The comedian Dave Chappelle a DC native has been seen recently in and around the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Virginia with increasing regularity which has created a buzz in some Muslim circles.
We live in a culture that values celebrity so for some Muslims this idea that a famous person with what I suppose is mainstream attraction although I’m not really sure what group forms the core fan base of support for Chappelle is an exciting development.
From Wikipedia: In 1998, Chappelle converted to Islam. He told Time Magazine in a May 2005 interview, “I don’t normally talk about my religion publicly because I don’t want people to associate me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I believe it is beautiful if you learn it the right way.”[11]
I remember a statement from one of our teachers, Br. Muhammad Alshareef in which he mentioned that when a person converts to Islam, Islam is not in need of that person, Islam does not gain or increase in honor from that single person entering into the religion, all izza (honor, glory, nobility) is for that person that has now been blessed with the religion of Islam.
Although, if a person with the stature and appeal of an Oprah Winfrey or a Nelson Mandela or even the president of the United States were to become Muslim, the status of Islam would be higher in the eyes of the common people and many people would potentially follow them.
AlMaghrib Forums: Dave Chappelle at Dar al Hijrah Today
Tariq Nelson: Dave Chappelle Stops By
MujahideenRyder: Dave Chappelle to Join “Allah Made Me Funny” Tour
Ify Okoye 
Masya-Allah, I must be the only one lagging. I didn’t know he revert into Islam! Quite the comedian though.. 😀
Salaam Sister. It has been a while 🙂
i say alhamdullilah to whatever made him stop doing the chapelle show.
True on your last paragraph
Quraysh didn’t start getting too angry but Only when Big Names in the Arabs and individuals with honored Status Among Arabs started embracing Islam.
but Dave Chappelle, really needs to quit the whole celebrity scene, least for a while.
“…whatever made him stop doing the chapelle show.”
Personally I would rather Dave Chappelle continue with the Chappelle Show instead of joining the “Allah Made Me Funny” tour. At least on the Chappelle Show he wouldn’t be making jokes at the expense of the Sunnah as the comedians (who aren’t that funny to begin with) on “Allah made me funny” do.
I’m glad he’s beginning to practice Islam. Masha’Allah he’s very funny and would be even funnier if his comedy was clean.
i think it’s great that Allah has guided him, and he is an example to others.that people can become better and turn to God. Allah is forgiving and merciful. I just wish he would be more public about embracing Islam. But he is probably being threatened not to.
Asalamu Alykum,
I am shocked to know that Chappelle is a Muslim, all i have to say is Mashallah, May Allah guide us all, and i hope David Chappelle the best. May Allah bless you and make everything easy for u..
salam
Asalaamu alaykum.
Yep, must be so much pressure on him to keep his Deen quiet. But pressure must come not only from some who may harbour hostility towards Islam and Muslims, but from the fact that some Muslims are so quick to judge others and slate them. Of course, the Deen is naseehah (advice), but insha’Allah I hope Muslims will in a good way encourage Dave Chappelle to practise Islam better. Eemaan is a personal thing… And it’s also hard because ‘celebrities’ who come to Islam can get pressured to be an ambassador whether they feel up for it or not. Insha’Allah, I hope Allah makes it easy for him. With time insha’Allah it will get easier.
Ma salaam
replying to abu ameerah allah made me funny is a perfectly normal nasheed and i’m glad he quit the chapelle show it has made him see the beauty of life and making him embracing deen other than ranting on dirty jokes
InshAllah….. I hope not to see him making a show or jokes on how racist Muslims can be against and w/ in our own Ummah. As a convert, I have seen, and heard things that I never did at church… segregated masjids ( paki/ arabs/ etc) I implore ALL muslims to show ALL muslim, Dave Chappelle and all the kindness that the ummah deserves… not all this judging I already see…. everyone is soooo happy that he is not doing his show already…. come on, how old is he, Islamically… did you all pray out of the womb, or fast, but yet you all accept converts too. WELL CHAPPELLE… IN DUE TIME… WHEN ALLAH WILLS IT, MY DU’AS ARE WITH YOU!!!!!
But sister wouldn’t that put people off from becoming Muslim? would you want them not to become Muslim?
Also jokes can sometimes take a person out of Islam
As we read in the Quran about the Muslims who jokingly said that the Qari’s were the ones who ate too much food and were cowards in battle. They just joked, thought have a laugh. Harmless fun. yet they were told that after they had believed they had disbelieved. By mocking the Qari’s they mocked Islam itself without them realizing this.
This was very mild compared to so called Muslim comedians i have heard today with beards.
WOWWWWWWWW
HE IS A MUSLIM !!!!
MASHALLAH !!!!!!
🙂
🙂
🙂
Assalamualaikum,
I too was surprised to find out that Dave actually had converted to Islam. Alhamdulillah…
Such a talented comedian. He speaks what Allah wants him to speak. He does what Allah permits him to do. Here, I would like to wish Dave all the very best. Amin.
With The Name of Allah, The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer.
As Salaam Alaikum, Ramadhan Mubarak.
May Allah guide Dave to continue to entertain, enlighten, and educate with humor. We can educate by making humor of the misrepresentation and lies presented regarding our Muslim life. People who won’t or haven’t been to a place of Muslim Worship called Masjid or Mosque, will go to the table of humor. At the table of humor a skilled artist such as our Brother Dave Chappelle has no equal. The real challege of this artist is best left to him, he knows what he’s doing, note: he embraced Al-Islam. I have confidence that his innate humor, and his new found faith will find harmony in his life. As Muslims we need to support developing our Cultural Life, no one lives in a Masjid, we live in life. Each one of us has a life, we are its vendors, not the vendor of each others soul. Maybe more air will come from your mouth through laughter, and less out the other end, because of humor constipation. I tell you, I have seen him make you laugh, and later with clear conscious see the real social message in his humor. I would not promote nor expose my children to his previous programs. But an enlightened Dave Chappelle moral and social conscious in place will be successful. We should support each others effort to do good and remember that a good Muslim minds his own business. Dave is one of us, he doesn’t belong to us, he belongs to Allah, as does all of us. Allah guided him to Himself, He will guide him in his life and his career. I pray for him, he is a good man and needs to have his right to grow by Allah’s Will and Patience. We are not to tell him what to do or judge him, be careful, we are all human and under Allah’s Mercy. Dave is a professional and his new found ethics will help him, not hurt him, believe me he has plenty of healthy material to offer, and was never limited by the popular filth of comedy.
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,waRahmatullahi,waBarakaatuhu,
I saw Jay Leno ask Dave Chappelle if he was a Muslim and Dave asked him if he asked his other guest about their faith. Over the many years after I reverted to Islam, I have met many musicians and stars that Allah guided to Islam, not to mention the sports stars. The above statement,”… Islam is not in need of that person, Islam does not gain or increase in honor from that single person entering into the religion, all izza (honor, glory, nobility) is for that person that has now been blessed with the religion of Islam.”, but I’ve seen many Muslims flock to the Masjid when it was known that a famous person, like Muhammad Ali for example, was praying there. So rather than back bite our Muslim brothers or sisters that come from these backgrounds, let’s earnestly pray for them as well as each other that Allah increases us in beneficial knowledge, lawful provisions,and good deeds-ameen!
we’re all human. and ya comedy is fun and can be crude. he could have still done his show and been a muslim. i think people are taking his comedy and throwing it under the bus. we should be able to laugh at ourselves and say ‘ hey i am still a religious person’…whether or not you are religious. another thing, your moral compass is guided by non-other than yourself. so maybe people should stop blaming god for their lack of it. come on, i know most of you watch tv. if you didn’t you wouldn’t know about dave. most of the stuff on there is crude. does that mean we are going to be punished for it? i think not. as long as you know what is right from wrong i think you will be able to face god, or whoever you look to in the afterlife.
Muslims don’t just talk about Islam or being a Muslim, they live it insha’Allah best they can. Dave’s smart enough to be humorous without having to use profanities and talk about crude things. The horizon’s broader than that! God has blessed us with a mouth. Let’s make that little effort and not curse every five minutes. It can be done insha’Allah. I wouldn’t say that’s being too hard on yourself insha’Allah.
Rizq: I certainly have not backbitten anyone in this post, furthermore just because people may flock to famous Muslim personalities does not mean that this raises the status of Islam.
Islam is independent of any one individual, yes, people may be attracted to Islam or prominent Muslim personalities yet, would Islam be diminished if any one of us turned our back on Islam, I think not, it would be that particular individual that had been diminished.
It would have been different if Dave asked all of the Muslims to watch his show, but he didn’t. If you chose to watch Comedy Central, that’s on you. Your bad.
Muslim Apple is correct in saying that Islam stands on it’s own, but that message wasn’t for Dave, it was for those Muslims who gravitate toward Islam because of celebrity. Dave clearly knows the tendency of people to associate the actions of a person with the way of life they claim to adhere to (see quote above). Thanks for the reminder Muslim Apple.
There are Muslims out there who like to judge people harshly, I’m not one of those. I appreciate Dave’s gift and I hope he continues to use it in ingenious ways which demonstrate that Muslims are not all about rigidity, rancor, harshness, and anger.
Asalamu alaykum Dynamite Soul,
That’s a pretty dynamite nickname, Thanks for commenting, and welcome to the blog 🙂
Peace,
I found it disgusting that people are criticizing Dave Chapelle, he converted to Islam, and its between him and God now. As long as hes not hurting anyone, no one should have any opinion on what he does.
In any case I thought the Chapelle show was great, it was excellent social commentary and I think the few times where he did do things that could be considered “inappropriate” were completely balanced out by message he was putting out.
My favourite sick Muslim comedian,
peace brothaaa 🙂
look @his facebook
better 10 moslems who are convinced and truly practice islam
then 1000000 hypocrites who joined islam because its a trend(if it was)
(ps there are enough hypocrites we dont need more)
(pps im not judging chapelle)
It is great to see the respect and admiration more and more people are having for islam. Dave Chappelle no talking being a muslim all that much shows that he cares and respects Islam very dearly. I’d rather have a celebrity care and not talk about it than not care and keep blabbering
Salaam sister, i love your blog!
I knew Dave chapelle was a muslim as I watched his show. I laughed along with the jokes and admired the depth and humor present in his social commentary and personal expression, because that is what the show was. One thing we Muslims need to learn is to let people be, whether they are Muslims or not. Everyone uses the skills and abilities that are given to them, so for us, who are not blessed with the same set of skills, vision or abilities, and ignorant of what Allah wants them to do with those blessings, to comment on how they ought to use theirs is misguided. there is a reason Dave brought his show to a halt, for reasons personal to him, which he had been grappling with for a while. he obviously did it when HE was ready to, perhaps with all of us in mind, perhaps not. He is not a criminal, nor is he a bad person ruining the deed with his actions, only someone like each one of us, working to be a better Muslim at the rate of his inspiration and spiritual growth, just under the scrutinizing glare of the limelight.
Additionally, if Islam is the greatest thing in our lives, wouldn’t it be normal for us to like someone, or like them more because they are muslim? knowing that a celebrity i like for a reason other than sheer celebrity is a muslim does create that additional bond by taking it to another realm. I have watched those youtube videos of celebrity muslims and routinely tell my kids when I find that a famous person they like is muslim, as a way to make them see their religion in a more glamorous light and thus counter the media portrayal of it as a fringe and foreign religion, violent, misogynistic and backward.