Omar Sacirbey

Astaghfirullah is an Arabic expression known to Muslims the world over, no matter what language they speak. Roughly translated, it means “I ask forgiveness from God.” Muslim parents employ it regularly to express exasperation with kids who sneak out on dates or go dancing, while some Muslims use it to condemn drinking alcohol or excessive shows of vanity. Ahmed Nassef, Jawad Ali and Sarah Eltantawi have had more than a few Astaghfirullah’s heaped upon them. MuslimWakeUp.com is an upstart online magazine that Nassef and Ali, both business and technology consultants, started two years ago and to which Eltantawi, a long-time Muslim activist, contributes. It had questioned some of Islam’s most established practices and ridiculed some of its most venerated scholars. (L to R) Jawad Ali, Ahmed Nassef and Sarah Eltantawi at Amir’s on March 17, the night before the big Friday prayer, toasting “the end of patriarchy.” On the eve of what the trio said would be a watershed event in more than 1,400 years of Islamic history, the three sat in Amir’s, a small