The new role of Muslim chaplains

HARTFORD, CONN. – When Trinity College students return to their snow-bitten campus next week, for the first time they will discover a Muslim chaplain working there. Sohaib Nazeer Sultan is one of only a handful of Muslim chaplains at colleges and universities across the country.

But as the number of Muslim college students continues to grow - along with the desire to understand religious and cultural complexities at play in a post-9/11 world - more schools are hiring Muslim chaplains.

Mr. Sultan is a slight man with a soothing demeanor. In khaki pants, a navy tunic, and square, dark-rimmed glasses he could easily pass for a young graduate student.

In many ways, he seems older and wiser than his 24 years. He has already written a book - "The Koran for Dummies" - published last year. He speaks of the need to create a culture not just of tolerance, but of acceptance. He sees his job as a Muslim chaplain as a divine calling.

Yet he's also down-to-earth, self-deprecating, and compassionate when he discusses the many obstacles - both spiritual and secular - that young Muslims on their own for the first time are likely to encounter.

In 1999 Georgetown University hired Yahya Hendi - the first full-time Muslim chaplain at an American university. Today, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) estimates that 14 institutions of higher education provide for a Muslim chaplain.

In the past - and still at many schools today - a volunteer from the community would fill the role of spiritual adviser and advocate for Muslim students. Frequently, a student leads fellow students in prayer.

Before Sept. 11, many of these leaders were international students with strong backgrounds in Islam, well-versed in both Arabic and the Koran, says Ingrid Mattson, director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program at Hartford Seminary. But recent visa restrictions have reduced their numbers, heightening the need to train chaplains in the United States.

As the number of Muslim students on college campuses has increased, so have MSA chapters. There are currently close to 600 in the US and Canada, up from around 400 10 years ago.

Sultan got his chaplaincy start through the MSA. During his four years at Indiana University in Bloomington, he was the public relations officer for the organization, as vice president, president, and student adviser.

After he began to give weekly sermons, Sultan realized that though still a student himself, his peers had "started seeing someone who had answers to certain things" - a totally false perception, he says, laughing.

He received phone calls and e-mails from students seeking guidance. There were the questions that any student might face - who am I and what am I doing? But there were also moral dilemmas specific to a Muslim - how to navigate a setting saturated with alcohol, strictly forbidden to Muslims. And then there were students experiencing profound culture shock - those wondering, as Sultan says, "Holy Morocco, where am I?"

He remembers one student in particular, a young woman who had lived in Afghanistan during the Russian occupation and seen all six of her siblings killed by soldiers. Back home, her family had rallied around her in support, but on her own in a foreign country, many of those feelings came flooding back.

Settling into a leather chair in the verger's room at Trinity College's chapel, Sultan confesses that he was in no way prepared to advise anyone back then.

He consulted his father - a teacher of Islamic education - local Imams, and books on psychology and counseling. What he discovered, he says, was that he'd been doing everything wrong. He had been doling out advice, when "really it's about listening so that people can come to solutions that are usually already present in their own hearts," he says.

As a college senior with a degree in political science and journalism, but no clear career plan, he came across the Islamic Chaplaincy Program at Hartford Seminary. He realized "it was exactly what I was doing, and I was unaware that I was doing it."

Last year - after a brief stint as a journalist and the year it took to complete his book - Sultan enrolled at Hartford Seminary, where he is working toward a master's degree in Islamic chaplaincy, Islamic studies, and Christian-Muslim relations.

Hartford's is the country's only accredited Islamic Chaplaincy Program. Enrollment has grown from two students in 2000, when it was established, to 12 this year, half of whom are women.

Founded in 1893, the Seminary's Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations is the oldest of its kind, and most Muslim chaplains working today are in some way affiliated with it.

Still, Hartford isn't known for its Muslim presence in the way that Chicago and some other urban centers are. There are three mosques in the city. And of 2,000 students, Trinity has identified about 20 who are Muslim.

Sultan imagines there are more, and he sees himself as a counselor, teacher, and advocate for these students. But equally important, he says that he hopes to be a resource on Islam for the entire community - both Muslims and non-Muslims. He is plunging right in, planning with the start of the semester to begin a weekly lesson on the Koran - open to all who are interested.

But equally important, he says that he hopes to be a resource on Islam for the entire community - both Muslims and non-Muslims. He is plunging right in, planning with the start of the semester to begin a weekly lesson on the Koran - open to all who are interested.

Supplemental reading:

Prophet of Doom - Islam’s Terrorist Dogma, In Muhammad’s Own Words

Islam is a caustic blend of regurgitated paganism and twisted Bible stories.
Muhammad, its lone prophet, conceived his religion solely to satiate his lust for power, sex, and money.
He was a terrorist.

And if you think these conclusions are shocking, wait until you see the evidence at www.prophetofdoom.net.

Radical Islam's 'plan' to take over America - Arab-American author outlines secret 20-year strategy to undermine country

The Islamic States of America?

Misunderstanding the Enemy: the Islamic Threat and the U.S. Media

CAIR: 'Moderate' friends of terror

An Open Letter to Islamic Organizations in America

Islamic terror based on Qu’ran: ex-CIA official

Islam: This is a truthful hardhitting analysis that all of Freerepublic, the West and America needs to read and understand

The Islamic Vacuum

Exploiting the Koran to Terrorize

A Seat at the Table: Islam Makes Inroads in Education

Spreading Islam in American Public Schools

Islamist Threat to Public Schools in Columbia, South Carolina?

Respecting Ramadan, Banning "Christmas" (School District Favors Muslims Over Christians)

‘Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth’

--Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), San Ramon Valley Herald, July 1998

* * * * * *

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
Radical Islam's 'plan'
to take over America
Arab-American author outlines secret
20-year strategy to undermine country

Posted: August 4, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is an online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for the last 25 years.

A refugee from the Muslim Middle East thinks he has discovered Islam's 20-point plan for conquering the United States by 2020 – a plan revealed in the latest issue of Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Anis Shorrosh, author of ''Islam Revealed'' and ''The True Furqan,'' is a Christian Arab-American who emigrated from Arab-controlled Jerusalem in January 1967.

''The following is my analysis of Islamic invasion of America, the agenda of Islamists and visible methods to take over America by the year 2020,'' Shorrosh says. ''Will Americans continue to sleep through this invasion as they did when we were attacked on 9/11?''

1. Terminate America's freedom of speech by replacing it with statewide and nationwide hate-crime bills.

2. Wage a war of words using black leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson and other visible religious personalities who promote Islam as the religion of African-Americans while insisting Christianity is for whites only. What they fail to tell African-Americans is that it was Arab Muslims who captured them and sold them as slaves. In fact, the Arabic word for black and slave is the same, ''Abed.''

3. Engage the American public in dialogues, discussions, debates in colleges, universities, public libraries, radio, TV, churches and mosques on the virtues of Islam. Proclaim how it is historically another religion like Judaism and Christianity with the same monotheistic faith.

4. Nominate Muslim sympathizers to political office to bring about favorable legislation toward Islam and support potential sympathizers by block voting.

5. Take control of as much of Hollywood, the press, TV, radio and the Internet as possible by buying the related corporations or a controlling stock.

6. Yield to the fear of the imminent shut-off of the lifeblood of America – black gold. America’s economy depends on oil and 41 percent of it comes from the Middle East.

7. Yell ''foul, out-of-context, personal interpretation, hate crime, Zionist, un- American, inaccurate interpretation of the Quran'' anytime Islam is criticized or the Quran is analyzed in the public arena.

8. Encourage Muslims to penetrate the White House, specifically with Islamists who can articulate a marvelous and peaceful picture of Islam. Acquire government positions and get membership in local school boards. Train Muslims as medical doctors to dominate the medical field, research and pharmaceutical companies. (Ever notice how numerous Muslim doctors in America are, when their countries need them more desperately than America?) Take over the computer industry. Establish Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the U.S. to connect planners of Islamization in a discreet way.

9. Accelerate Islamic demographic growth via:

Massive immigration (100,000 annually since 1961).

Use no birth control whatsoever – every baby of Muslim parents is automatically a Muslim and cannot choose another religion later.

Muslim men must marry American women and Islamize them (10,000 annually). Then divorce them and remarry every five years – since one can't legally marry four at one time. This is a legal solution in America.

Convert angry, alienated black inmates and turn them into militants (so far 2,000 released inmates have joined al-Qaida worldwide). Only a few ''sleeper cells'' have been captured in Afghanistan and on American soil.

10. Reading, writing, arithmetic and research through the American educational system, mosques and student centers (now 1,500) should be sprinkled with dislike of Jews, evangelical Christians and democracy. There are currently 300 exclusively Muslim schools in the U.S. which teach loyalty to the Quran, not the U.S. Constitution. In January of 2002, Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Washington mailed 4,500 packets of the Quran and videos promoting Islam to America's high schools – free of charge. Saudi Arabia would not allow the U.S. to reciprocate.

11. Provide very sizeable monetary Muslim grants to colleges and universities in America to establish ''Centers for Islamic studies'' with Muslim directors to promote Islam in higher-education institutions.

12. Let the entire world know through propaganda, speeches, seminars, local and national media that terrorists have hijacked Islam, when in truth, Islam hijacked the terrorists.

13. Appeal to the historically compassionate and sensitive Americans for sympathy and tolerance towards Muslims in America who are portrayed as mainly immigrants from oppressed countries.

14. Nullify America's sense of security by manipulating the intelligence community with misinformation. Periodically terrorize Americans with reports of impending attacks on bridges, tunnels, water supplies, airports, apartment buildings and malls.

15. Form riots and demonstrations in the prison system demanding Islamic Sharia as the way of life, not America's justice system.

16. Open numerous charities throughout the U.S., but use the funds to support Islamic terrorism with American dollars.

17. Raise interest in Islam on America's campuses by insisting freshman take at least one course on Islam.

18. Unify the numerous Muslim lobbies in Washington, mosques, Islamic student centers, educational organizations, magazines and papers by Internet and an annual convention to coordinate plans, propagate the faith and engender news in the media.

19. Send intimidating messages and messengers to the outspoken individuals who are critical of Islam and seek to eliminate them by hook or crook.

20. Applaud Muslims as loyal citizens of the U.S. by spotlighting their voting record as the highest percentage of all minority and ethic groups in America.

Shorrosh is a member of the Oxford Society of Scholars, has traveled in 76 countries, and is a lecturer and producer of TV documentaries. ''Islam Revealed'' is a bestseller now in its eighth printing. His forthcoming 10th book, from which the 20-point plan is abridged, is titled ''Islam: A Threat or a Challenge.''

''The True Furqan'' is also available for viewing on Islam-Exposed.org. Shorrosh's new website is Focusing-on-Islam.com.

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