To continue the conversation about youth at risk, and how imams and Muslim chaplains can respond, I asked my dear friend Sh. Jamaal Diwan to offer a reflection on the points raised in my article "What Happened to Ahmad: Responding to Muslim Youth at Risk." The following is his insightful response: Since I was asked … Continue reading Caring for Ahmad and Other Muslim Youth
“What happened to Ahmad?”: Responding to Muslim Youth at Risk
“Ibrahim,” he asked, “can you speak with me?” Ahmad*, 19, was a young Muslim man struggling with peer pressure at his community college to drink and engage in sexual activity. I was not the imam, nor was I a chaplain at this time, but I could see in his eyes that he was desperately seeking … Continue reading “What happened to Ahmad?”: Responding to Muslim Youth at Risk
Mind: The Interpreter
Imam al-Ghazali once said, "The tongue is the counselor, the mind the interpreter and the heart is what is affected." Ghazali's words present a succinct way of conceptualizing our relationship with the world around us. We are surrounded by various stimuli (including events, people, statements... etc) that, due to our interpretation of them, causes … Continue reading Mind: The Interpreter
The Hospital Visit
I was sitting in the library preparing for class when the director of our Islamic chaplaincy program walked in with a worried look. He informed us that someone had requested a Muslim chaplain from our school to attend to a patient in the intensive care unit; and he was looking for volunteers. I had never … Continue reading The Hospital Visit
Seminary Trains Muslim & Jewish Chaplains
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPQIwt8w_CY Graduate Certificate in Islamic Chaplaincy The Graduate Certificate in Islamic Chaplaincy is designed to provide Muslim religious leaders and chaplains with basic skills in pastoral care, arts of ministry, theology and ethics, dialogue and interfaith relations needed to serve as chaplains in a variety of settings. The areas of knowledge and skill acquisition provided … Continue reading Seminary Trains Muslim & Jewish Chaplains
Prayer and the Prison Khutba
Speaking to incarcerated individuals can be very challenging. Their interests and culture are particular to a prison life which the chaplain does not live. However, as chaplains we have to try our best to speak not just for the sake of fulfilling the obligation of Jumu'ah prayer, but also make it mean something to those … Continue reading Prayer and the Prison Khutba
Choate’s Muslims Get Their Own Chaplain
By Samaia Hernandez, Record-Journal staff WALLINGFORD — Wearing a black kufi cap, smiling freely, enjoying supper and casual conversation with six students, J. Ibrahim Long easily blends into the scene in the historic Hill House dining hall at Choate Rosemary Hall. To the untrained eye, he might look like a student or adviser to the primarily … Continue reading Choate’s Muslims Get Their Own Chaplain
Ibrahim J. Long 