Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Interview (page: 5 / 8) Basketball Scoring Champion	Print Interview

Everyone in public life, athletes included, is subject to criticism. How do you handle criticism?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: I handle criticism by understanding that you can't please everybody and you should live according to your own standards, especially if they are reasonable. As long as you know that you have done the best that you can in whatever circumstances that you are in and you are honest, you should be able to handle any criticism that arises, because you understand within yourself that you're not perfect. You can't please everybody, and if you understand that, you can move on.
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How hard is it to understand that?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: I think after a considerable amount of time in the public eye, you understand that this is just the way that things are, that people are going to criticize you and you can't please everybody. As long as you do the best you can in an honest effort, you should be all right.

You were raised Catholic, you went to Catholic schools, and you made a decision in the early '70s to become a Muslim. How did that come about?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: My interest in Islam started when I was a freshman at UCLA and I got the opportunity to read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and it really made me understand that there was a lot more to monotheism than what I knew being raised as a Roman Catholic. I found in Islam that I certainly had a limited view of what monotheism was about, and it made me curious enough to read the Koran and see that it probably was something that I needed to investigate more completely. I was won over by the arguments. The fact that the Roman Catholic Church was greatly invested in the slave trade did not help me want to remain Catholic, and because of that, I changed my affiliation.
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I embraced Islam basically after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which gave me a different perspective on monotheism and the history of religions.

What has it meant to you to be a Muslim?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: I think Islam has given me a moral foundation. It gave me a way of trying to balance your own personal ambitions, what you want and need in the world, with some type of morality and a way of viewing what life is about. It certainly doesn't help, at this point now, that there are so many problems with the Islamic world. But I think those have to do with politics, and the Islamic world's reaction to colonialism and being exploited, a lot more than really is based on religious belief. Because all of the religions that come from Abraham basically have the same message. Not very much difference if you can study it objectively, but that is hard to do in this day and age when there is so much politics and nationalism and resentment for things that have gone on centuries ago. It's kind of hard to overcome.
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Has it been tougher in America in the last five years to be a follower of Islam?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: It has been very tough to be a Muslim in America ever since 9/11. Just the fact that Muslims were responsible for such an atrocity, how do you explain that? People aren't really willing to listen without saying that all Muslims feel that way, or there is something inherent in Islam that encourages people to go out and indiscriminately murder. It is not the case, but that is what has happened.

We'd like to talk about your life off the basketball court. You've written several books now. How do you choose the topics for your books?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: When I am writing a book, I just choose a topic that I think is interesting and relevant, and something that people would want to know about, and I try and make a coherent presentation of what I see.

Surely it also has to be something that you feel is important. What is important to you, off the basketball court?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Well, off the basketball court, I think that making the world a better place, making my environment a better place, my community, my country. I think that is something that all people should aspire to. If you improve yourself, if you improve your environment, you are contributing to the good of all people, and I think that is a worthy thing for people to aspire to.

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