On Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the 89th Academy Awards, Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim to win an Oscar for acting. Ali was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the film Moonlight, which also won for Best Picture. During a recent interview, Ali described how he converted to Islam after a visit to a mosque in 1999, saying, “I just had such a strong reaction to the prayer. I felt really grounded at that time, and so to be in this prayer and the imam is doing the prayer in Arabic, and I don’t understand a word of Arabic, but I just remember these tears just coming down my face, and it just really connecting to my spirit in a way that felt like I needed to pay attention to that.”
Read more (Religion News)
