American Muslims play their part in the armed forces

Originally published in the February 19-25, 1995 edition of The Middle East Times.

In addition to the relatively light touch of a non-native English speaker’s copy editing this time around, notice that the basic assumptions of the post-edit story are that Muslim rites are known to the readers, while things Americans would take for granted — that there are multiple types of Christians, for instance — have to be spelled out for the predominantly Muslim and international readership of the paper.

The U.S. Army has 1,338 chaplains: 1,178 Protestant Christians of various types, 139 Roman Catholic priests, 9 Orthodox Christian preachers, 11 Jewish rabbis … and one Muslim imam.

Appointed last year, Abdel-Rashid Mohammed is the U.S. armed services’ first Muslim military chaplain. And as someone born a Christian, he never dreamed he’d be “the one who the Divine would choose to make history.” He now caters to the spiritual needs of the estimated 10,000 Muslims currently serving in the U.S. armed forces.

“In the Army, we try to reflect the American people in our ranks,” says Chaplain Colonel William L. Hufham, the deputy director of the Chaplain Support Agency. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States.

Hufham says Buddhists in the American military will probably have a chaplain of their own in 1995.

Having Muslim clerics serving the troops “has been in the works for a long, long time,” adds Lieutenant Colonel Dough Hart of the U.S. Defense Department’s Office of Public Affairs.

Part of the problem was finding a religious sponsor for a Muslim chaplain. Although the number of American Muslims has skyrocketed n recent years, there are still only 1,100 mosques in America.

“It took some time to find out what would be the proper sponsoring organization, and the military has specific requirements for officers,” says Hart, “So it was quite a long process.”

That long process bore fruit.

Mohammed, a Sunni Muslim, was recommended by the American Muslim Federation, a coalition of American Islamic groups that was officially recognized as a sponsoring body by the Armed Forces Chaplain’s Board in 1991.

Mohammed, 41, was raised a Baptist Christian in Buffalo, New York, and converted to Islam in 1974. Chosen from 45 candidates, he began his chaplain’s training in late January 1994. He underwent a modified version of the basic American military training, received counseling training and learned hospital ministry.

Mohammed is no stranger to the U.S. military, however. He was formerly an Army sergeant for eight years.

The commissioning of a Muslim chaplain has meant some official changes for the Army. The chaplain’s seal on uniforms was made more generic: the Christian cross and Jewish Star of David were removed in favor of an open book and a dove.

The U.S. armed forces have long attempted to accommodate different religious groups where possible, says Hart.

“As long as religious requirements do not conflict with the requirements of the military, we have no problem.”

Which is not always the case.

In 1993, an American court sided with the military against a group of Sikhs who alleged religious discrimination. The Sikh faith forbids the cutting of hair or beards, and requires that turbans be worn.

The court said the military’s needs outweighed those of the Sikhs. The problem, according to Hart, was “Gas masks don’t fit well over beards, and that sort of thing.” Some Muslim men believe that the wearing of a beard is a distinguishing characteristic of a Muslim male.

The Muslim’s duty of salat, praying towards Mecca five times a day, and requirements of a pork-free diet poses no great problem for military procedures.

Military field rations, known as Meals Read to Eat, or MREs, are now available in special versions to meet the dietary needs of both Jews and Muslims.

“In all cases, we try to help the people, give them time off for all the holidays,” says Hart.

Last year, 75 enlisted Muslims made their pilgrimage to Mecca aboard a military aircraft.

This year, a memo from the Armed Forces Chaplain’s Board circulated to chiefs of chaplains to explain the holy month of Ramadan, and what to expect.

Muslim service personnel were allowed to request release from duty at least half an hour before sunset to prepare for iftar and for after-sunset prayer.

They were also allowed to request exemption from participation in rigorous daily physical training and field training exercises, and a liberal leave policy was recommended for the duration of Ramadan.

The U.S. military has well-established procedures for countering prejudice within its ranks; a combination of education and punitive action.

“We do everything in our power to keep those sorts of things from happening,” says Hart. He could not find any record of military personnel complaining of discrimination against them for following Islam, although others say there have been difficulties.

“Definitely there are problems,” says Abdel-Rahman Alamoudi, director of the Washington D.C.-based American Muslim Council (AMC). “We think it is an issue of ignorance. As we speak to the military and educate them, the progress comes.”

Officially, there are only about 2,500 people who have designated themselves as Muslims in the military today, says Hart. But the real figure is much higher.

“You have to remember that announcing your religious preference [when enlisting] is only an option,” he says.

Of the 1.7 million or so men and women in the military, 81 percent describe themselves as Christians, while 15 percent declare no preference.

“Unfortunately, we do need a lot of education in the military,” says Alamoudi. “There are a lot of Muslims who have not come out of the closet, because they are still fearful” of discrimination.

“During the war against Iraq, we had a few problems with Muslim personnel who abstained from going.”

While some Muslims who did not want to fight against the Iraqis claimed the legal protection of being conscientious objectors to the war, others simply went Absent Without Leave — a serious crime in America which can result in court-martial and imprisonment.

A misunderstanding on the part of non-Muslims led to two Muslim sailors who were praying in Arabic aboard ship being accused of conspiring against the U.S.-led alliance. The AMC’s legal staff stepped in, however, and the sailors were never brought to trial.

While he does not paint a perfect picture of Muslim life in the military, Alamoudi is positive about the prospects for the future of Muslims in the military and calls the ordination of a Muslim chaplain a milestone.

“I hope we will get to the day when there are no problems,” he says. “I can say that the leadership of the military has been very helpful in attempting to solve these problems.”

Mohammed, along with his wife and six children, was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Although estimates vary, about 500 of the 50,000 soldiers stationed there are Muslims. Previously, they had to go off-post for Friday prayers or attend prayers on-post led by laymen.

Fort Bragg also has the distinction of having the army’s only female rabbi among its 80 chaplains.

“it is an excellent chance for the country in general to learn about Islam,” says Mohammed. “I feel honored God has chosen me to carry on my shoulders this great responsibility.”

His appointment is an “important achievement in American history, Islamic history and for the history of black Muslims especially.

“I will do all I possibly can to meet the needs of Muslim soldiers, including allowing women to wear the hegab … allowing Muslim conscripts to perform prayers and the Ramadan fast … without that conflicting with the security duties of the unit in which they serve,” he vows.

The Ancient Art of Exorcism

Originally written in February 1995 for the Middle East Times.

CAIRO, Egypt — It is a windy night in Maasara, one of Cairo’s poorest suburbs. The brightly colored lamps Egyptians hang during the holy month of Ramadan are strung across claustrophobic alleyways, and they sway in the breeze, making shadows dance. Inside one home, however, the mood is anything but festive.

“Humankind is not the only thinking race in this universe,” Mohammed Labib says. By day, Labib, 50, a short, neatly groomed man with graying hair and a quick smile, is a Cairo school supervisor. In his off-hours, he practices the ancient art of exorcism.

Labib is a member of the mystical Sufi sect of Islam. He performed his first exorcism almost 20 years ago, on a friend’s sister.

The existence of jinn, who are repeatedly mentioned in the Koran, is an article of faith for many Egyptian Muslims. Belief in the invisible beings is widespread here, just as belief in UFOs and ghosts is common in the United States. While exorcists do not exactly advertise their services, those in need are able to find one fairly easily.

Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the world’s oldest Islamic university and the home of official Egyptian religious doctrine, is divided on the subject, corroborating the existence of jinn but making no comment on the subject of possession.

Labib’s patient, “YM,” a 25-year-old, gangly, bespectacled Cairo accountant says he has been plagued by troubles for some time now, including a broken engagement.

Last year, he spent a week in the hospital, where he says his heart repeatedly stopped for no apparent reason. His older brother heard a rumor YM was the victim of magic, and suggested they visit Labib, who has allegedly discovered and exorcised several jinn behind many of his problems.

“When you are ill, you go to the doctor and you say ‘God and my doctor may make me well,'” YM says. “I came to Mr. Mohammed just like coming to the doctor. My soul is ill.”

Over the course of the evening, Labib chants passages from the Koran and brings YM in and out of trances, in which the young man grunts and snorts like a wild animal, vibrates violently and moans like a person gripped by pain or passion. The women of the household cluster outside the room, listening to the screams.

After three and a half hours, Labib’s persistence bears fruit. YM writhes, his arms and legs slamming against the concrete floor, padded by only a threadbare blue carpet, and he alternates between shrieks and a cat-like hissing. The existence or non-existence of jinn is irrelevant: YM clearly believes himself possessed, and tomorrow will have the sore throat and battered limbs to prove it.

Gone is the quiet, somewhat mousy accountant. His bearing is assertive now, even arrogant. His skin is much paler and his facial features appear sharper. His eyes, now heavily lidded, roll around in their sockets. His body jerks back and forth and his fists clench and unclench spasmodically.

Labib says he has mystically trapped the jinni in YM’s body, which he has rendered useless. After another half hour of thrashing and screaming, the jinni begins to talk.

He says his name is “Hawgiin,” meaning “something fixable” in Arabic, and claims a magician sent him to kill YM. Labib warns the jinni he will not be released until he renounces his evil intentions. When the jinni refuses, Labib calls upon another jinni to punish Hawgiin, evoking more screams. The jinni finally relents after five-and-a-half hours of exorcism. Before dismissing it, Labib and the half-dozen observers sitting around the edge of the room quiz the jinni.

There is a pattern to YM’s possessions: Labib convinces each jinni, who originally intended the young man harm, to promise not to hurt him. In the weeks following, however, a new jinni appears. Over the months he has been coming to see Labib, four different jinn have manifested, and have begun to do so in the course of his ordinary life as well. Some claim Iblis (Satan) himself sent them to torment him. Recently, a jinni warned it was no use trying to purge YM of his demons: “He’s ours.”

According to Labib, YM’s unusual piety — “I never touched wine, I never touched a girl, I always pray,” the accountant says before the exorcism — was what attracted the evil attentions of the jinn to begin with. When he emerges from the trance, YM breaks down in tears.

Some dismiss possession as a hold-over from a previous era, when mental illness was less understood, and the parallels to the American Salem witch trials are obvious.

“Folklore and culture are impregnated in a person, regardless of their education,” says Dr. Ahmed Okasha, the president of the Egyptian Psychiatric Association and the Arab Federation of Psychiatrists. “You come to 1995 and some psychiatrists are still seeing ‘possession’ as a factor in mental illness … We are going back to the Middle Ages.”

Labib investigates other supernatural events as well.

Eight months ago, Yehia, a foreign affairs correspondent for one of Egypt’s daily newspapers, contacted Labib after his wife, Elham, saw a strange man in their apartment in Heliopolis, another suburb of Cairo.

Yehia had gone to work one morning and Elham, 28, was sleeping when she heard the door slam. She lay in bed on her side, facing a bedroom mirror, which reflected the front door. Seeing nothing in the mirror, she turned to find a large man wearing a green suit standing in her bedroom doorway.

“I was so terrified, I shut my eyes,” she says.

When she opened them again, he was standing at the foot of her bed, staring at her. Each time she closed and reopened her eyes, the man was in a different position in the bedroom, facing her, his face an emotionless mask.

Elham, sure he meant to rob and kill her, was paralyzed with fear. She shut her eyes and began reciting from the Koran. After a moment, the bathroom window — a tiny window hinging inwards for ventilation opening onto an eight-story drop to the street — slammed shut. Then the man was back in her doorway. He stared at her a moment, then vanished.

Elham called Yehia, 34, at the paper. Her husband returned home and searched the apartment, finding no sign of an intruder or robbery. He then began reciting the first sura (verse) of the Koran, which is thought to have power over jinn. After furniture began vibrating, Yehia and Elham moved in with her mother.

Labib examined the apartment, paying special attention to his emotions while there, then drove the jinni away with recitations from the Koran, incantations and mystically significant numbers.

While normally invisible and intangible, the exorcist says jinn have all-too-human hearts and sometimes fall in love with humans and attempt to ruin their relationships. Elham’s visitor was one such jinni, he explained.

A devout Muslim, Yehia is an educated man, with a passion for Western culture. Yet he had no trouble believing a jinni was in his apartment.

“I know my wife: She is not crazy. … She has a healthy emotional life, so of course I thought it might be something supernatural.”

While Sufis claim there are jinn throughout the world, spirits play little part in modern culture outside the Middle East. The captive jinni, Hawgiin, was unwilling or unable to clear up the discrepancy.

“Hey, man,” Hawgiin says, in a near-perfect American accent, unlike YM’s hesitant English, “Don’t ask me that question. Ask those people.”