4th Annual Muslim Chaplains Conference

The 2008 Muslim Chaplain's Conference was held on August 27 – 28, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio. The event opened just before the 45th Annual ISNA Convention. This year’s theme was “Building Professional and Leadership Capacity.” The conference began with a half day program consisting of lectures and presentations by renowned speakers in the field of chaplaincy. The conference was kicked off with opening remarks from the ILDC Executive Director, Louay Safi. Dr. Safi urged Muslim chaplains to seek opportunities to develop themselves professionally, reminding everyone of the important role that chaplains have in promotion of religious dialogue in America's greatest institutions. He also stressed the importance of leadership that chaplains have in the greater community, reminding us that chaplains are the face of the Muslim community.

The first session entitled "Recruiting, Training and Sustaining Muslim Chaplains" featured insightful, motivational and educational presentations by Khalid Latif, Director/Chaplain Islamic Center at NYU, Chaplain Bilal Ansari and C. George Fitzgerald, Director of Spiritual Care Service at Stanford Hospital and Clinics. The session focused on ways and means to improve professional capacity of Muslim chaplains by leading in unprecedented work environment settings such as universities and hospitals. This session encouraged chaplains to learn from those successful models of other faith groups and exchange personal unique experiences with each other for collective support. A commitment to building a professional Muslim chaplaincy association was introduced as a foundational goal in sustaining professional and leadership capacity.

The second session focused on "Sustaining service among Muslims, Encouraging Muslims, Developing a plan for Muslims, and Training throughout the year". Conference participants developed strategies to strengthen performance, build capacity, improve networking, and use collective resources to address issues relative to the Muslim chaplaincy needs. Chaplain Bilal Ansari and Chaplain Abuhena Saifulislam facilitated this interactive session which formed the first steering committee of the Muslim Chaplains Association.

The first day concluded with keynote addresses about "The Role of Muslim Chaplains" by Rev. (Col) David Colwell-AFRICOM, Chief of Chaplaincy Joseph Pryor-FBOP  and Chaplain, Colonel Brett C. Oxman, USAF. All distinguished speakers spoke on the importance of the role of Chaplaincy within the American Muslim context and its global implications abroad. On Thursday there was a thematic panel discussion, followed by a thematic inter-active workshop which was held to establish working standards and measure that were rigorously discussed. The day began with the first session focusing on "Chaplaincy Professional Associations", keynote speakers: Dr. Rev. Teresa Snorton, ACPE  and Chaplain Gary Friedman, ACCA .

This stimulated great discussion on the state of Muslim chaplaincy and explored ways and means to improve the work as well as raise professional standards. This session was followed by breakout groups to discuss in more detail proposed ideas and then report the findings to the conference. After the afternoon prayer and lunch, a discussion on "Mental Health and Chaplaincy Narrative: Chaplains as Caregivers" was given. The speaker was Imam Mohamad Hagmagid Ali, Vice President of ISNA. He conducted an informative workshop. Questions such as how does a chaplain become a transformative agent in your workplace when faced with traumatic events and where does faith fit into the human dimensions of surviving trauma were addressed by the speaker and participants.

The conference concluded with Dr. Ingrid Mattson speaking "The Development of the Field of Muslim Chaplaincy". This session explored effective approaches for improving chaplains' continuous education in the profession at both the institutional and personal levels through leadership. Chaplains from Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, and all over the United States expressed their great satisfaction with our 4th Annual Muslim Chaplains Conference.