WASHINGTON,
Sept. 15, 2006 – Newly promoted Navy Lt. Cmdr. Abuhena M. Saifulislam
had always wanted to serve Islam, even as a young boy growing up in
Bangladesh.
“Islam is not just a religion to Muslims. It is a
way of life,” Saifulislam said. “That’s how I was
brought up.”
Saifulislam, now 44, realized his dream. Today, he tends to servicemembers’ spiritual
needs as the second Muslim chaplain commissioned in the U.S. Navy.
His current duty station is Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England promoted Saifulislam during
a Sept. 11 Pentagon ceremony.
Saifulislam also received a Joint Service Commendation Medal, his
second, for his work this June at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. There, he performed death rites for three Muslim detainees
who’d committed suicide.
The Muslim chaplain was also at Guantanamo when the detention facility
first opened in early 2001. He was the only Muslim chaplain there
at the time, he recalled, and he set up the diet and prayer regimes
for the detainees.
Saifulislam took an indirect path to his current calling.
He immigrated to the United States in 1989, after earning a Master’s
degree in commerce in Bangladesh. He enlisted in the Navy as a payroll
specialist in 1992 with dreams of becoming an officer — something
he couldn’t yet do because he wasn’t a U.S. citizen.
Saifulislam became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1995. Three years
later, he signed up for a chaplain’s candidate program that
offered a commission as well as a way to serve his fellow Muslims’ spiritual
needs.
“When I came to America I realized that I had to make an effort
to be faithful to my religion,” he said.
People shouldn’t associate the worship of Islam with the so-called
religious theology espoused by terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Saifulislam
said. “Terrorism has no religion, and no religion condones
terrorism,” he said. “These terrorists just happen to
be Muslims.”
Saifulislam’s personal loyalty is firmly aligned with his
adopted country, he said, noting his 6-year-old daughter was born
in the United States.
“My wife is an American; my sister is an American; my nephews
and nieces are Americans,” he said. “If I don’t
defend them, who is going to defend them?”
Today, 8 to 10 million Muslims live in the United States. “They
love to live in this country, and other Muslims are trying to come
here,” Saifulislam said. U.S. Muslims are as patriotic as any
other group, he said.
Many of the world’s troubles today seem to be caused by cultural
misunderstandings, Saifulislam observed.
“The world is becoming so small,” he pointed out. “It
is not a choice that we learn how to live together -- it is a necessity.
It is always to our advantage when we learn about others.”
Terrorism is evil and teaches nothing but destruction and death
as it seeks to divide the world’s people, Saifulislam said.
That’s why he said he’s committed to preventing Islam
from being subverted to serve the terrorists’ agenda. “My
fight with them is to protect my religion from that type of hijacking,” Saifulislam
concluded. |
