Who is Yasir Qadhi?Yasir Qadhi is an American Muslim scholar and writer of Pakistani descent. Since 2001, he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Texas. He also teaches in the Religious Studies department at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where he resides. Qadhi has written numerous books and lectured widely on Islam and contemporary Muslim issues. A 2011 The New York Times Magazine essay by Andea Elliott described Qadhi as "one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam."
Who was Hagar?According to the Book of Genesis, Hagar is an Egyptian slave, a hand-maiden of Sarah, whom Sarah gave to her own husband Abram (later renamed Abraham) as a wife to bear him a child. Abraham's firstborn son through Hagar, Ishmael, became the progenitor of the Ishmaelites, generally taken to be the Arabs. Various commentators have connected her to the Hagrites (sons of Agar), perhaps claiming her as their eponymous ancestor. Hagar is alluded to, although not named, in the Quran, and Islam considers her Abraham's second wife.
Who are ONS?The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the official national statistical institute of the United Kingdom.