Questions, answers with Harvard’s Muslim chaplain
Khalil Abdur-Rashid was named Harvard’s first full-time Muslim chaplain last July, bringing with him a strong foundation in civil rights, social work, higher education, and Islamic law and philosophy. Since choosing Islam as a youth, and embarking on a spiritual journey whose genesis began around the time of 9/11, Abdur-Rashid has cultivated a strong, personal understanding of the African-American Muslim experience. The holder of master’s of philosophy degrees in Islam and Middle Eastern studies, both from Columbia University, and an Islamic advanced doctorate (ijaaza ilmiyyah) in Islamic legal sciences and ethics from the ISAR Seminary in Istanbul, Abdur-Rashid is also nearing the completion of a doctorate in liberal studies, for which he is writing a history of the development of the African-American Muslim community, from the death of Malcolm X to the death of Muhammad Ali. But while his understanding of Islam is deeply steeped in rigorous academic inquiry, it is the...