Meet the AMC Executive Board
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Joshua Salaam has strong roots in the American Muslim community. He started attending national Muslim youth camps at the age of 12 and continued as a participant, counselor and speaker for over 30 years. Joshua entered the U.S. Air Force in 1995 and served as a Police officer for four years. He was a key contributor in establishing Friday prayer services on base for Muslim military members and went on to serve as an Imam in Goldsboro, NC for several years. He holds a Master’s Degree in Religious Studies with a focus in Christian/Muslim relations from Hartford Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry.
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Najiba is a chaplain and life coach who has been serving the Greater Boston Muslim community for the past 20 years. She received her B.A. in Peace and Justice Studies from Wellesley College and her Masters in Social Work from Boston College. She received her coaching certification at the Associate level with Integral Coaching Canada. She has also studied under teachers from Boston Islamic Seminary and Fawakih Arabic Institute. She formerly served as Youth Director at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) and as the Muslim Chaplain at Wellesley College. Najiba has extensive experience leading interfaith dialogue fuled by her passion to help people discover and develop their whole selves - spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, intuitively and more. She and her husband are raising three children.
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Chaplain (Major) Ryan Carter was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He is a military chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces currently posted to Ottawa, Canada. His chaplaincy career has allowed him to experience and be directly involved in operations in Canada and abroad in addition to being part of muslim communities across the globe. His passion is to serve the community in developing capacity to better support the mental and spiritual fitness of youth and young adults. He is a nationally recognized leader in Anti Racism programming and education in the workplace and has developed a number of diversity focused initiatives across Canada including the initiative; "Talking About Race" which is a national platform for discussions on race and discrimination in the workplace. As a chaplain, Ryan is a member of the Male Allies group with Peaceful Families, and is the co-author of the Muslim Abusive Patterns Intervention program rolled out by Peaceful Families this year.
In addition to being traditionally trained in the Islamic sciences, he holds a BA (Hon) in Criminology and Social Policy from Ontario Tech University Canada, a MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Durham University, UK, and a MA in Muslim-Christian Relations from Hartford International University, USA.
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Raymond is a board certified chaplain (BCC) with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and endorsed as a healthcare chaplain through the Muslim Endorsement Council (MEC). He has 5 units of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) 1 unit from LAC+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA and 4 units from John Muir Health in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. Raymond has an M.Div. in Interfaith Chaplaincy and a certificate in Islamic Studies and Leadership from Claremont School of Theology (CST) and Bayan Claremont Islamic Graduate School. He has worked as a chaplain at various hospitals including the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, MD and John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, CA. He currently works at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. Raymond became Muslim over 14 years ago.
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Samra Ali is an accomplished educator and management professional with a robust background in arts, nonprofit work, and volunteerism. Over the past 15yrs, Samra has been instrumental in the Accreditation, development and expansion of one of the leading Islamic private schools in North Texas, and then as the Housing and Procurement Manager at the Texas Muslim Women's Foundation, where she was dedicated to supporting and empowering victims of domestic violence through her expertise in multi-level operations.
A lifelong learner, Samra is currently pursuing her MDiv in Islamic Chaplaincy at Bayan Online through the Chicago Theological Seminary. She holds certifications in Social Entrepreneurship from SMU Cox School of Business and Spiritual Entrepreneurship from the Glean Network with Columbia Business School. Samra's commitment to community-driven projects reflects her passion for integrating faith, arts, and education. She serves on the boards of various nonprofits, including Havenly Treats and Rabata, and consults on strategic planning, underscoring her dedication to fostering positive change and empowerment within her community.
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Bio forthcoming.
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Jaye is a graduate of Hartford International University's Islamic Chaplaincy Program and an ICU chaplain at Michigan Medicine where she also serves on the ethics committee and focuses on Muslim staff care. She underwent CPE training with ACPE and was previously an AMC board member and a co-editor of Mantle of Mercy: Islamic Chaplaincy in North America.
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Usama Malik is based in Austin, Texas, and serves primarily as the Resident Chaplain at Muslim Space. He also serves as a chaplain with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Trinity University. Usama works full-time as Senior Associate for Student Affairs and Communications at Austin Seminary.
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Ustadh Nadeem Siddiqi grew up in Knoxville where he has lived since 1977. He graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Economics in 2002 and from Tayseer Seminary in 2016 in its first class. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Muslim Community of Knoxville, Annoor Academy of Knoxville, Tayseer Seminary, and the Association of Muslim Chaplains. He serves as adjunct faculty for Tayseer Seminary where he teaches a course in community governance and service. Ustadh Nadeem serves as a Muslim Chaplain in the local prisons and at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville for the Muslim Student Association.
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Lauren Schreiber is the co-founder and Executive Director of Center DC, a Muslim third space in Washington DC. She is currently pursuing her masters in chaplaincy at Hartford Seminary, with a specialty in Islamic Studies. Under her leadership, Center DC launched a community chaplaincy project in January 2021, where they offer pastoral care to the broader community, free of charge. She is a convert to Islam, the wife of a youth director and mother of a wonderful little year old girl.
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Salahuddin A. Muhammad comes from rich religious traditions on both sides of his family and is a third-generation Muslim American. He is married with three children; two girls and one boy. He has a Master’s degree in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations from Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. He is a Clinical Chaplain for the Bureau of Prisons. He also serves as Vice President of Corrections for the Association of Muslim Chaplains. He authored the book America’s Imam: Warith Deen Mohammed’s Interpretation of Islam in the Milieu of American Society. Salahuddin A. Muhammad also serves as an Associate Imam at As-Salaam Islamic center of Raleigh, NC.
Staff
Bio forthcoming.
Committee Chairs
Imam Dr. Salahuddin M. Muhammad is a retired Chaplain having served at Fishkill Correctional Facility (Beacon, NY) for 28 years, as Senior Imam of Masjid Al Ikhlas, (Newburgh, NY) for 26 years and as a Contract-Chaplain at Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY) for 17 years. Presently he serves as President of the Alumni Council and an Executive Board member of Hartford Seminary, President of the Association of Muslim Chaplains, and an Associate Imam of As Salaam Islamic Center in Raleigh, NC. His areas of expertise include: Islam, general Islamic studies, Islamic theology, Motivational Speaker, Christian/Muslim relations, criminal justice issues, and inmate advocacy. Imam Muhammad holds a D.Min. in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations from Hartford Seminary as well as a Graduate Certificate in Islamic Chaplaincy.
Past Executive Members
AMC is indebted to the amazing women and men who helped make our organization what it is today and contributed so much to the field of Islamic Chaplaincy, and we recognize and honor their service and leadership as Muslim chaplains through AMC.