conversion to Islam and the Burdah

Submitted by Harrak (Canada), Mar 7, 2006 at 12:43

..I have to admit that Dr Pipes is very smart when it comes to academically build up points and make you question the absolute logic...there is nothing I can do there. I can only disagree with his trend to show Islam as religion is a refuge for criminals. Did all the following converts have criminal problems before converting? one may question:

Mohammed Jaafar - Australian professional wrestler
Yousef al-Khattab Former Orthodox Jew who is now a Muslim in Palestine
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) - basketball player
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - from Greek Orthodox and Catholic Christianity
Karim Abdul-Jabbar - football player
Abdul-Ahad Omar (Gary Miller) - Former Christian priest and missionary
Yusuf Estes
Hamza Yusuf
Zaid Shakir
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (Chris Jackson) - Retired basketball player
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) American retired boxer (Christianity to Nation of Islam to mainstream Islam)
Malcolm X/Malik Shabazz (Malcolm Little) - African-American civil rights leader (from Christianity to Islam)
Margaret Marcus - from Reform Judaism
James Yee
Knud Holmboe
Abdullah Hakim Quick
Steve Rockwell
Daniel Moore
Jemima Goldsmith - from Judaism
Tariq Abdul-Wahad
Ali Ibrahim Kalyanaraman from Hinduism and Zoroastrianism
Alexander Russell Webb - from Presbyterian Christianity
Amir Butler
Dave Chappelle - American Comedian from Unitarianism (Christian roots)
Isabelle Eberhardt - from Lutheran Christianity
Chris Eubank
Pamela Taylor
Everlast (rapper) - from Catholicism
Adam Yahiye Gadahn - from Christianity
David Hicks - presumably from Christianity
Murad Wilfred Hofmann - from Catholic Christianity
Bernard Hopkins
Jermaine Jackson - from Jehovah's Witnesses
Nuh Ha Mim Keller - from agnosticism, which he came to from Catholic Christianity
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid - from a sort of paganism prevalent in Arabia before Islam; was first female convert to Islam
Jeffrey Lang
John Walker Lindh - from Catholic Christianity
Ruqayyah Waris Maqsood - from Protestant Christianity
Ingrid Mattson
José Padilla
Muhammad Pickthall (Marmaduke Pickthall) - from Christianity
David Musa Pidcock - from Catholic Christianity
Harry St. John Philby
Dwight Muhammad Qawi
William Abdullah Quilliam - from Christianity
Yvonne Ridley
Jack Roche
Stephen Schwartz (journalist) - from Judaism, to Sufism
Sheikh 'Abd al-Wahid Yahya(Sufi name for philosopher better known as Réné Guénon) - from Catholic Christianity; also supported Buddhism and other religions
Brandon Toropov - from Christianity
Shabbetai Tzvi - from Judaism
Umar Faruq Abd-Allah - from Protestant Christianity
Robin van Persie
Danny Williams (boxer)
Timothy Winter - Lecturer in Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge
Michael Wolfe
Napoleon (rapper) - from a Christian/Muslim household
Matthew Saad Muhammad - from Catholic Christianity
Dwight Muhammad Qawi
Eddie Mustapha Muhammad
Mustafa Hamsho
Akbar Muhammad
Hamdan Chris Eubank
John Coltrane - from Christianity
Art Blakey
Ibrahim Hooper (Douglas Hooper) - Islamic civil rights leader
Mohammad Yousuf - from Christianity; Pakistani cricket player
Haschem Wilde
Kamala Suraiya - Indian writer
A. R. Rahman - Indian music composer
Muhammed al-Ahari American essayist - from Christianity
Nicolas Anelka
Ali Bey al-Abbasi

.... even if we admit that Islam is a refuge for those with criminal problem and those who are desperate, does not that mean that there is Islam something to be found out?!

Burdah is not ISLAMIC it is a tradition that was used by the Roman, the Persians and later by Muslims. None to do with Islam..

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