Andrew Tate faked his conversion to Islam for business reasons, whistleblower says
Faith or Fraud: Why did Andrew Tate convert to Islam?
In October 2022, while under criminal investigation in Romania, Andrew Tate converted to Islam. It's a decision that his been welcomed by some Muslims, but others have been critical - noting Tate's reputation is at stake given social media bans and him facing serious criminal allegations. In this documentary, our reporter Freddie Feltham explores Tate's comments on religion and hears from those who know Tate personally about his conversion.
Andrew Tate faked his public conversion to Islam in order to reach new audiences and improve his business prospects, a source who worked for the influencer told The News Movement.
Tate, 36, is “not actually Muslim” and openly spoke about adopting the faith in the hope it would improve his business credentials in Dubai, according to a former member of Tate’s marketing team who calls himself EliXAnpa.
He also aims to increase his influence and earnings by accessing the estimated 2 billion Muslims in the world, Eli, who worked for Tate for two years, added.
“He's not actually Muslim, it’s just because he's in Dubai. Because he wants to be friends with all the sheikhs and stuff.
“All of a sudden he starts to do business with sheikhs; all of a sudden he’s Muslim. How did I find out? Sitting at a table in Dubai with him is when he told us.
“I asked him, Are you actually Muslim? He said, Well, kind of not really. I'm just kind of doing it because I'm in the United Arab Emirates, and it's good for public perception.”
Tate’s public announcement of his conversion came just before he was arrested in December 2022 with his brother Tristan and two women on suspicion of human trafficking in rape, for which he is now awaiting trial. All four deny the allegations.
In a new TNM documentary examining Tate’s conversion and its reception among Muslims, the influencer’s right-hand man, Joule Sullivan, said it was “disgusting” that anyone would question his newfound faith.
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“So Tate is a truth seeker. You know at one point he was atheist, at one point he was Orthodox [Christian] it was inevitable that he would find Islam,” Sullivan, who is a senior member of Tate’s $8,000-per-year War Room boys’ club.
But in the documentary, Faith or Fraud: Why did Andrew Tate convert to Islam? young Muslims questioned the sincerity of the announcement.
If he [Tate] becomes like this face of like Islam and masculinity, whether that will then reaffirm to Islamophobes their stereotype and their sort of misconception of Islam being this religion that endorses violence towards women.
Tate has spoken at length in the past about religion, saying that religious people were “either hypocrites or psychopaths" and even shortly after his conversion said: "In Dubai I'm happy to be Muslim in Romania I'm happy to be Christian".
British Muslim influencer Mohammad Hijab, who has provoked controversy in the past for his views on women, homosexuality and transgender people, spoke in support of Tate and said that he followed in the footsteps of other famous converts.
“You'll find a fringe minority of Muslim people had been, for example, concerned about the conversion of Malcolm X at his time, he said. “You'll be surprised to find that even this is the case of Muhammad Ali. No one remembers those voices.
“But we all remember the conversions and the subsequent legacies that these people have left. And I do think that Andrew Tate is following kind of the same kind of footsteps.”
The influencer and Muslim convert Sean Ramiz responded to that point, saying: “I don’t remember Muhammad Ali or Malcolm selling me a course, I don't remember them telling me that women shouldn't work and I certainly don't think the Taliban would have liked Muhammad Ali or Malcolm X back in the day.”