Omar Sacirbey
Omar Sacirbey is a Boston-based correspondent for Religion News Service and other publications.
All Stories by Omar Sacirbey
Extra Prayers During Ramadan Test Patience, Endurance
By Omar Sacirbey — September 12, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Every night during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Kamran Riaz and his younger brother, Rehan, perform a sort of spiritual sound-check, each listening to the other’s recitation of verses from the Quran and offering corrections as needed. When the fine_tuning is complete, the Riaz brothers will leave their […]
Muslims Descend on Chicago, but Split for Separate Meetings
By Omar Sacirbey — September 5, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service CHICAGO _ When black nationalist leader Timothy Drew founded the Moorish Science Temple of America in 1913, he predicted that Chicago would one day become an American Mecca, drawing Muslim pilgrims from across America much like Islam’s holiest city. And on Labor Day weekend for the last several years, Drew’s […]
Muslims Hope New Show Breaks Cultural Barriers
By Omar Sacirbey — August 31, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Raja Musharaff is a Pakistani Muslim exchange student coming to America this fall. He’s not coming to join a terrorist cell, open a kabob shop or become a taxi driver. On the contrary, as one of the lead roles on “Aliens in America,” which premiers Oct. 1 on the […]
Islamic Banking Bilks the Pious, Critics Say
By Omar Sacirbey — July 25, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Rizwan Kadir liked working in finance, but when he read a verse in the Quran that said engaging in usury was the same as “waging war” against God and Islam’s prophet Muhammad, fear struck him. “When you come across an aya (verse) like this, it makes you start wondering […]
Faith Groups Oppose New Rules on Religious Worker Visas
By Omar Sacirbey — June 28, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Atop Mount Waialeale on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the Iraivan Temple is designed to be one of the most splendid Hindu temples in the world. So far, the temple that was started 32 years ago is about half-finished. But the $16 million granite temple may never be completed, […]
Scholar Mulls the `What-Ifs’ of U.S.-Muslim Relations
By Omar Sacirbey — June 20, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) What if, Akbar Ahmed asks, America had limited its military response to 9/11 to liberating Afghanistan from the Taliban and al-Qaida? What if, instead of invading Iraq and waging a global war on terror, the United States had expanded diplomacy and exchange programs with Muslim nations, and tried to […]
Imam at Brandeis May Have Toughest Job Yet
By Omar Sacirbey — June 1, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service WALTHAM, Mass. _ Exams were over, dorms had emptied and only 16 Muslims _ about half the usual number _ had arrived for Friday prayers at Brandeis University, a predominantly Jewish school near Boston. It was a far smaller number than the 200 or so worshippers Imam Talal Eid was […]
Sufi Poet Rumi Rides Wave of Popularity 800 Years After His Birth
By Omar Sacirbey — April 24, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Mohammad Nooraee knew exactly what he needed when Brandeis University students asked him to distill the essence of Sufism, an Islamic mystical tradition, one recent Sunday afternoon. Nooraee, director of the Nimatullahi Sufi order in Boston, needed “Grapes,” a poem by Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the 13th century poet and […]
Muslims Confront Their Own Holier-Than-Thou Debate
By Omar Sacirbey — April 12, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America convenes its annual convention later this year, the few dozen Islamic scholars will try to hammer out an answer to a question vexing the North American Muslim community: How do Muslims reconcile the mandates of their faith with jobs that may […]
10 Minutes With … Mustafa Ceric
By Omar Sacirbey — March 22, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Mustafa Ceric may come from a small, dysfunctional country, but he plays a critical role in averting the clash between Islamic and Western worlds that so many people fear. As Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ceric is spiritual leader to one of Europe’s last surviving communities of indigenous […]
Muslim Magazines Discover an Untapped Market
By Omar Sacirbey — March 21, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Holding an American flag and wearing a bright-white grin beneath her head scarf, Wardaw Chaudhary, a 16-year-old from Tulsa, Okla., radiated confidence and optimism, the perfect cover girl to grace the first issue of Muslim Girl magazine. Launched in January with the tagline “Enlighten Celebrate Inspire,” the bimonthly magazine […]
Second-Generation Black Muslims Face New Challenges
By Omar Sacirbey — February 28, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service BOSTON _ As the tribute to Malcolm X wound down, Aaliyah Turner surveyed the scene at Roxbury Community College and gave herself a mixed review. The crowd was diverse _ black Muslims, Jewish peaceniks, white leftists, Arab Muslims, Harvard students, even a representative from the Nation of Islam. But Turner, […]
U.S. Muslims Look to Athletes as Faith Ambassadors
By Omar Sacirbey — February 1, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Farrukh Saleem acknowledges he has a problem. “I’m beyond a sports fanatic. I need help,” said Saleem, who will hunker down in his Potomac, Md., home this Super Bowl Sunday with his six-year-old son and root for his beloved Chicago Bears. Saleem, 36, attributes at least some of his […]
Muslims Say GOP Rhetoric Is Eroding Once Solid Support
By Omar Sacirbey — January 11, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Raise a million dollars and get Rep. Virgil Goode voted out office. That was the challenge Salman Tajuddin, an investment manager from Arlington, Va., issued recently to fellow Muslims and the Democratic Party, posting it on Naseeb.com, a Muslim networking Web site. “Virgil Goode has it out for Muslims. […]
Islamic Hajj Has Been Marred by Tragedy
By Omar Sacirbey — December 28, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service DECEMBER 1975: A fire sparked by an exploding gas cylinder sweeps through a tent city at Mina, a desert location east of Mecca where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims camp on their way to perform rites at Mount Arafat and Jamarat. Some 200 pilgrims die. NOVEMBER 1979: Saudi militants opposed […]
