Omar Sacirbey
Omar Sacirbey is a Boston-based correspondent for Religion News Service and other publications.
All Stories by Omar Sacirbey
Sikhs launch mobile app to report profiling
By Omar Sacirbey — April 26, 2012
Sikh civil rights activists will unveil a mobile phone application next week that they say allows air travelers who believe they have been profiled by TSA airport screeners to file complaints directly from their phones. By Omar Sacirbey.
Thoughts of a Muslim 9/11 Widow on Bin LadenâÂ?Â?s Death
By Omar Sacirbey — May 4, 2011
While helping report RNS’s story yesterday (May 2) about the appropriateness of cheering the killing of Osama Bin Laden, one of the people I called was Baraheen Ashrafi, a Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh whose husband Mohammad S. Chowdhury was waiter at the Windows on the World restaurant at the World Trade Center, and was killed […]
Muslim Punk
By Omar Sacirbey — April 16, 2011
The highlight of my week had to be watching a screening of The Taqwacores, a 2010 film about Muslim punk rockers, and the 45-minute performance that followed by Sunny Ali and The Kid, who describe themselves as Philadelphia’s only Pakistani Cowboy Punk band. It was part of the Muslim Film Festival in Boston, sponsored by […]
Mandvi’s “Allah In The Family”
By Omar Sacirbey — March 5, 2011
The antidote to American Islamophobia, Katie Couric and others have suggested, could be a television show about a typical Muslim American (or is that American Muslim?) family, moderate and happy to be in America. It would be something akin to The Cosby Show, which supposedly helped change white attitudes towards blacks. As Asif Mandvi shows […]
Chat With a Strongman’s Wife
By Omar Sacirbey — January 29, 2011
With democratic change afoot in Tunisia and anti-government riots in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, some 20 American college students were in Syria and, among other things, wrapped with Asma al-Assad, the very accomplished wife of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. This news comes from George Mason University’s (Va.) Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, […]
The Al-Cosby Show?
By Omar Sacirbey — January 22, 2011
Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page had an interesting column this week, “It couldn’t hurt to have a Muslim ‘Cosby Show.” “It’s hard to be afraid of the people we see on TV sitcoms every week,” the Pulitzer Prize winner argued, explaining that television has the power to shape public perceptions and that something like a […]
100 years later, Ahmadi Muslims face new challenges
By Omar Sacirbey — June 27, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When Zahir Mian’s prayer clock rings to announce the sunset prayer, he politely excuses himself and performs his ritual pre-prayer ablution, unfurls a prayer rug towards Mecca, and prays like any Muslim. Mian, a 34-year-old IT manager, also fasts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, reads the Quran […]
Muslims campaign to reclaim `jihad’ from extremists
By Omar Sacirbey — May 14, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The end to Ani Zonneveld’s “jihad” on “jihad” came during an episode of “Desperate Housewives,” when Lynette (Felicity Huffman) discovers she has cancer and throws a stone at a possum. “Look at yourself,” replies her husband, Tom. “You’ve declared jihad on a possum.” “At that point,” said Zonneveld, the […]
Some Jews `uneasy’ with high-profile Christian allies
By Omar Sacirbey — March 18, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In recent years, conservative Christians have emerged as some of the most vocal supporters of the state of Israel _ support that many Jewish groups have welcomed at a time when they feel Israel is under siege. One of the loudest voices has been John Hagee, the San Antonio […]
Muslims say Obama’s denials come up short
By Omar Sacirbey — February 8, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Muslim Americans and political observers heralded the 2006 elections as a sort of debutante’s ball for the Muslim voter, when anger and organizational heft pushed unprecedented numbers of Muslim citizens to vote and get involved with U.S. politics. The 2008 election cycle, however, isn’t quite working out that way. […]
Church suppers change to meet changing needs
By Omar Sacirbey — January 31, 2008
c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Documentary filmmaker Alex Kronemer wants to help end the clash of civilizations, a battle he says he’s witnessed in one form or another since childhood. His Jewish father and Christian mother divorced and succumbed to religious mud-slinging. His mother’s Protestant ministers asserted most people were going to hell, souring […]
Muslim Activist Elected to San Carlos City Council
By Omar Sacirbey — November 8, 2007
Omar Ahmad, the former director of one of the more established Muslim activist groups in the United States, has won a city council seat in San Carlos, Calif., according to this morning’s San Mateo Daily News. Ahmad’s success raises two big questions: Will more Muslims run for office in 2008? And on what holy scripture, […]
Globe Disses “Islamofascism”
By Omar Sacirbey — November 7, 2007
Conservatives love to use it, Muslims hate to hear it: The word is Islamofascism, a post-9/11 neologism popular with many GOP politicians to describe the Islamic-extremist threat, but challenged by Muslims as a term that smears all of them and their faith. The Boston Globe (who I occasionally freelance for) weighed in on the controversy […]
Muslims in Hollywood
By Omar Sacirbey — November 5, 2007
In an effort to introduce more Muslims to the media, the LA-based Muslim Public Affairs Council hosted a mixer last week where Muslims thinking about media careers got to mingle with Muslim and non-Muslim media types. Many Muslim Americans have and still do view TV and Hollywood with suspicion and fear, the sources of slanted […]
Dallas Drama, Brits Get Proactive, Islam Live
By Omar Sacirbey — November 1, 2007
A week after federal prosecutors in Dallas failed to win terrorism convictions against the Holy Land Foundation, once the largest Muslim charity in the United States, Dallas hosted a less-dramatic but interesting courtroom battle this week. As Jeff Mosier of the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday (Oct. 30), Texas District Judge Ken Curry extended a […]
