American basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal revealed that his name came because of his conversion to Islam, and his mother chose him following finding its meaning “little warrior.”
O’Neill came to Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of the Milwaukee-Atlanta match for the first time in the Middle East, which was held last weekend.
O’Neill told Al-Arabiya: I was named Shakeel for an Islamic reason. My mother is from a religious family. When she got pregnant with me, I browsed a book of Islamic names and found the name Shakeel, which means little warrior, and she chose it because she decided to be the little warrior, which she did all her life.
He added: I always wanted to win, my grandmother told me that my name would be known to the world, so I played basketball to become famous and make my family happy.
