A00054 - Maher Hathout, American Muslim Leader

Maher Hathout (January 1, 1936 – January 3, 2015) was a leading American-Muslim community leader of Egyptian origin, and widely regarded as the Father of the American Muslim identity. Hathout helped to found the Muslim Public Affairs Council and spoke extensively against Islamic radicalism.

Born in Cairo, Egypt in 1936, Hathout eventually moved to Buffalo, New York, and then to Los Angeles. He immersed himself in volunteering at the Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC) as Chairman and Spokesperson. One of the most progressive mosques in the country – the ICSC had a woman on its board of directors in 1952 – the Islamic Center became a vehicle for a vision of Islam in America that is rooted in what Hathout called the definition of home: "Home is not where my grandparents are buried, but where my grandchildren will be raised."

Hathout stressed throughout his life that being a faithful Muslim was entirely compatible with being a proud American, and that Islam is a religion of coexistence, reason and moderation.

He was also among the pioneers of interfaith engagement within the American Muslim community, helping found the Religious Coalition Against War in the Middle East with Reverend George Regas and Rabbi Leonard Beerman in 1991. Hathout was a charter member of the Pacific Council on International Policy, the western partner of the Council on Foreign Relations, and served on the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Alliance and Claremont Lincoln University.

Over the years, Hathout was invited repeatedly to Capitol Hill and the State Department to address a variety of topics, such as "Islam and U.S. Policy," "Islamic Democracy," "Emerging Trends in Islamic Movements," and "The Future of the Middle East." He was also the first Muslim invited to give the invocation prayer at the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

Hathout was the recipient of many awards, including the George Regas Courageous Peacemaker Award, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California’s Lifetime Service Award, the South Coast Interfaith Council Award for his life-long commitment to interfaith work and the Los Angeles County John Allen Buggs Award for excellence in human relations. He died of cancer in Duarte, California on January 3, 2015.

A00053 - Ibn al-Saffar, Andalusian Astronomer

Ibn al-Saffar

Abu al‐Qasim Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar al‐Ghafiqī ibn al-Saffar al‐Andalusi (b. Cordoba - d. 1035 at Denia), Ibn al-Saffar (literally: son of the brass worker) was a close colleague and astronomer at the school founded by al-Majriti in Cordoba.  His most well known work was a treatise on the astrolabe.  The work was still published until the 15th century and influenced the work of Kepler.  Ibn Saffar also wrote a commentary on the Zij al-Sindhind,  and measured the coordinates to Mecca.  

A00052 - Haider al-Abadi, Prime Minister of Iraq

Abadi, Haider al-
Haider Jawad Kadhim al-Abadi (or Haider Jawad Kadhim al-'Ibadi; Arabic: حيدر جواد كاظم العبادي‎, b. April 25, 1952) is an Iraqi politician and the Prime Minister of Iraq.  He was Minister of Communication from 2003 to 2004, in the first government after Saddam Hussein.

A Shia Muslim,  al-Abadi was designated as Prime Minister by President Fuad Masum on August 11, 2014 to succeed Nouri al-Maliki and was approved by the Iraqi parliament on September 8, 2014.

Al-Abadi graduated high school in 1970 from Al-Idadiyah Al-Markaziyah in Baghdad. In 1975, he earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Technology in Baghdad. In 1980, he earned a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester.

Al-Abadi joined the Dawa Party in 1967. His three brothers were arrested in 1980, 1981, and 1982 for belonging to the Dawa Party.  In 1977 he became the chief of the party while studying in London.   In 1979 al-Abadi became a member of the party's executive leadership. In 1983 the government confiscated al-Abadi's passport for conspiring against the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party -- Iraq Region. 

Al-Abadi remained in the United Kingdom, in voluntary exile, until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His positions during this time included:

• Director general of a small design and development firm in London specializing in high-technology vertical and horizontal transportation (1993–2003)
• Consultant, in London, in matters relating to transportation (1987–2003)
• Research leader for a major modernization contract in London (1981–1986)

Al-Abadi was awarded a grant from the Department of Trade and Industry in 1998. While working in London in 2001, al-Abadi registered a patent relating to rapid transit systems.

In 2003, al-Abadi became skeptical of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) privatization plan, proposing to Paul Bremer that they had to wait for a legitimate government to be formed. In October 2003, al-Abadi with all 25 of the interim Governing Council ministers protested to Paul Bremer and rejected the CPA's demand to privatize the state-owned companies and infrastructure prior to forming a legitimate government. The CPA, led by Bremer, fell out with al-Abadi and the Governing Council. The CPA worked around the Governing Council, forming a new government that remained beholden to the CPA to serve until the general elections, prompting more aggressive armed actions by insurgents against US-led coalition personnel.

While al-Abadi was Minister of Communications, the CPA awarded licenses to three mobile operators to cover all parts of Iraq. Despite being rendered nearly powerless by the CPA, al-Abadi was not prepared to be a rubber stamp and introduced more conditions for the licenses. Among them that a sovereign Iraqi government has the power to amend or terminate the licenses and introduce a fourth national license, which caused some friction with the CPA. In 2003, press reports indicated Iraqi officials were under investigation over a questionable deal involving Orascom, an Egypt-based telecoms company, which in late 2003 was awarded a contract to provide a mobile network to central Iraq. Al-Abadi asserted that there was no illicit dealing in the completed awards.  In 2004, it was revealed that these allegations were fabrications, and a United States Defense Department review found that telecommunications contracting had been illegally influenced in an unsuccessful effort led by United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw and not by Iraqis.

Between January and December 2005, al-Abadi served as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Iraa in the first elected government.

Al-Abadi was elected a member of the Iraqi Parliament in the Iraqi parliamentary election, December 2005 and chaired the parliamentary committee for Economy, Investment and Reconstruction. Al-Abadi was re-elected in the Iraqi parliamentary election, 2010 as a member of the Iraqi Parliament representing Baghdad.  In 2013, al-Abadi chaired the Finance Committee and was at the center of a parliamentary dispute over the allocation of the 2013 Iraqi budget.

Al-Abadi's name was circulated as a prime ministerial candidate during the formation of the Iraqi government in 2006 during which time Ibrahim al-Jaafari was replaced by Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister.

In 2008, al-Abadi remained steadfast in his support of Iraqi sovereignty, insisting on specific conditions to the agreement with the US regarding its presence in Iraq.

In 2009, al-Abadi was identified by the Middle East Economic Digest as a key person to watch in Iraq's reconstruction.

Al-Abadi is an active member of the Iraq Petroleum Advisory Committee, participating in the Iraq Petroleum Conferences of 2009–2012 organized by Nawar Abdulhadi and Phillip Clarke of The CWC Group .

Al-Abadi was one of several Iraqi politicians supporting a suit against Blackwater as a result of the 2010 dismissal of criminal charges against Blackwater personnel involved in the 2007 killing of 17 Iraqi civilians.

Al-Abadi was again tipped as a possible Prime Minister during the tough negotiations between Iraqi political blocs after the elections of 2010 to choose a replacement to incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.  Again in 2014, al-Abadi was nominated by Shia political parties as an alternative candidate for Prime Minister.

On July 24, 2014, Fuad Masum became the new president of Iraq. He, in turn, nominated al-Abadi for prime minister on August 11. For the appointment to take effect, al-Abadi was required to form a government to be confirmed by Parliament within 30 days.  Al-Maliki, however, refused to give up his post and referred the matter to the federal court claiming the president's nomination was a constitutional violation. On August 14, 2014, in the face of growing calls from world leaders and members of his own party, the embattled Prime Minister announced he was stepping down to make way for al-Abadi.

The Iraqi Parliament approved al-Abadi's new government and his presidential program on September 8, 2014.

A00051 - Mutaz Barshim, Record Setting High Jumper

Barshim, Mutaz
Mutaz Essa Barshim (Arabic: معتز عيسى برشم‎; b. 24 June 1991) is a Qatari track and field athlete who specializes in the high jump.  He is the national record and Asian record holder with a best mark of 2.43 m (7 ft 11¹⁄₂ in). He was the Asian Indoor and World Junior champion in 2010. He won the high jump gold medals at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships and 2011 Military World Games, and he won the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympic Games held in London, with a height of 2.29 m (7' 6"). He jumps off his left foot, using the Fosbury Flop technique, with a pronounced backwards arch over the bar.

A00050 - Sabah, Prolific Star of Arab World Entertainment

Sabah (Arabic: صباح‎; born Jeanette Gergis Al-Feghali) (b. November 10,1927 – d. November 26, 2014) was a Lebanese singer and actress. Considered a "Diva of Music" in the Arab World, (the same title often given to Oum Kalthoum, Warda Al-Jazairia and Fairuz), she released over 50 albums and acted in 98 movies as well as over 20 stage plays. She had a reported 3,500 songs in her repertoire. She was one of the first Arabic singers to perform at Olympia in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York, Piccadilly Theatre in London and the Sydney Opera House in Sydney. She was considered one of the four Lebanese icons along with Fairus, Wadih El Safi and Zaki Nassif and was nicknamed "Empress of the Lebanese Song" (Arabic: إمبراطورة الأغنية اللبنانية‎) for it.  Sabah, known locally as “Al-Sabbouha” was born in Bdadoun, Lebanon. Her father was severe towards her, even beating her sometimes. When she started making a small amount of money out of her movies, he used to take it away from her. She married early to leave her father’s overbearing financial control. Her brother killed her mother because he believed she was seeing someone outside marriage.  She began singing and acting in the 1940s in Egyptian movies when Egyptian filmmaker Henry Barakat recognized her talent. Her first featured film was El-Qalb Louh Wahid (El Alb Laho Wahed) produced by Asia Dagher. Although a Lebanese national, the majority of her films were co-produced with or focused on Egypt. She starred with many famous actors, such as Abdel Halim Hafez, Kamal El Chenawi, Ahmad Mazhar, Rushdy Abaza and Hussein Fahmy.

She released her first song in 1940 at just 13 years of age. The singer soon caught the eye of Egyptian film producer Asia Dagher, who immediately signed her for three films. The first of these, El-Qalb Louh Wahid (The Heart Has Its Reasons), made her a star - and she was known by her character's name - Sabah, which is Arabic for morning - thereafter.  She also acquired several other affectionate nicknames, including "Shahroura", Arabic for "singing bird", and "Sabbouha," a diminutive of Sabah. Among her most popular films were Soft Hands (1964), Ataba Square (1959) and The Second Man (1960), in which she played a cabaret singer who vows to avenge her brother's death at the hands of a smuggling ring. In her parallel music career, she recorded more than 3,000 songs, working with a string of legendary Egyptian composers, including the late Mohammed Abdul-Wahhab. She specialized in a Lebanese folk tradition called the mawal, and her most famous songs included Zay el-Assal (Your Love is Like Honey on my Heart) and Akhadou el-Reeh (They Took the Wind). The star held Egyptian, Jordanian and United States citizenship as well as Lebanese, and continued to perform and make television appearances into her 80s.

Sabah released over 50 albums and acted in 98 films during her career. She married nine times, most most notably to Egyptian actor Roshdi Abaza  (Rushdy Abaza) and Lebanese author-director Wassim Tabbara. Her last marriage, to Lebanese artist Fadi Lubnan, lasted 17 years. She had two children, Dr. Sabah Shammas and actress Howayda Mansy, both of whom live in the United States.

• Iyam El Loulou written by Karim Abou Chakra (As well as Nousi Nousi a play written and directed by Karim Abou Chakra)
• Kanat Ayyam (1970)
• Nar el shawk (1970)
• Mawal (1966)
• El Aydi el naema (1963) aka Soft Hands
• El Motamarreda (1963)
• Jaoz marti (1961)
• El Rajul el thani (1960)
• El Ataba el khadra (1959)
• Sharia el hub (1958)
• Salem al habaieb (1958)
• Izhay ansak (1956)
• Wahabtak hayati (1956)
• Khatafa mirati (1954)
• Lahn hubi (1953)
• Zalamuni el habaieb (1953)
• Khadaini abi (1951)
• Ana Satuta (1950)
• Sabah el khare (1948)
• Albi wa saifi(1947)
• lubnani fi al gamiaa (1947)

A00049 - Ali Mazrui, Controversial Scholar of Africa

Mazrui, Ali 
Ali al-Amin Mazrui,  (b. February 24, 1933, Mombasa, Kenya - d. October 12/13, 2014, Binghamton, New York, United States), Kenyan American political scientist. After receiving a doctorate from the University of Oxford, he taught at Uganda’s Makerere University (1963–73) and later at the University of Michigan (1974–91). At SUNY–Binghamton (now Binghamton University) he founded and directed the Institute of Global Cultural Studies. He also taught at many other universities worldwide, was a consultant to numerous international organizations, and wrote more than 30 books on African politics and society as well as post-colonial patterns of development and underdevelopment, including The African Predicament and the American Experience: A Tale of Two Edens (2004). For television he wrote the nine-hour BBC-PBS co-production The Africans (1986) and was featured in the documentary film Motherland (2009). Mazrui received numerous honors and awards, including the Association of Muslim Social Scientists UK (AMSS UK) Academic Achievement Award (2000).

A00048 - Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (Pashto: اشرف غني احمدزی‎, Persian: اشرف غنی احمدزی‎) (b. February 12, 1949) became the President of Afghanistan on September 21, 2014.  He was an economist and anthropologist. Usually referred to as Ashraf Ghani, he previously served as Finance Minister and as the chancellor of Kabul University. 

Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Ghani, worked with the World Bank.  As the Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery after the collapse of the Taliban government.  

He is the co-founder of the Institute for State Effectiveness, an organization set up in 2005 to improve the ability of states to serve their citizens. In 2005 he gave a TED talk, in which he discussed how to rebuild a broken state such as Afghanistan. Ghani is a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor,  an independent initiative hosted by the United Nations Development Programme. In 2013, he was ranked second in an online poll to name the world's top 100 intellectuals conducted by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines, ranking just behind Richard Dawkins. He previously was named in the same poll in 2010.

Ghani came in fourth in the 2009 presidential election, behind Hamid Karsai, Abdullah Abdullah, and Ramazan Bashardost.  In the first round of the 2014 presidential election,  Ghani won 31.5% of the vote, second to Abdullah who secured 45% of the votes cast. Both candidates went on to contest a run-off election, which was held on June 14, 2014.

Ghani is the brother of Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai, Grand Council Chieftain of the Kuchis.

Ghani was born in 1949 in the Logar Province of Afghanistan. He is an ethnic Pashtun of the Ahmadzai tribe.  He completed his primary and secondary education in Habibia High School in Kabul. He attended the American University in Beirut, where he earned his bachelors degree in 1973. Ghani met his future wife, Rula Ghani while studying at the American University of Beirut. He returned to Afghanistan in 1977 to teach anthropology at Kabul University before receiving a government scholarship in 1977 to pursue his Master's degree in anthropology at Columbia University in the United States.

Ghani initially wanted to study Law at Columbia University but then changed his major to Cultural Anthropology.  He applied to teach at the University of California, Berkeley in 1983, and then at Johns Hopkins University from 1983 to 1991. During this period he became a frequent commentator on the BBC Farsi/Persian and Pashto services, broadcast in Afghanistan. He has also attended the Harvard-INSEAD and World Bank-Stanford Graduate School of Business' leadership training program.  He served on the faculty of Kabul University (1973–77), Aarhus University in Denmark (1977), University of California, Berkeley (1983), and Johns Hopkins University (1983–1991). His academic research was on state-building and social transformation. In 1985 he completed a year of fieldwork researching Pakistani madrasas as a Fulbright Scholar. 

Ashraf Ghani married Rula Saade, a citizen with dual Lebanese and American nationality. Rula Saade Ghani was born in a Lebanese Maronite Christian family. The couple married after they met during their studies at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon during the 1970s. There is no confirmation or otherwise for her conversion to Islam to marry Ashraf Ghani. Mrs. Ghani is reportedly fluent in English, French, Arabic, Persian and Pashto.

Ashraf and Rula Ghani have two children, a daughter, Miriam Ghani, and a son, Tariq. Both were born in the United States and carry United States citizenship and passports. In an unusual move for a politician in a traditional Islamic country, Mr. Ghani at his presidential inauguration in 2014 publicly thanked his wife, acknowledging her with an Afghan name, Bibi Gul.