Converts to Islam

The following is a list of 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 with their former religious affiliation, where known.

Based on alphabetical order: A-Z

A

* Aminah Assilmi – former Southern Baptist preacher who converted to Islam while attempting to convert Muslims to Christianity
* Hamza Ali Abbasi – former Pakistani actor, reverted to Islam from atheism
* Abd Al Malik - French rapper and poet
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – retired basketball player & the NBA's all-time leading scorer
*Ahmed Abdullah – American jazz trumpeterAbdullah, Ahmed Abdullah & Louis Reyes Rivera
"Excerpts from A Strange Celestial Road (Traveling the Spaceways)"
ahmedian.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
* Noor Hisham Abdullah – Malaysian Director-General of Health in leading the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; born Yew Ming Seong.
* Thomas J. Abercrombie – photographer and writer for ''National Geographic''
*Hasan Akbar (born Mark Fidel Kools) – American citizen, and Sergeant, diagnosed with psychiatric problems, later sentenced to death for an attack of resentmentGoldman, Russell. "Fort Hood Shooter Could Join 5 Others on Death Row." ABC News. 13 November 2009
1
Retrieved 21 October 2010.
* Shaheed Akbar (a.k.a. The Jacka) – American rapper
* Akhenaton – French rapper and producer; born Philippe Fragione
* Baba Ali – Iranian-born American film developer, games developer, and businessman
*Muhammad Ali – professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist
* Sadeq Ali (born Sri Gaur Kishore Sen) – Bengali author
* Nicolas Anelka – French football manager and former player
* Lewis Arquette – American actor; father of actors David, Rosanna, Patricia, Alexis, and Richmond Arquette; son of Cliff Arquette
* Muhammad Asad – Austro-Hungarian born Deputy Secretary in the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan, known for an English Translation of Quran.
*Ziaur Rahman Azmi (born Banke Lal) – author, scholar, professor and former Dean of the Department of Hadith at Islamic University of Madinah

B

* David Benjamin – Chaldean Catholic priest known for his book Muhammad in Bible.
* B.G. Knocc Out – American rapper
* Kristiane Backer – German television presenter.
* A. George Baker – American Protestant clergyman who converted to Islam
*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 OutlawzMona Moussly (2009)
Hip hop don't stop as it goes Islamic
", Al Arabiya News Channel, 19 March 2009.
* Lutfunnisa Begum (born Rajkunwari) – consort of the Nawab of Bengal
* Maurice Béjart – French choreographer
* Robert "Kool" Bell – American musician
* Mohammed Knut Bernström – Swedish ambassador
*Wojciech Bobowski – Polish musician; Bible translator
*Lauren Booth – British broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist
*Charles Brooks, Jr. – first person in the United States to be executed using lethal injection, converted to Islam in prison, shortly before deathFinal Meal Requests
''Texas Department of Criminal Justice'' (12 September 2003); archived fro
the original
on 2 December 2003. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
* H. Rap Brown – American civil rights activist
*Jonathan A.C. Brown – American Islamic scholar and assistant professor at Georgetown University
* Maurice Bucaille – French family physician of King Faisalabad. 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. In other articles and videos he was normally very careful not to claim allegiance to any one faith.
* 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 careerBrandi Denison, 2010, "Blakey, Art (Ibn Buhaina Abdullah)", ''Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History'' (Edward E. Curtis, Ed.), pp. 85f (New York: Infobase Publishing); ; available her

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* Titus Burckhardt – Swiss writer and scholar

C

*Celestino Caballero – Panamanian boxer and former Super Bantamweight Champion
*Clarence Seedorf - Dutch professional football manager and former player.
*Dave Chappelle – American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist
* Kérim Chatty – Swedish bodybuilding stuntman
*Ashley Chin – British actor and rapper
*Zainab 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 EastZMag Bio: Uri Davis
. Retrieved 12 June 2006.
*Bob Denard – French mercenary
* Jeffrey Mark Deskovic – served 15-year wrongful imprisonment sentence
* Diam's – French rapper, born Mélanie Georgiades, converted in 2010
* Nasreddine Dinet – French orientalist painter, converted to Islam in 1908
* Deso Dogg – former rapper who went to fight in Syria
* Arnoud van Doorn – Dutch politician
*Dutchavelli – British rapper

E

* Dave East – American rapper and actor
* Isabelle Eberhardt – Swiss explorer and writer
*Keith Ellison – American politician and lawyer; first Muslim to be elected to Congress and the first African American representative from Minnesota.
*Everlast – American rapper and singer-songwriter
* Yusuf Estes – American preacher and founder of Guide US TV

F

*Alys Faiz – human rights and peace activist; converted at the time of her marriage to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz
* Amanda Figueras – Spanish journalist for El Mundo and a writer
* 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
* Jaime Fletcher – American film maker and founder of IslamInSpanish
* 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 warsThe Making of a "Terrorist"
, ''Willamette Week'', 6 June 2002.
*Myriam François – English-French writer and broadcaster
* Sultaana Freeman – Florida woman, popular in a local controversy for wearing face veil in drivers-license picture

G

*Christian Ganczarski – German citizen who adopted radicalised ideologies, charged for conspiring 11 Sep attacks
*Jemima Goldsmith – British socialite and ex-wife of Imran Khan
*Juan Carlos Gomez – Cuban 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 Green) – British Islamic preacher and founder of iERA
*Philippe Grenier – French doctor; first Muslim MP in France
*Jennifer Grout – American singer of Arabic music.
* Gigi Gryce – American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator

H

* Murad Wilfried Hofmann – German diplomat and author who converted from Catholic Christianity.

* 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
* Tony Hussein Hinde – Australian-born Maldivian surfer and surfing pioneer who converted to Islam
*Baba Ratan Hindi – Indian merchant
* 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)
* Knud Holmboe – Danish journalist, author and explorer

I

* Abdullah Ibrahim – South African jazz musician
* Yusuf Islam – English singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and activist; born Steven Demetre Georgiou; known professionally as Cat Stevens
*Abu Izzadeen – Hackney-born extremist and hate-preacher, spokesman for Al Ghurabaa
* Muhammad Hussain Inoki – Japanese retired professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.
* Kyrie Irving – American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA.

J

* Stephen Jackson – American former professional basketball player who played 2400 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA)
*Tiara Jacquelina – Malaysian actress
*Ahmad Jamal – American jazz pianist
* Maryam Jameelah – formerly Margret Marcus; author of many books covering several subjects, including modernism, sociology, history, jihad, theology and technology
* 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)
* Larry Johnson – retired American professional basketball player
*Gustave-Henri Jossot – French caricaturist, illustrator and Orientalist painter

K

*Malik Kafur (d. 1316) – military commander of Alauddin Khalji
*Dipika Kakar – Indian television actress
* Frédéric Kanouté – French Malian former football player
*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
* Mudzaffar Shah I of Kedah – founder of the Kedah Sultanate
* 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
* Malik Jahan Khan (born Dhondia Wagh) – 18th-century military soldier and adventurer
*Murshid Quli Khan (born Surya Narayan Mishra) – First Nawab of Bengal (r. 1717–1727)
*Vladimir Khodov – militant zealot who converted to Islam in prison, and was the leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis
* Abd al Haqq Kielan – Swedish cleric
* Daud Kim— Muslim YouTuber
* James Achilles Kirkpatrick – was the British Resident in Hyderabad
* Rebeka Koha – Latvian weightlifter
* Pavel Kosolapov – radical Russian rebel wanted by the Federal Security Service of Russia for suspected extremist activities

L

*Colleen LaRose – American citizen, known for having adopted radicalised ideologies and conspiring a plot against Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks
* Yusef Lateef – American jazz musician
*Johann von Leers – advisor to Mohamed Naguib and head of the Institute for the Study of Zionism
* Gary Legenhausen – American philosopher and writer
*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
*Omar Ong Yoke Lin (1917–2010) – Malaysian politician, former government minister and founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association

M

*Malikussaleh (born Merah Silu) – founder of the Samudera Pasai Sultanate (r. 1267–1297)
* 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
*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
*Ali Mech – 13th-century tribal chief
* Monica – former Indian film actress, starred predominantly in Tamil language films; converted to Islam in 2014Monica converts to Islam and quits films
, ''The Times of India'', 31 May 2014
* Ali Shaheed Muhammad – member of A Tribe Called Quest

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