This week in Boston, the founder and former headmaster of the nonprofit Abaarso School of Science and Technology in Hargeisa, Somaliland, converted to Islam.
Originally from Massachusetts, Jonathan Starr, a former hedge fund manager, made his Shahada at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury.
Starr is seen standing in front of the mosque with the Imam in a Sunday Twitter video.
Imam Abdullahi recalled their conversation at a restaurant from earlier this week: “He (Starr) asked me questions about Islam and then declared, ‘I want to be a Muslim, and today he wants all of you to give testimony.'”
The Shahada was then recited by Starr in front of the congregation, first in Arabic and then in English.
Starr started Abaarso in 2009 after becoming dissatisfied with his work and embarking on a purpose-driven endeavor.
He immediately traveled to Hargeisa and came to the conclusion that the best chance for its young people to escape the cycle of poverty and drought would be through an American-style boarding school.
Starr, who was born and raised in Westborough, worked for four years in Somaliland to establish a high school campus on a desolate hilltop.
As the top high school in Somalia, Abaarso consistently sends its graduates to prestigious post-secondary universities including Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Brown, and MIT.
In his 2016 book, It Takes a School, he tells the tale of Abaarso.
MashaAllah
Jonathan Starr, the founder of Abaarso School has joined Islam today! Allahu Akbar. Welcome to Islam 🙏🏾🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/rKyDK6HH83
— Ubah Abdi Ali (@Ubah_Alii)