Opinion: Andrew Tate is a Terrible Muslim Role Model

Andrew Tate is a former kickboxer and now highly influential online personality and coach who promises people a way to “escape the Matrix” and become wealthy beyond their wildest imagination.

Tate has been a controversial figure since 2016. He first appeared on the British reality TV show ‘Big Brother’ but was dropped after a video emerged of him hitting a woman with a belt. He also faced strong backlash after saying a woman should burden some of the responsibility of being raped.

Tate’s misogynistic views have drawn extreme criticism. He’s been banned on so many social media platforms, even Uber (so he claims).

So, why am I telling you all this?

There are many such personalities on the internet, but Tate took Muslim Twitter and the wider online Muslim world by storm when he converted to Islam in October of this year after a video emerged of him praying. His conversion to Islam led to mixed reactions from Muslims.

Muslim women were understandably sceptical about his conversion given his misogynistic past, whilst others gave him the benefit of the doubt.

It’s now been two months since he converted. The dust has settled, and we are better positioned to judge. In Islam, a Muslim’s actions performed in public are open to scrutiny.

I didn’t know much about Tate until Elon Musk reinstated his Twitter account. I went through a rabbit hole and scrolled through over 600 of his tweets. It’s widely known that an individual’s past sins are forgiven once they convert to Islam. So, I only looked at what he tweeted after converting. We can draw a line on any of his content and statements before the conversion for the purpose of this article.

And judging from his tweets, I can say he is an awful role model for Muslims for many reasons, but he is very smart in how he captures their attention. Before I get to analysing some of the tweets, let’s understand why Tate would appeal to Muslims.

Andrew Tate has Built a Brand

Tate is handsome, well-built and very-well spoken. Even I caught myself being mesmerised by how good he was at articulating his sentences and putting forward his argument. To a naive mind, he could have them believing anything he wants.

Tate is charismatic. I’ll give him that. He spouts a lot of generic motivational content that he calls his ‘tenets’ (there are 41 of them). At face value, the tenets are agreeable and appeal to logic and intellect – particularly a man’s.

There’s no shame in saying some of Tate’s opinions are agreeable. For example, his comments on the current nursing strike in the UK in a recent interview with Piers Morgan would probably sit well with many working-class UK citizens.

Muslims, in particular, would applaud his views on the LGBT movement. In this video, Tate talks about how the LGBT movement is free to do what they want but should stop forcing its views on other. (Please note the video contains some profanity).

So, I get it. To the average Muslim, he seems like a breath of fresh air. Someone who openly says what we might say privately in our living rooms.

For Muslim men, in particular, he is an alpha male. His physique and build appeal to them.

And, look, none of us are perfect. We have flaws, and we sin. But with Tate being in such a prominent, public and influential position, he surely isn’t naive enough not to realise that what he says carries more weight. Much like the hijabi influencers who started taking off their hijab and expect it to not influence their follower’s views on the hijab, these actions do not remain in a vacuum.

After looking through the tweets, I can comfortably say he is not the role model Muslims are looking for, even if he says the occasional agreeable thing. Here’s why:

(Please note some tweets linked may contain profanity.)

The Use of Abusive Language

Swearing and abusive language is a regular occurrence in his tweets. Some of the statements and opinions he delivers are very aggressive and include profanity. I haven’t linked to any for obvious reasons. I’m sure it’s not too hard for the reader to find it if they’re interested.

Swearing is not in the spirit of Islam. The Prophet (PBUH) said:

The believer is not in the habit of cursing.”

[Tirmidhi]

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Sharing Images of Women Who Are Underdressed

Obviously, I’m not going to link to an example, and I urge the reader not to try and find this either. I did not go through his Twitter looking for this, but it invariably turned up. This is an odd practice. Here’s why:

Tate will retweet (the word used for resharing something on Twitter) pictures of women who have not dressed appropriately and have tagged him in their photos. After resharing and exposing the picture to his 3 million followers, he will comment “haram” or “blocked”.

Am I missing something here?

Say to the believing men that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts.” [24:30]

Why not quietly block them and move on without exposing the picture to his millions of followers, some of which are undoubtedly young Muslim males, where these pictures could have a detrimental effect on their psychology?

Weird.

Excessive Materialism

Tate, either directly or indirectly, cannot stop talking about his material gains. He will deliberately shoot videos where his many supercars and other possessions are visible in the background. Or he will directly talk about everything he has amassed. Here are one, two and three examples.

Flirting with Non-Mahram Ladies

Tate claims “objectively” beautiful women have no problem with him and that all the ladies critical of him are ugly. Again, can’t link this. But there is a woman (presumably a journalist) who wants to interview him. He responds:

“You’re welcome, baby. You’re not a nobody, and you have beautiful eyes.”

Since when was it acceptable to be flirtatious and compliment non-Mahrams?

Arrogance Approaching the Level of Firaun

I was astonished at the arrogance displayed in some of Tate’s tweets. This man is not far off from calling himself God.

In this tweet he is boasting about his unnaturally high level of wealth whilst looking down on people who are “broke”.

And he already thinks he has conquered the world and is the world’s saviour.

Encourages Divorce

Marriage is a sunnah of the Prophet and a beloved act in the eyes of Allah (SWT). In this tweet, Tate claims marriage counselling does not work and that it’s better to end a relationship than to consider trying to fix it via counselling.

Tate also suggests a woman doesn’t really love a man if she leaves him for cheating?!

Tate clearly advocates promiscuity, telling women not to “expect loyalty” from him. It’s fair to say his views on relationships with women do not adhere to Islamic standards.

Looks Down on Education

The Prophet encourages us to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. But Tate knows better, right? Here he is telling people education is for cowards.

But wait, he retweets the odd ayah of the Quran or hadith – so all good – right?!

Muslims should always give each other the benefit of the doubt, but how long does one stretch the benefit with Tate, given the content he spouts?

Andrew Tate is Dangerous for Muslim Youth

What worries me most about the rise of Andrew Tate is the bad influence he has on kids. Think about your own son, daughter, niece, nephew or younger siblings, and ask yourself how seeing this type of content benefits them.

Until Tate changes his behaviour, we should avoid seeking guidance from him.