List of converts to Islam
The following is an incomplete list of notable people who
converted to Islam from a different religion or no religion. This article addresses only past professions of faith by the individuals listed, and is not intended to address ethnic, cultural, or other considerations. Such cases are noted in their list entries. The list is categorized alphabetically by their former religious affiliation.
Lists of converts to Islam from various major religions
- List of converts to Islam from Buddhism
- List of converts to Islam from Christianity
- List of converts to Islam from Hinduism
- List of converts to Islam from Judaism
- List of converts to Islam from nontheism
- List of converts to Islam from paganism
- List of converts to Islam from Zoroastrianism
Sabianism">Sabians">Sabianism
- Hilal al-Sabi' – historian, bureaucrat, and writer of Arabic
- Sinan ibn Thabit – physician and son of Thābit ibn Qurra
Undetermined former religion
A
- Ahmed Abdullah – American jazz trumpeter
- Nicolas Anelka – French football manager and former player
- Thomas J. Abercrombie – photographer and writer for National Geographic
- Hasan Akbar – American citizen, and Sergeant, diagnosed with psychiatric problems, later sentenced to death for an attack of resentment
- Shaheed Akbar – American rapper
- Akhenaton – French rapper and producer; born Philippe Fragione
- Baba Ali – Iranian-born American film developer, games developer and businessman
- Habib Ahmed – former leader of the southern black panthers movement.
- Muhammad Ali – professional boxer, activist and philanthropist.
- Lewis Arquette – actor; father of actors David, Rosanna, Patricia, Alexis and Richmond Arquette; son of Cliff Arquette
B
- B.G. Knocc Out – American rapper
- Yasin Abu Bakr – leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a Muslim group in Trinidad and Tobago
- Mutah Beale – better known as Napoleon, former member of Tupac Shakur's rap group, the Outlawz
- Maurice Béjart – French choreographer
- Robert "Kool" Bell – musician
- Mohammed Knut Bernström – Swedish ambassador
- Wojciech Bobowski – Polish musician; Bible translator
- Lauren Booth – British broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist
- Charles Brooks, Jr. – first person in the United States to be executed using lethal injection, converted to Islam in prison, shortly before death
- H. Rap Brown – civil rights activist
- Jonathan A.C. Brown – American Islamic scholar and assistant professor at Georgetown University
- Abdullah ibn Buhaina – American musician, also known as Arthur "Art" Blakey, American jazz drummer and bandleader; stopped being a practicing Muslim in the 1950s and continued to perform under the name "Art Blakey" throughout his career
- Titus Burckhardt – Swiss writer and scholar
- Amir Butler – UK/Australian author, engineer and Islamic activist
C
- Celestino Caballero – boxer and former Super Bantamweight Champion
- Dave Chappelle – American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist
- Kérim Chatty – Swedish bodybuilding stuntman
- 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 East
- 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
E
- Dave East – American rapper and actor
- Isabelle Eberhardt – explorer and writer
- Baron Omar Rolf von Ehrenfels – Austrian anthropologist and orientalist
- Everlast – American rapper and singer-songwriter
F
- Alys Faiz – human rights and peace activist; converted at the time of her marriage to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz
- Michael Finton – 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
- Patrice Lumumba Ford – 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
- Philippe Fragione – French rapper and producer of French hip hop
- 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 Sept. 11 attacks
- Juan Carlos Gomez – former Cruiserweight Boxing Champion
- Khalid Gonçalves – Portuguese American actor and musician, convert to Islam from Catholicism
- Abdur Raheem Green – Islamic preacher and founder of iERA
- Philippe Grenier – French doctor; first Muslim MP in France
- Gigi Gryce – American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator
H
- Walt Hazzard – former NBA player
- Yusuf Hazziez – American musician, born Joseph Arrington, Jr.; formerly known professionally as Joe Tex
- Aribert Heim – Austrian SS doctor, also known as Dr. Death
- Tony Hussein Hinde – Australian-born Maldivian surfer and surfing pioneer who converted to Islam
- Lim Yew Hock – Singapore’s second Chief Minister from 1956 to 1959
- Ibrahim Hooper – Islamic activist, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations
I
- Abdullah Ibrahim – South African jazz musician
- Muhammad Hussain Inoki – Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promoter, politician, and retired professional wrestler and martial artist, best known as Antonio Inoki. He converted to Islam in 1990, something he publicly revealed in 2012.
- 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
J
- Tiara Jacquelina – Malaysian actress
- Janet Jackson – youngest of Jackson family
- 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
- Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi – syncretist, Sufi convert, and co-founder of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in the United States
- Larry Johnson – retired American professional basketball player
- Gustave-Henri Jossot – French caricaturist, illustrator and Orientalist painter
- Jemima Goldsmith – British socialite and ex-wife of Imran Khan
K
- Frédéric Kanouté – French Malian former football player
- Peter Kassig – American aid worker, formerly a Methodist, converted to Islam and changed name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig; later taken hostage by The Islamic State
- Khalid Kelly – former leader of Al-Muhajiroun in Ireland
- Saida Miller Khalifa – British author, originally named Sonya Miller
- Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan – Miss France 1930, wife of Aga Khan III
- Vladimir Khodov – Militaint zealot who converted to Islam in prison, and was the leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis
- Abd al Haqq Kielan – Swedish cleric
- James Achilles Kirkpatrick – was the British Resident in Hyderabad
- Pavel Kosolapov – radical Chechen 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
- Omar Ong Yoke Lin – Malaysian politician, former government minister and founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association
M
- Abd al Malik – French rapper of Congolese descent
- Khalid Masood – 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
- Monica – former Indian film actress, starred predominantly in Tamil language films; converted to Islam in 2014
- Jesse Curtis Morton – Counter-terrorism researcher at George Washington University. Though formerly a co-founder of the Revolution Muslim organisation, Morton is now renowned for his work in the CEV industry
- Ali Shaheed Muhammad – member of A Tribe Called Quest
- Idris Muhammad – American jazz musician
- John Allen Muhammad – convicted serial killer who carried out the Beltway sniper attacks of October 2002; later executed for his crimes
- Anthony Mundine – Australian boxer; former two-time Super Middleweight champion
N
- Li Nu – Chinese scholar in the Ming dynasty who visited Persia, converted to Islam, married a Persian or an Arab girl and brought her back to Quanzhou in Fujian
O
- Sinéad O'Connor – Irish singer-songwriter; a former excommunicated Roman Catholic before becoming as Nondenominational Trinitarian Christian for several years and later Islam over theological reasons
- 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
P
- 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 convincted for 21 years in prison. Economist Paul Craig Roberts criticized the sentence as having "overthrown" the Constitution
- Wayne Parnell – South African cricketer
- Cory Paterson – Australian professional rugby league player
- Christopher Paul – Radicalised extremist, pleaded guilty to his affiliations and actions with al Qaeda
- Bilal Philips – contemporary Muslim teacher, speaker, and author
- Neil Prakash – Australian Islamic State group recruiter
- Charles John Pelham – 8th Earl of Yarborough
R
- Raekwon – American rapper, born as Corey Woods
- Rebeka Koha – Latvian weightlifter.
- 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 Rakka Rahman
- Yuvan Shankar Raja – Indian musician; music director from Tamil Nadu
- Richard Reid – British citizen, who adopted militant ideologies. Popularly known as the "Shoe Bomber" after unsuccessfully attempting to blow up an American Airlines flight
- Nicky Reilly – Plymouth citizen, with Asperger's Syndrome; known for the 2008 Exeter attempted bombing; his psychologist says his mental disorders made him vulnerable to radicalisation
- MC Ren – American rapper and hip-hop producer
- Franck Ribéry – French national football team player
- Hamza Robertson – English singer
- 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 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
S
- Malik ul Salih – established the first Muslim state of Samudera Pasai
- Ilich Ramírez Sánchez – Formerly the world's most wanted terrorist; popularly known as "Carlos the Jackal"
- Ibrahim Savant – Radicalised individual arrested on suspected links with the 2006 UK transatlantic aircraft plot
- Stephen Schwartz – American journalist, columnist, and author
- Derrick Shareef – Chicago citizen, arrested for attempted terror plot in CherryVale Mall in Rockford
- Sahib Shihab – American jazz saxophonist and flautist
- Felix Siauw − Chinese-Indonesian Islamic cleric and author affiliated with Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia
- Roger Stockham – Vietnam-veteran convicted for plotting to bomb a mosque
- Divine Styler – American hip hop musician
- Abdalqadir as-Sufi – Scottish convert, a Shaykh of Instruction, leader of the Darqawi-Shadhili-Qadiri Tariqa, founder of the Murabitun World Movement.
- Nahshid Sulaiman – alternative hip hop artist
- Kabir Suman – Indian singer, songwriter, musician, music director, poet, journalist, political activist, TV presenter, and occasional actor; he stated, "I wanted to keep the name my parents gave me, so I kept Suman. I took the name Kabir after Sheikh Kabir, a Bengali Muslim poet who wrote Baishnab Padabali."
T
- William Thorson – former Swedish poker player
- Apisai Tora – Fijian politician
- Mike Tyson – boxer, performer
U
- James Ujaama – Social activist/entrepreneur from Seattle, known for helping black youth; established the Bly training camp; alleged 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
- Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi – was a well known political, religious and revolutionary scholar
V
- Jorvan Vieira – Luso-Brazilian football coach
- 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
- Joram van Klaveren - Dutch citizen, former politician who attempted to ban mosques and all Islamic practices from Holland; after working on a book to conclusively 'disprove' Islam, Joram's research drastically changed his views, he later converted to Islam
- Pierre Vogel – German former boxer, now an Islamic preacher
W
- 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
- Sonny Bill Williams – New Zealand rugby player and heavyweight boxer
- Timothy Winter – English convert who is the Director of Studies at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.
- Michael Wolfe – American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation
- Wilhelm Ott – Austrian Mixed Martial Arts fighter Wilhelm Ott announced his conversion to Islam.
X
- Malcolm X – black revolutionary and civil rights activist
Y
- Felixia Yeap – Malaysian supermodel, former Playboy Bunny
- Mohammad Yousuf – former Pakistani cricketer