--------------- Answers to Day 17 Submitted by Anonymous #1 --------------- Pick a famous person who converted to Islam. Briefly describe how/why he/she came to Islam, what he/she contributed after becoming a Muslim, and why he/she is your pick/favorite --------------- Aside from Sayidna Omar (AS) – and picking from a more modern group of people – I would have to choose *Kareem Abdul-Jabbar* Kareem was born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. He was raised Roman Catholic and attended a Catholic High School. At UCLA, he took the Shahada twice and converted to Sunni Islam (the first time he converted to the Nation of Islam). Initially, Kareem just practiced his Islam in private, not making too big a deal of it. However, after the events of 9/11 he became outspoken. He used his fame from his basketball career to promote education about Islam rather than fear mongering and hatred. He was quoted saying: “The Islamic religion was not the motivation for 9/11″, Abdul-Jabbar says. “The motivation for 9/11 was the quest for power by people who are from Muslim countries that had become fascists, that’s basically what that’s all about. You know fascism has crossed many ideological lines, and people resort to it in terms of frustration or desperation or what have you? It’s like what was happening in Germany after World War I. He also repeatedly spoke out, supporting the widely criticized New York Mosque. He even had the courage to speak for the 70 Muslims who died on 9/11, criticizing those who spread hate against them. Kareem is my pick not only because he’s one of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball (my favorite sport) but also because he took his immense fame and actually used it to promote tolerance and fight ignorance, not just hide behind the limelight of being a former NBA superstar. Source: kareemabduljabbar/?p=1829
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 21:54:42 +0000
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