Victor Begg

In 1979, Begg began his entrepreneurial career in international lumber trade with his first company, International Forest Products, Inc.[2] After a year in the business, he used the money he earned selling Oregonian lumber to the Caribbean market and invested his entire life savings in Naked Furniture, an ready-to-finish and custom-finished furniture franchise based in Naperville, Illinois. After 33 years in the business, Begg and his wife closed the last of his five Naked Furniture franchises in 2014.[3]

In the midst of opening the first of his Naked Furniture franchises, Begg began to invest time as a leader in metro-Detroit.[4] In the early 1980s, he co-founded an umbrella organization that would eventually become the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan (CIOM) focused on “civic, interfaith, media and other forums to represent a ‘singular’ community voice.”[4] The council was formally established in 1988 and incorporated in 1993.[5] During the incorporation phase, Begg established the Muslim Unity Center mosque in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan with the intention of creating an inclusive environment for a diversity of ethnic groups and various schools of thought within Islam.[6] He has been widely regarded as a religious leader for Muslims in metro-Detroit since the 1980s.[7]

After establishing the CIOM and the Muslim Unity Center in the 1990s, Begg headed the Muslim American Alliance. The group focused on media, networking and advocacy, and Begg effectively became a spokesman for the community where he fielded queries from journalists and offered perspective on issues affecting Islamic communities.[1]

Into the 2000s, Begg and CIOM led several interfaith efforts to unite religious leaders in metro-Detroit and beyond. As a board member of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion and other interfaith groups, Begg attended a gathering of religious leaders in Dearborn the day after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in Dearborn. At that meeting, he challenged community members to not settle for a “kumbaya moment ”but to work toward meeting change, eventually leading to the establishment of the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit, which today still gathers community members and leads community-based initiatives.[1]

In 2007, then-CIOM-chairmen Begg organized Sunni and Shi’ite leaders in Michigan to sign a peace pact affirming their commitment to speak out against conflicts between the two sects.[8][9] Then in 2009, Begg began a collaboration with Jewish community volunteers in metro-Detroit called “Mitzvah Day,” where non-profit Islamic and Jewish groups collaborated to feed and clothe local residents on and around Christmas.[10][11] In 2011, Begg, alongside Jewish and Chaldean leaders, organized an Interfaith Health Fair run by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Detroit and the CIOM.[12]

Throughout 2012, Begg spoke out against Muslim violence in response to the publishing of "Innocence of Muslims," a film critical of Muhammad and the Muslim faith.[13] That same year, CIOM merged with the Islamic Shura Council of Michigan in 2012 to form the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC), which continues to “pursue social justice” and “promote the best Islamic and American values.”[5] Additionally, the Unity Center still serves the metro-Detroit Islamic community today.

In 2013, Begg criticized McDonald's for rolling back the decision to sell halal food in Dearborn after a $700,000 settlement against the restaurant chain that alleged the menu items were not consistently halal.[14]

Currently, Begg serves as a guest columnist for several Michigan- and Florida-based newspapers. He has published work in the Treasure Coast Palm,[15] Detroit Free Press,[16] USA Today,[17] Florida Today,[18] and Lebanon Daily News,[19] among others. He has also made guest appearances on several national news and regional media outlets, including ABC, CBS, FOX, NPR, Los Angeles Times and USA Today.[20] His columns often revolve around acknowledging and working to resolve conflicts worldwide involving Muslims and tensions surrounding Muslim-Americans.[21] Begg is a self-proclaimed supporter of the Republican Party.[22]

In February 2019, Begg released his first full-length book, a memoir entitled Our Muslim Neighbors: Achieving the American Dream, an Immigrant's Memoir.[23]