By Admin 
AR Rahman is in a lot of controversies these days because of one of his statements. In fact, he had said during an interview that he has not got work in Bollywood for the last 8 years. Explaining the reason behind this, he said that power is no longer in the hands of creative people. After this statement, AR Rahman is getting trolled a lot. Amidst all this, do you know that AR Rahman was born in a Hindu family, then why did he become a Muslim? There is a painful reason behind this.
AR Rahman was born in a Hindu family
Rahman is the only Indian in the country to win two Academy Awards in 2009 for his stellar work in films like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘127 Hours’. Very few people know that Rehman was a Hindu and after the death of his father, he converted to Islam as a teenager. Let us tell you that AR Rahman was born in Madras, Tamil Nadu and his real name was Dilip Kumar Rajagopala. He started his journey in the world of music by learning piano at the age of four. His father R.K. Shekhar was also a film score composer.
AR Rahman’s father passed away when he was just 9 years old. After this, Rahman’s family had to go through a period of financial crisis. The family’s expenses were met only by the rent of his father’s musical instruments. The responsibility of the entire family had fallen on Rahman, along with studies, he also did small jobs to earn income, due to work he was often unable to go to school and failed in examinations. Once the school called Rahman’s mother and asked her to take him to the street to beg?
Why did AR Rahman adopt Islam?
Poverty had troubled Rahman a lot and he had lost all his hopes. At the same time he met a famous Peer, Qadri Saheb and was deeply influenced by his values and teachings. Therefore, he converted to Islam along with his mother and sisters at the age of 23. In an old interview with Karan Thapar, while talking about his religious conversion, Rehman had described his conversion to Islam as completely personal and spiritual. He recalled how a Sufi spiritual healer treated his father who was battling cancer. “We met that Sufi healer after seven-eight years, and that’s when we took another spiritual path, which brought us peace,” Thay Rahman said.
Got Muslim name from Hindu astrologer
Rehman and his mother practiced Hinduism and the Habibullah Road house where he grew up had pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses on the walls. After converting to Islam, Rehman changed his name to ‘Abdul Rehman’ because he did not like his real name Dilip Kumar. Do you know, this new name was given to Rahman by a Hindu astrologer?
Nasreen Munni Kabir’s book ‘A.R. Rahman has shared the same thing in ‘Rahman: The Spirit of Music’ and said, “The truth is that I never liked my name. I have no intention of disrespecting the great actor Dilip Kumar! But somehow my name did not match my self-image. He suggested the names Abdul Rehman and Abdul Rahim and said that either of the two names would be good for me. I liked the name Rehman immediately. It was a Hindu astrologer who had given me my Muslim name.”