Zafar spent his first four years in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. After the birth of his younger brother Omar, his family moved and settled in Troy, Michigan. Having once been a shy young boy, Zafar slowly became involved in the local Islamic community at the Islamic Association of Greater Detroit. His parents guided him with a strong focus on academics and athletics to complement the Islamic foundation that they built at home. In school, he exhibited a knack for math and the sciences. After school, Zafar was busy playing tennis, soccer and basketball.

It wasn’t until college, where Zafar studied Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, that he developed a love for writing and performing music. He began participating in qawwali and nasheed at Muslim Students Association functions. This sparked a new interest in Indo-Pakistani devotional music such as naat and qawwali, as well as Arabic nasheed. While exploring this new area of musical interests, he continued to follow some western R & B styles, as well as other styles in which groups would bring multiple voices together to build rich and smooth harmonies.

Zafar began to bring these influences together, trying new ideas vocally by organizing a qawwali performance which playfully incorporated rap and hiphop. With audiences of up to 4,000 people, it became apparent to Zafar that he had found a means of helping to spread the message of Islam. Zafar quietly watched as others attempted to build vocalist groups and performed at MSA functions and other community activities. At that point, Shahaab, of then disbanded group “Soundz of Heaven,” extended an invitation to Zafar to join the group in singing at a friend’s wedding. After having performed together, they decided to remain together in order pursue something bigger. Upon Zafar’s suggestion, the group agreed that the best way for the group to use the gift of voice and harmony that Allah had blessed them with was to direct their talents towards delivering an Islamic message to anyone that was willing to listen.

Zafar has a B.S.E. degree in Chemical Engineering and a M.S.E. degree in Biomedical Engineering. While busy with SEVEN8SIX, Zafar continues to do research at the University of Michigan, working on the design and development of microfluidic “Lab-on-a-Chip” DNA diagnostic devices. InshaAllah he plans to pursue an MD/PhD and aspires to a career in medical research. In the meantime, he hopes that SEVEN8SIX can positively influence Muslim youth around the world.