Nouri Sardar (1990) is a poet and filmmaker born and raised in London. His poetry focuses on the Ahlulbayt the Prophet Muhammad and his family), on divine love, spirituality and on issues of social justice. He has published six books of poetry and produced multiple albums commemorating the epic of Ashura. Through books, albums and videos, his poetry is read and heard avidly by readers and listeners worldwide. As a filmmaker, Nouri has produced and directed dozens of documentaries and short films tackling various issues that affect the Muslim community.

Nouri was born in London, England to a Sunni/Sufi family. His paternal and maternal grandparents emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s. Nouri converted to Shi’a Islam in 2005.

Nouri first began writing poetry about the Ahlulbayt in 2007. After sharing his poetry online, writing poetry for numerous reciters, and reciting poetry locally with the support of his close friends and community, he eventually published is first poetry collection, ‘We Remember’ (2009), followed by ’Speaking Tears’ (2010), ‘Household of Gold’ (2012), ‘Beginning and End’ (2014), ‘Fourteen’ (2016) and ‘Pillars of Light’ (2023). He has since travelled the world reciting poetry about the Ahlulbayt.

In 2011, he released his first spoken word album in collaboration with artist Ali Fadhil entitled ‘Hussain to Me’. He was followed by the album ‘No Other Day’ in 2013. In 2014 he collaborated with multiple reciters of various backgrounds and styles to release the album ‘The 10th’, followed by ‘Never Ending’ (2015), ‘Hussain Never Died’ (2016), ‘Karbala Eternal’ (2018), ‘Duty’ (2019), ‘Fortieth’ (2020) and ‘My King’ (2022).

In 2016, Nouri began writing and performing spoken word poems on issues of divine love and social justice. Notable poems he performed on Donald Trump’s infamous 2016 Muslim Ban and the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy in London, England went viral on social media. He has since performed his spoken word poems in prestigious universities such as Yale and Harvard, and to diverse crowds.

Professionally, Nouri works as a filmmaker directing brand films and other commercial projects, as well as having produced dozens of documentaries tackling various issues that affect the Muslim community. His most notable project was a ten-episode documentary series titled ‘The Shia of America’ (2021), which tracked the history of Shia Muslims in the United States from the late 1800s to the present day.

Nouri was also the co-host and creator of 786 Boulevard, a podcast dedicated to conversations at the intersection of artistic expression, culture and spirituality, interviewing Muslims of diverse backgrounds working in numerous artistic fields. The podcast featured on The National’s top 11 podcasts with inspiring Muslim voices, alongside the Obama-produced ‘Tell Them I Am’ podcast, as well as others.

Nouri emigrated to the United States in 2022, and is currently residing in Dearborn, Michigan.

Publications:

We Remember (2009)
Speaking Tears (2010)
Household of Gold (2012)
Beginning and End (2014)
Fourteen (2016)
Pillars of Light (2023)

Albums:

Hussain To Me (2011)
No Other Day (2013)
The 10th (2014)
Never Ending (2015)
Hussain Never Died (2016)
Karbala Eternal (2018)
Duty (2019)
Forteith (2020)
My King (2022)

Website: www.NouriSardar.com
Twitter and Instagram: @NouriSardar
Facebook: facebook.com/NouriSardarOfficial