US Marines' first Muslim chaplain happy to make history
By SANDI DOLBEE The San Diego Union-Tribune Saturday, November 20, 1999

CAMP PENDLETON -- When people ask him about the crescent moon pinned on the left collar of his cammies, Abuhena Saif-ul-Islam tells them he's an astronaut. Then he laughs.

It is the laugh of someone who is making history. Confident, happy and excited.

Lt. Saif-ul-Islam is the first Muslim chaplain assigned to the Marine Corps. Technically, he is a Navy chaplain (the Navy supplies chaplains for the Marines). He was commissioned in July and reported to his first assignment in September at the South Mesa Chapel at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego.

"It feels good," said Saif-ul-Islam, flashing another smile that shines like the insignia on his collar, a slice of moon that is an emblem of Islam. But the gravity of the appointment isn't lost on him.

"History will judge me as the first one in the Marines," he admitted. But that's OK, because the way he sees it, there is a higher judge. "It's all God's call and God's will. We are God's ambassadors."

His arrival reflects the increasingly pluralistic landscape of America and its military.

The Army was the first to add Muslim chaplains, beginning in 1993. It now has six. Saif-ul-Islam was the Navy's second Muslim chaplain. The Air Force has none, though a spokesman mentioned that some are in the training process.

Islam, meanwhile, is one of the fastest-growing religions in the country. Nationally, Muslim leaders put the Islamic population at about 6 million (compared with about 2 million in the early 1970s). Roughly 4,000 Muslims are in the armed forces.

So far, the chaplain's presence is so new that word has not quite spread at Camp Pendleton. He's identified about 15 to 20 Muslim Marines (all men), "but I'm expecting more. ... It's just a matter of time."

A choir room is being renovated into a makeshift mosque. He holds Islamic services there midday Fridays, the holiest day of the Muslim week. He also offers an Islamic studies class elsewhere on the base on Sundays.

At one recent Friday service, only four other people attended -- two Marines and two Muslims from the community. But their enthusiasm was undaunted.

"It's a great blessing from God himself," said Lance Cpl. Yousuf Enayat. Enayat is hoping that the new chaplain will help show that Muslims are just like everybody else. "The world pretty much has got the wrong idea about Muslims."

Shakir Fardan, assistant imam, or spiritual leader, at a San Diego mosque, has volunteered his services to the local military for several years. He attended the Friday service to show his support. He said the arrival of Saif-ul-Islam is a recognition of the growing influence of this faith.

"It's going to be a tremendous help having someone that is an official representative of the Marine Corps who is a Muslim chaplain here on base," Fardan said.

Interreligious duties

Like other military chaplains, however, Saif-ul-Islam will be, in many respects, an interreligious representative. The tradition is for interfaith cooperation, tolerance and acceptance.

He will, for example, offer premarital training, classes on coping with stress, and one-on-one counseling to Marines, regardless of religious background. He also will offer prayers at nondenominational events.

That suits the new chaplain just fine. He opens his Koran and reads passages from it about unity. "We believe we are all from one family," he said.

He hopes to be a resource for other chaplains who are serving Muslim troops elsewhere. Already, he has had e-mail inquiries from as far away as Japan.

The 38-year-old Saif-ul-Islam, slightly built and soft-spoken, was born and raised in Bangladesh, where he got his bachelor's and master's degrees in finance.

He came to the United States in 1989 to continue his education. After getting his MBA in 1991, he decided he wanted to be a Navy officer. However, he wasn't yet a U.S. citizen, so he enlisted instead as a sailor.

He was stationed at the Pentagon as a clerk. While he was there, he got his citizenship -- and some gentle nudging to become a chaplain. Already devout in his faith, he attended an Islamic institute in Virginia to become an imam, and got his chaplaincy training in Newport, R.I.

His wife, Kaniz Fatema, was on hand for his commissioning last summer. Educated as a physician in Bangladesh, she is in the process of taking exams to qualify to practice medicine. They are expecting their first child next year.

Two longtime military officers at Camp Pendleton say they are excited by Saiful-Islam's arrival.

Marine Lt. Col. Steve Warner, commanding officer of the area where Saif-ul-Islam is assigned, is a Presbyterian who describes himself as "pro-religion." He says he is looking forward himself to learning more about Islam, as well as being able to serve the needs of any troops who are Muslim. "They're all my Marines," Warner said.

Navy Commander Dudley Johnson, a United Methodist chaplain who is in charge of the South Mesa Chapel, sees the addition as part of the "maturing consciousness" about religious freedom.

After 18 years, Johnson said he's done just about everything that a person in his job could do, including being out to sea on more than two dozen ships.

But getting to shepherd the first Muslim chaplain assigned to the Marines "was a professional opportunity that I was honored to be a part of."