Omar Sharif (IS in fact a Muslim)

Reader comment on item: Faces of American Islam[: Muslim Immigration]

Submitted by Theodore W. Volckhausen (United States), Aug 16, 2002 at 10:21

Omar Sharif is a Copt, not a Muslim. His name, which is Muslim, is a stage name.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

He was born Mikha'il Shalhub, a Catholic of Lebanese origins, in Alexandria on 10 April 1932. Though not religious, he converted to Islam in 1955 to marry the Egyptian film diva Fatin Hamama, and at that time took the name ‘Umar ash-Sharif.