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
The slew of prejudice against headscarves, turbans and other religious wear is absolutely unacceptable for anyone who has remote respect for diversity of ideas and other people's cultures. Thank you for bringing light on this issue.