VICENZA, Italy — During a recent visit to U.S. Army Garrison Italy, Capt. Malik Shakoor told a story of his long and tumultuous road to become a Muslim chaplain.
Shakoor, chaplain for Baumholder, Germany-based 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery recently visited Soldiers in Vicenza during Ramadan, the most sacred month in Islam. At Caserma Ederle, he met with U.S. Army Sgt. Mustaan Lukuman, who leads a small Islamic prayer group at the post’s Spiritual Life Center.
During his visit, Shakoor explained his difficult path to chaplaincy.
While on a basketball scholarship at the University of Maine, Shakoor had poor grades, something that would later hinder his dream. He graduated, but soon found himself living in his truck and eating from trashcans, he said. After a year of homelessness, Shakoor enlisted in the U.S. Army as a supply specialist although his goal was to be a military chaplain. While at Fort Hood, he gained a mentor – a Muslim chaplain who had endured similar trials and tribulations.
That changed his life.
Shakoor’s mentor helped him apply to seminary, a difficult task because of his undergraduate record. More importantly to Shakoor, he had an example of what right looks like.
“My mentor encouraged me,” Shakoor said. “He showed me what a chaplain looks like professionally and spiritually.”
As the only Muslim Chaplain in the European and African Theater, Shakoor’s services are often requested around the Theater. The Soldiers, many of them paratroopers, said they had never met a Muslim chaplain in their Army careers. Now, Shakoor mentors and guides one Soldier at a time, never forgetting his mentor years ago back in the Texas heat.
“I want to be there for Soldiers, whether they're Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or they believe nothing at all,” Shakoor said. “I want to be that to them as my mentor was to me, and then some.”
The visit had a profound impact on the Muslim Soldiers from the VMC, especially for Lukuman who now has another mentor in his life.
“It was an amazing opportunity because most of us have never met a Muslim Chaplain,” Lukuman said. “He really went the extra mile for us.”
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