New Islamic Chaplain Arrives at the Chapel
Stefanie Lopez-Boy
Issue date: 2/1/05 Section: News
With the promise of cultural diversity and understanding in mind, Trinity hired its first Muslim Chaplain this spring on a part time basis to provide religious support to the Muslim students on campus. The effort to hire Sohaib Sultan was spearheaded by freshman Shahzad Ahmed last semester. Ahmed approached Father Heischman in the fall looking for a way to gather Muslim students together and provide them with cultural and religious guidance. Ahmed says, "When I got on campus I was looking for opportunities for Muslim students, and I discovered there weren't any."
Ahmed, along with Reverend Heischman, turned to the Hartford seminary for help. Reverend Heischman has connections with the Muslim Chaplain recently hired at Wesleyan, Abdullah Antepli, and he recommended looking into the training program for someone and mentioned Sohaib by name. Heischman notes, "Most of our peer institutions have Muslim groups on campus, many with advisors, fewer with actual chaplains. We have the fortunate situation of being close to Hartford Seminary, which houses the only program for Muslim Chaplaincy in the country, training people for hospital, military, and educational chaplaincy for Muslims."
The Muslim population at Trinity is very small, about 20 self-identified Muslim students, according to the article about Sohaib in the Christian Science monitor on Jan. 18. "The amount of Muslim students is actually beneficial," says Sohaib, "Small colleges are really neat to work at because you really get to know the students." More important, he is not just here for Muslim students. Like Reverend Heischman, he is here to answer questions and provide guidance for any student that may need it. Indeed, that is how Sohaib discovered his love for chaplaincy when he was a student at Indiana University.
With a degree in Political Science and Journalism, chaplaincy did not seem like the obvious path at first. Sohaib recollects, "People saw me giving sermons at a local mosque [in Indiana] and very active in the community, so certain people with moral dilemmas and problems saw me as someone to talk to." Slowly but surely, Sohaib became more adept at the art of counseling and listening. He notes, "One of the main jobs of a counselor is mainly to listen. The thing I like about chaplaincy is that it doesn't divorce the psyche from the spirit."
Ahmed, along with Reverend Heischman, turned to the Hartford seminary for help. Reverend Heischman has connections with the Muslim Chaplain recently hired at Wesleyan, Abdullah Antepli, and he recommended looking into the training program for someone and mentioned Sohaib by name. Heischman notes, "Most of our peer institutions have Muslim groups on campus, many with advisors, fewer with actual chaplains. We have the fortunate situation of being close to Hartford Seminary, which houses the only program for Muslim Chaplaincy in the country, training people for hospital, military, and educational chaplaincy for Muslims."
The Muslim population at Trinity is very small, about 20 self-identified Muslim students, according to the article about Sohaib in the Christian Science monitor on Jan. 18. "The amount of Muslim students is actually beneficial," says Sohaib, "Small colleges are really neat to work at because you really get to know the students." More important, he is not just here for Muslim students. Like Reverend Heischman, he is here to answer questions and provide guidance for any student that may need it. Indeed, that is how Sohaib discovered his love for chaplaincy when he was a student at Indiana University.
With a degree in Political Science and Journalism, chaplaincy did not seem like the obvious path at first. Sohaib recollects, "People saw me giving sermons at a local mosque [in Indiana] and very active in the community, so certain people with moral dilemmas and problems saw me as someone to talk to." Slowly but surely, Sohaib became more adept at the art of counseling and listening. He notes, "One of the main jobs of a counselor is mainly to listen. The thing I like about chaplaincy is that it doesn't divorce the psyche from the spirit."
