From Judaism
- Abdullah ibn Salam - 7th century sahabi said to have been a rabbi of aristocratic stock. [152]
- Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi - influential physicist, philosopher, and scientist who wrote a critique of Aristotelian philosophy and Aristotelian physics.[153]
- Ibn Yahyā al-Maghribī al-Samaw'al was an Arab Muslim mathematician and astronomer of Jewish descent.[154] His father was a Jewish Rabbi from Morocco, but al-Samawʾal converted to Islam.[155]
- Jacob Querido - 17th century successor of the self-proclaimed JewishMessiah Sabbatai Zevi.[156]
- Jemima Goldsmith daughter of the billionaire Sir James, that was married to Imran Khan [157]
- Leila Mourad - Egyptian singer and actress who rose to fame in the 1940s and 1950s.[158]
- Muhammad Asad (Leopold Weiss) - Viennese journalist who visited the Hijaz in the 1930s. Later, after WWII, he became Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations[159]. Also translated the Qur'an into English and wrote several books on Islam. His son Talal Asad is an anthropologist at the City University of New York
- Ibn Yahyā al-Maghribī al-Samaw'al - mathematician and astronomer who wrote critical works on Judaism, his former faith.[160]
- Rashid al-Din - 13th century Persian physician[161]
- Suleyman Ahmad an American journalist and author[162]
- Sultan Rafi Sharif Bey (Yale Singer) - a pioneer in the development of Islamic culture in the United States.[163]
- Yaqub ibn Killis - 10th century Egyptian vizier under the Fatimids.[164]
From Dharmic religions
From Buddhism
- The Barmakid family - originally the guardians of the great Buddhist shrine near Balkh, upon conversion they became "the greatest family" in the early Abbasid caliphate.[165]
- Mahmud Ghazan - seventh ruler of the Ilkhanate.[166]
- Muhammad Khodabandeh - eighth Ilkhaid dynasty ruler in Iran from 1304 to 1316.[167]
- Mubarak Shah - head of the ulus of the Chagatai Khanate (1252–1260, March-September 1266).[168]
- Tarmashirin - Khan of the Chagatai Khanate following Duwa Timur.[169]
- Hussein Ye - An Islamic scholar of Chinese descent whose lectures are frequently aired on Peace TV.[170]
From Hinduism
- Parameswara - Malay prince of Palembang Hindu descent from Srivijaya that founded the Sultanate of Malacca around 1402.[171]
- Sumita Devi - Bengali actress and filmmaker.[172]
- Vilayil Fazila - popular Mappila songs singer from Kerala.[citation needed]
- Murshid Quli Khan - the Mughal governor of Bengal.[173]
- Malik Kafur - Indian military general.[174]
- Abdul Wahid Pedersen - Danish cleric.[175]
- Cheraman Perumal - The first Indian king to accept Islam[176]
- Sahaj Ram Sapru - the grandfather of the British-Indian Muslim Philosopher, Sir Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, who was an official in Kashmir during the administration of the Afghan Governor Azim Khan. [177]
- Kamala Suraiyya (formerly Kamala Das) - Anglo-Malayalam writer[178]
- Sharmila Tagore (Begum Ayesha Sultana) - Bollywood film actress.[179]
- Megat Iskandar Shah - first Muslim ruler of Malacca.[180][181]
- Kabir Suman- Modern Bengali singer & songwriter officially converted to Islam from Hinduism in 2000. [182]
- Tansen - Notable musician and poet.[183][184]
- A.R. Rahman (stands for Allah Rakha Rahman) - Modern South Indian singer ,songwriter & Oscar winner officially converted to Islam from Hinduism.[185]
From Sikhism
- Ubaidullah Sindhi - religious leader and political activist.[186]
Other
From Paganism
See also: List of Sahaba
- Berke - grandson of Genghis Khan and leader of the Golden Horde who was the first Mongol ruler to establish Islam in a Mongol state.[187]
- David Myatt - from Paganism, former Neo-Nazi-activist[188]
- Negudar - Mongol general and noyan[189]
- Nogai Khan - Mongol general and great-grandson of Genghis Khan.[190]
- Samori Ture - founder of the Wassoulou Empire who resisted French rule in West Africa.[191][192]
- Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan - 9th century Uyghur ruler who was one of the first Turks to convert to Islam.[193]
- Tuda Mengu - Mongol leader of the Golden Horde[194]
- Tughlugh Timur - the Khan of Moghulistan.[195]
From Zoroastrianism
- Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa - author and translator of Kalīla wa Dimna from Middle Persian.[196]
- Naubakht - Pahlavi translator of the Abassid court.[197]
- Fadl ibn Sahl - Persian vizier of the Abassid era.[198]
- Rattanbai Petit - second wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan
- Saman Khuda - founder of the Samanid dynasty, one of the first native Persian dynasties in the Middle East and Central Asia after the collapse of the Sassanids.[199]
From Atheism
- A. R. Rahman (Initially raised Hindu, but was atheist as a teenager until conversion to Islam) - famous Indian music composer[200]
- Zhang Chengzhi - contemporary Hui Chinese author; raised as an atheist.[201]
- Charles le Gai Eaton - British diplomat and writer.[202]
- Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - British musician and singer (had a nominally Christian upbringing, but never was a believer)[203]
- Jeffrey Lang - American, Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas. (Raised Catholic, but atheist from age 18 to conversion)[204][205]
- Martin Lings - a widely acclaimed British scholar. He was raised as a Protestant, became an atheist, and later converted to Islam.[206]
- Mos Def - American rapper and actor. [207]
- Nursultan Nazarbayev - The incumbent President of Kazakhstan. Formerly held atheistic views during the Soviet era.
Undetermined former religion
- 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.[208]
- Thomas J. Abercrombie -Famous photographer and writer for National Geographic Magazine http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040602187.html
- Edoardo Agnelli - eldest son of Gianni Agnelli, the industrialist patriarch of Fiat.
- Nilla Cram Cook - Associate of Mahatma Gandhi [209]
- Abd al Malik - birth name Régis Fayette-Mikano - French rapper of Congolese origins.[210]
- Mumia Abu-Jamal - journalist, Black Panther, political activist, and although widely disputed, a convicted murderer.[211][212]
- B.G. Knocc Out - American west coast rapper.[213]
- 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.[214]
- Maurice Béjart - French choreographer.[215]
- Robert "Kool" Bell - musician.[216]
- Ronald Bell - musician.[217]
- Mohammed Knut Bernström - Swedish ambassador.[218]
- Khaled Edward Blair - British barrister, later married Princess Badiya bint El Hassan of Jordan.[219]
- Charles Brooks, Jr. - converted while serving a sentence for murder; first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.[220]
- H. Rap Brown - civil rights activisit.[221]
- Titus Burckhardt - Swiss writer and scholar.[222]
- Amir Butler- author, engineer and Islamic activist.[223]
- Kérim Chatty- Swedish bodybuilding stuntman who was once suspected of attempted hijacking. The preliminary inquiry was dropped. [224]
- Common - American rapper.[225]
- Jill Courtney - Australian, girlfriend of convicted killer and drug trafficker Hassan Kalache, arrested on 26 March 2006 for attempted murder of unnamed people.[226][227][228]
- Robert D. Crane - former Presidential advisor and ambassador.[229]
- Ice Cube - Gangsta rapper and actor.[230]
- Bob Denard - French mercenary.[231]
- Jeffrey Mark Deskovic - served 15-year wrongful imprisonment sentence.[232]
- Isabelle Eberhardt - explorer and writer.[233]
- Baron omar Rolf von Ehrenfels - Austrian anthropologist and orientalist.[234]
- Everlast - Irish-American rapper and singer-songwriter.[235]
- Alys Faiz - human rights and peace activist;[236] converted at the time of her marriage to Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.[237]
- Jeff Fort - former Chicago gang leader, co-founder of the Black P. StonesEl Rukn faction. He was convicted in 1987 of conspiring with Libya to perform acts of domestic terrorism.[238][239] gang, and founder of its
- Philippe Fragione - French rapper and producer of French hip hop.[240]
- Christian Ganczarski- Head of "al Qaeda in Europe".[241]
- Philippe Grenier - (1865–1944) French doctor, first and only Muslim MP in France.[242].[243]
- Gigi Gryce - American saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator.[244]
- Walt Hazzard - former NBA player.[245]
- David Hicks - convicted Australian terrorist.[246]
- Lim Yew Hock - Singapore’s second Chief Minister from 1956 to 1959.[247]
- Craig Hodges - former NBA player.[248]
- Ibrahim Hooper (Douglas Hooper) - Islamic activist, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).[249]
- Abdullah Ibrahim - South African Jazz musician.[250]
- Umar Islam - one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom.[251]
- Malik ul Salih - established the first Muslim state of Samudera Pasai.[252]
- Tiara Jacquelina - Malaysian actress.[253]
- Ahmad Jamal - Jazz pianist.[254]
- Jan Janszoon - Dutch pirate.[255]
- Larry Johnson - retired American professional basketball player.[256]
- Gustave-Henri Jossot - French caricaturist, illustrator and Orientalist painter.[257]
- Vladimir Khodov - leader of the Beslan school hostage crisis- converted in prison.[258]
- Abd al Haqq Kielan - Swedish cleric.[259]
- Ghostface Killah - member of the Wu-Tang Clan.[225]
- Begum Om Habibeh Aga Khan - born Yvette Blanche Labrousse, Miss France 1930, wife of Aga Khan III.[260]
- Yusef Lateef - American Jazz musician.[261]
- Johann von Leers - advisor to Muhammad Naguib known for his anti-Semitic polemics.[262][263][264]
- Gary Legenhausen - American philosopher and writer.[265]
- Brandon Mayfield - American attorney-at-law, was erroneously linked to the 2004 Madrid train bombings.[266]
- MC Ren - American rapper and hip-hop producer.[267]
- Ali Shaheed Muhammad - member of A Tribe Called Quest.[268]
- Idris Muhammad - American jazz musician.[269]
- John Allen Muhammad - convicted serial killer, known as the Beltway Sniper.[270][271]
- Anthony Mundine - Australian Boxer.[272]
- Abdul Alim Musa - Muslim activist and director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington, D.C.[273]
- Susanne Osthoff - German archaeologist who had worked in Iraq since 1991 and had been taken captive there for three weeks.[274]
- José Padilla - the respondent in Rumsfeld v. Padilla currently on trial as an alleged al-Qaida operative, converted while in prison for aggravated assault.[275]
- Sokollu Mehmet Paşa - Grand Vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent.[276]
- Christopher Paul (aka Paul Kenyatta Laws aka Abdulmalek Kenyatta) - American citizen, alleged member of al-Qaeda.[277][278]
- Charles John Pelham (Abdul Mateen), 8th Earl of Yarborough.[279]
- 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.[280]
- Dwight Muhammad Qawi - former boxing world heavyweight champion.[281]
- Jack Roche - convicted of involvement in an al-Qaeda plot to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra.[282]
- Ilich Ramírez Sánchez - aka "Carlos the Jackal", convicted murderer and terrorist, currently in prison in France.[283]
- Ibrahim Savant - one of the suspects arrested in the UK in connection to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft terrorist plot in the United Kingdom.[251]
- Frithjof Schuon - metaphysician, poet, painter, philosopher (in the original and Platonic sense of this term), and a leading figure of the perennialist school.[284]
- Stephen Schwartz - American journalist, columnist, and author.[285]
- 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.[286]
- Sahib Shihab - jazz saxophonist and flautist.[287]
- Divine Styler - American hip-hop musician.[288]
- Nahshid Sulaiman - alternative hip hop artist.[289]
- Apisai Tora - Fijian politician.[290]
- Mike Tyson (Malik Abdul Aziz) - former heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Converted while in prison after being convicted of rape.[291][292]
- Abdul Waheed (Don Stewart-Whyte) - accused of participating in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.[293][294]
- Jason Walters - of the Netherlands, member of the Hofstad Network, convicted on charges of terrorism.[295]
- John Ward - (changed name to Yusuf Reis) British corsair and pirate.[296]
- Rakan Ben Williams - suspected member of Al-Qaeda terrorist.[297]
- Michael Wolfe - American poet, author, and the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation.[298][299]
- Michael X - civil rights activist in the United Kingdom [300]
- Yusuf Chambers - U.K. based Da'ee of international fame. Yusuf Chambers is a young preacher from London, has greatly involved himself in many organizations in U.K. and outside like Peace TV, Islam Channel, Al-Jumuah magazine, Unity TV etc
- Andrea H - canadian non-believer to islam
Disputed or forced conversions
- Anusim of Meshhad, Jewish community in 1839. Most continued Jewish practices in secret and many of their descendents returned to Judaism in the early 20th century.[301]
- Francis Bok - Sudanese-American activist, from Christianity; later returned to his Christian faith.[302]
- Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig - while Ramattan TV showed footage of the two converting, both denied the conversion, explaining they had made statements on a gunpoint.[303] Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, professor of sociology and history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, also denies that any valid conversion took place.[304]
- Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin - 12th century Jewish philosopher, forcibly converted by Almohads, lived as crypto-Jew.[305]
- Sabbatai Zevi - convert from Judaism, 17th century mystic, pseudo-Messiah and the self-proclaimed "King of Jews". Converted ostensibly of his own free will as "Aziz Mehmed Effendi", in 15 September 1666 while in prison. Although, some speculate that he may have been executed for treason had he not converted,[306] Muslim authorities were opposed to his death.[307] He lived his remaining ten years as a public Muslim favoured by the Sultan. Some of his Sabbatean followers became the Donmeh, who behave externally as Muslims.
- Jacob Frank - publicly converted to Islam in 1757[306] and to Christianity in Poland but actually presented himself as the Messiah of a syncretic derivation of Shabbatai Zevi's Messianism.
- Omar Sharif - Academy Award-nominated Egyptian actor who has starred in many Hollywood films. He converted formally to Islam in the 1960s to marry a Muslim woman, however at present he does not follow any religion
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