Muslim-Americans
Turn To The Law
By William Fisher
01 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
His name is Junaid Ahmad. He
is 24 years old. And he is among a rapidly increasing number of first
generation Muslim-Americans who have decided to pursue careers in the
law.
Ahmad, who was born in Chicago,
Illinois, after his parents emigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan in 1973,
is a second-year student at William and Mary law school in Williamsburg,
Virginia. He told us he chose the law over more traditional first-generation
Americans’ choices – medicine, science and engineering –
because he cares deeply about human rights and civil liberties.
When he graduates from law
school in 2008, he says he hopes to join the legal staff of an international
human rights organization, and also do some teaching.
Ahmad says he is “worried
about the politics of fear” that the Administration of President
George W. Bush has encouraged since the terrorists attacks of September
11th 2001. He adds that “Many Muslims in America are being routinely
harassed and stereotyped and “might feel more comfortable with
lawyers who understood their language, culture and customs.”
He says his personal experience
is that, despite denials from the Department of Homeland Security and
the Department of Justice , these agencies “are practicing ethnic
profiling on a routine basis.” He recalls returning to the U.S.
from Pakistan several weeks ago, just after the alleged airliner-bombing
plot was announced in London.
“Individuals and families
with small children who seemed to look South Asian or Middle Eastern
were routinely taken out of the usual waiting lines and questioned for
hours” by agents of the Transportation Safety Administration,
a DHS agency that is in charge of airline security. “And they
were the only ones questioned,” he claims.
Active in human rights issues
ranging from the crackdown on civil and political liberties worldwide
to global economic justice during his undergraduate study at Old Dominion
University in Norfolk, Virginia, Ahmad currently serves as pro-bono
director of communications for the National Muslim Law Students’
Association, formed in 2002, as well as an Executive Board Member of
the Domestic Violence Resource Project, based in Washington, DC.
Another organization, The
National Association of Muslim Lawyers , was launched in California
in 1996 with 24 members, and now has 500. It actively partners with
the NMLSA. And half the 100 members of the Bay Area (California) Association
of Muslim Lawyers are law students, a further sign of the substantial
increase.
A spokesperson for the NMLSA,
Ms. Rufiath Yousuff, told us that firm numbers of Muslim law students
are hard to come by because law schools and law firms do not ask an
applicant’s religion. But there are currently Muslim law student
organizations at approximately 30 U.S. law schools from Berkeley to
Yale.
Ms. Yousuff says her organization
currently has 249 subscribers, “with at least 50 joining last
year alone.” Members include law graduates, law students and college
students interested in law.
She told us, “After
9/11 there came a shocking realization that there were not enough Muslims
in the profession to protect the rights of Muslims both within the U.S.
and also the international community. And, that those who did not profess
the Muslim faith may not understand the subtle dimensions and intentions
of those who practiced their faith or culture in a manner that peripherally
seemed un-American, when in reality no treason was intended.”
She cites the Muslim obligation
to give to charity, one of the five pillars of Islam. “A Muslim
may send money to another country or organization and be arrested for
allegedly materially aiding a terrorist country. In such a situation,
a Muslim lawyer could identify their intent in such an act, while being
aware of the legal mechanisms to secure their release.”
Ms. Yousuff told us, “9/11
certainly impacted upon the career choice of many Muslim students. Moreover,
there is an acknowledgment amongst the American Muslim legal community,
particularly those working in the civil rights areas, that they are
in essence amongst the first generation of the current Muslim civil
rights movement. Like Brown v. Board of Education, some of the precedents
that will be set in relation to Muslims and their plight will be set
by those who struggle in this cause today.”
However, she adds, “Not
all Muslim Americans entering law now are intending to join in the cause.
Many will be doing it for exactly the same reason as any other American
student; namely, fame, fortune, a comfortable lifestyle or an interest
in a particular legal area. And in reality it would be foolish if Muslims
limited themselves to one field alone. Times will inevitably change,
or at least this is my hope, and when it does, I, with many others in
the Muslim community, hope that Muslims will contribute to society via
expertise in various areas of law.”
This view is supported by
Samer Shehata, Assistant Professor of Arab Politics at the Center for
Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. He told us, “I
do not doubt that harassment experienced in the period since 9/11 has
increased Muslim-Americans’ interests in issues such as discrimination,
civil rights, and the law. But it is also the case that as the children
of immigrants grow up (and as their parents become more settled and
established), they increasingly attend colleges and universities.”
But the motivations of NMLSA
members appear to lean heavily toward the civil liberties area.
Typical is Omar Khawaja,
a J.D. Candidate at Catholic University of America, Columbus School
of Law in Washington, D.C. He says, “After 9/11 and the ensuing
debate over whether it was possible to be a practicing Muslim and patriotic
American, it was clear to me that policy makers in Washington D.C. needed
greater input from Muslim Americans. While working on Capitol Hill,
I decided that law school would help me become a better advocate for
Muslim and Muslim American causes. Despite the circumstances, I'm grateful
at having the opportunity to work in the legal field and make a positive
contribution to society as a Muslim American.”
This attitude is being expressed
in a variety of ways. For example, lawyers and law students are going
into the community to teach Muslims about civil rights. In Santa Clara,
California, a legal clinic at a local mosque offers free community consultations.
And Muslim lawyers are taking on cases such as the Muslim woman who
says she is on the Transportation Security Administration's no-fly list
in error, and another who says she lost her job because she wore a hijab,
or head-scarf.