The following Muslims are famous for their athletic feats, but also for speaking about their faith.
Imran Khan
Active in the seventies to the nineties, Khan was most well-known for his cricket career. He played on the winning team for the 1992 World Cup, has been inducted to the ICC Hall of Fame and won Player of the Year a total of three times.
Known both for his excellent bowling skills and also his leadership of the team, Khan led the Pakistani National Team to a World Cup victory. He actually chose some of the top players in the team, who went on to have their own amazing careers. He later got into politics and spoke about his faith as a motivator to remove corruption from the Pakistani government.
Shaquille O’Neal
This basketball star is known for his sense of humour, skills and massive stature. Many people don’t actually realise that he was raised as a Muslim. He’s never been overly vocal about his faith, only speaking briefly about it, though he has made a pilgrimage to Mecca in accordance with the teachings of the faith. Although he no longer plays professionally, Shaqis one of the most loved celebrities in the basketball world. He’s won a laundry list of accolades but is also hugely popular with fans around the world.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is another Muslim basketball player with a similarly highlighted career. There are many key differences between his experience with the faith and Shaq’s however. He converted to Islam later in life at the start of his basketball career, rather than being raised within it. He even pioneered a range of different techniques that some players have attempted to recreate.
Mike Tyson
This athlete is something of a character and there are very few topics that he won’t get into. This includes his Muslim faith, which he converted to while in prison. The religion helped him to defeat a drug addiction, as well as a number of other vices. Online casinos in Arabic, such as viparabcasinos.com¸ have a number of Muslim players, despite the teachings on the matter.
Muhammad Ali
Ali will always be remembered as one of the greatest boxers of all time. He passed away in 2016, leaving a sport changed by his career, boxing would never be the same after Ali according to tributes. He also converted to Islam, changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali early in his life. His decision to do so was part of an effort by Ali to be closer to his African American roots.
He was always a controversial figure in American culture, having been a contentious objector to the Vietnam War. This did not mar his popularity in the ring however and he was undoubtedly The Greatest.
These Muslim athletes are some of the best out there, with more coming along every year to vie for these titles in future.
