Wayne Parnell Turns to Islam from Christianity

Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 1:03 pm , filed under News by Mickey Danior

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Wayne Parnell; the South African cricketer has turned to Islam from Christianity, following his personal study and reflection of Islam.

The South African pacer, Wayne Parnell, who turns 22 on Friday, will celebrate his birthday as a Muslim, after he has converted to Islam from Christianity. His conversion to Islam was confirmed in a statement by himself.

As per the reports, he has converted to Islam this January and is also looking forward to change his name to Waleed, which means ‘New Born Baby’. He added that, he considered the name Waleed, as he did not decide any other Islamic name. However, his name will remain for now as Waleed Dillon Parnell.

The left-hand seamer said that, he is approaching his first period of fasting and asks his special time to be respected, as he also respects the team endorsements of alcoholic beverages. He added that, he is young, a professional cricketer and he also appreciated the public interest in him and he wants to keep his faith choice private.

Mohamed Moosajee, the South African team manager, who is also a Muslim, said that, Hashim Amla and Imran Tahir have not influence Parnell to convert to Islam from Christianity. He also added that, Parnell had already decided to follow Islam, a few months ago and it was his own decision. However, he also said that, he was not aware of his name change.

The fellow teammates of Parnell said that, Parnell was serious about his faith choice and he did not even touch a drop of alcohol, since IPL series. Parnell had developed his reputation of hard-living, after his debut for South Africa in the year 2009.

Wayne Parnell is now the second cricketer, who converted to Islam from Christianity, after Yousuf Youhana converted to Islam and changed his name to Mohammad Yousuf in the year 2006.

Tags: Wayne Parnell a Muslim, Wayne Parnell to Waleed, Wayne Parnell Turns to Islam