I am not sure yet where the ultimate source of this claim is to be located, but I know of at least two Muslim publications which have disseminated (and continue to do so) that Jaques Cousteau became a Muslim.
The Reasons Why They Become Muslims ([1], [2]), volume 16, part 3 of the Waqf Ikhlas series:
21 June, 1995 Copyleft c Waqf Ikhlas, Istanbul, 1995.
Permission to reprint & distribute is granted only
if this heading included, and the text is not modified
in any way, shape or form to alter the intended meaning.
WAQF IKHLAS
PEOPLE WHO CHOSE ISLAM
11
CAPTAIN (JACQUES) COUSTEAU
(French)
[In France Islam has been spreading at a high velocity among people
who have made fame in various areas. The number of people who have
abandoned Christianity and chosen Islam have reached one hundred
thousand already. This score has been confirmed by the Archbishop
of Paris, the highest Catholic rank in France.
It is noteworthy that people who have preferred Islam are not only
from among workers and civil servants but also from among people
renowned in every respect.
Among people who have chosen Islam is Captain Cousteau, whom the
whole world closely knows for his explorations about life under
water.
As the groundswell of embracing Islam was spreading among France's
universal celebrities, Captain Cousteau, the world's most eminent
undersea explorer, announced that by accepting Islam he had made
the most correct decision of his life.
Captain Cousteau, who has revealed the secrets of oceans one by
one with the films that he made and which are being televised world
over in a program sub-headed The Living Sea, said that what actually
prompted him to choose the Islamic religion was, after observing
that the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean did not
mix with each other, his seeing that the same phenomenon was written
in the Qur'an al-karim which had been revealed fourteen hundred years
before.]
Captain Cousteau told of the event that had caused him to become a
Muslim, as follows:
"In 1962 German scientists said that the waters of the Red Sea
and the Indian Ocean did not mix with each other in the Strait
of Bab-ul-Mandab where the Aden Bay and the Red Sea join. So we
began to examine whether the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the
Mediterranean mixed with each other. First we analyzed the water
in the Mediterranean to find out its natural salinity and density,
and the life it contained. We repeated the same procedure in the
Atlantic Ocean. The two masses of water had been meeting each
other in the Gibraltar for thousands of years. Accordingly, the
two masses of water must have been mixing with each other and
they must have been sharing identical, or, at least, similar
properties in salinity and density. On the contrary, even at
places where the two seas were closest to each other, each mass
of water preserved its properties. In other words, at the point
where the two seas met, a curtain of water prevented the waters
belonging to the two seas from mixing. When I told Professor
Maurice Bucaille about this phenomenon, he said that it was no
surprise and that it was written clearly in Islam's Holy Book,
the Qur'an al-karim. Indeed, this fact was defined in a plain
language in the Qur'an al-karim. When I knew this, I believed in
the fact that the Qur'an al-karim was the 'Word of Allah'. I chose
Islam, the true religion. The spiritual potency inherent in the
Islamic religion gave me the strength to endure the pain I had
been suffering for the loss of my son."
Side remark: To my information, even though Mr. Jaques Yves Cousteau
was a researcher and won many awards, he was no professor and never earned a
doctorate, and it is also interesting to observe how this above conversion hoax
blends in with the other made up conversion of Dr.
Maurice Bucaille.
Al-Furqan-Ta-Ha
Subject: Amazing Undersea Discovery Leads French
Oceanographer To Islam!
Allahu Akbar
From: m a m
Date: 1997/03/02
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, ARRAHMAN, ARRAHEEM
All praise is due
to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds
Heavenly Salutations and Peace be upon the
Messenger of Allah
and upon his family, his noble companions
and all those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment
Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatu ULLAHi wa Barakatuhu...
"Qura'ns Confirmation Of An Amazing Undersea Discovery Leads
============================
French Oceanographer To Islam"
================
The famous French oceanographer Mr Jacques Yves Cousteau, who has
spent his lifetime on undersea discoveries and is considered an
authorithy on undersea exploration has embraced Islam after his
amazing undersea discovery was confirmed by the Holy Qur'an the last
and final revealed guidence of Allah (God Almighty) for the whole of
Mankind and Jinns.
One day somewhere in deep ocean, Mr Jacques Yves Cousteau was doing
some undersea exploration when he discovered that within the salty
sea water there were several spring of sweet palatable water.
What amazed him most was the fact that the sweet water of the springs
was not mingling with the salty water of the sea. For a long time he
tried to find plausible excuse for this phenomena, but to no avail.
One day when he mentioned it to a Muslim Professor who told him this
phenomena simply followed Allah's command as clearly explained in the
Holy Qur'an. He then read to Mr Cousteau the following verses from
the Holy Qur'an :
"It is He (Allah) Who has let free the two bodies of flowing water :
One palatable and sweet, and the other salty and bitter; yet has He
(Allah) made a barrier between them, a portion that is forbidden to
be passed"
(Sura 25 Al-Furqan : Verse 53)
"And He (Allah) made a separating bar between the two bodies of
flowing waters."
(Sura 27 An-Naml : Verse 61)
"He (Allah) let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting
together : between them is a barrier which they do not transgress."
(Sura 55 Al-Rahman : Verse 19:20)
Hearing this, Mr Cousteau said that surely the Qur'an is a divine
Book and embraced Islam. (This was reported in Al-Furqan-Ta-Ha
Publishers, London).
Wise men and women speak because they have something to say.
Fools speak because they have to say
something.
O' Allah let me be among the
wise.
If only the magazine Al-Furqan and the poster of the above article had heeded this advice about the wise men and fools ..., he would not have spread this fairytale. It is completely made up.
Original letter of clarification from the Cousteau Foundation (in French) (photocopy).
English translation by Dr. William F. Campbell:
Very cordially,
Didier CERCEAU chargé de mission