South African Fast Bowler Wayne Parnell Converts To Islam July 28, 2011

JOHANNESBURG: South African fast bowler Wayne Parnell has converted to Islam after a period of personal study and reflection and will celebrate his 22nd birthday on Friday as a Muslim.

Parnell confirmed in a statement on Thursday that he converted to Islamic faith in January this year and is considering to change his name to Waleed, which means ‘Newborn Son’.

“While I have not yet decided on an Islamic name I have considered the name Waleed which means Newborn Son, but for now my name remains Wayne Dillon Parnell. I will continue to respect the team’s endorsement of alcoholic beverages. I am playing cricket in Sussex and this is my immediate focus,” said Port Elizabeth-born Parnell.

“As I am approaching my first period of fasting, I ask that this special time is treated with respect. I am a young man, a professional cricketer by trade, and while I can appreciate and am grateful for the public interest in my personal life, my faith choice is a matter which I would like to keep private,” said the promising Warriors left-arm seam bowler.

Proteas team manager Mohamed Moosajee, himself a Muslim, said Parnell’s Muslim teammates Hashim Amla and Imran Tahir had not influenced his decision to convert from Christianity.

“Wayne already decided a few months ago to follow Islam,” Moosajee said of the cricketer, who excelled during the ICC World Cup on the subcontinent.

“The decision to convert was his own decision, but I know nothing of the name change,” added Moosajee.

Fellow players, preferring to remain anonymous, said they believed Parnell was very serious about his choice of religion and that he had not touched a drop of alcohol, forbidden to Muslims, since the recent Indian Premier League series.

Supporting Moosajee’s denial of influence by Amla, the players said he had never attempted to convert them to his religion, although they had all been very impressed by the discipline and strict adherence that Amla showed to his religion, by refusing to participate in celebrations with them that involved liquor, staying steadfast in his daily prayers even while on tour, and refusing to wear the kit sponsored by South African beer brand Castle Lager.

In his first two years after making his debut for the Proteas in 2009, Parnell developed a hard-living reputation.

In October 2009, he was kicked out of the provincial side Warriors following an incident in a night club in the city of Port Elizabeth in the early hours of the morning.

He came to limelight when he captained South African Under-19 team in the U-19 World Cup in 2008. He was the youngest player to get a central contract in 2009 at the age of 20 years.

He is the second Christian to have reverted to Islam after Pakistan’s Yousuf Yohana (now Mohammad Yousuf) in 2006.

Source

Abel Xavier Converts to Islam January 2, 2010

Abel Xavier now Faisal Xavier

Abel Xavier, the former Liverpool and LA Galaxy football player has converted to Islam, may Allah increase him in iman, protect him, guide him and keep him on the straight path, amin.

I always love it when people who are known convert to Islam because of the dawah the conversion brings.  People start talking and begin to ask questions which can  lead to a better understanding and may also lead others to accept.

As a Liverpool fan (I’m forgetting he played for the other side) I even more happy because i watched him every week, marvelling at his crazy hair cuts and wondering what colour hair he would be sporting when he ran onto  pitch.

He has now quit playing football and has changed his name to Faisal Xavier, he talked about it in a recent interview, and said:

‘It’s an emotional goodbye and I hope to participate in something very satisfying in a new stage of my life.

‘In moments of grief, I have found comfort in Islam. Slowly, I learned a religion that professes peace, equality, freedom and hope. These are foundations with which I identify.’

Asalamu alaikum brother Faisal and welcome to the Ummah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad !

Read the full story here

Why I Am Muslim? December 18, 2009

Angela Smith

Like how beautiful did Allah made the Moon, that you can't praise HIM enough. For you don't have those word of kudos.

God was instilled in me as a child. I came from a French-Canadian Catholic family. I sought God in the New England woods where I grew up. I watched the cycle of the seasons, the course of the Sun and the Moon. I observe the pristine, perfect beauty of nature. Everything had its own rhythm and purpose. It had its own design in symmetry and in proportion. From atoms having their own circular orbits, to galaxies and stars revolving around each other, everything had its own system and submitted to the will of God. God’s divine law is in the rules of physics. Only to the human being did God gave free will allowing us to choose between good and evil. Man’s love for God was greatly cherished by God, because humans have the ability to choose to love or not. God gave me strength to overcome many things.

I became a poet and an artist to celebrate what I saw in the beauty of nature. I was dismayed by the falsehood and the disintegration of family, the disregard for women in my society.

I converted to Islam upon my marriage. I married a Bengali man 23 years ago. I raised my children in the Bengali and Muslim culture. The Bengali culture is a very family oriented and I also traveled to Bangladesh many times.

All my life I have been very softhearted to those less fortunate than me. I believed that I followed the compassionate way of the Prophet (SA). I have worked with abused and abandoned, mentally challenged children as an art teacher and tutor.

I have read the Quran. It is not a book of terrorism. It is a book of peace. There are people who distort sections of the Quran for their own benefit, just the same as the Bible and other books have been distorted, for people’s selfish political goals. It is amazing the descriptions of science and nature which there is no way an illiterate man that many years could have known about or written about. One should learn the Quran in Arabic, but also learn the translation and the meaning of it. This way no one can sway anyone to any misconceptions or wrong thinking.

I follow the Quran, which gives vivid descriptions of nature as signs of God. I believe fully in the simplicity of the Quran and its way of life. Everyday I thank God that he guided me to Islam.