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 as marriage. Such cases are noted in their list entries. The list is categorized alphabetically by their former religious affiliation.

• Abd al Malik - birth name Régis Fayette-Mikano — French rapper of Congolese origins.
• Abd al Haqq Kielan - Swedish cleric.
• Abdallah Schleifer - prominent Middle East expert, former NBC Cairo Bureau chief, and a professor of TV journalism at the American University in Cairo who converted to Sufi Islam.
• Abdul Alim Musa - Muslim activist and director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, D.C.
• Abdul Waheed (Don Stewart-Whyte) - accused of participating in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.
• Abdullah Ibrahim - South African Jazz musician.
• Ahmad Jamal - Jazz pianist.
• Ahmed el Inglizi - was an English architect and engineer who worked for the Sultan of Morocco Mohammed ben Abdallah in the 18th century and converted to Islam.
• Ajdin Muzaka - was the commander in the Battle of Torvioll.
• Ali Shaheed Muhammad - member of A Tribe Called Quest^.
• Alys Faiz - human rights and peace activist; converted at the time of her marriage to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
• Amir Butler- author, engineer and Islamic activist.
• Anthony Mundine - Australian Boxer, Former 2 time Super Middleweight Champion.
• Antoni Aleksander Iliński - a Polish-Ottoman military officer and general.
• Apisai Tora - Fijian politician.

B

• Batool Al-Toma - Irishwoman who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism.
• B.G. Knocc Out - American west coast rapper.
• Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan - born Yvette Blanche Labrousse, Miss France 1930, wife of Aga Khan III.
• Bob Denard - French mercenary.
• Brandon Mayfield - American attorney-at-law who was erroneously linked to the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
• Busta Rhymes - American rapper, songwriter and actor

C

• Charles Brooks, Jr. - an American criminal who converted while serving a sentence for murder; first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.
• Ilich Ramírez Sánchez - aka "Carlos the Jackal", convicted murderer and terrorist, currently in prison in France.
• Celestino Caballero - Boxer and former Super Bantamweight Champion.
• Charles John Pelham (Abdul Mateen)- 8th Earl of Yarborough.
• Christian Ganczarski- Head of "al Qaeda in Europe".
• Christopher de Bellaigue - British journalist and author
• Christopher Paul (aka Paul Kenyatta Laws aka Abdulmalek Kenyatta) - American citizen, alleged member of al-Qaeda.
• Colleen LaRose - alleged intended assassin of Danish cartoonist Lars Vilks.
• Craig Hodges - former NBA player.

D

• David Hicks - convicted Australian terrorist.
• Derrick Shareef- charged in a plot to set off four hand grenades in garbage cans 22 December at the CherryVale Mall in Rockford, Illinois during the Christmas rush.
• Divine Styler - American hip-hop musician.
• Dwight Muhammad Qawi - Former boxing world Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight champion.

E

• Edoardo Agnelli - eldest son of Gianni Agnelli, the industrialist patriarch of Fiat.
• Lady Evelyn Cobbold - Scottish noblewoman.
• Everlast - Irish-American rapper and singer-songwriter.

F

• Frithjof Schuon - Swiss-German metaphysician, poet, painter, philosopher and leading figure of the perennialist school.

G

• Gary Legenhausen - American philosopher and writer.
• Ghostface Killah - member of the Wu-Tang Clan.
• Gigi Gryce - American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator.
• Gustave-Henri Jossot - French caricaturist, illustrator and Orientalist painter.

H

• Hasan Akbar (born Mark Fidel Kools) - American sentenced to death for the murder of two fellow soldiers during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
• H. Rap Brown - civil rights activisit.

I

• Ibrahim Hooper (Douglas Hooper) - Islamic activist, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
• Ibrahim Savant - one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom.
• Idris Muhammad - American jazz musician.
• Iliaş Colceag - Moldavian military commander in the Ottoman and Russian Empire.
• Isabelle Eberhardt - explorer and writer.

J

• Jack Roche - convicted of involvement in an al-Qaeda plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra.
• Jadel Gregório - a Brazilian athlete.
• James Achilles Kirkpatrick - was the British Resident in Hyderabad.
• Jan Janszoon - Dutch pirate.
• Jason Walters - Dutch member of the Hofstad Network, convicted on charges of terrorism.
• Jeff Fort - former Chicago gang leader, co-founder of the Black P. Stones gang, and founder of its El Rukn faction. He was convicted in 1987 of conspiring with Libya to perform acts of domestic terrorism.
• Jeffrey Mark Deskovic - served 15-year wrongful imprisonment sentence.
• Jemima Goldsmith daughter of the billionaire Sir James, who was married to Imran Khan
• Jesse of Kakheti - a ruler of Kakheti in eastern Georgi.
• John Allen Muhammad - convicted serial killer, known as the Beltway Sniper.
• John Ward - (changed name to Yusuf Reis) British corsair and pirate.
• Johann von Leers - advisor to Muhammad Naguib known for his anti-Semitic polemics.
• José Padilla - the respondent in Rumsfeld v. Padilla currently on trial as an alleged al-Qaida operative, converted while in prison for aggravated assault.
• Juan Carlos Gomez - Former Cruiserweight Boxing Champion.

K

• Kérim Chatty- Swedish bodybuilding stuntman who was once suspected of attempted hijacking. The preliminary inquiry was dropped.
• Khaled Edward Blair - British barrister, later married Princess Badiya bint Al Hassan of Jordan.
• Khalid Sheldrake - an English pickle manufacturer who established a branch of the Western Islamic Association in South Shields in 1930.

L

• Larry Johnson - retired American professional basketball player.
• Lauren Booth - a British broadcaster, journalist and human rights activist.
• Li Nu - a 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.
• Lim Yew Hock - Singapore’s second Chief Minister from 1956 to 1959.
• Lewis Arquette - actor and father of actors David Arquette and Rosanna Arquette; father-in-law of actress Courtney Cox.

M

• MC Ren - American rapper and hip-hop producer.
• Malcolm X - American to Nation of Islam to Sunni Islam, African-American civil rights leader^.
• Malik ul Salih - established the first Muslim state of Samudera Pasai.
• Maryam Jameelah - formerly Margret Marcus. Author of many books covering several subjects, including Modernism, Sociology, History, Jihad, Theology and Technology.
• Maurice Béjart - French choreographer.
• Mike Tyson (Malik Abdul Aziz) - former heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
• Mohammed Knut Bernström - Swedish ambassador.

• Michael Wolfe - American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation.
• Michael X - civil rights activist in the United Kingdom

N

• Nahshid Sulaiman - alternative hip hop artist.
• Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi (born Lex Hixon) - syncretist, Sufi convert, and co-founder of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in the United States.

O

• Omar Ong Yoke Lin - (1917–2010) Malaysian politician, former government minister and founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association.
• Baron omar Rolf von Ehrenfels - Austrian anthropologist and orientalist.
• Omar Epps - American actor, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

P

• Philippe Fragione - French rapper and producer of French hip hop.
• Philippe Grenier - (1865–1944) French doctor, first Muslim MP in France.

Q

• Q-Tip - North American hip-hop emcee, actor, and hip hop producer who was the leader of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest.

R

• Rakan Ben Williams - suspected member of Al-Qaeda terrorist.
• Robert "Kool" Bell - musician.
• Robert D. Crane - former Presidential advisor and ambassador.
• Rodrigo de Triana - sailor and the first European since the Vikings known to have seen America who converted to Islam from Judaism or Christianity.
• Ronald Bell - musician.
• Rory McLeod - British snooker player.

S

• Sahib Shihab - American jazz saxophonist and flautist.
• Saida Miller Khalifa - British author who was originally called Sonya Miller.
• Shaheed Akbar - notable rapper who converted to Islam.
• Stephen Schwartz - American journalist, columnist, and author.
• Susanne Osthoff - German archaeologist who had worked in Iraq since 1991 and had been taken captive there for three weeks.

T

• Thomas J. Abercrombie -Famous photographer and writer for National Geographic Magazine 
• Tiara Jacquelina - Malaysian actress.
• Titus Burckhardt - Swiss writer and scholar.
• Tony Hussein Hinde - an Australian-born Maldivian surfer and surfing pioneer who converted to Islam.
• Thierry Henry- Former Barcelona and Arsenal soccer player who plays for chicago red bulls born in France

U

• Umar Islam - one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom.
• Uri Davis - an academic and activist who works on civil rights in Israel, Palestinian National Authority and the Middle East.

V

• Vladimir Khodov - leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis- converted in prison.
• Vernel Fournier - jazz drummer.

W

• Walt Hazzard - former NBA player.

Y

• Yusef Lateef - American Jazz musician.

Z
Zachary Adam Chesser - American Muslim convert to Sunni Islam. Sentenced to 25 years in a federal prison on February 24, 2011.