A call to lead: by many accounts, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States, and Muslim chaplains are increasingly becoming an essential part of college communities

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, May 18, 2006 by Kendra Hamilton

Imam Yahya Hendi came from afar--the occupied Palestinian Territories--to become, in 1999, the first full-time Muslim chaplain serving at a university in the United States. He is now the chaplain at Georgetown University. Rumee Ahmed, appointed earlier this year as Brown University's first Muslim chaplain, had a significantly shorter trip, moving to the Rhode Island campus from Silver Spring, Md.

But both men are part of a small but gathering wave of Muslim chaplains whose work tending to the faithful makes them an essential part of U.S. institutions, including universities, hospitals, prisons and the military.

"There are 17,000 Muslims in the U.S. military," says Hendi, who in 1997 was also the first Muslim appointed to a chaplaincy at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. "But there are only 14 Muslim chaplains serving that population."

Firm figures on the number of Muslim students at U.S. higher education institutions are difficult to come by, although there are 600 Muslim Students' Association chapters at U.S. and Canadian college campuses, of which 150 are officially recognized by the national umbrella group. But the number of chaplains serving that population is small.

Ahmed notes that there are no more than 20 chaplains in the New England chaplains' association he recently joined, and most of them are either part-time or volunteers. That number will increase by one at least in the coming months, as Ahmed's wife, Ayesha Chandry, currently a graduate student at New York University, has accepted the chaplaincy at Connecticut College.

According to 2000 U.S. Census figures, there are currently an estimated 6 or 7 million Muslims nationwide, more than 30 percent of whom are associated with a mosque. Between 1994 and 2000, the number of mosques in the nation increased 25 percent, according to "The Mosque in America: A National Portrait," a 2001 survey commissioned by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The number of Muslims associated with a mosque grew by 300 percent over that period and 75 percent of mosques--especially those in suburban areas--reported growth in the number of congregants.

By many accounts, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States, and very ethnically diverse. South Asians make up 33 percent of American Muslims, while 30 percent are Black and 25 percent are Arab. Just 7 percent of mosques are attended by only one ethnic group. By comparison, Christian churches have long struggled to disprove the adage that "Sunday at 11:00 a.m. is the most segregated hour in America."

But while mosques tend to be financially well supported by their congregants--only 15 percent reported being in financial difficulty--they are not well staffed. Fifty-five percent have no paid, full-time staff. Only 10 percent have two full-time staff.

Clearly, the need for Muslim religious leadership is great, says Hendi, adding, "It is up to the Muslim community to produce the right people, to produce the qualified men and women" to answer the need.

Interestingly, the path to religious leadership in Islam appears much less rigidly demarcated than in other faiths. "Services are pretty egalitarian," says Ahmed. "There are five prayers a day, each one following a certain formula, and every Friday we have a small sermon and two cycles of prayer. But anyone can lead. There's no hierarchy. There's no clergy" in the sense of someone specially trained, anointed and ordained to the service of a god.

The distinctly different paths traveled by Ahmed and Hendi offers some illustration of Ahmed's point and hints at the diversity of the men and women called to lead the American Muslim population.

Hendi, for example, experienced the "calling" to ministry as a youth. "I had a lot of questions--I wanted to truly understand Islam, the fruit of Islam. Is it peaceful and benevolent or is it violent? Is it loving and inclusive or is it exclusive?"

Hendi had to work hard to convince his father that he should be allowed to pursue his passion. "My father wanted me to become a doctor. When I told him I wanted to be an imam, he told me, 'That's not going to make you rich,'" Hendi says.

It took three months of talking, cajoling and insisting, but Hendi's father eventually gave him permission to study Islamic theology and law at the University of Jordan. His studies deepened at Hartford Seminary, where, through studies in comparative religion, focusing particularly on Christian texts, he conceived a "passion for inter-religious dialogue." His doctoral studies at Temple University continued the pattern of comparative religious studies, this time focusing on Jewish history and law.

With his strong background in all three religions, as well as job experiences leading mosques, working for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the U.S. Navy and now in a university setting, Hendi has evolved into a strong national voice for inter-religious cooperation.

He travels widely, speaking to campuses on the true nature of Islam, a religion that he says is "loving, kind, caring, inclusive of women and women's rights, tolerant to Jews and Christians." His classes at Georgetown, Johns Hopkins University and other institutions in the Mid-Atlantic region tend to be team-taught, drawing both rabbis and Christian priests into the conversation.