Newly Converted to Islam at the Beginning of Ramadan, Harvard Professor Immediately Fasts

Jakarta, MINA – Renowned professor at Harvard University, USA, Henry Klassen embraced Islam at the start of Ramadan 1445/2024. Even though he had just converted to Islam, he immediately started fasting during Ramadan this year.

Apart from fasting, on the first day of Ramadan, Henry Klassen also performed Tarawih prayers. This is certainly the first experience for this academic.

In fact, according to the Azon Global website, it is reported that Henry Klassen will soon perform the Umrah pilgrimage, quoted by MINA in Jakarta on Monday.

Previously, news about Henry’s conversion to Islam went viral on social media. The video of him saying the two sentences of the shahada was uploaded to the X Globe Eye News account on March 15, 2024.

Based on MINA’s monitoring on Monday, this post has been viewed 1 million times and liked by 12 thousand X platform users.

The 1 minute 32 second video upload shows Henry Klassen and a cleric sitting side by side on a sofa while shaking hands.

The cleric wearing a typical Middle Eastern turban was seen guiding the professor to recite two sentences of the shahada. Even though he was a little stumped, Henry managed to follow the words of the cleric and the voice behind the video who was watching simultaneously saying the takbir repeatedly.

After becoming Muslim, Henry Klassen reportedly changed his name to Abdul Haq.

The figure of Henry Klassen is known as an intelligent scientist who recently discovered a stem cell drug that was approved by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration. The drug is intended for the treatment of genetic blindness.

Reporting from the UC Irvine (UCI) Stem Cell Research Center page, Henry Klassen’s research field focuses on ophthalmology or studies that study eye health and diseases. His field of research is specialized in retinal stem cells.

For this reason, Henry Klassen’s research usually focuses on degenerative retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

As for Henry Klassen’s educational background, he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with an MD and PhD (medical degree). Next, he continued his education as an internship doctor at The Cambridge Hospital and Harvard Medical School and continued his residency at the Yale Eye Center. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)