We know that they are rich. We know that they are famous. But do we know that these celebrities deserve respect because they are proud of their religion? Show respect to them, because these people, in addition to doing what they love, also speak up about Islam, and do Dawah in their own way.
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille is a retired American professional basketball player and never shied away from speaking up about his religious beliefs. He was raised by a Baptist mother and a Muslim stepfather. He plans on traveling to Makkah for Hajj.
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson is an American former professional boxer. In 1992, Tyson was convicted of rape. During his three years in prison, he converted to Islam. He has made a trip to Makkah for the annual pilgrimage, Hajj. He also married the daughter of a Muslim cleric.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr, Kareem is a retired professional basketball player and was introduced to Islam as a freshman at UCLA. He was inspired by Malcolm X and has said that Islam helped him find his true self and gave him the strength not only to face hostility from both blacks and whites but also to fight for social justice.
Zayn Malik
Zayn Malik has been trolled and shamed online with anti-Muslim slurs, but he has proudly embraced his Pakistani culture and Islamic heritage and has emerged shining against his haters.
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is an American actress. Her spiritual journey started with Sufi Islam and she calls herself ‘…a spirit opening to the truth…’
Jemima Khan
Formerly Jemima Goldsmith, Jemima Khan converted to Islam a few months before her marriage to Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan. “What began as intellectual curiosity slowly ripened into a dawning realization of the universal and eternal truth that is Islam,” she says. She cites the writings of Muhammad Asad, Charles le Gai Eaton, and Alija Izetbegović as her influences.
Jawed Karim
This internet entrepreneur of Bangladeshi and German descent is one of the co-founders of YouTube. He uploaded the first video on YouTube, and many of its core components have been designed by him.
Huma Abedin
Huma Abedin is a political staffer and long-time aid to Hillary Clinton. She took aim at Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States in an email with the subject line: “I’m a proud Muslim.”
Ice Cube
Rapper Ice Cube converted to Islam in the early 1990s and takes a personal approach to his religion, stating that his spirituality is between God and himself.
Muhammad Ali
Born Cassius Clay in a Baptist household, this former boxer converted to Islam in 1964. He has been vocal in his stand against Donald Trump’s decision to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.A. and has also lashed out against Muslim extremists saying “Islam is a religion of peace. Islam does not promote terrorism or the killing of people…If the culprits are Muslim, they have twisted the teachings of Islam.”
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little. The story of his life, his conversion to the Nation of Islam and his activities as a human rights advocate, in the book ‘Autobiography of Malcolm X’, still inspires many. A frontrunner for African-American rights, Malcolm X, later known as El-Hajj Mail El-Shabazz, embraced Islam when he was in prison for larceny and breaking and entering, and has said “I am and always will be a Muslim. My religion is Islam. I am not a racist in any form whatsoever. I don’t believe in any form of discrimination or segregation.”
Hashim Amla
Hashim Amla is a South African cricketer and it is hard to miss him on ground with that beard. Born to a South African Muslim Ansari family which has its roots in Surat region of Gujarat, India, Amla is a devout Muslim. He has said: “I love it when guys ask me about Islam or my beard. To share knowledge is a duty.” He has also spoken about his beard being, not purely a tribute to Islam, but to all faiths stemming from Ibrahim/Abraham.
Amal Alamuddin Clooney
