From Christian Science Monitor
September 11, 2008
AFTER 9/11, SOME LIVES RECAST FOR GREATER GOOD
by Jane Lampman, Staff Writer Christian Science Monitor
Arsalan Iftikhar, ‘clash’ dispeller
For Arsalan Iftikhar, Sept. 11 is indelibly marked as “the most important day of my life.”
A second-year law student at Washington University in St. Louis the day the planes hit, the articulate young Muslim American realized immediately what was at stake.
“I knew that getting the message out was of paramount importance, and I drafted a condemnation of terrorism [op-ed] to send to every major newspaper in the country,” he says. Several published it, and his role as a public spokesman on Islam was launched.
Upon graduation, the human rights lawyer joined the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in Washington D.C., as its national legal director, and interacted with government agencies on hate crime incidents, as well as the USA Patriot Act and other law-enforcement initiatives.
His mission, he says, is to dispel the theory of a clash of civilizations in US and global venues and to play a part in “making a better world for all.”
In March, Mr. Iftikhar participated in the BBC Doha Debates in Qatar, arguing that “Muslims are failing to do enough to combat extremism.” (He and his partner won the debate.)
At home, he’s seen peaks and valleys in American attitudes toward Islam. The whisper campaign against Sen. Barack Obama as being “some sort of a crypto-Muslim” shows how entrenched some negative attitudes are, he says.
Now a contributing editor for Islamica magazine and a commentator for National Public Radio, Iftikhar is marking the seventh anniversary by launching his own website, “The Muslim Guy,” to help take the discourse away from extremists.
“I want people to know we are not only part and parcel of American society but at the forefront of trying to make it a better place,” he adds.
