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
 * 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
 * Nergis Mavalvala, Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and 2010 MacArthur Fellow; part of the team that made the first direct gravitational wave observation
 * 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 politics

 * 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
 * Arif Alikhan – former appointee to the Obama Administration where he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the United States Department of Homeland Security; former Deputy Mayor of Homeland Security and Public Safety for the City of Los Angeles; visiting Professor of Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the National Defense University's (NDU) College of International Security Affairs in Washington, DC
 * Nihad Awad – National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
 * André Carson – Congressman from Indiana
 * Shamila N. Chaudhary – US government policy adviser
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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
 * Umar Lee – Activist and Writer
 * Edina Lekovic – Communications Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council
 * 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 United States federal 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
 * Nusrat Jahan Choudhury - civil rights lawyer, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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
 * 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

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
 * Ahmad Rashad – former wide receiver for Minnesota Vikings, award-winning sportscaster (converted in 1972)
 * Ephraim Salaam – former offensive tackle for the Detroit Lions

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

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