Shining Star of the Month - August 2007

 Arshad Mahmood Khan, Ph.D., Los Angeles/East Majlis 

This month’s Shining Star features Arshad Mahmood Khan of Los Angeles Majlis. Arshad has always been passionate about his field in neuroscience. As a kid, Arshad stood out. While other kids might have been playing videogames, he would enjoy naming all the stars with his close friends. He enjoyed reading books that other children considered unusual, such as those on reptiles and astronomy. He was extremely passionate and curious about the intricate details encompassed in the natural world, essentially most things about science.

As a college student, Arshad would often skip class just to go in the lab to “slice brains, inject stuff into animals, and do surgery”. While he saw his peers getting research positions just to add to their resumes for medical school, Arshad did his research with passion and from a natural liking for it. He believes that research is a way to do Ibaadat of Allah and His creations- to observe their beauty. Not ironically, the first research position Arshad worked on was the study of honeybees as he knew the significance of them in the Holy Quran. He soon got published in two papers and was satisfied with his findings. After taking a neuroscience class in his senior year in college, Arshad finally found the field he had been looking for all his life. Initially he thought medical school was his only career option, but now he realized that he could study Neuroscience fulltime. Today he works with laboratory animals to study the brain sensual process when the human body has low blood sugar.

The vast number of connections Arshad makes with the Holy Quran and his findings are absolutely amazing to many. He believes that many times the Holy Quran is the biggest source of guidance he can get for his findings, as Allah is the Creator of everything and we must look to Allah for answers. Currently, Arshad serves as President of the Association of Ahmadi Muslim Scientists, USA (AAMS-USA) for which he encourages all Khuddam and Atfal who are interested in science to join (the website for this organization is http://aams.usa.googlepages.com). He further advises “If you love science, trust that instinct and nurture and cultivate that feeling by surrounding yourself daily with science, whether this means exploring it on your own, on television, on the internet, through books, or by just going out and learning about it. If you love it, and stick with it, you CAN make a career out of it!" Arshad is a living example of this.

From his early beginnings of getting his hands on books of nature, Arshad has come a long way in pursuing his passion of the observance of nature and the knowledge of science. Today he has acquired a Bachelors in Science, a Masters in Biochemistry, and a PhD in Neuroscience. Although Arshad is only starting his research, his findings may one day lead him to the cure of diabetes.

Profile compiled by Saad Karamat, Los Angeles/West Majlis.