Muhammad A. Ali - Mantle of Mercy: Islamic Chaplaincy in North America

Advance Praise for Mantle of Mercy

Applause for Mantle of Mercy . This extraordinary compilation of personal essays provides insight into Muslim chaplains experiences and contributions to the field of chaplaincy in the United States. Readers gain a glimpse of the foundational Islamic principles and values that undergird the writers ministry and leadership within the diverse institutions they serve. Mantle of Mercy is a must-have resource for theological schools, Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Centers, and students pursuing a career in chaplaincy.

CHAPLAIN TAHARA AKMAL, MA, BCC , Association for Clinical Pastoral Education Certified Educator

Mantle of Mercy fills an important void within the emerging body of research and writing about the field of chaplaincy. While chaplaincy may be unfamiliar to many Muslims, the writers in this volume generously engage with both the educational formation processes and spiritual practices of chaplaincy while thoroughly and authentically integrating them with the Islamic faith. Careful, scholarly attention is paid throughout the text to the core principles of Islam, demonstrating through story and reflection how a chaplaincy is an ideal form of practice for the faithful Muslim leader. The result is a beautiful witness to the many ways that Islamic chaplaincy embodies the kind of compassion that is at the heart of professional spiritual care. This text is an incredible resource to chaplaincy educators, professional chaplains, and those Muslims seeking to serve as professional spiritual care providers.

TRACE HAYTHORN, PHD , executive director & CEO, Association for Clinical Pastoral Education

Islamic chaplaincy, a relatively new field of inquiry and practice, has been skillfully outlined in this first volume of its kind, Mantle of Mercy . The editors have done a wonderful job in assembling a chorus of diverse voices of practitioners from the field. Critical perspectives from chaplains serving in universities, the healthcare sector, the military, and underrepresented communities provide fascinating insight into the world of fostering human souls. In a world where cynicism, distrust, and division have impaired our collective ability to engage with one another, this volume offers a reprieve, and perhaps even a way forward to reacquaint ourselves with our inherent humanity.

SHAYKH WALEAD MOSAAD, PHD , Chair and Resident Scholar, Sabeel Community

In this superbly curated collection of essays, trailblazing Muslim chaplains provide intimate portraits of their professional lives and how they arrived at their vocational calling; how they create healing spaces through the Prophetic example; and how they provide pastoral care by drawing upon Islamic theology. As readers amble into this garden of stories, they will surely feel the hearts of these chaplains speaking to their own. And by taking in the vista, they will come to recognize the value Islamic chaplaincy adds within hospitals, prisons, college campuses, the armed forces, and, indeed, even within mosques and third spaces.

AASIM I. PADELA, MD, MSC , chairperson and director of the Initiative on Islam & Medicine, and professor of Emergency Medicine, Bioethics, and the Medical Humanities at the Medical College of Wisconsin

I really loved this book. Muslim chaplains do amazing work for religious identity, pastoral care, and civic pluralism. This volume captures the complexity and range of such work remarkably well.

EBOO PATEL , author of Acts of Faith and president of Interfaith Youth Core

In the last few decades, Muslim chaplains have emerged as a profoundly important model of spiritual accompaniment. Mantle of Mercy brings together most of the leading Muslim chaplains in North America who bring a tradition-centered approach to healing in their various settings. The chapters are as spiritually rich as they are accessible. It is lovely to see how they advance the concept of healing and care beyond the Western obsession with self care to the heart-community-Divine level. Particularly poignant and bittersweet are the chapter and the farewell from the departed and much beloved Imam Sohaib N. Sultan. I commend Ali, Bajwa, Kholaki, and Starr for this urgently needed volume and enthusiastically recommend this book to all who work with the Muslim community and in pastoral care in the context of universities, hospitals, and beyond.

OMID SAFI, PHD , professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University and director of Illuminated Courses and Tours

Ali, Bajwa, Kholaki, and Starr have created a watershed moment with the publication of Mantle of Mercy . By assembling North Americas leading lights in Islamic chaplaincy, the editorial team has provided an essential resource not just for Muslim chaplains but for all spiritual care providers who are rightly attentive to contemporary spiritual and religious diversity. Students, educators, and chaplains in the field will benefit from Mantle of Mercy . This essential addition to the literature makes it definitely clear that North American spiritual care cannot develop further without taking Islamic chaplaincy into much greater account.

MICHAEL SKAGGS, PHD , director of programs, Chaplaincy Innovation Lab

This is an important and much-needed scholarly contribution to the literature on chaplaincy in general and, more specifically, Islamic chaplaincy. It gives insight into how far the field has come and how Islam is establishing itself into the fabric of North American life in such a beautiful way. The contributors and the topics they write beautifully demonstrate how diverse the Islamic tradition is and how interesting and wonderful such diversity can be. This compilation is a moving and inspiring book and a must-have for anyone interested in chaplaincy, pastoral care, the healing arts, Islam, Islam in North America, and many other related fields.

CARRIE M. YORK, PHD , president, The Alkaram Institute

Templeton Press
300 Conshohocken State Road, Suite 500
West Conshohocken, PA 19428
www.templetonpress.org

2022 by Muhammad A. Ali, Omer Bajwa, Sondos Kholaki, and Jaye Starr

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Set in Minion Pro by Westchester Publishing Services.

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).

ISBN: 978-1-59947-593-6 (cloth)
ISBN: 978-1-59947-594-3 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021943236

A catalogue record for this book is available
from the Library of Congress.

Printed in the United States of America.
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Bismillah al-Rahmn al-Rahm
We begin in the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

This book is dedicated with the deepest gratitude to Dr. Ingrid Mattson, whose tireless pioneering efforts planted the seeds for our training, and to the late Chaplain Sohaib Sultan, who helped nurture those seeds by building joyful communities.

CONTENTS

MUHAMMAD A. ALI, OMER BAJWA, SONDOS KHOLAKI, AND JAYE STARR

A CPE student finds his place in a medical team

IBRAHIM J. LONG

A CPE educator shares how Islam informs his pedagogy and theory of personality