Recordings of talks that Baba Ali has delivered at the Muslim Community Center - East Bay in Pleasanton, CA. Recordings of talks that Baba Ali has delivered at the Muslim Community Center - East Bay in Pleasanton, CA.
Recordings of talks that Baba Ali has delivered at the Muslim Community Center - East Bay in Pleasanton, CA.
- More Ali Ardekani: http://mcceastbay.org/baba-ali
Ali Ardekani (Persian: علی اردکانی; born October 11, 1974), best known by his stage name Baba Ali (Persian: بابا علی), is an Iranian-born American comedian, games developer, businessman, and actor. Although born into a Persian family from Ardakan, Ardekani was raised in a secular irreligious household in Los Angeles.
From the age of 18, he studied many religions, including Wicca. At 20, Ardekani converted to Islam after attending an Islamic camp. He belonged to a wealthy family who did not accept his conversion to Islam and subsequently disinherited him.
Ardekani worked in the IT field in California He and Mahdi Ahmad founded Ummah Films, a Muslim film company that provides Halal (Islamically permissible) entertainment to Muslims and non-Muslims. In 2006, Ardekani rose to prominence within the online Muslim community with Ummah Films, which discusses various Islamic topics using humor. The company has produced several web series, including The Reminder Series and Ask Baba Ali. Ardekani has appeared on the Islam Channel and has become a frequent guest at various Muslim conferences and events, including the ICNA-MAS convention, Evening of Inspiration, the Global Peace and Unity Event, and MuslimFest.
Ardekani has also designed two board games. In 2005, he created Mecca to Medina, a board game about trading and negotiating with an Islamic theme that all religions can play. Seven people invested $18,000 and made a 24% profit.
In 2010, he designed Kalimaat, a word game about shared knowledge and memory in the same genre as Taboo.
In 2011, Ardekani founded the Muslim matrimonial website Half Our Deen. Ardekani has traveled the world doing stand-up to a wide range of Muslim and non-Muslim audiences. He has performed over 400 events worldwide, including in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, for audiences as large as 40,000.
His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times and featured in seven episodes of DirecTV's The Fizz News. In 2015, he starred alongside Omar Regan in the comedy film American Sharia.
Ardekani avoids grandstanding and politicizing issues by simply telling it like it is. However, instead of mocking Islam, he uses a comical approach without using offensive material.
His sharp-witted style takes a realistic look at the everyday issues Muslims face, including being a Muslim teen in America, attending Muslim weddings, and dealing with cultural issues that have impacted Muslims.
- More Ali Ardekani: http://mcceastbay.org/baba-ali
Baba Ali
In the same style as Comedy Central's John Stewart or HBO's Bill Maher, Baba Ali cuts through the muck of grandstanding and politicizing issues by simply telling it like it is. But instead of mocking Islam, he uses a comical approach that hits the mark with almost every viewer, without using any offensive material.
The sharp-witted style takes a realistic look at the everyday issues Muslims are confronted with, including being a Muslim teen in America, attending Muslim weddings, and dealing with cultural issues that have impacted Muslims.
"In my opinion, Islam is the most misunderstood religion around," said Ali. "Not just by non-Muslims, but by Muslims as well."
Being in high demand, Baba Ali has been traveling the world doing stand-up to a wide range of Muslim and non-Muslim audiences. He has spent the past two years traveling to over 30 cities and has performed all over the US, UK and Canada. Performing for audiences as large as 37,000 and for all ages including youth as young as nine, Ali has received rave reviews in the NY Times, USA Today and the LA Times as well as been featured in seven episodes of Direct TV's "The Fizz News."
What started out as simple YouTube blog has turned into something that people all over the world are ready to hear more about, giving Ali the opportunity to travel all over the world to perform his rare one-of-a-kind stand-up.
Recordings of talks that Baba Ali has delivered at the Muslim Community Center - East Bay in Pleasanton, CA. Recordings of talks that Baba Ali has delivered at the Muslim Community Center - East Bay in Pleasanton, CA.