[jjotto]

That’s backwards. Shariff was born Roman Catholic and converted to Islam as an adult. He is not Hugh Fitzgerald. The misunderstanding might come from just reading a headline (and not the article) at jihadwatch:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/06/ill-bet-you-never-guessed-that-omar-sharif-and-hugh-fitzgerald-were-the-same-person.html

[Reily]

I think Omar was born a Coptic Christian, then converted to Islam in order to marry the top 1960s Egyptian female film star. (I put the word female in there because remember we are talking about actors here!)