Law school can be one of the most challenging experiences of a student’s academic career. But imagine balancing law school while publishing editorials in The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone and USA Today.
Arsalan Iftikhar, a second-year law student at Washington University and resident advisor in Small Group Housing, does just this when he isn’t studying legal briefs or helping fellow students in Small Group Building 1.
Iftikhar, 24, has been greatly involved with Muslim advocacy in St. Louis and the country since his first year of law school and especially since the events of September 11.
Most recently, he participated in the interfaith trilogue for peace in Palestine, held last month at WU, which focused on promoting awareness of the growing tension between Palestinians and Israelis in the Holy Land.
Iftikhar, born in Norfolk, VA and currently residing in Chicago, IL, has been interested in Muslim advocacy since the earliest years of his life. He commented on how his parents would receive negative remarks based on aspects of their culture, such as the way they dressed.
“My mother is Pakistani and she wears a traditional dress. I remember when I was little, [I] would be in a shopping center with her, and [I] would hear ignorant people say things like ‘dot-head,” said Iftikhar.
In general, he said he felt that it was people’s lack of understanding that led to the negative portrayal of Muslims in America.
“I remember the ignorance of Americans: when people don’t understand something they tend to shun it away,” he said.
Iftikhar said that after attending Avery-Coonley, a private middle school of only 20 people, he was shocked by moving into a pool of over two thousand students at high school.
There he served as an ambassador for his culture to others because he was one of the few Muslim students at the school. His activities included speaking to other students about Islam and its culture.
When Iftikhar first came to WU as an undergraduate, however, he found that the small size of WU’s Muslim community had benefits and setbacks.
“[The Muslim Student Association] is a very, very close-knit group of individuals. On the one hand we are close because we are very small; on the other hand it serves as a disadvantage because of the lack of power in numbers,” said Iftikhar.
Iftikhar noted the recent cancellation of Salman Rushdie’s visit to WU as an example of a situation where a larger Muslim community might have had more influence.
“If there were a few hundred Muslims here, the administration would have looked at the situation very differently,” he said. Many Muslim students on campus were opposed to Rushdie’s possible admission onto campus.
Following his undergraduate years in college, Iftikhar stayed at WU to study law, and later became heavily involved with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He became the head of the St. Louis chapter two years ago and serves as the Midwest’s communications director for the organization at large.
Since September 11, Iftikhar reported an increase in the number of cases involving the violation of the rights of Muslims.
“[The Council on American-Islamic Relations] usually receive 300 reports of hate crimes annually. Since September 11, there have been over 1,100 alone in the last two and a half months, including some murders of Muslim store owners,” said Iftikhar.
The new wave of interest in Islamic culture because of the events of September 11 helped Iftikhar’s cause get national publicity.
“By the grace of God I have had great exposure in these two months. Things that I want to do for my entire life, I am getting to do right now,” he said.
In addition to publications in national newspapers like The New York Times and Washington Post, Iftikhar appeared on ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings as a result of his newspaper exposure.
Ironically, Iftikhar does not plan to become a lawyer following his completion of law school. Instead, he would like to go to Washington D.C. to pursue a larger role in the Council of American-Islamic Relations.
“I don’t want to practice law, and never wanted to. To me, law is a means to an end, and it is more of a credential. I’d like to [continue] my work with my organization,” said Iftikhar.
Contact Rajas at [email protected]