| Muslim Chaplains a New Priority for Colleges |
Page 3 of 3 "It does help a lot, having a Muslim chaplain on campus," she said. Sheikh, whose services are available to other colleges in the area, not only organizes lectures and meetings for students and the university community -- she recently became the first Muslim to ever give a sermon at a local church -- she also attends to the religious needs of Muslim students. Sheikh makes students aware of the five daily prayer times through an e-mail list, oversees the three-meal-a-day dining services available for Muslim students, and organizes events to break the daily fast during the month of Ramadan. "I set the ground for them, and they are able to practice more easily," she said. "I know it would be difficult for them to do it on their own. They get busy in their studies and they don't do it." "They want to, but they don't," she added. Unlike Mount Holyoke, most campuses do not allocate the resources necessary to attract a full-time imam, or Muslim religious leader. Grinnell College, a small liberal arts institution in Grinnell, Iowa, is home to 40 Muslims out of a student population of 1,300. But the school has received a grant to hire a part-time imam who will come to campus once a month, augmenting Friday prayers that are currently led by a local Muslim businessman who has been a resource for Muslim students for six years. "Even here in the cornfields, our campus is incredibly religiously diverse," said the Rev. Deanna Shorb, who is the chaplain at Grinnell and also the president of the National Association of College and University Chaplains, a professional organization for college chaplains and deans and directors of religious life. Financial resources are often the major stumbling block for colleges, Shorb said. Many schools would rather pay a person to come to campus occasionally or appoint a faculty adviser to an MSA chapter than establish an official staff position for a chaplain. "It is where we are now in chaplaincy," she continued. "We have had Christians for years, but we're trying to get more university money for Jewish chaplains. And it seems to me that Islam is "I think our numbers will grow, and that's how you speak to administrations," she said. |
|||||
| < Prev |
|---|
In Memoriam
Imam W. D. Mohammed and The Third Resurrection
by Dr. Sherman Abd al-Hakim Jackson
Read Article
Polls
Login Form
NYU's Muslim chaplain, Khalid Latif, has been newly appointed as
the NYPD's Muslim chaplain.
Read Article
'The Calling' Trailer
'The Calling' is a groundbreaking PBS documentary series and community engagement campaign that follows the stories of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim Americans who are training for religious leadership. It takes viewers into the unknown world of seminaries to reveal the real people "behind the robes."
Community Partnerships
Chaplaincy provides a window into how individuals, families, religions and communities view themselves, their situation and others.
Chaplains have direct access into understanding people's spiritual foundations which often provides insights on how to work with them. Spirituality plays a key role in how organizations and community residents interact.
Education
Education is a fundamental factor in encouraging excellence in the pastoral ministry carried out by chaplains in varied institutional settings.
Muslim Chaplains Association is committed to offering and promoting quality educational events to assure that chaplains have sufficient opportunity to engage in dialogue with colleagues and learn new skills and techniques.