Dr. Adam Soltani is a nationally recognized nonprofit executive, educator, and advocate known for his leadership in civil rights, interfaith engagement, and community development. He served for more than a decade as Executive Director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, where he led initiatives focused on advocacy, refugee support, civic engagement, and religious freedom. In 2026, he earned his PhD in Islamic Leadership from Bayan Islamic Graduate School, further advancing his work at the intersection of faith, leadership, and public service. Soltani currently serves as Chief Programs Officer at Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, supporting nonprofit leadership and organizational development across the state. He is also a frequent speaker and educator on diversity, social justice, and interfaith collaboration, and has been recognized with honors including the Oklahoma Human Rights Award and Interfaith Leadership Award.

Your contributions allow us to sustain students from diverse backgrounds who are driven by moral courage- students like Omar Regan, the 2025 recipient of the Muhammad Ali Scholarship for Spiritual Leadership.

Raised in Detroit, Omar's life was shaped by resilience and conviction. Following the tragic loss of his father in 2009, Omar deepened his resolve to use storytelling, laughter, and faith as tools for healing. A celebrated comedian, filmmaker, and khateeb, his acclaimed feature film American Sharia brought global audiences a message of justice and compassion in the face of bias. Today, at Bayan, Omar is deepening his theological knowledge and chaplaincy training, learning to channel his creative voice into a profound pastoral presence. Your gifts make it possible to nurture leaders like Omar, who use their platforms to inspire, uplift, and serve humanity with unshakable faith and fearless love.

Muslema Purmul is a graduate of Bayan and serves as Assistant Religious Director at The Majlis, a community organization she co-founded with her husband to cultivate safe spaces for learning and living Islam in the American context.

Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and raised in San Diego, California, she earned a double major in Religious Studies and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of California, San Diego. She later spent seven years in Egypt, completing a Bachelor's degree in Sharia from Al-Azhar University and pursuing graduate studies in Islamic Studies at the American University in Cairo.

Since returning to the United States, Muslema has served Muslim communities through religious instruction, youth development, chaplaincy, pastoral care, and public speaking. She has taught and presented nationally and internationally on topics related to Islamic law, ethics, and contemporary Muslim life.