What is a Muslim Chaplain? - Chaplain Usama Malik

A Muslim chaplain is a professional who offers spiritual guidance and care in a specific institutional context. Although Muslim chaplains often provide religious services for members of their own faith communities, the main role of a chaplain is to facilitate or accommodate the religious needs of all individuals in the institution in which he or she is working. At times, chaplains often serve as experts on ethics to their colleagues and employers, providing insight to such diverse concerns as end-of-life issues, grief and family counseling, and religious and cultural accommodations. Professional chaplains do not displace local religious leaders, but fill the special requirements involved in intense institutional environments.Thus, a Muslim chaplain is not necessarily an “Imam,” although an Imam may work as a chaplain. Muslim chaplains fill a variety of roles, often dependent on the institutions where they serve. Here are just a few of the responsibilities chaplains may have: supporting families during times of grief, loss and end of life, advocating for religious freedom and rights, advising institutions on religious and cultural accommodations, providing ethics guidance, representing Islam at the institutional level, and providing instruction in Islamic sciences. A professional chaplain has training, adheres to a code of ethics, and is accountable to the institution in which she or he serves.
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For more information on Muslim Space's Chaplaincy Services, please visit www.muslimspace.org/chaplain.