| Home | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Birth:1932Scientist The scientist who established molecular biology and pioneered into how genes produce proteins, Professor Obaid Siddiqi became a key figure in the field and has left his legacy of a flourishing research base in India. Born in Basti district, Utter Pradesh, India, Obaid Siddiqi graduated from Aligarh Muslim University ...
Birth:1936Egypt's long-time spy chief The former long-term intelligence chief, better known as the Mukhabarat, Omar Suleiman stepped briefly into the limelight when he was appointed vice-president during the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. He left Egypt after a failed bid to run in the country's first-ever free presidential elections in ...
Birth:1944Syrian documentary filmmaker One of the most lauded documentary filmmaker Omar Amiralay whose chief theme was, apart from the devastating impact of Baathist policies on the Syrian poor, civil war in Lebanon, the plight of the Palestinians there during the Israeli siege of Beirut in 1982 and revolution in Yemen. His ...
Birth:1984Tunisia's 2008 Olympian. He won gold medal in 1500m freestyle swimming in 14:40.84 time in Beijing 2008 Olympic and beat Australian double Olympic champion and world record holder. This is Tunisia's first Olympic gold in swimming. Mellouli returned after a 15-month ban for a doping offence.
Birth:1925Sudanese calligrapher of international repute He had his first solo exhibition in Khartoum in 1952, and in 1954, founded Studio Osman, which became a flourishing business specialising in graphic design and calligraphic commissions. He showed his works in a variety of exhibitions outside Sudan such as first one in London, in 1969. Following ...
Birth:1953Writer whose novels make a uniquely Turkish contribution to world literature Orhan Pamuk is a celebrity, garlanded with prizes from Europe and the US, and a best-seller at home and abroad. He shines a light on the tensions between past and present. Both My Name is Red and Snow, his ...
Birth:1932Egyptian film-actor of international repute. Omar Sharif acted in many hit-films - Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Genghis Khan (1965), Dr. Zivago (1965), Funny Girl (1968), Che! (1969), The Last Valley (1970), The Tamarind Seed (1974), Juggernaut (1974), The Mysterious Island of Captain Nemo (1974), Funny Lady (1975), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Mr. Ibrahim ...
Birth:1915South African Muslim scholar and anti-apartheid campaigner. Omar Cassem was an Arabic scholar, anti-apartheid campaigner in South Africa, calligrapher, interior designer, poet and angler. Omar acted as a spokesman against the hated Group Areas Act (passed soon after the National Party came to power in 1948) under which the expropriation of ...
Birth:1882The founder of Sarekat Islam an Islamic political organisation in Indonesia, in 1911 to protect the Javanese from Chinese traders. The Sarekat Degang Islam (Association of Islamic Traders) was established in 1911 to promote the interests of the Indonesian Muslim traders, who were facing competition from the Chinese. Umar Said re-organised it ...
Birth:1832Turkish General Osman Pasha became a national hero of the Turks when he defeated the Russians who crossed the Danube, at Pleven (Bulgaria) in 1877-78, and earned the title of 'Ghazi'. Osman Pasha served in the Crimean War (1853-56) and in the suppression of insurrection in Yemen in 1871. He also ...
