Since we were examining Australian Muslim athletes I thought it would be appropriate to look back on a Rugby Union star who happens to be a part of the Ummah. Hazem El-Masry was one of the greatest rugby players in Australian history.

Read more about him here:

The Muslim Observer.

Athlete Tag: Hazem El-Masri

Highly accomplished Muslim athletes can be found the world over if you look hard enough. Bachar Houli just so happens to be a stud Australian Rules Football player. And, oh by the way, he's a stud Muslim as well, as he was in Mecca this past week performing Hajj. Pictured here with his wife Rouba, Houli is also very active in his charity work, when he's not busy in an Aussie scrum.

Read more about Bachar at:

The Muslim Observer.

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Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs organization have promoted Shiraz Rehman to the position of Assistant General Manager. Rehman has been with the Cubs baseball organization for a handful of years. Prior to that he worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Here is my full story:

The Muslim Observer.

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Russian winger Nail Yakupov was the first overall selection in the National Hockey League draft yesterday by the Edmonton Oilers. The offensively-gifted winger is a Muslim who originally hails from the Tatarstan region of Russia. He chose to come to North America to further his NHL prospects, rather than take the greater paychecks of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia as many young Russian phenoms do. Yakupov plays for Sarnia in the Ontario Hockey League.

Here is an interview that Yakupov gave to OilersNation.com. As you can see, he may admit to not being super-religious, he does point out his identity as a Muslim. And I think he clearly does the same by wearing this prayer cap in his press photos.

The 5'11", 185 lb Yakupov now joints Nazem Kadri as the most prominent Muslims in professional hockey. And Yakupov joins Hakeem Olajuwon as the only Muslims taken first overall in their respective drafts. Kareem Abdul Jabbar could perhaps be added to that list, but he was still named Lew Alcindor when he was taken first overall by the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks in 1969 and I'm not sure if he had converted to Islam by that time. Well, that's a bit of a technicality. Let's just put the three of them in that group. And perhaps they'll be joined by a fourth Muslim: incoming UCLA freshman basketball star Shabazz Muhammad, who is expected to stay in school no more than a year before taking his impressive talents to the NBA. Mubarak to Nail Yakupov!

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