MSA Hosts Speaker
Evans Discusses Conversion to Islam
Staff Writer Jessamyn Dupree

The Muslim Student Association hosted an event last Thursday, where religious scholar Yusha Haneef Evans spoke on his conversion to Islam, followed by a video presentation on former rapper Napoleon Outlaw’s conversion to Islam.

The evening started with a video of rapper Napoleon Outlaw detailing his life growing up, the murder of his parents when he was young, his move to Los Angeles and his meeting with Tupac that propelled him to stardom.

Napoleon Outlaw was featured on Tupac’s 1995 album Me Against the World on the song “Outlaw.” After Tupac’s death, the members of the Outlawz signed with Death Row Records in 1997 and released several albums, including a posthumous LP with Tupac titled Still I Rise in 1999. The video detailed Napoleon’s growing frustration with the music industry and his dissatisfaction with the ‘fast life’—he claimed that most rappers “act happy and look like they’re having fun,” however all of the material items only result in temporary happiness. The video concluded with Napoleon describing how leaving the music industry and converting to Islam positively transformed his life.

After the video presentation Evans, who runs the Why Islam? organization, spoke about his earlier years as a Christian growing up in a strict home with his grandparents. As he studied at Bob Jones University, he started to question his Christian beliefs.

At age 17, he became frustrated with religion and started to explore different faiths. Meanwhile, his life was in disarray after living on the streets, being kicked out of school and arrested during this time.

His life changed after he miraculously survived two dangerous situations. The first was when he escaped from a horrific car accident with only minor injuries. The first police officer on the scene was amazed when he saw Evans standing after such a serious accident. According to Evans, the officer told him, “These were the types of accidents that we call the coroner for. . . God is real, you’re here for a reason.”

Then, after the accident, Evans survived an attempted armed robbery in New York. A gun was pointed at Evans’ face, but the gun did not go off when the robber pulled the trigger and Evans was able to use his martial arts skills to subdue the robber and escape from the situation. These incidents inspired Evans to continue his search for a religion that he could understand and believe in. After being invited to a mosque, he soon began to study Islam. He currently has a series of videos which teach about Islam.

After Evans’ presentation, the evening concluded with a question and answer session between Evans and the audience. Evans elaborated on some of his ideas about religion brought up during his presentation and explained how Why Islam? explores the Islamic faith through education.

More information on the MSA and its upcoming events for next semester are available here.