Victor Begg

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Victor Begg, born Mirza Ghalib Begg in 1947 in Hyderabad, India, is an Indian-born Muslim American author, philanthropist, and community leader. In the 1980s he ran Naked Furniture stores in metro Detroit and helped start a group that became the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan (CIOM). CIOM was established in 1988 and incorporated in 1993. Begg also founded the Muslim Unity Center mosque in Bloomfield Hills to welcome people from different Muslim backgrounds.

Since the 1980s he has been a leading religious voice in metro Detroit. In the 1990s he led the Muslim American Alliance, serving as a spokesman on issues affecting Muslim communities. In 2007 he helped Sunni and Shi’ite leaders in Michigan sign a peace pact, pledging to stand against sectarian conflicts. In 2009 he started Mitzvah Day, a partnership with Jewish volunteers to help local residents around Christmas. In 2011 he organized an Interfaith Health Fair with Jewish and Assyrian community leaders.

In 2012 Begg spoke out against violence after the film Innocence of Muslims. In 2013 he criticized McDonald’s for stopping halal food in Dearborn after a settlement over halal standards. Today he writes guest columns for newspapers in Michigan and Florida and has appeared on national and regional outlets such as ABC, CBS, FOX, NPR, and the Los Angeles Times. His writing often focuses on resolving conflicts involving Muslims and on Muslim-American concerns. He identifies as a Republican. In February 2019 he published his first full-length book, Our Muslim Neighbors: Achieving the American Dream, an Immigrant's Memoir. He married Lata Shanbhag in 1975, and they have three children.