Most attribute the increasing demand to the growing size of the Muslim population in the United States. Estimates put the number of Muslims nationally at 5 million to 8 million. Although any chaplain can ostensibly cater to people from a range of faiths, Muslim chaplains can address more adeptly the multiple challenges of practicing Islam in this country.

"I can't imagine any non-Muslim chaplain talking about Ramadan , leading Friday prayer, and explaining Islamic dietary law," Antepli says. "I can't imagine any non-Muslim chaplain, no matter how well-trained, responding to the unique identity crisis that Muslims are facing after Sept. 11. Islam is at the center of attention and there's so many negative messages conveyed to this society about this faith and faith tradition. You need a reliable source person on campus, at the hospital, in the prison system who understands the stereotypes and the scapegoating."

No statistics exist showing the size of the Muslim chaplaincy community. Although the Association of Professional Chaplains and other organizations certify chaplains, "at this point in time institutions can employ anyone they want and give the job title of chaplain," says Josephine Schrader , executive director of the Association of Professional Chaplains.
A look at the number of Muslim chaplains certified by the association at least offers a glimpse into the community. In 2000 the organization had 1,600 certified chaplains, only one of them Muslim. Last year, there were 2,000 certified chaplains, four of them Muslim.
Muslim chaplaincy is a particularly American creation. The role doesn't exist in predominantly Muslim countries, since Muslims there have a wide range of familial and spiritual support. No equivalent to the master's of divinity, which is a Judeo-Christian creation, exists in Islamic culture. Instead scholars pass down religious knowledge orally. Once the student gains enough knowledge, he or she becomes an imam.

The interest in Muslim chaplaincy emerges as the growing Muslim-American community develops its own culture and begins to understand what support systems are necessary to suit its particular needs.

"The Hartford Seminary offers a Western model," says Kashif Abdul-Karim , who worked as a Muslim prison chaplain for 17 years in Connecticut before leaving the job last year. "It's not something traditional Muslims use, and yet it's what society is now looking for."

Doing their homework on a recent Tuesday night a group of about 20 students of various faiths, five of them from the Muslim chaplaincy program, gather in a room inside Hartford Seminary's strikingly modern building. They're there for the Essential Skills in Pastoral Counseling and Ministry course taught by Benjamin Watts , a senior pastor at the Shiloh Baptist Church in New London, Conn. For this second class of the semester, the homework was to read the first chapter of the course book, "Practical Psychology for Pastors." Now a student is reading her report on a section of the chapter that explore s when counselors should intervene with a client and what form the intervention should take.

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