Kareem - Name Change

[fivas14]

Why did he change his name from Lew Alcinder to KAJ?

[Bucky O'Hare]

I'm guessing because he joined the Nation of Islam.

[raptorforlife88]

I think that would be because he converted to Islam

[CBS7]

I'm guessing because he joined the Nation of Islam.

I don't believe he joined the Nation, he just converted to Islam. I may be wrong, but I never heard before that he joined the Nation of Islam.

[sule]

I'm guessing because he joined the Nation of Islam.

He didn't join the Nation of Islam, he converted to Sunni Islam.

HUGE philosophical differences between both.

[Klomp]

Speaking about the thinking behind his change of name when he converted to Islam he said to Playboy magazine that he was "latching on to something that was part of my heritage, because many of the slaves who were brought here were Muslims. My family was brought to America by a French planter named Alcindor, who came here from Trinidad in the 18th Century. My people were Yoruba, and their culture survived slavery (...) My father found out about that when I was a kid, and it gave me all I needed to know that, hey, I was somebody, even if nobody else knew about it. When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. And that's a terrible burden on black people, because they don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted."[20]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kareem_Abdul-Jabbar

[jefe]

Because his college coach wanted him dead and put a price on his head - so he had to change identities. Luckily for us basketball fans, he assumed the identity of a Muslim professional basketball player - and Wooden was none the wiser, even to this day. True story.

[KB20]

There is no such thing as the Nation of Islam. Islam is a religion, you're either Muslim or your not.

[DelaneyRudd]

Back in those turbulent times Islam is to black athletes like what Scientology is to White actors. Cassius Clay and Bobby Moore did the same thing.

[Heat3]

There is no such thing as the Nation of Islam. Islam is a religion, you're either Muslim or your not.

There is an organization called the Nation of Islam but they shouldn't be considered representatives for the religion as a whole.

Anyway, he changed his name because he converted to the religion, not because he joined the organization. The same reason why Muhammad Ali changed his name.