Top 5 American Personalities Who Convert To Islam
1.
Malcolm X : May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born
Malcolm Little and also known as
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Arabic:
الحاجّ مالك الشباز), was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
Malcolm X's father died—killed by white supremacists, it was rumored—when he was young, and at least one of his uncles was lynched. When he was thirteen, his mother was placed in a mental hospital, and he was placed in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for breaking and entering.
In prison Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and after his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years Malcolm X was the public face of the controversial group, but disillusionment with Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad led him to leave the Nation in March 1964. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, he returned to the United States, where he founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In February 1965, less than a year after leaving the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by three members of the group.
Malcolm X's expressed beliefs changed substantially over time. As a spokesman for the Nation of Islam he taught black supremacy and advocated separation of black and white Americans—in contrast to the civil rights movement's emphasis on integration. After breaking with the Nation of Islam in 1964—saying of his association with it, "I did many things as a [Black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then ... pointed in a certain direction and told to march"—and becoming a Sunni Muslim, he disavowed racism and expressed willingness to work with civil rights leaders, though still emphasizing black self-determination and self-defense.
2.
Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is the U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district, serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, the Minnesota state Democratic Party affiliate. The district centers on Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. He was re-elected in 2010.
Ellison is a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 112th Congress.
He is the first Muslim
to be elected to the Congress. He is also the first African American elected to the House from Minnesota.
3.
André D. Carson (born October 16, 1974) is the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 7th congressional district, serving since the special election in 2008. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
He is the grandson of his predecessor, former U.S. Representative Julia Carson (1938–2007).
4.
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad (born: March 22, 1951) is a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and president of Khalilzad Associates, an international business consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush. He has been involved with U.S. policy makers at the White House, State Department and Pentagon since the mid-1980s, and was the highest-ranking Muslim American in the Administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.
Khalilzad's previous assignments in the Administration include U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
5.
Siraj Wahhaj (born
Jeffrey Kearse, March 11, 1950) is an African-American convert to Islam. He is imam of Al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, New York and the leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA).
