Muslim Life Fund Update: On track for chaplain in Fall 2015!

Background: The Need for a Chaplain

The past five years have brought unprecedented growth to the Muslim community at Harvard: the undergraduate membership of the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS) has swelled to well over one hundred; several graduate schools have established Muslim student organizations; and exciting programming expansion have brought Quranic Arabic classes with the Fawakih Arabic Program and a series of classes led by Imam Suhaib Webb and other local leaders to campus.

In light of this growth, last year HIS and HUMA partnered together to assess the needs of the community. The responses from our survey pointed to several specific goals, such as better connection between the various Harvard schools and more consistent religious programming. We also found one need that encompassed all the others: members of the Muslim community at Harvard strongly stated that they needed a Muslim chaplain on campus, an educated, experienced, and dedicated leader to facilitate connections among the different schools and religious programming on campus, and to provide guidance or religious counseling to community members.

Launching the Chaplaincy Project

Although Harvard University is one of the few Ivy League institutions which does not fund religious chaplains, the community has been fortunate to be blessed with volunteers like Nuri Friedlander, a PhD student in Religion, who have generously given their time in service of the community. However, given the ever-increasing demands of Muslim life on campus, it is time for HIS to take the next step forward in securing a leader for the community.

The Harvard Muslim Life Fund, an initiative of HUMA and HIS, was launched in the Spring of 2014 to fund long term projects in the interest of Harvard’s Muslims, starting with a part-time chaplain. Thanks to the immense generosity of our donors, Alhamdulillah, we successfully reached our goal of $30,000, one year’s costs for a part-time chaplain, by the end of the summer.

Future Steps

Having reached our launch-year financial goal, it is our hope and our expectation that, insha’Allah, HIS will have a Muslim chaplain in the Fall of 2015. We are in the process of finalizing the job description and hiring process, and will hold several sessions for community feedback on that material in the next several months. We will launch the hiring process early in 2015.

Although we have reached our 2014 fundraising goal, the future success of the project rests on the continued support of the community. The $30,000 we have raised can only fund the chaplaincy for 1 year, and we will need your generosity to further the chaplaincy and additional growth in support of the campus community. With your help, we can achieve milestones like a full-time chaplain and a Muslim community center on campus.

Walaykum Salaam,