List of converts to Islam
Notable people who converted to Islam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of notable people who converted to Islam from a different religion or no religion (who have individual Wikipedia articles). 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 with their former religious affiliation, where known.
| Total population | |
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According to the Pew Research Center, Islam is the world's fastest-growing religion, with its population expected to increase by 70% between 2015 and 2060, compared to the global population growth of 32%.[1] = *According to The Jerusalem Post, in the United Kingdom and France, up to 100,000 people converted in the last decade in each country.[2]
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Based on alphabetical order: A-Z
A
- Aminah Assilmi (born Janice Huff) – former Southern Baptist preacher who converted to Islam while attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity.[6]
- Amber Leibrock – American female mixed martial artist, converted to Islam in September 2023.[7][8]
- Hamza Ali Abbasi – former Pakistani actor, converted to Islam from atheism.[9]
- Abd Al Malik (born Régis Fayette-Mikano) – French rapper and poet.[10]
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.) – American professional basketball player and the NBA's former all-time leading scorer.[11][12]
- Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf – (born Chris Wayne Jackson) – American former professional basketball player.[13]
- Ahmed Abdullah (born Leroy Bland) – American jazz trumpeter.[14]
- Noor Hisham Abdullah – Malaysian Director-General of Health in leading the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; born Yew Ming Seong.[15]
- Thomas J. Abercrombie – photographer and writer for National Geographic[16]
- Hasan Akbar (born Mark Fidel Kools) – American citizen, and Sergeant, diagnosed with psychiatric problems, later sentenced to death for an attack of resentment.[17]
- Shaheed Akbar (a.k.a. The Jacka, born Dominick Newton) – American rapper.[18]
- Akhenaton – French rapper and producer; born Philippe Fragione.[19]
- Aisha al-Adawiya – American interfaith activist and founder of Women in Islam[20]
- Baba Ali – Iranian-born American film developer, games developer, and businessman.[21]
- Muhammad Ali (formerly known by his birth name Cassius Clay) – professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist.[22]
Muhammad Ali - Sadeq Ali (born Sri Gaur Kishore Sen) – Bengali author.[23]
- Nicolas Anelka – French football manager and former player.[24]
- Lewis Arquette – American actor; father of actors David, Rosanna, Patricia, Alexis, and Richmond Arquette; son of Cliff Arquette.[25]
- Muhammad Asad (born Leopold Weiss) – Austro-Hungarian born Deputy Secretary in the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan, known for an English translation of the Quran.[26]
- Ziaur Rahman Azmi (born Banke Lal) – author, scholar, professor and former Dean of the Department of Hadith at Islamic University of Madinah.
- Ivan Aguéli – Swedish wandering Sufi, painter and author.
- Malik Ambar – Siddi military leader, who served as the Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.
- Campbell Mustafa Ağa – Scottish convert to Islam who from 1775 was the chief instructor in the new Ottoman naval mathematical academy (the Hendishâne).
- Claude Alexandre, Count of Bonneval – French army officer who later went into the service of the Ottoman Empire, eventually converting to Islam and becoming known as Humbaracı Ahmet Paşa.
- Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi – born Joseph Anthelme Sève, was a French-born Egyptian commander.
- Edoardo Agnelli – eldest child and only son of Gianni Agnelli, the industrialist patriarch of Fiat S.p.A., he converted to Shia Islam when he was living in New York City
- Hamid Algar — is a British-American Professor Emeritus of Persian studies at the Faculty of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
- Mercy Aigbe — Nigerian actress[27]
- Amina Titi Atiku-Abubakar — Second lady of Nigeria and women and child rights advocate[28]
B
- David Benjamin – Chaldean Catholic priest known for his book Muhammad in Bible.[29]
- B.G. Knocc Out (stage name for Al Hasan Naqiyy, born Arlandis Hinton) – American rapper[30]
- Kristiane Backer – German television presenter.[31]
- A. George Baker – American Protestant clergyman who converted to Islam.[32]
- Yasin Abu Bakr (born Lennox Philip) – leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a Muslim group in Trinidad and Tobago.[33]
- Mutah Beale – better known as Napoleon, former member of Tupac Shakur's rap group, the Outlawz.[34]
- Lutfunnisa Begum (born Rajkunwari) – consort of the Nawab of Bengal.[35]
- Maurice Béjart – French choreographer.[36]
- Robert "Kool" Bell – American musician.[37]
- Mohammed Knut Bernström – Swedish ambassador.[38]
- Wojciech Bobowski – Polish musician; Bible translator.[39]
- Lauren Booth – British[40] broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist.[41][42]
- Charles Brooks, Jr. – first person in the United States to be executed using lethal injection, converted to Islam in prison, shortly before death.[43]
- H. Rap Brown – American civil rights activist.[44]
- Jonathan A.C. Brown – American Islamic scholar, professor and department chair at Georgetown University.[45][46]
Jonathan A.C. Brown - Maurice Bucaille – French family physician of King Faisal. It is disputed whether he ever converted, and if he did, whether he publicly declared his conversion. He is reported in a 2013 Arab News newspaper article, "In his excitement, he stood before the attendants and loudly said, 'I have converted to Islam and believed in this Qur'an'"; however, no references are given.[47] In other articles and videos he was normally very careful not to claim allegiance to any one faith.[48]
- Abdullah ibn Buhaina (born Arthur Blakey) – 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.[49]
- Titus Burckhardt – Swiss writer and scholar.[50]
- Berke – grandson of Genghis Khan, a Mongol military commander and ruler of the Golden Horde, who was responsible for the first official establishment of Islam in a khanate of the Mongol Empire.
- Khalid Yahya Blankinship – American historian who specializes in Islamic and middle eastern studies.[51]
- Harun el-Raschid Bey – During the First World War, he converted to Islam while serving with the general staff of the Ottoman Empire.
- Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley – convert to Islam and author or translator of many books on Islam.
- Carla Amina Baghajati — She has been described as one of the best-known faces of Islam in Austria.
- Sultan Rafi Sharif Bey — Born Yale Jean Singer to an Orthodox Jewish family, he converted to Islam and took on the name Rafi Sharif in the late 1950s.
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C
- Celestino Caballero – Panamanian boxer and former Super Bantamweight Champion.[52]
- Dave Chappelle – American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist.[53]
- Kérim Chatty – Swedish bodybuilding stuntman[54]
- Ashley Chin – British actor and rapper.[55][56]
- Zainab Cobbold (born Lady Evelyn Murray) – Scottish noblewoman.[57]
- Louis du Couret – French explorer, writer and military officer.[58]
- Mustafa Celalettin Pasha – Polish noble who served in the Ottoman army for nearly 25 years.
- Robert Dickson Crane – American activist. He was an adviser to President Richard Nixon and was the deputy director for planning of the United States National Security Council.
D
- Michael D'Andrea - Former Central Intelligence Agency officer and former director of the CIA counterterrorism center.
- Uri Davis – Middle East academic and activist who works on civil rights in Israel, Palestinian National Authority and the Middle East[59]
- Bob Denard – French mercenary.[60]
- Jeffrey Mark Deskovic – served 15-year wrongful imprisonment sentence.[61]
- Diam's – French rapper, born Mélanie Georgiades, converted in 2010.[62]
- Nasreddine Dinet (born Alphonse-Étienne Dinet) – French orientalist painter, converted to Islam in 1908.[63]
- Deso Dogg (Abu Talha al-Almani, born Denis Cuspert) – former German rapper who departed Germany to fight in Syria.[64]
- Arnoud van Doorn – Dutch politician.[65]
- Vivian Dsena – Indian television actor[66]
- Dutchavelli (stage name for Stephan Allen) – British rapper.[67]
- Nooruddeen Durkee – Muslim scholar, thinker, author, translator, and the Khalifah (successor) for North America of the Shadhdhuli School for Tranquility of Being and the Illumination of Hearts, Green Mountain Branch.
- Maria Massi Dakake – American scholar of Islamic studies and associate professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University.
- Merryl Wyn Davies – Welsh Muslim scholar, writer and broadcaster who specialised in Islam.
E
- Dave East – American rapper and actor.[68]
- Isabelle Eberhardt – Swiss explorer and writer.[69]
- Keith Ellison – American politician and lawyer; first Muslim to be elected to Congress and the first African American representative from Minnesota.[70][71][72]
Keith Ellison - Everlast (stage name for Erik Schrody) – American rapper and singer-songwriter.[73]
- Yusuf Estes (born Joseph Estes) – American preacher and founder of Guide US TV.[74]
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- Baron Umar Rolf von Ehrenfels – prominent Muslim of Austrian origin.
- George Bethune English – American adventurer, diplomat, soldier, and convert to Islam.
F
- Alys Faiz (formerly Alys George) – human rights and peace activist; converted at the time of her marriage to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.[75]
- Amanda Figueras – Spanish journalist for El Mundo and a writer.[76]
- Michael Finton – radicalised individual, attempted to bomb the Paul Findley Federal Building to protest the Afghan war. Finton's local mosque condemned and disassociated from his ideologies.[77][78]
- Jaime Fletcher – American film maker and founder of IslamInSpanish.[79]
- Patrice Lumumba Ford (of the Portland Seven) – part of a group based in the U.S. Arrested for charges of terrorism, Ford's representative claimed the arrests were a governmental strategy to cover-up America's activities in foreign wars.[80]
- Myriam François – English-French writer and broadcaster.[81]
- Sultaana Freeman (born Sandra Michele Keller) – Florida woman, popular in a local controversy for wearing face veil in drivers-license picture.[82]
- Bjorn Fortuin – South African professional cricketer. On 24 April 2021, Fortuin reverted to Islam.[83]
G
- Leopold Gleim - SS Standartenführer[84]
- Gorilla Nems – American rapper, content creator, entrepreneur and web series' host[85]
- Jemima Goldsmith – British socialite and ex-wife of Imran Khan.[86]
- Juan Carlos Gomez – Cuban former Cruiserweight Boxing Champion.[87]
- Khalid Gonçalves – Portuguese American actor and musician (born Paul Pires Gonçalves), convert to Islam from Catholicism.[88]
- Abdur Raheem Green (born Anthony Green) – British Islamic preacher and founder of iERA[89]
- Philippe Grenier – French doctor; first Muslim MP in France[90]
- Gigi Gryce – American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator[91]
- René Guénon – French perennial philosopher, first adopted Islam in 1912, he insisted on recalling that the purely religious concept of an immediate conversion did not apply to his case, indicating he had previous acquaintance with the Islamic faith.
- Roger Garaudy – French philosopher, French resistance fighter and a communist author. He converted to Islam in 1982.
- Faris Glubb – was a British writer, journalist, translator and publisher.
- Bruno Guiderdoni – French astrophysicist, converted to Islam in 1987 after being introduced to it in Morocco.
- Gyula Germanus — was a professor of oriental studies, a Hungarian writer and Islamologist.
H
- Gibril Haddad – Lebanese-born Islamic scholar, hadith expert (muhaddith), author, and translator of classical Islamic texts [92]
- Joel Hayward – New Zealand-born British scholar of Islam[93]
- Walt Hazzard (Islamic name Mahdi Abdul-Rahman) – former NBA player and college basketball coach[94]
- Yusuf Hazziez – American musician, born Joseph Arrington, Jr.; formerly known professionally as Joe Tex[95]
- Aribert Heim – Austrian SS doctor, also known as Dr. Death[96]
- Murad Wilfried Hofmann – German diplomat and author who converted from Catholic Christianity.[97]
- Tony Hussein Hinde – Australian-born Maldivian surfer and surfing pioneer who converted to Islam[98]
- Baba Ratan Hindi – Indian merchant[99]
- Lim Yew Hock – Singapore's second Chief Minister from 1956 to 1959[100]
- Knud Holmboe – Danish journalist, author and explorer[101]
- Ahmed Huber – Swiss-German journalist and convert to Islam, who was active in both Islamist and far-right politics, including with Neo-Nazism.
- István Horthy Jr. — Hungarian physicist and architect, converted to Islam in 1965 and took the name Sharif Horthy
I
- Abdullah Ibrahim (born Adolph Brand) – South African jazz musician[102]
- Rebeka Ibrahima (born Rebeka Koha) – Latvian-born Qatari weightlifter, two-time Junior World Champion and two-time European Champion.[103]
- Yusuf Islam – English singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and activist; born Steven Demetre Georgiou; known professionally as Cat Stevens[104][105]
Cat Stevens - Abu Izzadeen (born Trevor Brooks) – English-born extremist and hate-preacher, spokesman for Al Ghurabaa[106]
- Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born Kanji Inoki) – Japanese retired professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.[107]
- Kyrie Irving – American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.[108]
- Antoni Aleksander Iliński – Polish-Ottoman military officer and general, Polish independence activist and insurgent
J
- Fatimah Jackson – American biologist and anthropologist, professor of biology at Howard University and Director of its Cobb Research Laboratory.[109]
- Stephen Jackson – American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA)[110][111]
- Tiara Jacquelina – Malaysian actress[112]
- Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Jones) – American jazz pianist[113]
- Maryam Jameelah – formerly Margret Marcus; author of many books covering several subjects, including modernism, sociology, history, jihad, theology and technology[114]
- Jan Janszoon – Dutch pirate, later sent his son to America, to become one of the first settlers of modern-day Brooklyn (called New Amsterdam at the time)[115]
- Jono Carroll – Irish professional boxer[116]
- Larry Johnson – retired American professional basketball player[117]
- Gustave-Henri Jossot (Islamic name Abdul Karim Jossot) – French caricaturist, illustrator and Orientalist painter[118]
- Aliqoli Jadid-ol-Eslam — was a Portuguese figure who flourished in late 17th and early 18th century Safavid Iran. Originally an Augustinian friar and missionary, he converted to Shia Islam.
K
- Malik Kafur (d. 1316) – military commander of Alauddin Khalji
- Kevin Lee – American professional mixed martial artist.[119]
- Dipika Kakar – Indian television actress[120]
- Frédéric Kanouté – French Malian former football player[121]
Frédéric Kanouté - Peter Kassig – American aid worker, formerly a Methodist, converted to Islam and changed name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig; taken hostage and killed by The Islamic State[122][123][124]
- Mudzaffar Shah I of Kedah – founder of the Kedah Sultanate
- Khalid Kelly – former leader of Al-Muhajiroun in Ireland[125]
- Saida Miller Khalifa – British author, originally named Sonya Miller[126][127]
- Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan (born Yvette Blanche Labrousse) – Miss France 1930, wife of Aga Khan III[128]
- Malik Jahan Khan (born Dhondia Wagh) – 18th-century military soldier and adventurer[129]
- Murshid Quli Khan (born Surya Narayan Mishra) – First Nawab of Bengal (r. 1717–1727)[130]
- Vladimir Khodov – militant zealot who converted to Islam in prison, and was the leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis[131]
- Abd al Haqq Kielan – Swedish cleric[132]
- Shaun King – American Black Lives Matter activist [133]
- James Achilles Kirkpatrick – British Resident in Hyderabad[134]
- Rebeka Koha – Latvian weightlifter[135]
- Kollegah – German rapper[136]
- Pavel Kosolapov – radical Russian rebel wanted by the Federal Security Service of Russia for suspected extremist activities[137]
- Thomas Keith – Scottish POW who converted to Islam and joined the Ottoman army. He died in 1815 as governor of Medina while fighting the rising power of the Saudi dynasty
- Halima Krausen – German Muslim leader, theologian and scholar.
- Nuh Ha Mim Keller – American Islamic scholar, teacher and author, studied philosophy and Arabic at the University of Chicago and the UCLA, converted to Islam from Roman Catholicism in 1977.[138]
- Kōhan Kawauchi – Japanese screenwriter who created various tokusatsu series; Kawauchi converted to Islam in 1959.
- Yuri Kochiyama – American civil rights activist, secretly converted to Sunni Islam in 1971
L
- Lil Jon – American rapper, DJ, and record producer[139]
- Colleen LaRose – American citizen, known for having adopted radicalised ideologies and conspiring a plot against Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks[140]
- Yusef Lateef – American jazz musician[141]
- Johann von Leers – advisor to Mohamed Naguib and head of the Institute for the Study of Zionism[142][143]
- Gary Legenhausen – American philosopher and writer[144]
- Lil Durk (stage name for Durk Banks) – American drill rapper
- Lin Nu – Chinese scholar of the Ming dynasty who converted to Islam after visiting Persia. He went on to marry a Persian or Arab woman and brought her back to Quanzhou in Fujian province[145][146][147]
- Lie Kiat Teng – Indonesian doctor and politician, former Minister of Health (1953–1955)
- Martin Lings – British intellectual and author
- Omar Ong Yoke Lin (1917–2010) – Malaysian politician, former government minister and founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association[148]
- Aisha Lemu – British-born author and religious educator who converted to Islam in 1961.
- Alexander Litvinenko – British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, allegedly converted to Islam in Britain and was rumoured to have told his father he had converted to Islam on his death bed.[149]
- Umar Lee – American writer, media personality, and political activist.
M
- Malikussaleh (born Merah Silu) – founder of the Samudera Pasai Sultanate (r. 1267–1297)
- Michael Page – English professional mixed martial artist converted to Islam in 2024[150][151]
- Mohamed Mahdi Marboua (born Timothée Marboua) – Central African military officer and politician.[152]
- Khalid Masood (born Adrian Russel Elms) – British citizen, with a history of once heavy-drinking and drug-use, later adopted extremist beliefs; perpetrator of the 2017 Westminster attack[153]
- Jake Matthews – Australian mixed martial arts fighter. Converted in 2023.[154][155]
- Brandon Mayfield – American citizen, international lawyer, served in the United States Army Reserve. Was later issued a formal apology and $2 million settlement by the U.S. government after being falsely linked with the 2004 Madrid train bombings[156]
- Ali Mech – 13th-century tribal chief
- Jacques-François Menou – French general under Napoleon and military governor of Egypt
- Abdoulaye Miskine (born Martin Koutamadji) – Central African rebel leader.
- Moneybagg Yo (stage name for DeMario White Jr.) – American rapper
- Monica (stage name for Rekha Maruthiraj) – former Indian film actress, starred predominantly in Tamil language films; converted to Islam in 2014[157]
- Ali Shaheed Muhammad – member of A Tribe Called Quest[158]
- Idris Muhammad (born Leo Morris) – American jazz musician[159]
- Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (born Jadu) – Sultan of Bengal[160]
- John Allen Muhammad (born John Allen Williams) – convicted serial killer who carried out the Beltway sniper attacks of October 2002; later executed for his crimes[161]
- Anthony Mundine – Australian boxer; former two-time Super Middleweight champion[162]
- Ibn al-Muqaffa' – Persian poet in the 8th century, converted to Islam from Zoroastrianism
- Tode Mongke – was khan of the Golden Horde, division of the Mongol Empire from 1280 to 1287, he converted to Islam in 1280
- Ibrahim Muteferrika was born in Kolozsvár (present-day Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He was an ethnic Hungarian Unitarian who converted to Islam
- Rebecca Masterton – British Islamic scholar, author and television presenter. She converted to Islam in 1999.
- Jean-Louis Michon – French traditionalist and translator who specialized in Islamic art and Sufism.
- Ingrid Mattson – Canadian activist and scholar, professor of Islamic studies.
- Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch – French scholar of Islam, a researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), and a translator and writer.[163]
- Ryoichi Mita – Japanese Muslim who is considered the first-ever Muslim to translate the Quran into the Japanese language.
- Jeff Monson – Mixed martial artist, boxer, and submission grappler who converted to Islam in June 2024.[164]
- Alfred Neville May — was a British PhD Scholar of Cambridge University,He converted to Islam from Christianity in 1988 when he was 44 years old.
N
- Adam Neuser (c. 1530 – 12 October 1576) –Protestant pastor of Heidelberg who held Antitrinitarian views. He later converted to Islam[165] and traveled to Istanbul where he served the Ottoman Sultan.[166]
O
- Sinéad O'Connor (changed name to Shuhada' Sadaqat) – Irish singer-songwriter; a former excommunicated Roman Catholic before becoming as Nondenominational Trinitarian Christian for several years and later [Sunni] Islam over theological reasons[167][168][169]
Sinéad O'Connor - Susanne Osthoff – German archaeologist and aid worker who had worked in Iraq since 1991, and was abducted en route to Abdil, for 3 weeks. She was later quoted to have said her kidnappers did not want ransom, but German humanitarian aid[170]
- Occhiali – Italian farmer, then Ottoman privateer and admiral.
P
- Prabir Mitra, Bangladeshi film actor. He changed his name to Hasan Imam.
- José Padilla – born-American citizen, known for controversial Rumsfeld v. Padilla case. Padilla was arrested on allegations of intended terrorism, but was refused a trial in civilian courts, as well as a defense counsel and civilian court review; he was later convicted for 21 years in prison. Economist Paul Craig Roberts criticized the sentence as having "overthrown" the Constitution[171][172]
- Naledi Pandor – South African politician, educator and academic serving as the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation since 2019. She has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994.
- Cory Paterson – Australian professional rugby league player[173]
- Wayne Parnell – South African cricketer[174][175]
- Thomas Partey – Ghanaian football player[176]
- Christopher Paul – radicalised extremist, pleaded guilty to his affiliations and actions with al Qaeda[177]
- Abdul Wahid Pedersen (born Reino Arild Pedersen) – Danish Imam.[178]
- Charles John Pelham (Abdul Mateen) – 8th Earl of Yarborough[179]
- Bilal Philips (born Dennis Philips) – Jamaican-born Canadian contemporary Muslim teacher, speaker, and author[180]
- Marmaduke Pickthall – British Islamic scholar and former Anglican clergyman, known for an English translation of the Quran[181]
- Neil Prakash – Australian Islamic State group recruiter[182]
- Parameswara (king) – last king of Singapura and the founder of Malacca[183]
- Omar Pasha – Ottoman field marshal and governor. Born in Austrian territory to Serbian Orthodox Christian parent
- Abd al Wahid Pallavicini – leading figure of Sufism in Europe, his spiritual quest led him to convert to Islam in 1951 thanks to the teachings of Titus Burckhardt
- Gladys Milton Palmer — British film producer and heiress, member of the ruling dynasty of Sarawak
- St John Philby — British Arabist, advisor, explorer, writer, and a colonial intelligence officer who served as an advisor to King Abdulaziz ibn Saud.
Q
- Abdullah Quilliam (born William Henry Quilliam) – British convert from Christianity to Islam, noted for founding England's first mosque and Islamic centre.[184]
R
- Raekwon – American rapper, born as Corey Woods[185]
- Rae Lil Black, a former Japanese adult film star (real name: Kae Asakura), transitioned away from the adult industry after embracing Islam[186]
- Rakhi Sawant (born Neeru Bheda) – Indian dancer, model, actress.[187]
- A. R. Rahman – Indian composer, musician, singer-songwriter, producer and philanthropist; he converted to Islam along with other members of his family in 1989 at age 23, changing his name from A. S. Dileep Kumar Mudhaliar to Allah Rakha Rahman[188][189]
A. R. Rahman - Yuvan Shankar Raja – Indian musician; music director from Tamil Nadu[190]
- Ahmad Rashad (born Robert Earl Moore), U.S. pro football player and sportscaster for The NFL on NBC
- Richard Reid – British citizen, who adopted militant ideologies. Popularly known as the "Shoe Bomber" after unsuccessfully attempting to blow up an American Airlines flight[191]
- Nicky Reilly – resident of Plymouth, England, known for the 2008 Exeter attempted bombing; his psychologist says his mental disabilities (which included Asperger syndrome) made him vulnerable to radicalisation[192][193]
- MC Ren (born Lorenzo Patterson) – American rapper and hip-hop producer[194]
- Franck Ribéry – France national football team player[195]
- Hamza Robertson (born Tom Robertson) – English singer[196]
- Jack Roche – British-born migrant in Sydney. Former member of the Jemaah Islamiyah sect, involved in its militant schemes, Roche later chose to divulge his information (of plots such as the September 11 attacks, the 2002 Bali bombings, etc.) to ASIO officers, but his calls were dismissed. Later convicted for 4-years, Roche has left the lifestyle behind but remains critical of the ASIO's failure to prevent the attacks[197][198]
- Rodtang Jitmuangnon – a Muay Thai fighter who converted to Islam shortly after marrying his Muslim wife, Aida Looksaikongdin.
- Christian Rontini – Filipino footballer, he decided to convert to Islam from Catholicism[199]
- Leda Rafanelli – Italian publisher, anarchist, and prolific author, her experience living briefly in Alexandria, Egypt, cemented her interest in Eastern ideas and led to her studying the Arabic language and converting to Islam
S
- Hilal al-Sabi' – historian, bureaucrat, and writer of Arabic[200]
- Malik ul Salih – established the first Muslim state of Samudera Pasai[201]
- Ilich Ramírez Sánchez – formerly the world's most wanted terrorist; popularly known as "Carlos the Jackal"[202]
- Ibrahim Savant – radicalised individual arrested on suspected links with the 2006 UK transatlantic aircraft plot[203]
- Stephen Schwartz – American journalist, columnist, and author[204]
- Clarence Seedorf – Dutch former professional football players, widely seen as one of the greatest midfielders of all time.[205]
- Baba Shadi Shaheed (born Dharam Chand Chib) – former Governor of Kashmir and Kandahar[206]
- Derrick Shareef – U.S. resident of Chicago, arrested for attempted terror plot in CherryVale Mall in Rockford[207]
- Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory) – American jazz saxophonist and flautist[208]
- Felix Siauw − Chinese-Indonesian Islamic cleric and author affiliated with Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia[209]
- Aleksandar Seksan - Bosnian actor
- Ubaidullah Sindhi – well known political, religious and revolutionary scholar[210]
- Rudolf Slatin – Anglo-Austrian soldier and colonial administrator of Sudan[211]
- Robert Stanley – British politician[212]
- Divine Styler – American hip hop musician[213]
- Abdalqadir as-Sufi (born Ian Dallas) – Scottish convert, a Shaykh of Instruction, leader of the Darqawi-Shadhili-Qadiri Tariqa, founder of the Murabitun World Movement.[214]
- Nahshid Sulaiman – alternative hip hop artist[215]
- 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."[216]
- Mudzaffar Shah I of Kedah – legendary king, said to be the first Sultan of Kedah, according to Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa. He was the last Hindu king of Kedah, styled Sri Paduka Maharaja Durbar Raja before his accession. After his conversion to Islam, he later became the founder of the Kedah Sultanate.[217]
- Shah Shahidullah Faridi (born John Gilbert Lennard) – British convert.[218]
- Ibn Sahl of Seville – Jewish poet and diplomat, born in 1212–3 to a Jewish family in Seville
- Mubarak Shah (Chagatai Khan) – He was the first Chagatai Khan to convert to Islam
- Valentine de Saint-Point – French writer, poet, painter, playwright, art critic, choreographer, lecturer and journalist. She is primarily known for being the first woman to have written a futurist manifesto. She converted to Islam and moved to Egypt where she died and was buried right next to Imam al-Shafii.
- Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq – A Maronite Christian by birth, was an Ottoman scholar, writer and journalist who grew up in what is now Lebanon
- Dewi Sukarno – Japanese-born Indonesian; she was one of the wives of the first President of Indonesia, Sukarno.
- Peter Sanders – British photographer, converted to Islam in 1971.
- Khalid Sheldrake — in 1903, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Khalid. In 1934, he was briefly declared king of the short-lived state of Islamestan in the Xinjiang region of China during the Warlord era.
- Rudolf von Sebottendorf — was a German occultist, writer, intelligence agent and political activist. He was the founder of the Thule Society, a post-World War I German occultist organization where he played a key role, and that influenced many members of the Nazi Party. He was a Freemason,a Sufi of the Bektashi order - after his conversion to Islam.
T
- Malik Maqbul Tilangani (born Malla Yugandharudu) – Vizier of the Delhi Sultanate
- Sharmila Tagore (stage name for Begum Ayesha Sultana) – Indian actress[219]
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- Andrew Tate – retired American-British kickboxing champion and internet personality.
- Sinan ibn Thabit – physician and son of Thābit ibn Qurra[220]
- William Thorson – former Swedish poker player[221]
- Conrad Tillard (born 1964) – American Baptist minister, radio host, author, civil rights activist, and politician; later converted back to Christianity
- Apisai Tora – Fijian politician[222]
- Ofa Tuʻungafasi – New Zealand rugby player[223]
- Mike Tyson – American boxer; performer[224]
- Hamza Tzortzis (born Andreas Tzortzis) – British public speaker and researcher on Islam. He is known for his book: The Divine Reality: God, Islam and the Mirage of Atheism.[225][226]
- Danny Thompson – English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist, converted to Islam in 1990.
U
- James Ujaama (born James Earnest Thompson) – social activist/entrepreneur from Seattle, known for helping black youth; established the Bly training camp; accused of militant intentions, but allegations were negated; later convicted for violating IEEPA, by installing software for a friend, to use on a computer owned by the Taliban[227]
V
- Joram van Klaveren – former Dutch politician who attempted to ban mosques and all Islamic practices from Netherlands; after working on a book to conclusively 'disprove' Islam, Joram's research (and discussions with Timothy Winter) drastically changed his views, he later converted to Islam[228]
Joram van Klaveren - Jorvan Vieira – Luso-Brazilian football coach[229]
- Bryant Neal Vinas – Hispanic American, once joined al Qaeda training camps, later turning on them to help the US, in attempt to turn his life around; his prosecutors called him the "single most valuable cooperating witness" about Qaeda activities; his judge was angered when, after a 3-month sentence, the FBI refused to provide him witness-protection[230][231]
- Michel Valsan – Romanian diplomat and author
- Pierre Vogel – German former boxer, now an Islamic preacher[232]
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- Jacques Vergès – Siamese-born French lawyer and anti-colonial activist.
W
- Sonny Bill Williams – New Zealand rugby player and heavyweight boxer[233]
Sonny Bill Williams - Jason Walters – Dutch citizen, former member of the Hofstad Network, convicted on acts of terror; currently writing his Master's thesis about de-radicalisation, and is an active speaker against radical zealotry, as an Analyst at Blue Water Intelligence[234][235]
- Alexander Russell Webb – American diplomat and writer[236]
- Dawud Wharnsby – Canadian singer songwriter.[237]
- Timothy Winter (a.k.a. Abdul Hakim Murad) – English convert who is the Director of Studies (Theology and Religious Studies) at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.[238]
- G. Willow Wilson – American comics writer.[239]
- Michael Wolfe – American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation[240]
- Amina Wadud – American Muslim theologian. In 1972, she converted to Islam, while a student at the University of Pennsylvania.[241]
- Charvarius Ward – American profssional football player[242]
X
- Malcolm X (1925–1965) (born Malcolm Little) – African American civil rights leader and activist[243]
Y
- Hussein Ye – Malaysian preacher and Islamic scholar[244][245]
- Felixia Yeap – Malaysian supermodel, former Playboy Bunny[246][247]
- Jackie Ying – American scientist and researcher based in Singapore[248]
- Mohammad Yousuf (born Joseph Youhana) – former Pakistani cricketer[249]
- Hamza Yusuf (born Mark Hanson) – American Islamic preacher[250]
- Mitsutarō Yamaoka – Japanese Islamic and Judaic scholar known for being the first Japanese pilgrim to Mecca.
- Tani Yutaka – vigilante, local hero, and saboteur who was active in Malaya.
- James Yee – American former United States Army chaplain with the rank of captain.
Z
- Mohamed Zakariya – American master of Arabic calligraphy, best known for his work on the popular Eid U.S. postage stamp[251][252]
Based on former religion
See also
References
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