Los Angeles Lakers legend and NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently shared his thoughts on religion when he compared ISIS to the Klu Klux Klan in an interview.

The 67-year-old New York City native has been very vocal about his Muslim faith ever since converting over 40 years ago.

"When I first became a Muslim, we were under the radar, no Muslims had done anything crazy, we stayed under the radar. Most Muslims live a peaceful and prosperous life here in America. And then 9/11 came and all of that changed," said Abdul-Jabbar to MSNBC in an interview.

"It can be difficult but I think now there is more and more understanding of how this process happens, especially when you can make parallels to things that happen in America. Like the Ku Klux Klan saying they are the 'Christian Knights' of the Ku Klux Klan, right, and they do not practice Christianity in any way."

The six-time NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987-1988) then compared both groups to the Crusades battles between the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages versus Muslims a 1,000 years ago.

"You can see that any group can do this. There is an article in yesterday's New York Times about the first crusade, and how the first people they sacked were Jews living in Europe, they devastated them, took all their wealth and kept on the way to the holy land," said the two-time NBA Finals MVP.

Abdul-Jabbar was formerly known as Lew Alcindor during his college days as the dominant center of UCLA Bruins from 1966-1969 under the tutelage of legendary NCAA head John Wooden aka "Wizard of Westwood." The star athlete would win three NCAA championships with Wooden before making his NBA debut with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1969.

The man known for the iconic 'Skyhook' shot would later join the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 - two years after he was inducted to the prestigious Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

Now in 2015, Abdul-Jabbar revealed that in order for the world to be a cohesive unit like the championship Milwaukee Bucks and the 'Showtime' Los Angeles Lakers teams he played for, mankind should not use religion to persecute other people.

"It is not an excuse, it is no excuse, and oppressing one group means that we have to look out - all groups have to get together to fight that type of oppression, because we all should be free," said Abdul-Jabbar.