While the new Muslim chaplain has been here for over two weeks now, her office gives evidence to the contrary. With no furniture, aside from three chairs in one corner, a computer and phone on the floor, an unstable, empty bookshelf and a name written in paper on the door, Chaplain Marwa Said Aly’s makeshift office reflects the haste in which she was hired.

Only two days after she returned from her summer studying modern Arabic in Egypt, Aly, still jet-lagged, sat through two four-hour interviews for a joint chaplaincy position at Wesleyan and Trinity University. At Wesleyan, three administrators, two chaplains and four members of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) interviewed her, the last of an international, summer-long search for a replacement for the previous Muslim chaplain, Sohaib Sultan.

“There’s always the issue of being young and a woman,” Aly said. “But I have to gain their trust.”

Satrio Wicaksono, the current house manager of Turath House, was present for three out of the four interviews conducted this summer.

“We were trying to find the best candidate, a person that can cater to Muslim students’ needs and help cultivate more interfaith dialogues and promote a better understanding of Islam,” Wicaksono said. “Many members of the MSA both at Wes and Trinity were a bit worried that we would not get a chaplain in time for Ramadan, but obviously we managed to get one right when Ramadan started.”

According to Wicaksono, the University community was also looking for a chaplain who could wear many different hats, as Sultan, the third Muslim Chaplain at the University, used to say: that of a counselor, advisor, advocate and friend. The chaplain also had to be well versed in Islamic theology, as well as issues concerning Muslims in America, particularly on college campuses.

Aly, a Muslim American who grew up in a white, upper-middle class suburb on Long Island and graduated from Fordham University with a major in philosophy and Middle Eastern Studies, fit the criteria of the MSA, as well as of the faculty and administration.

“I found that she’s very engaging in conversation, supportive and humorous at the same time,” Wicaksono said. “She’s very knowledgeable in terms of the Qur’an, Hadith and Islamic rulings, and she can be the right person Muslims on campus can question when we aren’t sure of what Islam says about something.”

Before an influential teacher encouraged her to apply to the Hartford Seminary, however, Aly had been thinking about applying to big name law schools.

“[Chaplaincy] was a foreign concept to me, and at the same time I’m a woman,” she said. “[My teacher] told me that as an American Muslim I could properly integrate being a Muslim and an American, and deal with societal pressures that young adults face. So I went from law school to chaplaincy.”

While studying for her masters in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim relations at the Hartford Seminary, Aly worked as chaplain at Manhattanville College, where she gave a talk on the Muslim perception of dress, and also held universal, transcendental events on issues affecting all faiths. She also gave public lectures on Ramadan and the role of women in Islamic centers, and is currently an active member of the Muslim American Society.

Though all eyes were on her during the interviewing process, she said that the University made it clear that they were not hiring her so she could do all the work—they wanted to do interfaith work together. The warmness and collaborative nature of the staff, coupled with Wesleyan and Trinity’s proximity to the Hartford Seminary, made the job a perfect fit for Aly.

“When I saw that the only professor at Fordham in Islamic studies was a Catholic, I realized it was time for Muslims to represent Islam,” she said. “There are so many misconstrued versions of Islam. I want to help clarify these misinterpretations.”

Just two weeks into the job, Aly is working to extend Islamic Conversation Week in the spring from one week to a month. She also attended Friday prayer and Suhoor at Turath House—the meal Muslims eat before dawn. A few weeks ago, she drove students to an interfaith event of over 400 people in Newington, Conn., and has helped plan a fast-a-thon for Sept. 25.

Wicaksono said Aly also hopes to plan community service and interfaith events, as well as strengthen the relationship between the MSA at Wesleyan and Trinity. He is especially thrilled that she will be able to work with the community during Ramadan.

“Ramadan is usually the most hectic yet the most exciting time for practicing Muslims on campus,” Wicaksono said. “Her presence is truly a Ramadan gift for the Muslim community at Wes.”

As she cleans off her new desk and replaces the paper name tag with a more permanent one, Aly is still setting up—but she is moving as quickly as she was hired.

“We started off with no desk, throw pillows, and a bookcase almost falling down,” she said. “But now it’s starting to come together.”

Aly’s email address is marwaaly@gmail.com. Her office hours are Mondays and Wednesdays, and every other Friday.