Cyrus McGoldrick is a Muslim activist, artist, and academic, born in the United States and living in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Cyrus graduated from Columbia University in 2010 with a B.A. in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. He was a lifetime artist and musician, performing throughout the US and publishing a book of poetry, I of the Garden, in 2014. In those years he also dedicated himself to the revival, organization, and defense of Islam in the West, working as a director for the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Coalition for Civil Freedoms (CCF), and the Islamic Leadership Council (Majlis ash-Shura) of Metropolitan New York. He served in advisory roles with Getting Out & Staying Out, Turning Point for Women and Families, and the Aafia Foundation. He became a prominent leader in New York’s Muslim communities and the regional social justice and anti-war movement, and traveled globally in support of Islamic causes.

In 2015 Cyrus moved to Istanbul to pursue graduate education at Ibn Haldun University and traditional Islamic studies, completing an M.A. in 2018 and now working on a Ph.D. In 2017 his chapter on the political thought of Kalim Siddiqui was published in the edited volume Al-Deen wa l-Insaan wa l-‘Aalam (Tahreer, Arabic language). In 2019, his translation from Turkish to English of Recep Şentürk’s Malcolm X: The Struggle for Human Rights was published by Claritas Books. To Asim Qureshi’s edited volume I Refuse to Condemn (Manchester University Press, 2020), he contributed the chapter “It is Allah that Condemns.”

Since 2016 Cyrus has worked with master silversmiths in Istanbul to develop Hoodhood Culture, a boutique selling handcrafted sterling silver rings and other fine gifts rooted in the Islamic tradition.

In March 2026, Cyrus launched The Young Uncles Podcast, co-hosting the Istanbul-based program with Bosnian-Australian actor-filmmaker Reshad Strik, reaching thousands of subscribers and millions of views within two months.

For 15 years Cyrus’s insights on Islam and the West have made him a respected and sought-after educator and consultant for schools, universities, conferences, think tanks, media, and social movements across the United States and internationally.

Contact: cyrus.mcgoldrick@gmail.com | Book Cyrus through The Eventive.