c. 1996 Religion News Service

(WASHINGTON) With crescents gleaming on his epaulets to signify his Islamic faith, the first Muslim chaplain in the U.S. Navy was welcomed Thursday (Aug. 8) into the ranks of military chaplains.

Lt.j.g. Monje Malak Abd al-Muta’Ali Noel Jr. received his chaplain’s commission at a Pentagon ceremony attended by Secretary of the Navy John Dalton and Navy Chief of Chaplains, Rear Admiral Donald Muchow.

Noel, a native of Salem, N.J., said the unique epaulets on his uniform are a positive sign for Muslims.”I think it’s good for the Muslim community to be able to see them in the service,”he said.”It lends an air of legitimacy and credibility. We are represented. We are here.” Later, at a reception that drew more than 100 people, including military brass and Muslim leaders, Noel tried to shy away from the limelight.”This is the Navy’s night,”he said.”This is God’s night.” The event marked a triumphal moment for Muslims and chaplains of other faiths who had long hoped for greater religious diversity in the military. His appointment comes three years after the first Muslim chaplain was commissioned in the U.S. Army.

The emerging religious diversity of the military was evident in the way Navy Chief of Chaplains Muchow greeted the gathering, which was hosted by the Washington-based American Muslim Council.”As-salam alaykum,”Muchow said, reciting the Arabic words for”peace be upon you.” When the audience responded,”Alaykumu-s-salam,”or”and upon you be peace,”Muchow declared,”That’s good to hear. It’s so good to hear.” Muchow described Noel’s chaplaincy as”historic”and said it would enable the Navy to provide the”kind of ministry that we’ve never had the chance to deliver before”in the 1,000-member Naval chaplain corps.”This is a day when our government in the United States deeply desires to provide the quality of faith that a multi-denominational chaplain corps brings,”said Muchow, a minister in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Noel, 33, is African-American. Raised as a Christian, he converted to Islam 11 years ago. He said he is not affiliated with any particular group, but an official at the American Muslim Council said he is Sunni, making him a member of orthodox Islam’s largest subgroup.

Noel graduated in June from a joint Master of Divinity program at the Lutheran School of Theology and the American Islamic College in Chicago. He had learned about the chaplains corps through a Lutheran chaplain in the Navy. Before pursuing the chaplaincy, Noel spent 12 years in the Navy, serving tours of duty on the USS Midway and USS Saratoga, and working as a legal assistant.

He is married to the former Nathalia Smith of Dallas. They have two daughters, Tamalia, 12, and Tangela, 9, and are in the process of adopting 4-year-old Alexander, who has lived with the family for the past year.

Noel’s first assignment is yet to be announced, but he said he looks forward as chaplain to working with people of all faiths.”I don’t think that there’s a number one or number two (religion),”Noel said in a brief interview between congratulatory handshakes and hugs.”I believe that God communicates to us all.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

During his two years of training in the chaplain candidacy program, he assisted chaplains such as Command Chaplain Arnold Resnicoff, a rabbi at the Naval Submarine Base in New London, Conn.

Resnicoff said he worked hard to get Noel to visit the base in April. The Muslim chaplain-in-training”helped to educate the senior officers about the ways we could support Muslims in the military,”the rabbi said. Noel also helped Resnicoff get in touch with civilian Muslim leaders who lived near the base.

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Navy chaplains are predominantly Protestant, but include Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons and Christian Scientists,”and now, one Muslim”, said Lt. Donna Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy.

The Navy estimates that there are 1,900 Muslim enlisted men and women and 500 Muslim officers. But those figures are probably lower than the actual numbers because disclosure of religious preference is voluntary, said Murphy.

Qaseem A. Uqdah, executive director of the American Muslim Council’s Office of Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, estimates that there are more than 10,000 Muslim men and women in all branches of the service.

Noel said he looks forward to getting advice from his only Muslim counterpart in the military, Imam Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, who was commissioned as an Army chaplain in 1993.

Muhammad’s duties range from leading prayer services at a worship center at Fort Bragg, N.C., to advising other military chaplains on the basics of his faith. In July, he traveled to Arlington National Cemetery to officiate at the burial of a Muslim soldier who had died in a car accident.

Muhammad, who called Noel’s commissioning”wonderful,”said the military has made progress in assisting Muslims.”We’ve made a significant amount of positive changes around here relative to our religious accommodation,”he said of Fort Bragg.

Uqdah, of the American Muslim Council, gives Christian and Jewish chaplains credit for assisting Muslim members of the military and encouraging the commissioning of Muslim chaplains.

His office continues to work with the military on the continuing issue of reconciling Muslim practice and military procedure. Muslim soldier Darlene Summers was honorably discharged from the Army in July after she refused to stop wearing a traditional scarf that had covered her head and neck while on duty.”This issue of religious apparel or religious accommodation is something that we’ve been working (on) with the Department of Defense for quite some time,”Uqdah said.”It’s not something that’s going to change overnight.” But the changes that have already occurred, such as Noel’s commissioning, are welcomed by Muslim members of the Navy, such as Lt. Zuhdi Jasser, a member of the Navy’s medical corps at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md.”I think it’s a giant step toward creating an atmosphere in the Navy which promotes … a mutual relationship between Christianity, Judaism and Islam, which can be carried over into all aspects of American life,”he said.

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