
  • Marina Nemat – Canadian author of Iranian descent and former political prisoner of the Iranian government. Born into a Christian family, she converted to Islam in order to avoid execution but later reverted to Christianity.
  • George Weah – Liberian soccer player (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity).
  • Momolu Dukuly – Liberian foreign minister.
  • Nazli Sabri – Queen consort of Egypt.
  • James Scurry – British soldier and statesman.
  • Begum Samru – Powerful lady of north India, ruling a large area from Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh.
  • Abdul Rahman – Afghan convert to Christianity who escaped the death penalty because of foreign pressure.
  • Youcef Nadarkhani – Iranian Christian pastor who has been sentenced to death for apostasy.
  • The Clan Yusupov – noble family of Tatar descent down the Khans of the Nogai Horde, convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the 17th century.
  • Mathieu Kérékou – President of Benin (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity).
  • Agni Pratistha – Indonesian actress, model and former beauty queen (elected Puteri Indonesia 2006), converted to Catholicism after marriage, although what is initially denied rumors of conversion.
  • Sheikh Deen Muhammad – British Indian traveller, surgeon and entrepreneur who introduced shampooing and the Indian take-away curry house restaurant in Britain, and was the first Indian to have written a book in the English language.
  • Kitty Kirkpatrick – daughter of James Achilles Kirkpatrick, British Resident in Hyderabad and Khair-un-Nissa, a Hyderabadi noblewoman.
  • Emily Ruete – (born Sayyida Salme) Princess of Zanzibar and Oman.
  • Emir Kusturica – Bosnian, Serbian and Yugoslavian filmmaker and actor.
  • Pinkan Mambo – (born Pinkan Ratnasari Mambo) Indonesian singer converted in 2010. Decision taken after admitting she studied various religions of the world and eventually dropped in awe of Jesus Christ.
  • Daniel Ali – Iraqi Kurdish Christian author and speaker; evangelizes in Catholic, Protestant and Messianic Jewish circles.
  • Fernão Lopes – Portuguese nobleman, soldier and the first known permanent inhabitant of the remote Island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
  • Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky – Russian officer of Circassian origin who led the first Russian military expedition into Central Asia.
  • Kassian Cephas – Indonesian photographer.
  • Umar ibn Hafsun – leader of anti-Ummayad dynasty forces in southern Iberia. Hafsun converted to Christianity with his sons and ruled over several mountain valleys for nearly forty years, having the castle Bobastro as his residence.
  • Casilda of Toledo – saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Saint Alodia and Saint Nunilo – Christian martyrs and confessors who were put to death during the reign of Abd ar-Rahman II, Caliph of Córdoba for apostasy.
  • Aurelius and Natalia – Christian martyrs who were put to death during the reign of Abd ar-Rahman II, Caliph of Córdoba for apostasy.
  • Johannes Avetaranian – (born Muhammad Shukri Efendi), Christian missionary and Turkish descendent of Muhammad.
  • Paul Mulla – Turkish scholar and professor of Islamic Studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
  • Ibrahim Tunggul Wulung – Indonesian evangelist and missionary.
  • Hamid Pourmand – former Iranian army colonel and lay leader of the Jama'at-e Rabbani, the Iranian branch of the Assemblies of God church in Iran.
  • Donald Fareed – Iranian Christian tele-evangelist and minister.
  • Daveed Gartenstein-Ross – counter-terrorism expert and attorney (from Judaism to Islam to Christianity).
  • Zachariah Anani – former Sunni Muslim Lebanese militia fighter
  • Malika Oufkir – author, activist and former prisoner of the Moroccan Royal Family.
  • Rashid Nurgaliyev – Russian politician and general convert to Russian Orthodoxy.
  • Ruffa Gutierrez – Filipina actress, model and former beauty queen (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity)
  • Fadhma Aït Mansour – mother of French writers Jean Amrouche and Taos Amrouche.
  • Imad ud-din Lahiz – Prolific Islamic writer, preacher and Quranic translator.
  • Dr. Nur Luke – Uyghur Bible translator.
  • Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal – two Turkish Christian converts who went on trial in 2006, on charges of "allegedly insulting 'Turkishness' and inciting religious hatred against Islam".
  • Mohammed Hegazy – first Egyptian Muslim convert to Christianity to seek official recognition of his conversion from the Egyptian Government.
  • Francis Bok – Sudanese-American activist, convert to Islam from Christianity; but later returned to his Christian faith.
  • Josef Mässrur – (born Ghäsim Khan) missionary to Chinese Turkestan with the Mission Union of Sweden.
  • Gulshan Esther – Pakistani convert from Islam to Christianity.
  • Ubayd-Allah ibn Jahsh – brother of Zaynab bint Jahsh, the wife of Muhammad and one of the male Sahaba (companions of the Prophet).
  • Nania Kurniawati Yusuf – Indonesian singer, finalist of the first season to Indonesian Idol, 2004.
  • Jabalah ibn al-Aiham – last ruler of the Ghassanid state in Syria and Jordan in the seventh century AD. After the Islamic conquest of Levant he converted to Islam in AD 638. He reverted to Christianity later on and lived in Anatolia until he died in AD 645.
  • Constantine the African – Baghdad-educated Muslim who died in 1087 as a Christian monk at Monte Cassino.
  • Estevanico – Berber originally from Morocco and one of the early explorers of the Southwestern United States.
  • Kyai Sadrach – Indonesian missionary.
  • Enrique de Malaca – Malay slave of Ferdinand Magellan, converted to Roman Catholicism after being purchased in 1511.
  • Abraham of Bulgaria – martyr and saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.
  • Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari – second wife and Queen Consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the late Shah of Iran who converted to Roman Catholicism.
  • Sigi Wimala – Indonesian model and actress, converted to Catholicism after marriage.
  • Aman Tuleyev – Russian governor of Kemerovo Oblast.
  • St. Adolphus – Christian martyr who was put to death along with his brother, John, by Abd ar-Rahman II, Caliph of Córdoba for apostasy.
  • Nasir Siddiki – Canadian evangelist, author, and business consultant.
  • Matthew Ashimolowo – Nigerian-born British pastor and evangelist.
  • Michał Czajkowski – Polish-Cossack writer and political emigre who worked both for the resurrection of Poland and the reestablishment of a Cossack Ukraine.
  • Stefan Razvan – Gypsy prince who ruled Moldavia for six months in 1595.
  • Skanderbeg – Albanian monarch and military leader. Skanderbeg converted to Islam from Christianity but reverted to Christianity later in life.
  • Amir Sjarifuddin – Indonesian socialist leader who later became the second prime minister of Indonesia during its National Revolution.
  • Dr.Thomas Yayi Boni – President of Benin.
  • Al-Mu'eiyyad – Abbasid prince and third son of Abbasid caliph, Al-Mutawakkil. He was converted to Christianity along with his three confidants by St. Theodore of Edessa, accepting the name "John" upon baptism.
  • Aben Humeya – (born Fernando de Valor) Morisco Chief who was crowned the Emir of Andalusia by his followers and led the Morisco Revolt against Philip II of Spain.
  • Rudolf Carl von Slatin – Anglo-Austrian soldier and administrator in the Sudan.
  • Shams Pahlavi – Iranian princess and the elder sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran.
  • Saye Zerbo – President of the republic of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso).
  • Zaida of Seville – refugee Andalusian Muslim princess who was a mistress and then perhaps queen of Alfonso VI of Castile.
  • Djibril Cissé – footballer for club and country.
  • Sedar Dedeoglu – Turk who claims to be a descendant of Muhammad has converted to Christianity while living in Germany.
  • Lukman Sardi – Indonesian actor converted to Christianity after marriage.
  • Majeed Rashid Mohammed – Kurdish Christian convert from Islam. He established a network with former Kurdish Muslims with about 2,000 members today.
  • Muhsin Muhammad – football player for Carolina Panthers
  • Taysir Abu Saada – former member of the PLO and the founder of the christian ministry Hope For Ishmael after he converted to christianity. He was Yasir Arafat's personal driver.
  • Mosab Hassan Yousef – son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder and one of its leader.
  • Nabeel Qureshi – former Ahmadi Muslim and now co-director of Acts 17 Apologetics Ministries. He has given lectures at universities and seminaries throughout North America.
  • Udo Ulfkotte – German journalist who was born a Christian, became an atheist, then converted to Islam and finally converted back to Christianity.
  • Sabatina James – Pakistani-Austrian former Muslim and now an Austrian Roman Catholic author.
  • Jessica Iskandar – Indonesian actress and model (from Christianity to Islam back to Christianity).
  • Mohammad Hymath – former Ahmadi Muslim and now Founder of Jesus Above All Ministries. He has given His Testimony at Churches and seminaries throughout South India.
  • Brother Rachid – famous television presenter. He hosts a TV show called "Daring Question" which focuses on discussing and criticizing Islam.
  • Saeed and Nagmeh Abedini
  • Sake Dean Mahomed

    • Converted to the Bahá'í Faith

    These were mostly people who were followers of the Bahá'u'lláh at the time he founded the Bahá'í Faith. They were formerly Muslims.

  • Mírzá Abu'l-Fadl – foremost Bahá'í scholar who helped spread the Bahá'í Faith in Egypt, Turkmenistan, and the United States. One of the few Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh who never actually met Bahá'u'lláh.
  • Mishkín-Qalam – prominent Bahá'í and one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh, as well as a famous calligrapher of 19th century Persia.
  • Táhirih – Persian poet and theologian of the Bábí faith in Iran.
  • Nabíl-i-A'zam – Bahá'í historian and one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh
  • Hají Ákhúnd – eminent follower of Bahá'u'lláh. He was appointed a Hand of the Cause, and identified as one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.
  • Ibn-i-Abhar – appointed a Hand of the Cause, and identified as one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.
  • Mírzá Mahmúd – eminent follower of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
  • Núrayn-i-Nayyirayn – two brothers who were beheaded in the city of Isfahan in 1879.
  • Somaya Ramadan – 2001 winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.
  • 'Abdu'l-Karim Amín Khawja – first native Algerian convert to the Bahá'í Faith.
  • Musa Naghiyev – Azerbaijani industrial oil magnate in late 19th - early 20th century.
  • Sami Doktoroglu – early and important member of the Bahá'í Faith in Turkey.

    • Became atheists

  • Javed Akhtar – noted Indian writer and lyricist.
  • Waleed Al-Husseini – Palestinian philosopher, essayist, writer, blogger and co-founder of Council of Ex-Muslims in France (CEMF).
  • Abdullah al-Qasemi – Saudi born Egyptian
  • Salman Rushdie – British-Indian novelist and essayist.
  • Aliaa Magda Elmahdy – Egyptian internet activist and women's rights advocate.
  • Ahmed Harqan – Egyptian human rights activist and outspoken atheist.
  • Kareem Amer – Egyptian blogger.
  • Hamed Abdel-Samad –erman-Egyptian political scientist, historian and author.
  • Ayaan Hirsi Ali – Somali-born Dutch feminist, writer, and politician.
  • Ismael Adham – Egyptian writer and philosopher.
  • Aziz Nesin – popular Turkish humorist and author of more than 100 books.
  • Aroj Ali Matubbar – self-taught Bangladeshi philosopher
  • Kacem El Ghazzali – Moroccan-Swiss writer and activist.
  • Zackie Achmat – South African anti-HIV/AIDS activist; founder of the Treatment Action Campaign.
  • Humayun Azad – Bangladeshi author, poet, scholar and linguists.
  • Faik Konica – Albanian stylist, critic, publicist and political figure that had a tremendous impact on Albanian writing and on Albanian culture at the time.
  • Turan Dursun – Turkish writer. He was once a Turkish mufti and later authored many books critical of Islam.
  • Valon Behrami – Kosovo born Swiss professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Watford.
  • Ehsan Jami – Dutch politician and founder of the Dutch Central Committee for Ex-Muslims.
  • Enver Hoxha – Communist dictator who declared Albania the first atheist state, and who has been identified as an "arch-atheist."
  • As'ad Abu Khalil – Lebanese professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. He describes himself as an "atheist secularist".
  • Al-Ma'arri – blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer.
  • Sarmad – seventeenth-century mystical poet and sufi saint, arrived from Persia to India, beheaded for assumed heresy by the Mughal emperor, Aurungzebe. Sarmad renounced Judaism, briefly converting to Islam and then Hinduism. He later denounced all religions and rejected belief in gods.
  • Lounès Matoub – Algerian Berber Kabyle singer.
  • Afshin Ellian – Iranian professor
  • Ramiz Alia – Albanian communist leader and former president of Albania.
  • Hassan Bahara – Moroccan-Dutch writer.
  • Hafid Bouazza – Moroccan-Dutch writer.
  • Ismail Kadare – world-renowned Albanian writer.
  • Maryam Namazie – Iranian communist, political activist and leader of the British apostate-organization "Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain"
  • Anwar Shaikh – British author of Pakistani descent.
  • Zohra Sehgal – Indian actress who has appeared in several Hindi and English language films.
  • Mirza Fatali Akhundov – 19th century Azerbaijani playwright and philosopher.
  • Taslima Nasrin – Bangladeshi author, feminist, human rights activist and secular humanist.
  • Sharif Ahmed – Bangladeshi Humanist Book seller, human rights activist and secular humanist.
  • Parvin Darabi – Iranian born American activist, writer and woman's rights activist.
  • Barack Obama, Sr. – Kenyan senior governmental economist, and the father of U.S. President Barack Obama
  • Ali Sina – owner of the faith freedom website
  • Fauzia Ilyas – founder of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan
  • Charles Wardle – former militant convert to Islam from New Zealand. Worked for the NZSIS.
  • Kumail Nanjiani – Pakistani American stand-up comic and actor.
  • Ayman Odeh – Israeli politician
  • Ayaz Nizami – Pakistani Islamic Scholar became atheist, Founder of realisticapproach.org an Urdu website about atheism, and Vice President of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan
  • MD Tipu Sultan - Bangladeshi Human Right Activist and Writer.

    • Became Agnostics

  • Seema Mustafa – Indian journalist, Political Editor and Delhi Bureau Chief of The Asian Age newspaper.
  • Cenk Uygur – Main host of the liberal talk radio show The Young Turks. He is an agnostic.
  • Wafa Sultan – Syrian-born American psychiatrist and controversial critic of Islam. She describes herself as a "Secular Humanist"
  • Ibn Warraq – British Pakistani secularist author and founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
  • Mina Ahadi – Iranian-born pacifist, founder of the German apostate-organization "Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime"
  • Dr. Younus Shaikh – Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist, rationalist and free-thinker.
  • Ibn al-Rawandi – early skeptic of Islam.

    • Became Deists

  • Ahmad Kasravi – notable Iranian linguist, historian, and reformer.

    • Became Non-religious

  • Nyamko Sabuni – politician in Sweden

    • Religious founders

  • Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi – founder of the spiritual movements Messiah Foundation International and Anjuman Serfaroshan-e-Islam.
  • Akbar the great – Mughal emperor and founder of Dīn-i Ilāhī, a religious movement whose followers never numbered more than 19 adherents.
  • Ariffin Mohammed – founder of the Sky Kingdom who claimed a unique connection to God. In spite of renouncing Islam in 2001, he stated that there was no restriction on practising your own faith and at the same time belonging to the Sky Kingdom.
  • Báb – founder of Bábism. Most of his followers later accepted Bahá'u'lláh and thus became Baha'is.
  • Bahá'u'lláh – after the Bab's death, claimed to be the prophet the Báb spoke of, thereby founding the Bahá'í Faith.
  • Salih ibn Tarif – second king of the Berghouata. He proclaimed himself a Prophet/Mahdi and came out with his own Qur'an.
  • Kabir – 15th century mystical poet and founder of the Kabirpanthi. Born to a Hindu Brahmin widow but adopted and raised as Muslim by a childless Muslim couple, later denouncing both Hinduism and Islam.
  • Musaylimah – prophet of the Banu Hanifa tribe who lived during and after the lifetime of Muhammad.
  • Dwight York – African American author, black supremacist leader, musician, convicted child molester and founder of the religious doctrine called Nuwaubianism.
  • Ṣāliḥ ibn Tarīf – formed a syncretic religion based in Barghawata
  • Sultan Sahak – founded Ahl-e Haqq
  • David Myatt – founded the Numinous Way

    • Undetermined current belief system

  • Khalid Duran – specialist in the history, sociology and politics of the Islamic world.
  • Trie Utami – Indonesian singer who after a stormy divorce is known to have left Islam after 2005, but she refuses to declare what religion she converted to.
  • Charles Bronson – British criminal and self-styled "most violent prisoner in Britain".
  • David Hicks – Australian-born Guantanamo Bay detainee who converted to Islam and was notorious in his homeland for his once support of radical Islam and for the circumstances surrounding his incarceration, is believed to have renounced Islam whilst incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay.
  • Wesley Snipes – American actor, film producer, and martial artist.
  • Lex Hixon – not raised religious; Conversions to Hinduism, Sufism. Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and possibly Zen.
  • Linda Thompson – British folk singer who, along with her husband Richard, converted to Sufism in the 1970s. The couple have since divorced and she has left the religion.

    • References

    List of former Muslims Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA