Yusuf Estes



Yusuf Estes (born in 1944) is an American Muslim preacher and teacher who converted from Christianity to Islam in 1991. He was a Muslim Chaplain for the United States Bureau of Prisons through the 1990s.[1]  He was a Muslim delegate to the United Nations World Peace Conference for Religious Leaders held at the U.N. in September 2000.[1]

Active in Islamic missionary work in the United States, Estes is often featured as guest presenter and keynote speaker at various Islamic events as well as frequently appearing on various Islamic satellite TV channels. Estes was named as the #1 Islamic Personality of the Year at the Dubai International Holy Quran Award ceremony on 8 August 2012.[2]

Estes takes a dim view of today's public school system in the United States for any children, and highly recommends schools where they might receive a religious education combined with more advanced scholastic education.[3] {| class="toc" id="toc" style="font-size:12px;border-color:rgb(170,170,170);"

Contents
[hide]  *1 Personal life
 * 2 Islamic activities
 * 3 See also
 * 4 References
 * 5 Further reading
 * 6 External links
 * }

[edit] Personal life
Yusuf Estes was born in Ohio, and was raised in Houston, Texas, in an Anglo-Saxon Protestant family.[4]  From 1962 to 1990, his career was in the music, entertainment and marketing fields. He also taught music and served as a music minister. He owned several musical instrument companies including the Estes Piano and Organ Company. He produced and directed live entertainment programs in the United States from the mid-1960s until his last endeavor for cable TV in Florida, entitled 'Estes Music Jamboree'.[5]

Yusuf Estes became a Muslim in 1991 after meeting an Egyptian named Mohamed.[1]  Following his conversion, Estes entered the field of Dawah, or proselytizing for the Islamic faith. Estes denies the theory of Darwinian evolution and instead professes creationism as described by Islamic scriptures.[6]

[edit] Islamic activities
After embracing Islam, Estes pursued Arabic language and Quranic studies in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey.[7]  From 2004, Estes regularly appeared on the Islam Channel, as well as Peace TV and on Huda TV which are 24/7 Islamic channels broadcasting in many countries around the globe, via satellite and via the website watchislam.com.[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Estes has started a free-to-air Internet and satellite TV channel called GuideUS TV<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1em;">[9]  which currently broadcasts commercial-free programming on Islam 24/7. He has also set up various websites directed toward English speaking Muslims which include TubeIslam<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1em;">[10]  (a Muslim video sharing site), ChatIslam,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1em;">[11]  (a Muslim chat room), and WorldPreschool (a defunct preschool learning site for young children).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;">[12]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Estes produced a video presentation series called Arabic in English, designed to help English speakers learn the Arabic language easily using his proprietary teaching method.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1em;">[13]  He sells the series online, and also provides a set of free chatroom-based courses with volunteer teachers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;">[14]  He also produced a television series entitled Qisas Al Anbiyah (Stories of the Prophets), aimed toward English-speaking children of Muslim parents.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;">[15]

[edit] See also

 * Islamic Missionary Activity
 * List of American Muslims

[edit] References

 * 1) ^ <sup style="line-height:1em;">a <sup style="line-height:1em;">b <sup style="line-height:1em;">c  "Priests and Preachers Enter Islam". Islam Tomorrow. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
 * 2) ^  Shafaat Shahbandari, Staff Reporter. "Yusuf Estes Lights Up the Award Ceremony". Gulf News, 9 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
 * 3) ^  "The Importance of Education – Yusuf Estes – TubeIslam – ShareIslam Video Site". TubeIslam.
 * 4) ^  "Yusuf Estes Telling self-converting to Islam story".WatchIslam.
 * 5) ^  "Estes Music Jamboree". YusufEstes.com.
 * 6) ^  Estes, Yusuf. "Are Man From Monkeys?". YouTube.
 * 7) ^  "Yusuf Estes". IslamTomorrow. Retrieved September 21, 2008.
 * 8) ^ watchislam.com
 * 9) ^ guideus.tv
 * 10) ^ tubeislam.com
 * 11) ^ chatislam.com
 * 12) ^  "Share Islam – Sharing The Message Of Islam". Retrieved February 21, 2012.
 * 13) ^  "Arabic in English: Order". Retrieved February 21, 2012.
 * 14) ^  "Arabic in English: Arabic Study Circle – Resources". Retrieved February 21, 2012.
 * 15) ^  "Yusuf Estes on Peace TV Prophets Stories". Islam New Room. November 27, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2012.

[edit] Further reading

 * Blade, David Yonke Toledo. (July 14, 2001) Journal Gazette Proselytizing preacher finds faith in Islam: Sheik Yusuf Estes. Page 1.
 * Tilove, Jonathan. (October 23, 2001) The Star-Ledger To be a white U.S. Muslim: Converts embrace the oddity. Section: News; Page 10.
 * Pinsky, Mark I. (January 6, 2003) Orlando Sentinel Muslims' radio message: we are regular people. Section: Life & Times; Page C1.
 * The Hamilton Spectator (February 14, 2003) A Christian attends a mosque; A visitor finds a warm welcome and wonders if he'd be as liberal.
 * Columbia State (SC). (April 7, 2003) Chaplain to speak at USC about Islam. Section: Metro/Region; Page B5.
 * UWIRE (March 1, 2004) U. New Mexico speaker asks religions to unite.
 * UWIRE (April 18, 2005) Muslim speaker educates U. Northern Colorado students about faith.
 * US State News. (April 12, 2006) National Muslim chaplain Yusuf Estes to speak at senior center on April 14.
 * The Modesto Bee (April 22, 2006) Converted preacher to speak about 'pure Islam.' Section: Lifestyles; Page G1.
 * Nomani, Asra Q. (October 22, 2006) Washington Post Wife-Beating, Chapter and Verse.
 * Wen, Sarah. (January 23, 2007 ) University Wire UCLA Muslim student group to promote Islam, religious unity.

[edit] External links
Categories (+<sup style="line-height:1em;">+ ):
 * Personal website of Yusuf Estes
 * IslamAlways
 * IslamTomorrow
 * ShareIslam
 * Yusuf Estes audio and video lectures from Halal Tube
 * 1944 births (−) (±)
 * Converts to Islam from Protestantism (−) (±)
 * American Muslims (−) (±)
 * Living people (−) (±)
 * American chaplains (−) (±)
 * Muslim chaplains (−) (±)
 * American imams (−) (±)
 * Islamic creationists (−) (±)
 * 21st-century imams (−) (±)
 * American former Christians (−) (±)
 * Muslim apologists (−) (±)
 * Converts to Islam (−) (±)