After graduating from the University of Austin, Texas with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, assuming the chaplaincy at a small liberal arts college was the last thing on Mahan Mirza’s mind.
Yet, seven years later, Mirza is full of fresh plans and palpable enthusiasm for his new job as the Muslim Chaplain at Wesleyan.
“I love it,” said Mirza of his new role on campus. “ I [think] it’s great.”
Born and raised in Pakistan, Mirza grew up in a military household in Karachi. As a child, he traveled extensively within Pakistan and to countries like the United States and United Kingdom with his father’s air force unit.
After graduating from high school in 1992, Mirza immigrated to the United States and enrolled in the Valparaiso University in Indiana. By 1995, he had found success as an engineer in Seattle, Washington.
Mirza soon realized, however, that his work as an engineer was “utterly unsatisfying” and began his journey as a Muslim scholar. Mirza briefly returned to Pakistan where he began his Muslim scholarship.
“I was always somewhat religious, but I got much more interested in religion
after I came to America and all of my longings were not fulfilled,” Mirza said.
While in Pakistan, he began studying Arabic and took a course in Koran.
“I decided to change my life and career completely by actively pursuing answers to perennial questions, [which focused on the state of the world and his place in it],” he said.
Upon his return to the United States in 1998, he received his Masters from Hartford Seminary in Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations. Currently, he is a fifth year student at Yale, working towards a PhD in Islamic Studies.
While looking forward to riding his bike from New Haven (where he lives with his wife and three sons) to Middletown, he is also excited about the prospects of fostering the growth of the Muslim community at Wesleyan. On the agenda is everything from panel discussions and field trips to conferences and, hopefully, a trip overseas.
“I’m pretty flexible,” Mirza said. “There are things in my head [but] it is really up to the students.”
Mirza sees himself as a facilitator for an open dialogue about Islam on campus and plans to work more with students to cultivate students’ interest in Muslim culture.
“The most important thing is to have a vibrant Muslim community on campus,” Mirza said.
He said that another priority is to “serve as a resource for the larger non-Muslim student body.”
Mirza’s interests are as political as they are cultural. In addition to his plans to celebrate Muslim culture, including the holidays of Ramadan and Id, he also wants to capitalize on the opportunity to talk to students about “what Islam can offer America.”
“I don’t see religion [being] divorced from the way the world is run,” he said. “Unfortunately, public debate takes place in catchy sound bites, an environment hardly conducive to nuanced positions.”
So, between attending anti-war rallies in Washington D.C. and pursuing his interest in poverty-related issues, Mirza has a host of events lined up. For now, he plans to conduct an open “Islam Hour” on Mondays, where he will be able to field questions from students in an open forum format.
His aim is to generate a discussion of “Islam, scripture, tradition, politics, and Islam in America.” He also intends to “focus on American Muslim authors and identity, with short articles and perhaps some multimedia.”
In addition to the weekly Islam Hour, he will oversee a prayer service every Friday, followed by a Koran study circle.
Mirza expects to see students from all over the spectrum getting involved.
“The great thing [about Wesleyan] is that it’s not just the Muslim students who show interest,” he said.
Indeed, it is students’ openness to different cultures and religions that Mahan Mirza wants to tap into as the Muslim Chaplain on campus.
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