About arsalan.iftikhar
Arsalan Iftikhar is an international human rights lawyer and Contributing Editor for Islamica magazine; a contemporary global affairs magazine headquartered in Los Angeles and with editorial offices in London, Amman and Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also the founder of www.TheMuslimGuy.com and a regular weekly contributor on the Barbershop segment for the National Public Radio (NPR) show ‘Tell Me More’ with Michel Martin.
His interviews, commentaries and analyses have regularly appeared in virtually every major media outlet in the world including: CNN, BBC World News, The TODAY Show, National Public Radio (NPR), FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Associated Press, C-SPAN, Voice of America (VOA), Al-Jazeera, Agence France-Presse (AFP), USA TODAY, NBC Nightly News, The Washington Post, ABC World News Tonight, Los Angeles Times, CBS News Up to the Minute, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, TIME, The Economist and Newsweek magazines (among dozens others worldwide).
He is also a regular contributor to CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 blog at AC360.com and his opinion columns have appeared in major publications such as: USA TODAY, CNN.com, Houston Chronicle, Detroit Free Press, The Providence Journal, San Diego Union-Tribune, Charlotte Observer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald and many more.
In March 2008, Arsalan was one of four international debaters selected to participate in The Doha Debates on BBC World Television. The Doha Debates are broadcast to over 300 million people worldwide on BBC World Service Television and its stage has been shared with the likes of Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former United States President Bill Clinton.
In addition to The Doha Debates, some of Arsalan’s other international speaking venues have included: Harvard University, Stanford University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, University of Michigan School of Law, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and The British Museum in London.
Additionally, Arsalan was cast as a Hollywood movie ‘featured extra’ in the Warner Brothers spy movie thriller Body of Lies (October 2008) starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. He was also a contributing author to Keeping Out the Other (Columbia University Press) and Taking Back Islam (Rodale Press); winner of the 2003 Wilbur Communications Award for Religion Book of the Year. In 2006, the French Ambassador to the United States personally named him to the Personnalités d’Avenir (Personalities of the Future) World Leader Program in Paris sponsored by the French Foreign Ministry.
Arsalan graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1999 and received his law doctorate from Washington University School of Law in 2003. A native of Chicago, he specializes in international human rights law and is licensed to practice law in Washington DC.
Arsalan's Global Website: www.TheMuslimGuy.com
Arsalan on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/TheMuslimGuy
Arsalan on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/TheMuslimGuy
I am wary of these arguments.
The fact that Americans are completely self-absorbed goes without saying, and how many in this country know a thing about Bollywoood? India?
Is all of India really laughing at America, or those people who have access to cultural literacy?
Just asking.
Raise awareness, but also maintain respect for the men and women who simply work to survive, on both sides of the world.
IMO, this is just as much a class issue as a race/ethnic issue.
But who am I to say.
Personally, I think it might do Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise good to be held for a few hours at an airport, to see how they react, what it says about their character. I wonder about the true status of suffering celebrity, whatever their nationality.
How would Gandhi, Jesus, or the Buddha have responded, as a victim?
The world is full of real victims, this incident is illustrative and instructive, and only moral insofar as it would speak to "being brown." Let it raise awareness, but let's not spend too much time fawning over "cause c
Could it get any more stupid than frisking former Indian president ( A. P. J. Abdul Kalam) at a Indian airport which is flying to U.S.A? It's almost impossible to assume someone's intention behind these actions. But if our interpretation is that this is some kind of racial profiling, then the best we can do is forgive for the ignorance and the constant inner violence in the minds of these people. Violent intenal dialogue is being in hell at all times. The catch is that we are unware that we are in hell and continue to suffer. We have a internal need to idignify others to feel secure and etablish our sense of self esteem. That being said, seem's like highly aware and informed Mr. President chose the option to forgive and move on. Great role model.
I do agree with Word Bandit. We cannot presume the intention of interrogation.