Alhamdulilah, MM continues to grow, and in order to sustain the excitement, material and innovation, we will continue to add new Associates, which will also serve as our “laboratory” for Sr. Associates & new Staff Writers. The following are bios for both levels of Associates:

Senior Associates:

• Ify Okoye (“Muslim Apple”)
• Tariq Nisar Ahmed (AbuAbdAllah, the Houstonian)
• Rami Elsawah
• J. Hashmi

Associates:

• Mustafa Å uvalija
• Dr. Ameera Khan
• Mariam E.
• Ismail Kamdar
• Youssef Chouhoud
• Abdul-Malik Ryan (Abu Noor Al-Irlandee)

Senior Associates:

Ify Okoye:

Ify Okoye (aka Muslim Apple) is a Muslim woman, convert, born and raised in the U.S. She’s from New York and her parents are from Nigeria. Despite the petty hassles of work and school, Ify finds time to travel usually for AlMaghrib Institute seminars and to visit beautiful places.

Tariq Nisar Ahmed:

Tariq Nisar Ahmed, aka abu abdAllah, aka “abu abdAllah, the Houstonian.” By profession an attorney. By submission, a Muslim, walhamdolillah. By inclination, a student of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Abu abdAllah loves to travel: it increases reverence for Allah by appreciating the breadth, diversity, and majesty of His Creation. It increases humility by showing one how small he is in the scope of the world’s affairs. You can keep up with Tariq at twitter.

Rami M. Elsawah

Rami, our other Arab recruit, is a full-time Muslim trying to bring about concrete solutions with as little complaining as possible in his writing and speeches. His Sunday school students know him as “The guy who brings chocolates”, his siblings describe him as the “Momma’s boy” and “The baby of the family”, one friend frustratingly callled him a “Goodie-Goodie” when Rami got excited about recycling, and he also wonders why no-one calls him “Master Rami” after getting his MBA. He drives a hybrid, boycotts socially-irresponsible companies, and regularly hangs out with people twice his age at the Masjid. He makes his living as a corporate fraud analyst, and as you can well imagine, he is quite busy these days!

J. Hashmi:

J. Hashmi was born and raised in California. He majored in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley, after which he graduated from the Aga Khan University medical school. He recently conquered the demon known as the USMLE, and will be applying for a residency position in the fall of this year, insha-Allah. Dr. Hashmi has worked for the Cooperative Office for Dawah in Rawdah and various Islamic websites. His favorite dawah-carriers are Ustadh Yasir Qadhi and Imam Suhaib Webb. His areas of interest include aqeedah, dawah, interfaith dialogue, and combating the twin evils of Islamophobia and Islamic extremism. His extra-curricular activities include weightlifting, mixed martial arts, trolling the net, and watching tv. He will now be using this same bio to post on Shaadi.com. Just kidding. Sort of.

Associates:

Dr. Ameera Khan:

Ameera, 23, is a medical student and blogger based in Karachi, Pakistan. Having been born and raised in Saudi Arabia, her approach towards her Deen has always been rooted in a basic understanding from authentic sources. She has recently completed a three-year weekend Qur’an course at Al Huda Institute and soon plans to join the staff there as Tajweed teacher. Some of her may other interests include the culinary arts, travelling and photography. She shares her thoughts on life, success, and day-to-day living at her personal blog.

Mustafa Å uvalija :

Mustafa is a happily married Bosnian in his mid twenties living in Sarajevo. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in psychology, and trying to deepen his knowledge in one particular area of this science, psychology of religion, in order to be able to try to provide and Islamic perspective on relevant issues in that discipline. His other interests include environmental protection, comparative theology and nutritionism. So far, he has been an avid reader of MM blog and hopes to become an even more dedicated and fruitful contributor.

Mariam E.:

Mariam is of Middle Eastern origin, raised in North America, not quite settling in one specific place. After living up in the North of North America, she has shifted continents and currently residing in a rapidly flourishing, historical city located in the desert of Arabia. Her frequent moves and efforts to adjust where ever she is have contributed to teaching her many of the lessons of life, as well as about the lives and attitudes of different peoples, alhamdulilah. She is a recent graduate of the American Open University, with a Bachelors in Islamic Studies. She believes that regardless of where a person is, writing is a tool to reach out and express that which inspires, touches and affects them. So she writes, for perhaps that which inspires her will be a source of good for at least one other person.

Ismail Kamdar:

Ismail Kamdar aka Abu Muawiyah began his study of Islam at the young age of thirteen. After completing a seven year Aalim course under Deobandi scholars, Ismail sat with and studied the works of many other scholars from a variety of schools of thought in his search for authentic Islamic information. Ismail also studied various courses through the Islamic Online University with Dr Bilal Philips, and recently passed a RPL exam at the University of Johannesburg granting him a BA in the Study of Islam. Ismail taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at Ihsaan Boys College in Durban, South Africa in 2008 and served as an English and Social Studies educator at the Al-Fajr International School in Chennai, India for part of 2009. He currently lives in Durban, South Africa with his wife and two sons,  teaches private Arabic classes and serves as a facilitator for the Islamic Online University.

Youssef Chouhoud:

Youssef is from Brooklyn, New York by way of Alexandria, Egypt.  An aspiring writer, he’s currently finishing up an MA in Political Science before heading off for an extended stay in Masr.  His little Dahlia’s smile reminds him each day to be thankful.  His little Dahlia’s diaper reminds him each day to be patient.  A student of Islam, history, and politics, he suspects his time in Cairo will place him at the nexus of these disciplines.  Follow him on Twitter as he tries to glean some valuable [hopefully, publishable lol ] insights from his adventures abroad, inshAllah.

Abdul-Malik Ryan:

Abdul-Malik was born Michael P. Ryan in Chicago, Illinois. His study of African-American history in high school and at DePaul University and his encounter with the life and legacy of Malcolm X (Malik Shabazz) led to his accepting Islam in 1994.  He was one of the founding members and is a past President of the Board of Directors of the Inner City Muslim Action Network, IMAN.  He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and he has been working as an attorney for children in the foster care system in Chicago for the past ten years.  In addition to almost anything regarding Islam, his major interests include Irish History, Comparative Religion (especially Judaism), and Historical Mystery Fiction.  He will rarely be found without several books that he is currently reading.  He also blogs and comments under his kunya and nisba Abu Noor Al-Irlandee.