page_title: Edoardo Agnelli
section_title: Converting to Islam
hierarchical_section_title: Edoardo Agnelli / Biography / Converting to Islam
caption_attribution_description: English: Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei leading Jumu'ah prayer and Edoardo Agnelli is sitting in the first row. English: امامت آیت سید علی خامنه‌ای در نماز جمعه تهران. ادواردو آنیلی نیز در صف اول نماز نشسته است
context_page_description: Edoardo Agnelli was the eldest child and only son of Marella Agnelli and Gianni Agnelli, the industrialist patriarch of Fiat. He converted to Islam when he was living in New York City, and changed his name to "Mahdi". In mid-November 2000, he was found dead under mysterious circumstances under a bridge on the outskirts of Turin.
context_section_description: Edoardo Agnelli converted to Sunni Islam in an Islamic center in New York where he was named "Hisham Aziz". Then he met Ayatollah Khomenei in Iran and was reported to have converted to Shia Islam. According to Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri Abyaneh, Agnelli declared faith to Fakhroddein Hejazi and became a Shia Muslim and was named "Mahdi". He said, "One day while I was in New York, I was walking in a library and Quran caught my glimpse. I was curious about what was in it. I started reading it in English and I felt that those words were holy words and cannot be the words of men. I was really touched and borrowed the book and studied it further and I felt like I was understanding it and I believed it."
caption: Edoardo Agnelli (right) participates in a Jumu'ah of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a Teheran, 3 april 1981
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