No, Liam Neeson Is Not Converting To Islam

Since  2012, there have been  rumors that Liam Neeson was considering converting to Islam. Those rumors resurfaced in December 2014, but Liam wanted to set the record straight while he was attending the Middle Eastern premiere of  his latest flick "Taken 3" in Dubai.

He told Al Arabiya News:

“No, I'm not converting [to Islam]. But I did kind of follow up to that [call to] prayer at the time,” he said. “It’s funny; the first three or four days there it was an annoyance because it was waking me up. But later I looked forward to it every day.”

Those rumors first surfaced  back in 2012 while he was shooting "Taken 2" in Istanbul Turkey.

While the news story first appeared in The Sun newspaper in 2012, it recently resurfaced in the Daily Mail, with Neeson – who was reared a Roman Catholic in Northern Ireland – reportedly admitted that the Islamic call to prayer “got into his spirit” while filming Taken 2 in Istanbul, Turkey.

“The call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it’s the most beautiful, beautiful thing,” he was quoted as saying at the time. “There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim.”

So, there you go, Liam is not following Cat Steven's footsteps.

Oliver Stone's Son Sean Converts To Shia Islam While In Iran

Sean/Ali Stone fondling his pendant of Zulfiqar
(the sword of Imam Ali)

Oliver Stone's 27-year-old son Sean, who also happens to be a filmmaker, has been in Iran since early February attending the 30th Fajr International  Film Festival. Back in September of last year he apparently travelled to Tehran to inquire about filming a documentary there. I guess he was so inspired by the Shia Muslim way of life he walked into the office of Ayatollah Mohammad Nasseri Dowlatabadi  and converted to Islam.

All it takes to convert is to recite the Shahada:

“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger.” To convert to Islam, one simply has to recite this while believing it in one’s heart.

No-one knows why he chose to become a Shia Muslim, but maybe he just wanted his family to represent the three major world religions since papa Oliver is Jewish and his mum is Christian.

He claims it's no big deal:

"The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with. It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets," he said in a brief telephone call from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where he underwent the ceremony.

Huh?

I wonder if his parents are proud of their son who now wants to be known as Ali.

Source: Teheran Times, France 24

Egyptian Actor Fined For Insulting Islam

Egypt has its own version of frivolous lawsuits but over there you can get jail time. In a suit that would immediately have been thrown out of court in the West, the Arab world's most famous comic film star, 71-year-old Adel Imam, has been fined 1,000 Egyptian pounds (approximately $170.00). In addition to the fine, he has also been sentenced to 3 months in jail (in absentia) for insulting Islam. 

The case was brought by Asran Mansour, a lawyer with ties to Islamist groups, and had languished in court for months, judicial sources said.

Mansour accused the actor of offending Islam and its symbols, including beards and the Jilbab, a loose-fitting garment worn by some Muslims, the Egyptian news portal Ahramonline reported.

Among films and plays targeted by the lawyer were the movie “Morgan Ahmed Morgan” and the play “Al-Zaeem” (“The Leader”), the report said.

Another of his criticized works was a production back in 1994 called "The Terrorist" (al-Irhabi), but according to Imam

“All the works in which I have starred went through the censors. Had they been found to be defamatory, the censors would have banned them.”

Apparently this isn't the first time that someone in the entertainment industry has been sued for allegedly disrespecting Islam, it happens all the time to artist/intellectual types. But this case is different because Imam is a celebrity, the case sat around for a long while and was only resurrected since Islamists have come to power. 

Our prisons would be full if this happened in the U.S. There are so many films and plays that people find offensive, but thank God we live in a democracy where you might be black-balled for a while, or criticized but never fined or jailed.

Liam Neeson Thinking Of Converting To Islam?

Update: 1/15/15 Apparently, Liam Neeson is not converting to Islam.

Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson is thinking of converting to Islam?

According to the Australian 'Herald Sun' he is. The 59-year-old Catholic was so inspired by the Islamic call to prayer and the beautiful mosques, while recently filming in Istanbul, that he's toying with the idea of converting to Islam.

"The call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing.

“There are 4000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."

Either he had one pint too many or he's still grieving the death of his beloved Natasha Richardson, but really, Liam?

It seems he has been challenged of late:

"I was reared a Catholic, but I think every day we ask ourselves, not consciously, what are we doing on this planet? What's it all about? I'm constantly reading books on God or the absence of God and atheism," he said.

And is obviously spiritually seeking, but I hope he finds his way to some other spiritual practice.