Download List of Converts to Islam From Catholicism Keith Ellison American

LIST OF CONVERTS TO ISLAM
FROM CATHOLICISM
Keith Ellison American, raised Catholic, Representative from Minnesota's 5th
congressional district, first Muslim to be elected to the United States Congress[1]
* Torquato Cardilli - Italian ambassador.
* Roger Garaudy - French philosopher.
* Murad Wilfred Hofmann - NATO official
* Knud Holmboe - Danish journalist and explorer.
* Nuh Ha Mim Keller - from Catholicism to agnosticism to Sufism, Islamic scholar
* John Walker Lindh - the American Taliban Raised Roman Catholic, John Walker
Lindh later converted to Islam, joined the Taliban and was captured in Afghanistan
fighting against the Northern Alliance.
* Vincenzo Luvineri - American rapper and the lyricist behind the Philadelphia
underground hip-hop group Jedi Mind Tricks.
* Ingrid Mattson - Canadian scholar and current president of the Islamic Society of
North America (2006)
* Matthew Saad Muhammad (formerly Matthew Franklin) - former boxer.
* Peter Murphy - vocalist of the rock group Bauhaus.
* Poncke Princen - Dutch soldier, later human rights activist.
* Radu cel Frumos - was the younger brother of Vlad Ţepeş (Dracula) and prince of
the principality of Wallachia.
* Ahmed Santos - Filipino, fugitive, founder of the Rajah Solaiman Movement &
suspected by Filipino authorities to be an Al Qaeda operative
* Danny Thompson - English double bass player.
* Mohammad Yousuf - Pakistani cricketer. Known for holding the
world record for the most Test runs in a single calendar year
* Omar Sharif - Academy Award-nominated Egyptian actor who has starred in
many Hollywood films.
FROM PROTESTANTISM
* Ryan G. Anderson - former Lutheran, convicted of charges of espionage for Al
Qaeda
* Isabelle Eberhardt - from Lutheran Christianity, 19th century explorer & writer
* Yahiya Emerick - American Muslim scholar, president of the Islamic Foundation of
North America.
* Yusuf Estes - former preacher and federal prison chaplain.
Yusuf Estes, a convert to Islam, is the National Muslim Chaplain for American
Muslims.
* St. John Philby - Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence
operative; converted from Anglicanism.
* Yvonne Ridley - British journalist, from Anglicanism. She converted after being
kidnapped and released by the Taliban.
FROM OTHER OR UNSPECIFIED DENOMINATION
* Atik Sinan - Ottoman architect
* Thomas J. Abercrombie - photographer
* Éric Abidal (changed his name to Bilal) - French soccer player , converted to
Islam after marriage.
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) - retired basketball player & the NBA's alltime leading scorer
* Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (Chris Jackson) - retired basketball player
* Tariq Abdul-Wahad (Olivier Saint-Jean) - originally from France, former
basketball player for the Mavericks and Kings
* Abdul-Karim al-Jabbar (Sharmon Shah) - former NFL football player
* Ivan Aguéli (Johan Agelii) - famous Swedish painter.
* Dawud Wharnsby Ali (David Wharnsby) - Canadian singer/poet.
* Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), to The Nation of Islam to Sunni Islam to
Sufism,[42] famous boxer
* Rowland Allanson-Winn, 5th Baron Headley - British soldier and peer.
* Nicolas Anelka - French football player
* Yasin Abu Bakr (Lennox Philip) - of Trinidad and Tobago, under trial for an
attempted coup as of March 9, 2006
* Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker (Philip Barker) - professor of Urdu, former
chair of the University of Minnesota's Department of South Asian studies and creator
of the Tékumel fantasy world.
* Kevin Barrett - university lecturer and member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
* David Belfield - American, fled to Iran after assassinating Ali Akbar Tabatabai, an
Iranian dissident.
Muhammad Ali- a convert to Islam.
* 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)
* Art Blakey - American Jazz musician
* Omar Bongo - Gabonese, President of Gabon.
* Claude Alexandre de Bonneval - French noble.
* 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.
* Count Cassius- Visigothic aristocrat who founded the Banu Qasi dynasty of Muladi
rulers.
* David Chappelle - comedian and television star
* Benjamin Chavis - controversial former head of the NAACP; joined the Nation of
Islam
* Jimmy Cliff - Jamaican reggae musician.
* Aukai Collins - fought in Chechnya, paid FBI informant, author of an
autobiographical book
* Jerôme Courtailler - one of two French brothers convicted by French authorities
in 2004 for abetting terrorists
* Ian Dallas - Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi - sufi shaykh of Scottish origins.[67]
* C. Jack Ellis - Mayor of Macon, Georgia[68]
* Chris Eubank - British boxer[69]
* Sultaana Freeman - sued the state of Florida for niqab restrictions.[70]
* Adam Yahiye Gadahn - spokesperson for Al-Qaeda; on the FBI's Most Wanted
Terrorists list[71][72]
* George XI of Kartli - Saffavid commander.[73]
* René Guénon - French Author in the field of metaphysics [74]
* Ryan Harris- football player for the Denver Broncos [75]
* David Hicks- Former Taliban fighter from Australia, recently released from
detention in Adelaide.
* Bernard Hopkins - American boxer[76]
* Ahmed Huber- Swiss Neo-nazi journalist, holocaust denier and terrorist
supporter[77]
* Silma Ihram - Australian pioneer of Muslim education in the West, founder and
former school Principal of the 'Noor Al Houda Islamic College', campaigner for racial
tolerance, and Author.[78]
* Jermaine Jackson (Muhammad Abdul Aziz) - former member of The Jackson 5
and brother of popstars Michael and Janet Jackson.[79]
* Sarah Joseph - commentator on women's issues and founder of emel
magazine.[80]
* Michael Muhammad Knight - American novelist, writer, and journalist.[81]
* Rustie Lee - British television chef and celebrity.[82]
Richard Colvin Reid known as the "shoe bomber" was a convert to Islam.[71]
Malcolm X- famous Muslim convert and civil rights leader
*Hamza Yusuf, head of the Zaytuna Institute
*Timothy Winter is a prominent British lecturer at the University of Cambridge
American journalist, newspaper owner, and former Consul-General of the U.S.A. in
the Philippines, Mohammad Webb was a convert.
* Germaine Lindsay - participated and died in the 7 July 2005 London
bombings[83][84][85]
* Alexander Litvinenko - former Russian spy converted to Islam on his
deathbed.[86]
* 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.[88]
* Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood - British author.[89]
* Iyasu V - Ethiopian emperor.[90]
* Jacques-Francois Menou - French general under Napoleon I of France.[91]
* Bruno Metsu - French coach of the Senegal team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup[92]
* Daniel Moore - poet [93]
* Preacher Moss - American comedian and comedy writer.[94]
* Sheila Musaji - founder of The American Muslim magazine.[95]
* Ibrahim Muteferrika (original name not known) - From Unitarian Christianity, an
early example of a Muslim publisher and printer.[96]
* John Nelson - first recorded Englishman to become a Muslim.[97]
* Prince Buster, Jamaican singer and producer.
* Queen Noor of Jordan (formerly Lisa Najeeb Halaby)[98]
* Omar Pasha - Ottoman general. Converted from Serbian Orthodoxy.[99]
* Emin Pasha - physician, naturalist, and Egyptian governor.[100]
* Judar Pasha - conqueror of the Songhai Empire.[101]
* Bilal Philips - Islamic scholar and author[102]
* Marmaduke Pickthall - famous translator of the Quran.[103]
* William Abdullah Quilliam - 19th century British poet, ambassador and
journalist.[104]
* Ilie II Rareş - prince of Moldavia.[105]
* Ahmad Rashād - Emmy award-winning sportscaster (mostly with NBC Sports)
and former American football wide receiver.[106][107]
* Richard Colvin Reid - shoe bomber (convicted terrorist) [108]
* Franck Ribéry- a French soccer player. His name after he converted to Islam is
Bilal.[109]
* Busta Rhymes - Music artist, born to Rastafari parents
* Sana al-Sayegh, dean of the Science and Technology Faculty at Palestine
International University, converted to Islam in August 2007. Fatah has accused its
political rival Hamas of forcing the professor to convert from Christianity, a charge
Hamas denies. [110]
* Scarface - American rapper[111]
* Mario Scialoja - Italian ambassador and President of the World Muslim
League.[112]
* Betty Shabazz - wife of Malcolm X; former Methodist.[113]
* Zaid Shakir - African-American Muslim speaker and intellectual in the United
States.[114][115]
* Rudolf Carl von Slatin - Anglo-Austrian soldier and administrator in the
Sudan.[116]
* Suleiman Pasha - French-born Egyptian commander.[117]
* Joe Tex - soul singer and recording artist.[118]
* Richard Thompson - British musician, best known for his guitar playing and
songwriting.[121]
* Ahmad Thomson - British barrister and writer and also a member of the
Murabitun movement.[122]
* Top Topham - rock guitarist from England.[123]
* Gabriele Torsello - Italian freelance photojournalist based in London who was
abducted in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.[124]
* Philippe Troussier - French, former football player & trainer of a Japanese
football team[125]
* Mihnea Turcitul - was a Prince (Voivode) of Walachia. Converted from Eastern
Orthodox Christianity.[126]
* Jacques Vergès - French lawyer and famous [anti-colonialist|anti-colonialism]]
known for defending left- and right-wing international terrorists and dictators in
court
* Siraj Wahaj - African-American Imam, noted for his efforts to eliminate
Brooklyn's drug problems.[128]
* Danny Williams - British boxer[129]
* Malcolm X - American, from Christianity to Nation of Islam to mainstream Islam,
African-American civil rights leader.[130]
* Khalid Yasin - Executive Director of the Islamic Teaching Institute, and a Shaykh
currently residing in Australia.[131]
* James Yee - former U.S. Army Muslim chaplain.[132]
* Hamza Yusuf - American convert from Greek Orthodox; head of the Zaytuna
Institute.[133]
* Alexander Russell Webb - American journalist, newspaper owner, and former
Consul-General of the U.S.A. in the Philippines.[134][135]
* Suhaib Webb - American Islamic activist and speaker.[136]
* Abdulla Webster - former Sergeant First Class in the United States Army who
refused to deploy to Iraq.[137]
* John Whitehead - an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.[138]
* Timothy Winter - prominent British Islamic thinker and scholar, and a lecturer in
Islamic studies in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.[139]
* Zağanos Pasha - one of the prominent military commanders of Mehmet II
(Mehmet the Conqueror) and a lala, at once an advisor, mentor, tutor, councilors,
protector, for the sultan.[140]
* Mohammed Zakariya - an American master of Arabic calligraphy, best known for
his work on the popular Eid U.S. postage stamp.[141]
* Clement Lindley Wragge. A British born meteorologist who later moved to New
Zealand.
FROM JUDAISM
* Abdullah ibn Salam - 7th century sahabi said to have been a rabbi of aristocratic
stock. [142]
* Sultan Rafi Sharif Bey (Yale Singer) - a pioneer in the development of Islamic
culture in the United States.[143]
* Rashid al-Din - 13th century Persian physician[144]
* Shabbatai Zevi - seventeenth century Jewish false messiah.
* Jacob Frank - publicly converted to Islam in 1757[145] and to Christianity in
Poland but actually presented himself as the Messiah of a syncretic derivation of
Shabbatai Zevi's Messianism.
* Leila Mourad - Egyptian singer and actress who rose to fame in the 1940s and
1950s.[146]
* 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. [147]
* Jacob Querido - 17th century successor of the self-proclaimed Jewish Messiah
Sabbatai Zevi.[148]
* Sarmad - 17th century mystical poet and sufi saint, arrived from Persia to India,
beheaded for assumed heresy by Aurungzebe.[149]
* Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss) - Viennese journalist who became Pakistani
ambassador to the United Nations[150]
* Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari - 9th century Persian scholar physician (a hakim),
who produced the first encyclopedia of medicine.[151]
* Yaqub ibn Killis - 10th century Egyptian vizier under the Fatimids.[152]
FROM BUDDHISM
* The Barmakid family - originally the guardians of the great Buddhist shrine near
Balkh, upon conversion they became "the greatest family" in the early Abbasid
caliphate.[153]
* Mahmud Ghazan - seventh ruler of the Ilkhanate.[154]
* Muhammad Khodabandeh - eighth Ilkhaid dynasty ruler in Iran from 1304 to
1316.[155]
* Mubarak Shah - head of the ulus of the Chagatai Khanate (1252-1260, MarchSeptember 1266).[156]
* Tarmashirin - Khan of the Chagatai Khanate following Duwa Timur.[157]
FROM HINDUISM
* Salma Arastu - Indian artist living in North America. [158]
* Dhiren Barot - convicted terrorist, who confessed to planning "to detonate a dirty
bomb and launch an attack on London's Tube".[159][160][161]
* Sumita Devi - Bengali actress and filmmaker.[162]
* Pir Mangho - 14th century Sufi pir.[163]
* A. R. Rahman (formerly A. S. Dileep Kumar) - famous Indian music
composer[164]
* Parameswara - Malay prince of Palembang Hindu descent from Srivijaya that
founded the Sultanate of Malacca around 1402.[165]
* Abdul Wahid Pedersen - Danish cleric.[166]
* Sahaj Ram Sapru - the grandfather of the British-Indian Muslim Philosopher, Sir
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, who was an official in Kashmir during the administration of the
Afghan Governor Azim Khan. [167]
* Kamala Suraiyya (formerly Kamala Das) - Anglo-Malayalam writer[168]
* Sharmila Tagore - renowned Indian film actress from Bengal.[169]
* Vilayil Fazila - popular Mappila songs singer from Kerala.
FROM SIKHISM
* Ubaidullah Sindhi - religious leader and political activist.[170]
* Darshan Singh - Singaporean executioner
FROM PAGANISM
* David Myatt - from Paganism, former Neo-Nazi-activist[171]
FROM NON-RELIGIOUS TO ISLAM
* Zhang Chengzhi - contemporary Hui Chinese author; raised as an atheist.[172]
* Charles le Gai Eaton - British diplomat and writer.[173]
* Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - British musician and singer (had a nominally
Christian upbringing, but never was a believer)[174]
* Jeffrey Lang - American, Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the
University of Kansas. (Raised Catholic, but atheist from age 18 to
conversion)[175][176]
* Martin Lings - a widely acclaimed British scholar. He was raised as a Protestant,
became an atheist, and later converted to Islam.[177]
* Mos Def - American rapper and actor. [178]
UNDETERMINED FORMER RELIGION
* Abd al Malik - birth name Régis Fayette-Mikano - French rapper of Congolese
origins.[179]
* Mumia Abu-Jamal - journalist, Black Panther, political activist, convicted
murderer.[180][181]
* B.G. Knocc Out - American west coast rapper.[182]
* Hasan Akbar (born Mark Fidel Kools) - American sentenced to death for the
murder of two fellow soldiers during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.[183]
* Maurice Béjart - French choreographer.[184]
* Robert "Kool" Bell - musician.[185]
* Ronald Bell - musician.[186]
* Mohammed Knut Bernström - Swedish ambassador.[187]
* Khaled Edward Blair - British barrister, later married Princess Badiya bint El
Hassan of Jordan.[188]
* Bizzy Bone - American rapper.[189]
* Charles Brooks, Jr. - converted while serving a sentence for murder; first person
to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.[190]
* H. Rap Brown - civil rights activisit.[191]
* Titus Burckhardt - Swiss writer and scholar.[192]
* Amir Butler- Author, Engineer and Islamic activist.[193]
* Kérim Chatty- Swedish bodybuilding stuntman who was once suspected of
attempted hijacking. The preliminary inquiry was dropped. [194]
* Common - American rapper.[195]
* Robert D. Crane - former Presidential advisor and ambassador.[199]
* Ice Cube - Gangsta rapper and actor.[200]
* Bob Denard - French mercenary.[201]
* Jeffrey Mark Deskovic - served 15-year wrongful imprisonment sentence.[202]
* Isabelle Eberhardt - explorer and writer.[203]
* Baron omar Rolf von Ehrenfels - Austrian anthropologist and orientalist.[204]
* Everlast - Irish-American rapper and singer-songwriter.[205]
* Alys Faiz - human rights and peace activist;[206] converted at the time of her
marriage to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.[207]
* Philippe Fragione - French rapper and producer of French hip hop.[208]
* Philippe Grenier - (1865-1944) French doctor, first and only muslim MP in
France.[210].[211]
* Gigi Gryce - American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and
educator.[212]
* Walt Hazzard - former NBA player.[213]
* Lim Yew Hock - Singapore’s second Chief Minister from 1956 to 1959.[215]
* Craig Hodges - former NBA player.[216]
* Ibrahim Hooper (Douglas Hooper) - Islamic activist, spokesman for the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).[217]
* Abdullah Ibrahim - South African Jazz musician.[218]
* Tiara Jacquelina - Malaysion actress.[220]
* Ahmad Jamal - Jazz pianist.[221]
* Jan Janszoon - Dutch pirate.[222]
* Larry Johnson - retired American professional basketball player.[223]
* Gustave-Henri Jossot - French caricaturist, illustrator and Orientalist
painter.[224]
* Vladimir Khodov - leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis- converted in
prison.[225]
* Abd al Haqq Kielan - Swedish cleric.[226]
* Ghostface Killah - member of the Wu-Tang Clan.[227]
* Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan - born Yvette Blanche Labrousse, Miss France
1930, wife of Aga Khan III.[228]
* Yusef Lateef - American Jazz musician.[229]
* Johann von Leers - advisor to Muhammad Naguib known for his anti-Semitic
polemics.[230][231][232]
* Gary Legenhausen - American philosopher and writer.[233]
* Brandon Mayfield - American attorney-at-law, was erroneously linked to the
2004 Madrid train bombings.[234]
* MC Ren - American rapper and hip-hop producer.[235]
* Ali Shaheed Muhammad - member of A Tribe Called Quest.[236]
* Idris Muhammad - American jazz musician.[237]
* Anthony Mundine - Australian Boxer.[240]
* Abdul Alim Musa - Muslim activist and director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington,
D.C.[241]
* Susanne Osthoff - German archaeologist who had worked in Iraq since 1991 and
had been taken captive there for three weeks.[242]
* Robin Padilla - Filipino actor.[244]
* Sokollu Mehmet Paşa - Grand Vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent.[245]
* Christopher Paul (aka Paul Kenyatta Laws aka Abdulmalek Kenyatta) - American
citizen, alleged member of al-Qaeda.[246][247]
* Charles John Pelham (Abdul Mateen), 8th Earl of Yarborough.[248]
* Q-Tip - North American hip-hop emcee, actor, and hip hop producer who was the
leader of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest.[249]
* Dwight Muhammad Qawi - former boxing world heavyweight champion.[250]
* Ilich Ramírez Sánchez - aka "Carlos the Jackal", convicted murderer and
terrorist, currently in prison in France.[252]
* Frithjof Schuon - metaphysician, poet, painter, philosopher (in the original and
Platonic sense of this term), and a leading figure of the perennialist school.[253]
* Stephen Schwartz - American journalist, columnist, and author.[254]
* Sahib Shihab - jazz saxophonist and flautist.[256]
* Divine Styler - American hip-hop musician.[257]
* Nahshid Sulaiman - alternative hip hop artist.[258]
* Apisai Tora - Fijian politician.[259]
* Mike Tyson (Malik Abdul Aziz) - former heavyweight boxing champion of the
world.
* Abdul Waheed (Don Stewart-Whyte) - accused of participating in the 2006
transatlantic aircraft plot.[262][263]
* Jason Walters - of the Netherlands, member of the Hofstad Network, convicted
on charges of terrorism.[264]
* John Ward - (changed name to Yusuf Reis) British corsair and pirate.[265]
* Rakan Ben Williams - suspected member of Al-Qaeda terrorist.[266]
* Michael Wolfe - American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer
of Unity Productions Foundation.[267][268]