Story by: Cpl. Benjamin Cossel
CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- For 14 centuries it has been one of the three major religions of the Earth. 1.3 billion give the name Islam as that of their faith. For one Muslim of the First Team's 4th Brigade Combat Team, the long road to this year's Ramadan fasting began in 1973.
The office of Brigade Chaplain Maj. Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad contains the normal spiritual pamphlets; medallions and religious service information on would expect to find in a Chaplain's office. The large couch opposite his desk invites Soldiers in to sit down and discuss fears and concerns they have both spiritual and secular. As Muhammad extends a hand in greeting one is immediately struck by the intensity in his eyes, the intensity of a man unshakeable in his faith.
"My conversion to the Muslim faith began in 1973 when I was an anthropology student going to undergraduate school," he said. "I had been studying most of the major world religions and to me Islam answered the basic fundamental questions that I think all people have."
Growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., Muhammad's spiritual understanding was guided by the Baptist and Methodist churches of his hometown. Raised during the turbulent era of the 1960's, Muhammad identified with cultural icons of the time.
"For me it wasn't difficult to accept Islam. My cultural heroes included Malcolm X and Mohammad Ali," said the 51-year-old father of seven. "So, while I was in college I started attending Nation of Islam meetings under the direction of Elijah Mohammad until he died and continued, staying with that community under his son."
Muhammad would find in the Nation of Islam an organization that offered spiritual guidance as well as help for many of the social ills that affected his community.
"What attracted me was seeing people doing things for themselves, coming off drugs and alcoholism, generally being able to correct things that society couldn't. I was fascinated by what I saw as one of the soundest organizations in my community.
I realized that this is what I had been looking for and could accept it. I began to study more and more until I became an assistant Imam in 1979.
"Marrying his wife, Saleemah, in 1977 the two would move to San Diego, Calif., that same year. In 1979 Muhammad received his first Master's Degree from San Diego State University at which point he and his wife decided it was time to begin settling down.
During the next few years, Muhammad would go outside the Nation of Islam community to increase his knowledge and understanding of the Islamic faith.
"Over the course of the next two years I took it upon myself to go out into the orthodox Sunni Muslim community to learn more about Islam," he explained. "I took it upon myself to get out there and learn from other Muslims about the religion, like how to pray and fast correctly, where before the Nation of Islam didn't get out amongst the orthodox Muslims and they didn't know those things."
The oil crisis of the late 1970s that crippled the United States and the resumption of hostilities between Iraq and Iran during the early 1980s brought Islam and the middle east to the forefront of America's attention. In 1982 Muhammad enlisted in the US Army as a chaplain's assistant but would later change his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) to that of a supply clerk.
"At the time I joined the Army I wanted to be a chaplain because I was already an assistant Imam. I came in as chaplain's assistant, but changed my job to supply clerk. However, for most of my enlistment I worked as a behavioral science specialist because of my previous experience working in mental health," he said, adding," Here I was, a young Muslim guy going into the Army when Iran was public enemy number one."
Muhammad would serve until 1985 when he left the service to continue his work in social services. Muhammad was working as a Chaplain for the New York Department of Corrections when he received a very interesting call from a friend working in the Department of the Army.
"Around 1990 I had a friend who worked for the Department of the Army who happened to be part of the information loop and heard that they were looking for potential Muslim chaplains, so he contacted me. We didn't know how long the screening process was going to take but it took about three and half years before I became a chaplain, so it wasn't a quick process."
The news of Muhammad's acceptance would reach his wife first as she answered the telephone one day in 1994.
"At the time I was selected, I didn't know I was to become the first Muslim chaplain. All I knew was I was just another applicant for the job. My wife received the initial phone call from a chaplain at the pentagon who broke the news regarding my acceptance." A grin spreading across his face, he concluded, "And the rest, as they say, is history."