Islam Teaches Tyson Modesty and takes

away from him Evil and Mercilessness.

Malek Abdulaziz : “My imprisonment

was not completely evil, there was good in it, too”

The American boxer, Tyson, had been planning since 1993 to follow in the footsteps of Muhammad Ali, by embracing Islam and changing his name so as to become a Muslim in terms of faith and name. Since that time, he has been studying Islam with a view to knowing its principles and teachings. He was planning to become, after his release from prison, a new person completely different from the Tyson people had known. He wanted to return to the ring and start again his boxing career with a new religion and a new name : Islam and Malek Abdulaziz respectively. However, he managed to change his religion but not his name, for the media kept calling him Mike Tyson. He was not embarrassed by his old name ; after all what was important for him was to embrace Islam and not to have a new name.

What helped Tyson to seriously think about embracing Islam was spending three years in prison, i.e. half the period he had been sentenced to, namely six years. He found in the seclusion of prison, an opportunity to revise the course of his life inside and outside the ring. After studying Islam, he resolved that this was the religion that would help him overcome all his problems in life. It was from this time onwards that he embarked on his faith journey which led him to embrace Islam.

Tyson chose a new name for himself after embracing Islam, namely Malek Abdulaziz, for Malek is the Islamic counterpart of the name Mike. While in Indiana prison for youth, Tyson took intensive lessons in Islam from a Muslim teacher named Muhammad Saddiq. The echo of Tyson’s conversion in the media was similar to that of Muhammad Ali’s conversion in the 1960’s. It is worth recalling here that Muhammad Ali embraced Islam and soon after changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali.

When the latter heard about Tyson’s conversion to Islam in 1993, he said :  “My character is 100% similar to his, which means that I stand by him and support him. Praise be to Allah Who has guided him to Islam. It is Almighty Allah Who deserves thanks for this.”

In fact, Tyson asked all the American media to call him by his new name : Malek Abdulaziz. He informed the prison guards in 1993 that he intended to embrace Islam in a month’s time, following the steps of Mohammad Ali. At the time Tyson was serving a prison sentence after being convicted of the crime of rape and sentenced to  six years imprisonment.

Tyson said that his imprisonment was not entirely evil, for there was good in it, too since it gave him the opportunity to gain peace of mind and spiritual salvation, by reading the Holy Qur’an and learning the Islamic principles. He started to take regular lessons and periodical spiritual counsel from a Muslim teacher by the name of Muhammad Saddiq for many months.

Tyson used to proudly reiterate that his goal in life was to break the nose of his opponents in boxing, but immediately after walking out of prison in  Indiana, he decided to go to the nearest mosque so as to perform prayers meant for praising and thanking Allah Who had guided him to Islam.

While the boxing world was in a state of waiting during Tyson’s imprisonment for three years, Don King, the promoter of boxing world championships was furious at Tyson’s imprisonment. Tyson, who embraced Islam while in jail, thanked Almighty Allah Who had guided him to the Right Path and freed him. However, as soon as Tyson returned to the ring and fought against his opponents, his mad and rush acts started to surface again. Everybody had expected that prison would remove these acts and make him more balanced and rational.

Butch Lewis, the promoter of Tyson’s fights, who used to regularly visit the boxer in jail during his tree years of imprisonment, said : “I tried to inform him about what was awaiting him outside prison, asking him to keep his feet firm on the earth, as he was not prepared enough to jump once again into the life’s train outside prison.”

Butch Lewis continued : “I knew that they were all on the march toward him. I wished he had been able to deal with them in spite of the fact that I knew that he was not prepared to face the number and type of boxers they wanted to throw at him. But who was the new challenger ? This was the question that preoccupied the camp of Tyson, though the latter himself had other things on his mind when he was released. One of his preoccupations was to reconsider his life style after he had become a Muslim.”

After his release from prison in 1995, Tyson reorganized his camp and appointed a new trainer, promoter and work team. He also wished to start a new life. Huge sums of money were awaiting him, ranging from one hundred to two hundred million Dollars for one fight, and six hundred million Dollars for television rights. All these contracts were waiting for his signature so that the wheel of boxing and fortune could start again after three year’s stop, during which he was in Indiana jail for youth. In spite of all these contracts nobody knew whether Tyson was still capable of boxing or not. The promoters and the managers of TV channels alike did not pay attention to answering this question before making transactions with Tyson, the returnee from prison.

Seath Abraham, the then president of the sports section in the Time Warner media firm said, “March 26, 1992, the day on which Tyson started serving his prison sentence after being convicted of raping a Miss Black America Contest candidate, was a black day in the history of American boxing which went into a state of hibernation because of Tyson absence from its rings. From that day onward the boxing championship came and went without having any apparent impact on people or on the media.”

Birt Sugar, the publisher of an American sports magazine devoted to boxing said : “During Tyson’s three-year absence, boxing championships became dull and lost sensation and suspense.”

Sugar continued, “It was possible for us to have tens of champions like Roy Jones and Bernard Whitaker, but we were looking for the come-back of Tyson to the ring. Tyson knew that he was the best of the great boxing champions and that he was as popular as John Sullivan, Jack Demsby, Joe Lewis and Muhammad Ali. These were a very small minority in the history of boxing, hence their fans follow all their movements inside and outside the ring. This is why everybody was anxiously waiting for Tyson, who was for them the uncontested boxing champion, only ; they deemed him a superman.”

Among those who used to visit Tyson in prison was Eddy Mustapha Muhammad, a boxing trainer, who also had embraced Islam. Eddy won a boxing championship in 1980 under the name of Eddy Gregory. He noticed that Tyson tended to be modest and submissive when in peace with himself.

Muhammad said : “Islam has given Tyson a goal and a way in life. I meet him every Saturday morning so as to perform prayer together ; after this each one of us goes his own way ; I do not go to him looking for a job, I go to him as a brother.”

Muhammad continued : “Don King, the promoter of boxing fights, objected to Tyson’s stopping, immediately after his release, at a mosque in the neighbourhood of the prison. King and Tyson’s trainer were old opponents. King wanted Tyson to go immediately to the airport because there was a private jet waiting to take him to Cleveland.”

Lewis said : “This was not new to King, who wanted to completely control the life of Tyson, but the latter would not allow him to do so. If Allah decreed that Tyson would pray in that mosque, He would make him pray in it, for nobody can resist God’s Will. Allah, The Sublime praise be to Him, has many names but that of Don King is not among them.” Tyson informed Lewis that he was very anxious about returning to the ring. Lewis said, “Tyson was very well prepared, at least at the physical level, he appeared as if he were still 21 years old, for he had kept fit by jogging and physical training, he weighed then 214 pounds. Though he was anxious, he yearned to return to the boxing ring.”

Tyson told Lewis : “I can’t believe that this entire row which was made about my come-back to the ring is for the sake of the cursed money. I don’t care about it. All my attention now is focused on taking part in a competitive boxing fight.”

 After embracing Islam, Tyson became kind, more modest and respectful. He started to find comfort in performing the five prayers and in obeying Allah’s commands and proscriptions in order to be a Muslim who is sincere in his faith and obedient to his God, wishing to win Allah’s satisfaction and forgiveness.