Alhamdulillah
All Praise and Thanks to Allah SWT who created me and sustained me through a life that continues to be blessed with many normal joys and a few sorrows mixed in so I can be more grateful.
Thank you for visiting this page. I am humbled that you took the time to learn about my unremarkable life. In order to not disappoint you I have allowed some of my life’s interesting parts to be shared so you gain an insight into what makes me who I am. I hope my attempt at balancing my desire for privacy with the need to oblige your interest in knowing more about me, results in a page that is worthy of your time.
Born in Hyderabad India Akbar was raised by a mother who was a schoolteacher and father who was an Accounting Auditor. Since his parents were both working, a good part of his formative years were spent with his grandmother who left an indelible impact on his character. His parents valued good education enough to send him to a private school despite the cost and difficulties of doing so. Early on in his life he was encouraged by his father to read books frequently. His father would purchase used books and bring it for him. When he was old enough he introduced me to a local library where he spent much of his free time reading, imagining and dreaming. Akbar attended college in Hyderabad and obtained a Mechanical Engineering degree from Osmania University. He worked in Hyderabad for a couple of years to learn about the place, its people and his place therein. His main impetus for migration was lack of opportunities and unequal treatment of minorities in India. America was a huge improvement on both counts.
New York city was farther from Akbar’s hometown of Hyderabad than it appears on the map. As opposed to the idle conversation and feel-good greetings of Hyderabad, New York was all business. Everyone is in business with almost everyone else or so it seems in NYC. Whether or not he intended to conduct any business ever, he was always evaluated on the potential benefit or harm he could cause. They were all professionally focused on their lives and their goals. Unfortunately, that focus was even more intense among the troublemakers. It was almost like everyone was performing at their peak effectiveness whether they were on the right side or the wrong side of the law.
His commute to and from work was more eventful than he would have liked. He witnessed things he had no desire to ever witness. He decided it was time to find a less interesting place where the commutes are boring and mundane.
Before he could decide where Ohio fit on this spectrum, Ohio chose him by presenting the first acceptable offer to punch his ticket out of NYC. Life was definitely calmer and people again started behaving like humans with no pre-conceived agenda. There was genuine curiosity for someone who claims to have come from the land of elephants and snake charmers. Akbar got busy building his career and seeking an MBA to buttress his Engineering degree. When it came to starting a family, he felt that it had to wait until he found a better place where his heart wants to lower the anchor.
That place was in Orange County, California where the right balance between sheer boredom and hypertension seemed to have been struck. The weather was not just the cherry on top, but the entire dessert. It made everything more pleasant.
Having achieved some degree of success Akbar felt emboldened to reach for his childhood dream and start his own business. A distribution company seemed to be the most logical business as it did not require a large sum of money to start and he could use his years of experience and contacts to gain some momentum.
Between a start up business and a start up family Akbar had no time to think about anything else. Until circumstances compelled him to consider things such as his own identity as never before.
Akbar got his personal wake up call when FBI agents visited his home in California exactly 3 days after 9-11. Professional and polite the agents did ask some uncomfortable questions which he answered thoroughly and honestly as he had nothing to hide. When they were ready to leave, he asked what prompted the visit. They said that they received an anonymous tip from someone in the neighborhood that Akbar resembled one of the hijackers. Not sure what to make of that excuse, he reminded them the fact that all the hijackers died in the plane crashes on 9-11. They smiled, thanked and went away.
That was the start of “random” checks and searches whenever he travelled. Some of these were intense and long enough to make him miss his connecting flights. He woke up to a new identity which he had not given much thought to before that. The burden of being assigned an identity of a Muslim living in the west with constant scrutiny from the government and citizens alike. It was like everyone expected nay demanded Muslims to be perfect and impeccable because every human weakness was going to be viewed as an act of malice, treachery or even terrorism.
He reconsidered being identified as Muslims if it meant association with extremist ideology. He did not give up that identity because it would have meant ceding the noble religion of Islam to the ignorant and intolerant few on the fringes of the community. Instead, he decided to become a more vocal voice for the silent and decent Muslim community who want the best for themselves, their family and their community.
Akbar also took up studying Islam, history and philosophy to understand human nature in general and the causes for Muslim decline in particular. He realized that Islam is truly a noble Deen (way of life) that aims to lift not only the Muslim community but the entire humanity to greater heights so we live a fruitful and beneficial life in this world and a rewarding existence in the hereafter.
As a student of Islam Akbar learned very early that Islam is not a religion whose goal is individual salvation. Islam wishes to make the community better for everyone living in it by mandating Muslims to be of service to each other and to non-Muslims. Islam commands Muslims to enjoin the good and deny / stop the evil (Amr bil Maroof wa Nahin Anil Munkar). Commands like these inspired him to volunteer at the local mosque where he lead the Outreach community and taught classes for the New Muslim reverts.
Akbar owns and operates a manufacturing company that exports worldwide and has employed scores of employees. He understands that being the boss is more a responsibility than a rank to be pulled to assert authority. Treating all employees most of whom were non-Muslims with respect and providing a safe and positive work environment is foremost among his responsibilities as a Muslim Business Owner.
He also wanted to engage and serve with the non-Muslims in the community. He joined the local Interfaith Council and after a few years was elected its Executive Director. He has been serving as the Executive Director for the Interfaith Council for eight years. He is recognized as the leader who brings people together to find common ground and build bonds to work for the common good of the region. He also built his reputation for speaking against injustice and delivering direct and unambiguous messages in his speech.
