Is it the role of a US military chaplain to advance the US military’s relationship with Christians around the world?

An article at the Quantico Sentry (and repeated at a US military site) highlights US Navy Chaplain (Cmdr) Abuhena Saifulislam, one of the more prominent faces of Islam in the US military over the past few years. The article notes

He’s served as the public face of an all-inclusive U.S. military and as a living example that the U.S. armed forces and Islam were not inherently incompatible.

About Islamic extremists, Chaplain Saifulislam said 

As a Muslim, I cannot in any way accept their actions. It’s unfortunate, but they’re not the majority. It’s unfortunate they claim to do it in the name of Islam and kill other Muslims. I just call them criminals; I just call them murderers; I call them killers.

While most Chaplains focus on serving their fellow troops, the article gives the impression Chaplain Saifuislam’s primary roles are a variant of public affairs and proactively educating non-Muslim US troops on his faith:

Saifulislam often educates U.S. service members of the importance of Islamic religious practices such as the five times of daily prayers to American operational status.

Further, the article indicates his “pivotal role” has been acting as a bridge between the US military and “Muslims around the world” — a somewhat non-standard duty description for a US military chaplain:

Saifulislam takes immeasurable pride in the pivotal role he’s been given in advancing the Pentagon’s relationship with Muslims around the world, knowing all too well that bridging the perception gap on both sides is critical to both American security and world peace.

Replacing many of the descriptors of Saifuislam’s roles with “Christian” would almost certainly raise the ire of critics of Christianity in the US military. Saifuislam receives no similar criticisms, most likely because even critics acknowledge the relevance of Islam to the US military mission.  Unfortunately, they don’t often recognize the equivalent importance of religious freedom to the US military mission.

As an interesting aside, Saifuislam means “sword of Islam.”

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