List of American Muslims

This is an incomplete list of notable Muslims who live or lived in the United States.

Academia

• Asad Abidi – Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles; member of the National Academy of Engineering
• Amjad Masad – Founder and CEO of Replit
• Gul Agha – Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Akbar S. Ahmed – US resident Pakistani anthropologist; the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University; producer of the film Journey Into Europe, on Islam in Europe
• Saleem H. Ali – environmental researcher and Associate Dean for Graduate studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources; writer and contributor to publications such as the International Herald Tribune; has dual American and Pakistani citizenship
• Talal Asad – Professor of Anthropology and Religious Studies at CUNY
• Farooq Azam – Distinguished Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD; researcher in the field of marine microbiology
• Ayesha Jalal – MacArthur Fellow and Richardson Professor of History at Tufts University
• Mohammad Aslam Khan Khalil – Professor of Physics at Portland State University; a highly cited researcher in the field of atmospheric physics
• Sadaf Jaffer – the first female Muslim American mayor, first female South Asian mayor, and first female Pakistani-American mayor in the United States, of Montgomery in Somerset County, New Jersey.
• Hafeez Malik – Professor of Political Science at Villanova University, in Pennsylvania
• Zia Mian – physicist
• Adil Najam – Professor of Geography and International Relations and Director of the Pardee Center at Boston University; founding editor of popular blog Pakistaniat
• S. Hamid Nawab, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, Boston University; co-author of widely used textbook Signals and Systems (1997), published by Prentice Hall (Pearson); researcher in signal processing and machine perception with application to auditory, speech, and neuromuscular systems
• Anwar Shaikh – Professor of Economics at the graduate faculty of The New School in New York City
• Sara Suleri – Professor of English at Yale University
• Abdul Jamil Tajik – researcher in clinical medicine
• Muhammad Suhail Zubairy – Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy; holder of the Munnerlyn-Heep Chair in Quantum Optics at the Texas A&M University

Activism and government

• Huma Abedin – aide to United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; served as traveling chief of staff during Clinton's campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election
• Saqib Ali – served as delegate to the Maryland House of Delegates, elected in 2006, represented the 39th District
• Tahir Ali – first Pakistani American elected as a National delegate-at-large (R) from Massachusetts, 1992
• Aisha al-Adawiya – American interfaith activist and founder of Women in Islam
• Nihad Awad – National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
• André Carson – Congressman from Indiana
• Shamila N. Chaudhary – US government policy adviser
• Nusrat Jahan Choudhury - civil rights lawyer and District Court judge for the Eastern District of New York. First Muslim woman to serve as a United States federal judge.
• Robert D. Crane – former foreign policy advisor; author
• Sada Cumber – first US envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
• Hamida Dakane – first Black and first Muslim to serve in the North Dakota House of Representatives
• Keith Ellison – first Muslim congressman from Minnesota
• Louis Farrakhan – leader of the Nation of Islam
• George Bethune English (1787–1828) – American adventurer, diplomat, soldier, and convert to Islam.
• Ghazala Hashmi – Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and first Muslim woman elected to a statewide office in the United States
• Ibrahim Hooper – National Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
• Mansoor Ijaz – hedge fund manager and venture capitalist involved in Pakistan–United States relations and peace efforts surrounding the Kashmir conflict
• Arsalan Iftikhar – human rights lawyer, global media commentator, and author of the book Scapegoats: How Islamophobia Helps Our Enemies & Threatens Our Freedoms
• Noor Al-Hussein – anti-nuclear weapons proliferation advocate and former Queen consort of Jordan
• Hakim Jamal – civil rights activist; Member of the Nation of Islam but converted to traditional Islam after the assassination of his cousin Malcolm X.
• Mustafa T. Kasubhai - first Muslim federal judge in the United States
• Zalmay Khalilzad – former US Ambassador to the United Nations; former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan
• Yuri Kochiyama – Japanese American activist who converted to Sunni Islam from Protestantism in 1971
• Edina Lekovic – Communications Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council
• Zohran Mamdani – first Muslim elected Mayor of New York City
• Gholam Mujtaba – chair of the Pakistan Policy Institute, a think tank dedicated to improve the US-Pakistan relationship
• Ilhan Omar – One of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.
• Farah Pandith – Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the US Department of State; official advisor to President Obama on Muslim matters
• Zahid Quraishi – first Muslim Article III district court judge in the United States
• Zainab Salbi – co-founder and president for Women for Women International
• Betty Shabazz (also known as Betty X) – civil rights activist and educator; widow of Malcolm X
• Ilyasah Shabazz – social activist and daughter of Malcolm X
• Malcolm Shabazz – activist and grandson of Malcolm X; Murdered during a labor rights tour in Mexico
• el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (also known as Malcolm X) – human rights activist, civil rights activist, public speaker and Black Muslim minister; Joined the Nation of Islam in 1952, before converting to Sunni Islam in 1964.
• Azadeh Shahshahani – human rights attorney and past president of the National Lawyers Guild
• Saghir "Saggy" Tahir – New Hampshire State Representative; the only elected Pakistani American in the Republican Party; re-elected in 2006 for a fourth term to represent Ward 2, District 9 in his home town of Manchester
• Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli – White House appointee at various senior posts in the executive branch and the State department during five Republican administrations.
• Rashida Tlaib – One of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress.
• James Yee – former U.S. Army chaplain with the rank of Captain
• Elias Zerhouni – Director, National Institutes of Health

Armed forces

• Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan – United States Army Soldier killed in Iraq
• Humayun Khan – United States Army Soldier killed in Iraq

Foreign military service

• Ma Dunjing – Chinese Muslim General of the National Revolutionary Army, immigrated to Los Angeles in the United States after retirement in 1950
• Ma Hongkui – Chinese Muslim General of the National Revolutionary Army, immigrated to Los Angeles in the United States after retirement in 1950

Art

• Kameelah Janan Rasheed — Artist based in New York City
• Deana Haggag – Egyptian-American art museum curator, President and CEO of United States Artists in Chicago
• Shirin Neshat – Iranian-American visual artist and film director. Awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2006, and the Silver Lion in 2009
• Shahzia Sikander – Pakistani-American artist and MacArthur Fellow
• Minoosh Zomorodinia – Iranian-born American visual artist and curator

Business

• Javed Ahmed – former chief executive of Tate & Lyle, a FTSE 250 company and one of Britain's oldest brands
• Michael Chowdry (1955–2001) – Forbes 400 businessman; founder of air cargo company Atlas Air, which in 2001 was worth over $1.39 billion
• Mohamed El-Erian – chief economic adviser of Allianz, the parent company of PIMCO, where El-Erian was CEO and manager of over $1 trillion in global assets; president of Queens' College, Cambridge
• Tariq Farid – founder and chief executive of Edible Arrangements
• Nabeel Gareeb – president and chief executive of renewable energy company MEMC (now SunEdison) from 2002 to 2008; ranked 6th highest-earning U.S. CEO in 2008
• Fred Hassan – chairman of investment company Caret Group, director of private equity firm Warburg Pincus, former chief executive of pharmaceutical companies including Schering-Plough from 2003 to 2009, when the company completed its merger with Merck & Co.
• Mansoor Ijaz – founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management, television commentator
• Jawed Karim – co-founder of YouTube
• Farooq Kathwari – chairman, president and chief executive of Ethan Allen
• Shahid Khan – owner of sports teams the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham F.C., and autoparts maker Flex-N-Gate, lead investor in All Elite Wrestling
• Safi Qureshey – co-founder and former CEO of AST Research, philanthropist
• Hamdi Ulukaya – billionaire founder and chief executive of foods maker Chobani; activist and philanthropist, signed the Giving Pledge to donate the majority of his wealth, founded the Tent Foundation, received the UN Global Leadership Award and the Global Citizen Prize

Comedy

• Ahmed Ahmed – standup comedian, actor
• Mohammed Amer – standup comedian
• Dave Chappelle – standup comedian (converted in 1998)
• Negin Farsad – comedian, actress, writer, filmmaker
• Maz Jobrani – standup comedian, actor
• Aasif Mandvi – comedian, actor
• Hasan Minhaj – comedian, Daily Show correspondent
• Preacher Moss – standup comedian, comedy writer
• Zahra Noorbakhsh – comedian, writer, actor, co-host of #GoodMuslimBadMuslim podcast
• Dean Obeidallah – standup comedian
• Azhar Usman – standup comedian
• Maysoon Zayid – standup comedian, actress

Crime

• Hasan Akbar – convicted of premeditated murder in a grenade attack on fellow soldiers
• Hesham Mohamed Hadayet – Egyptian-American who killed 2 people at the El Al counter at Los Angeles International Airport
• Wadih el-Hage – al-Qaeda member serving life imprisonment in the US for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings
• Mujahid Abdul Halim – Served 45 years in prison for taking part in the assassination of Malcolm X; Long-time member of the Nation of Islam but converted to traditional Islam while in prison.
• Nidal Hasan – former soldier convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting
• Muzzammil Hassan – founder of Bridges TV, a Muslim television network; received sentence of 25 to life for killing his wife
• Mir Aimal Kansi – Pakistani-American convicted and executed for the shootings at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters
• John Walker Lindh – member of the Taliban
• John Allen Muhammad – executed beltway sniper
• José Padilla – convicted of aiding terrorists and litigant before the United States Supreme Court in Rumsfeld v. Padilla
• Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – Kyrgyzstani-American citizen who was convicted of planting bombs at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, together with his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
• Bryant Neal Vinas – convicted of participating in and supporting al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S.

Film

• Nabil Abou-Harb – filmmaker; writer and director of Arab in America
• Shohreh Aghdashloo – Academy Award-nominated Iranian-born actress
• Moustapha Akkad – film director, producer
• Mahershala Ali – Oscar-winning actor.
• Lewis Arquette – film actor, writer, and producer
• Sayed Badreya – actor, filmmaker
• Saïd Taghmaoui – actor
• Faran Tahir – actor

Modeling

• Halima Aden – Somali-American fashion model
• Iman – supermodel and widow of David Bowie
• Bella Hadid – fashion model and daughter of real-estate developer Mohamed Hadid and former model Yolanda Hadid

Music

• Ahmad Jamal – jazz pianist
• Ahmet Ertegün – Songwriter and founder of Atlantic Records
• Akon – R&B and hip-hop artist
• Ali Shaheed Muhammad – producer, DJ and rapper, formerly of A Tribe Called Quest; Sunni Muslim
• Art Blakey – jazz drummer and bandleader
• Beanie Sigel – rapper
• Brother Ali – rapper; converted to Islam
• Chali 2na – rapper, formerly of the alternative hip-hop group Jurassic 5, and of Ozomatli
• DJ Khaled – rap artist and DJ
• Everlast – rapper from the Irish-American hip-hop group House of Pain; converted to Islam
• Freeway – rapper; Sunni Muslim
• Ghostface Killah – rapper, member of the hip-hip group the Wu-Tang Clan
• Ice Cube – rapper and producer
• Jermaine Jackson – singer, bass guitarist
• Kevin Gates – rapper
• Lupe Fiasco – rapper; Sunni Muslim
• MC Ren – rapper
• Mona Haydar rapper; Sunni Muslim
• Mos Def – rapper; initially joined the Nation of Islam before converting to Islam
• Napoleon – former member of Tupac Shakur's rap group the Outlawz, now a motivational Muslim speaker
• Native Deen – rap group
• Q-Tip – rapper, formerly of A Tribe Called Quest; Sunni Muslim
• Raekwon – rapper, member of the hip-hip group the Wu-Tang Clan
• Rhymefest – Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist; co-writer of the single "Jesus Walks"
• Richard Thompson – British folk rock singer, Sufi Muslim since 1974
• Scarface – rapper
• Vinnie Paz – rapper in the hip-hop group Jedi Mind Tricks
• Yusef Lateef – jazz musician and Grammy Award winner

Religion

• Abu Ammar Yasir Qadhi – Muslim Scholar.
• Omar Suleiman – Muslim activist and Imam.
• Dalia Mogahed – Muslim speaker and activist.
• Yasmin Mogahed – Muslim speaker and activist.
• Ismail al-Faruqi – Muslim philosopher and scholar
• Jonathan A C Brown – Muslim lecturer and scholar.
• Amina Wadud - Islamic scholar and activist
• Suhaib Webb – Muslim lecturer and activist; Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, the largest mosque in the New England area
• Hamza Yusuf – Muslim scholar
• Hassan Hathout – Muslim scholar
• Hassan Al-Qazwini – Muslim scholar
• Hisham Kabbani – Muslim sufi scholar and shaykh
• Yusuf Estes – Muslim preacher
• Souleiman Ghali – Founder of the Islamic Society of San Francisco
• Sherman Jackson – Muslim scholar
• Nouman Ali Khan – Muslim speaker and founder, CEO and lead instructor at Bayyinah, the Institute for Arabic and Qur'anic Studies.
• Sadullah Khan – Muslim scholar
• Ingrid Mattson – Muslim scholar
• Warith Deen Mohammed – former leader of the largest Muslim organization, the American Society of Muslims (son of Nation of Islam leader)
• Abdul Malik Mujahid – Imam, community activist supporting interfaith and progressive causes, president of Sound Vision
• Daniel Haqiqatjou - Muslim polemicist, debator, and Da'ee
• Louay M. Safi – Muslim scholar
• Zaid Shakir – Muslim scholar
• Siraj Wahhaj – Muslim scholar
• Omar Khalidi – Muslim scholar
• Amir Hussain – Muslim scholar, editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion
• Asifa Quraishi - Muslim legal scholar
• Azizah al-Hibri - Muslim legal scholar
• Laleh Bakhtiar - translator of the Quran

Science

• Shereef Elnahal – commissioner, New Jersey Department of Health, transitioning to CEO of University Hospital, Newark in July 2019
• Fazlur Khan – structural engineer (designed the Sears Tower, John Hancock Center)
• Ayub K. Ommaya – neurosurgeon, inventor of the Ommaya reservoir
• Ahmed Zewail – Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, 1999 for his work on femtochemistry
• Aziz Sancar – Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, 2015 along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair
• Anousheh Ansari - engineer and first person of Iranian descent in space

Sports

Boxing

• Muhammad Ali – became a member of the Nation of Islam in 1964, converted to Sunni Islam in 1975
• Bernard Hopkins – former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight world champion
• Eddie Mustafa Muhammad – former Light Heavyweight Champion
• Matthew Saad Muhammad – former Light Heavyweight Champion
• Dwight Muhammad Qawi – former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Champion
• Hasim Rahman – former Heavyweight champion
• Mike Tyson – Undisputed Heavyweight Champion in 1987; converted in 1994 (influenced by preacher in prison)
• Gervonta Davis – former Super Featherweight and Light Welterweight champion, Lightweight world champion as of January 2024, converted to Islam in 2023

Basketball

• DeSagana Diop – Senegalese basketball player for the Charlotte Bobcats
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – converted to Islam from Catholicism in 1968, initially joining the Nation of Islam before retaking the Shahada and converting to Sunni Islam that very summer
• Enes Kanter – Turkish basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers
• Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf – former player for Denver Nuggets (converted in 1991, formerly Chris Jackson)
• Shareef Abdur-Rahim – retired player, named NBA All-Star in 2001–02 season
• Hassan Adams – drafted by and played for the New Jersey Nets, later the Cleveland Cavaliers, then KK Vojvodina (in Serbia).
• Larry Johnson – retired player, played for the Charlotte Hornets and New York Knicks
• Nazr Mohammed – player for the Charlotte Bobcats
• Mehmet Okur – Turkish player of the Utah Jazz
• Shaquille O'Neal – former player for the Los Angeles Lakers; rapper and actor
• Hakeem Olajuwon – former player for the Houston Rockets
• Rasheed Wallace – former player for the Detroit Pistons
• Kyrie Irving - player for Brooklyn Nets

NFL

• Ameer Abdullah – running back, drafted by the Detroit Lions in 2015, currently with the Minnesota Vikings
• Oday Aboushi – guard, drafted by the New York Jets in 2013, currently with the Detroit Lions.
• Dominique Easley – linebacker, drafted by the New England Patriots in 2014, currently a free agent.
• Mohamed Sanu – wide receiver, drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012, currently with the San Francisco 49ers
• Muhammad Wilkerson – defensive end, drafted by the New York Jets in 2011, currently a free agent.
• Hamza Abdullah – former safety for the Cleveland Browns
• Husain Abdullah – former safety for the Minnesota Vikings
• Az-Zahir Hakim – former wide receiver for the St. Louis Rams
• Ryan Harris – former offensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• Abdul Hodge – former linebacker for the Carolina Panthers
• Josh Palmer – Wide receiver for the Los Angeles Chargers
• Ahmad Rashad – former wide receiver for Minnesota Vikings, award-winning sportscaster (converted in 1972)
• Ephraim Salaam – former offensive tackle for the Detroit Lions
• Robert Saleh – Defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers former Head Coach for the New York Jets.

Track and field

• Khalid Khannouchi – marathon runner
• Dalilah Muhammad - Olympic gold and silver medalist

Wrestling

• Adeel Alam – Pakistani American, wrestler in WWE
• Khosrow Vaziri – Retired Iranian American wrestler, former WWE Champion

Mixed martial arts

• Muhammed Lawal – former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight World Champion
• Kamaru Usman – current UFC Welterweight Champion

Television

• Mara Brock Akil – screenwriter, producer
• Usman Ally – actor
• Ahmed Shihab-Eldin – reporter for national news channels
• Zehra Fazal - actress and comedienne
• Rizwan Manji – actor
• Ayman Mohyeldin – reporter for national news channels
• Isaiah Mustafa – actor
• Mehmet Oz – medical doctor, talk show host
• Kamran Pasha – screenwriter, producer
• Tahera Rahman – Newscaster for WHBF-TV and KLJB. Widely covered by the media for being the first American hijabi Muslim newscaster.
• Iqbal Theba – actor
• Ali Velshi – Reporter and anchor for national U.S. news channels, from Canada
• Ramy Youssef - Actor and comedian

Writing

• Wael Abdelgawad – author
• Saladin Ahmed – author
• Reza Aslan – author, religious scholar
• Mona Eltahawy – columnist
• Yahiya Emerick – author
• Hafsah Faizal – Author of youth literature, of Sri Lankan and Arab descent.
• Khaled Hosseini – Novelist, physician
• Suad Abdul Khabeer - author
• Laila Lalami – author and essayist
• Melody Moezzi – author and activist
• Ayman Mohyeldin – Al-Jazeera English journalist
• Etaf Rum - Novelist
• Lulu Schwartz – journalist
• Ambreen Tariq – American author, activist and founder of @BrownPeopleCamping
• G. Willow Wilson - comics writer and author
• Michael Wolfe – journalist
• Fareed Zakaria – author, commentator, and host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS

See also

• Glossary of Islamic terms in Arabic
• List of converts to Islam
• List of Islamic and Muslim related topics
• Lists of Muslims
• Lists of people by belief
• Taqwacore

References

Bibliography