Meet Aditya Menon: The Quint Journo who declared he is a Muslim
Aditya Menon, The Quint Journalist, recently sparked a storm by declaring that he had converted to Islam when he was still a teenager, and is a practicing Muslim since the age of 20
[(L) Aditya Menon in conversation with Arfa Khanum Sherwani. (R) Umrah image shared on X by Aditya Menon.]
Aditya Menon, The Quint Journalist, recently sparked a storm by declaring that he had converted to Islam when he was still a teenager, and is a practicing Muslim since the age of 20.
Following Aditya Menon’s declaration about his conversion to Islam, not only the hard-core Hindutva lobby but also some Hindus who call themselves liberals became restless.
And, then we saw a swarm of hate filled social media posts and abuses against Menon whose “fault” – if it was indeed a fault, was to convert to Islam.
Trolls in Action
It all started with Aditya Menon taking to social media platform X to declare that he is a Muslim and visited Makkah al Mukarramah to perform Umrah.
“I have been dreaming about this moment since over 20 years ago, when I began this journey. I always feared it may never happen. But Alhamdulillah it finally came true!” Aditya Menon wrote in the social media post on November 25, 2025.
“I don't have enough words to express how grateful I am to Allah for easing my path at every juncture, for helping me up every time I slip, healing me when I got hurt and for showering kindness in different forms much beyond what I deserve. May Allah forgive my sins and accept my Umrah”, Menon wrote in the X post which was accompanied by a beautiful image of the Hly Kaaba and The Grand Mosque of Makkah al Mukarramah.
Menon’s X post sparked a huge outrage. He was not only abused but called “gaddar” - a traitor.
A traitor for converting to Islam??? Even Menon is not able to comprehend this “attribute”.
The haters were also angry over The Quint Journalist, especially for still remaining “Aditya Menon”, accusing him of deceiving and fooling the country by not changing his name after conversion.
Who is Aditya Menon?
Aditya Menon is a Journalist working for popular news portal The Quint. In his 15 years long journalism career, Aditya Menon has worked at India Today, Rajasthan Patrika and NDTV, and specialized in Indian politics, communal issues, elections, and minority community concerns.
Not much information is available about Menon’s parents as he keeps his personal life, including family background and place of birth, largely private.
But in a recent interview, he has called his parents “practicing Hindus” from a privileged background having a “progressive” mindset.
39-year-old Aditya Menon’s wife is a Muslim because of which some haters claimed he converted to Islam for the sake of marriage. Menon, however, said he converted to Islam long before his marriage.
Also, November 25, 2025 was not the first time when Aditya Menon had talked about his conversion to Islam.
“I was not born a Muslim. But I'll die as one. I don't want my name and privilege of birth to save me”, Menon wrote in a post on February 25, 2020.
Aditya Menon’s Journey to Islam
Unperturbed, Menon explained all the allegations leveled against him and abuses hurled on him.
“Hate I got for this doesn't affect me at all. But I'll address some untruths being spread…”, Menon wrote in a series of X posts on November 28, 2025.
In the thread that followed, Menon replied in details to the claims that "You can't do Umrah with this name", "Muslims will never accept you", "You converted for marriage", "You hate Hinduism" and the likes.
Then two days ago he dwelled into more details about his journey to Islam while talking to Arfa Khanum Sherwani.
Talking to The Wire Journalist, Menon said he took Shahadah and became a Muslim at the age of 15 (in 2006-07), but started practicing Islam – offering prayers and observing fasts, at the age of 20.
“This was when I was in college final year”, he said.
He said he began thinking about religion when he was 12 or 13. But his interest in Islam was developed when he came across a story of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) about children.
“I remember when I was 11, I asked my parents to purchase me a story of Prophet Muhammad for children…They agreed even though they are practicing Hindus”, Menon said.
“They got me the book and permitted me to read the story despite being practicing Hindus… This shows their progressive mindset”, he said.
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Menon said he used online sources to learn how to practice Islam, how to pray and fast.
“But I was not properly able to follow the online information. Then I saw Nana Patekar offering Salah in Ghulam e Mustafa.
“I watched the movie 3 to 4 times in order to learn how to offer Namaz”, he said.
In reply to a question Menon said, “I've received immense warmth and support from the Muslims. Not once did anyone say I'm not Muslim enough due to name/birth.”
He said he offered prayers in many big and small mosques, and was never questioned or stopped.
About retaining his original name even after converting to Islam, Menon said it was because the name “Aditya” was given to him by his mother.
He also said there is no hard and fast rule that one must change their name after conversion. Citing many Western, Thai, and Indonesian converts who choose to keep their original names, he stated that it is not a necessity.
“And the only reason I decided to retain my name was because it was given to me by my mother”, he said.
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