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Wayne Parnell. -File photo
South Africa’s young paceman Wayne Parnell has revealed that he will continue to wear logos of sponsors South African Breweries even after converting to Islam, which he made public recently. He also asked the press to respect his private life during the holy month of Ramazan.
“Wayne will continue to respect the team’s endorsement of alcoholic beverages. He hasn't really thought about it and made a firm decision, so for now, yes, he will wear the logos,” Parnell's agent, Donne Commins, told the press on Thursday.
According to Commins, Parnell’s conversion came after a period of personal study and reflection in January this year and the decision to make it public seemed apt considering Muslims around the world are currently observing the holy month of Ramazan.
“As I am approaching my first period of fasting, I ask that this special time is treated with respect. I am a young man, a professional cricketer by trade, and while I can appreciate and am grateful for the public interest in my personal life, my faith choice is a matter which I would like to keep private,” said the promising left-armer who was also considering changing his name.
“While I have not yet decided on an Islamic name, I have considered the name Waleed which means Newborn Son, but for now, my name remains Wayne Dillon Parnell,” the 21-year-old said in a statement released by Cricket South Africa on Thursday.
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Comments (28) Closed
Aug 08, 2011 11:24am
Faith is the connection of soul to one's creator and it has nothing to do with appearance. We see all kind of hypocrites having Muslim names and appearances. May Wayne Dillon Parnell be a real ambassador of Islam, unlike most of us.
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Aug 08, 2011 12:01pm
I wish Wayne enjoys good experience as a Muslim...
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Aug 08, 2011 02:19pm
God bless you Wayne. Not long ago muslim population around the world was 1.2 billion and now I read the latest stats 1.6 billion. More and more people I see converting to Islam.
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Aug 08, 2011 02:26pm
i fully agree with you, connection of soul to ALMIGHTY, and yes full of hypocrites. we only want to argue and fight in the name of islam but when it comes to set an personal example of good and pious muslim we fail miserably. we are just born muslims and then waste our life in arguing and confronting people of other opinions/sects/faiths without actually practicing it.
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Aug 08, 2011 02:47pm
Tremendous growth of muslim population is not a reflection of people converting to Islam but higher fertility rate in most of the Islamic countries.
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Aug 08, 2011 03:48pm
You may be right but people convert to islam more than any religion in the world. People from all parts of the world have converted to islam and the conversion rate has more than doubled in recent years.
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Aug 08, 2011 04:43pm
I congratulate Parnell for embracing Islam. I am a scientist and guys believe or not Islam is the ultimate reality. If you want to study Islam don't look at Muslim societies of this era but the era when muslims were dominating in knowledge, philosophy, science, music and politics. Unfortunately, mullahism did not spread right message of Quran and Muhammad (PBUH)'s life.
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Aug 08, 2011 05:13pm
I don't care what religion or faith people embrace as long as they have compassion for other living beings (not just humans). If a faith believes in live and let live policy I would be more than embrase that faith. In that quest, would that be Islam?
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Aug 08, 2011 06:20pm
I was excited reading that Wayne Parnell converted to Islam. May Allah shower His Blessings on the young man and he becomes a great cricketer but more important a noble person loved and respected by all. Allah’s message of, belief and good deeds, is repeated in the Quran. My message to those who commented negatively and sarcastically, please read the Quran, the translation is available in most languages of the world. If it does not affect on you, I will be genuinely surprised. Indonesia and Malaysia are examples where Islam spread by the Muslim traders of noble character. I am looking forward to reading what influenced my brother Wayne Parnell to accept the message of Islam and become a Muslim (surrender to the Will of Allah).
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Aug 08, 2011 07:53pm
just study islam u will get ur aswer
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Aug 08, 2011 08:36pm
Welcome to the beautiful way of life brother Wayne. Don't worry about the name, just worry about the questions on the Final Day which will keep the believer humble and careful of his acts. Be a good human, just and true and Allah will make it easy for you.
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Aug 08, 2011 09:11pm
Conversion is fine, so far as you continue to practice humanity. But this tradition of changing names is insane!
Religion has nothing to do with your names, for God's sake! No name is anti-islamic nor pro-islamic. Person with a name Dawood Ibrahim can be as bad as a person can get, while a person with name Gandhi can be amongst the best you can get in this world!
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Aug 08, 2011 10:35pm
@ Rao: Believe me or not Mr. Rao, but thats what Islam is. I invite you to read a good translation of the Holy Quran and read about the life history of early Muslims. Please don't prejudice yourself by looking at the muslims of your time. Had we followed the teachings of the Prophet (P.B.U.H) and Quran, there won't be people asking such questions.
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Aug 08, 2011 11:16pm
LOL yeah sure :)
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Aug 09, 2011 12:01am
I sincerely invite you to please study Islam with an open mind, then you will find that it is the religion which in its core promotes tolerance and harmony and advocates live and let live. Please don’t be carried away by the stereo typing propaganda and what a certain group trying to impose on the majority of Muslims. Study the religion yourself and decide. May Allah (SWT) guide you to the right path.
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Aug 09, 2011 12:02am
Mr. Rao, Why did Mr. Parnell become a 1.7 billion member group that is discriminated at airports, security checkpoints, schools, jobs, territorial disputes, international organizations, visas, privileges?
I am going to speculate he was inspired.
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Aug 09, 2011 01:56am
May Allah bless you,you Reverted to the to your religion.May Allah bless all of them who worked on you..Aameen
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Aug 09, 2011 02:29am
this claim is fudged as most people that convert to Islam do so in non Islamic countries where it is legal for people to choose thier religion. If you allowed people to convert to any religion of choice in Islamic countries without reprucisions legal or otherwise then the Data will be not be Skwed.
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Aug 09, 2011 02:45am
Read about Islam and you will also get converted. Islam is the religion of peace and true path
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Aug 09, 2011 03:33am
Welcome to islam brohter wayne pernall. Just remember always stay positive read quran and gain knowledge instead of this stupidty jehad. Look at the character of our last prophet mohammad(s.a.w.)and see who he fogive all his enemy. Each religion there are fundamentalist people so keep away from them. When world is going towards power you read quran and pray namaz. Keep up the faith of islam,you will be alright.
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Aug 09, 2011 05:23am
Hope he get good exp. at airports checkpoints, and when visiting non-muslim countries.
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Aug 09, 2011 05:24am
Yes dear rao, that is definitely Islam, Quran and prophet Muhammad (PBUH) give message of love with human being equally whatever faith they have. Quran gives status to a scholar at the top of society. Out of 6666 verses of Quran, almost 1000 are on creation and research, 700 about prayers and a very few for war/battle (just in case of retaliation if you are attacked by someone). I'm not a maulvi, I'm just a scientist and looks everything in light of logic and Islam provides the best logic of everything and religion of all times.
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Aug 09, 2011 06:54am
Why would anyone convert to Islam is an enigma?
Islam is on a downward spiral. Long gone are the glory days. Today Islamic countries are in a mess. All the world's Super Powers are leery of Islam. They all wish it would go away.
So what do people like Wayne Parnell see that many of us do not. A few interesting examples of new converts to Islam would be Professor of Mathematics in San Francisco Jeffery Lang, or Professor of History, Jonathan Brown of George Washington University (watch them both on Youtube).
One definite conclusion is that only Islam and Christianity are Universal Religions.
And of these two Islam perhaps is the more pristine version of the monotheistic faith.
They are looking at the product not the salesman.
In other words you don't judge the car by its driver.
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Aug 09, 2011 08:11am
James, I completely agree with you. Can all these Muslims who happily welcome a new members to their faith, open up their country to other religions/way of worship/prayer? In that case we will have level playing field and the statistics will make sense. As somebody said Muslims talk about human rights, equality and freedom of religion/worship where they are minority. Where they are majority they talk about Quran, sharia & exclusivity and treat non-Muslims as second hand citizen.
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Aug 09, 2011 09:36am
Welcome to Mr.Parnell to be a Muslim and also welcome to the rest of the world that are non-muslims.InshaALLAH you will feel the peace when you will offer prayer and recite Holy Quran
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Aug 11, 2011 08:08am
People should respect Wayne Parnell's privacy. Religion is something private and clearly he doesn't want to flaunt it. Let him be.
And at Tariq K Sami: Islam is not on a downward spiral. Muslims are, perhaps. But not the religion itself. It is the people that are bringing shame on their faith.
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Aug 13, 2011 05:22pm
May ALLAH bless you
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Aug 04, 2012 01:03pm
MAY ALLAH BLESS U WITH HIS BLESSINGS. . .
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