The Master of Arts degree with a concentration in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations is designed to give students training in the major disciplines of Islamic religious thought and practice, historical and contemporary perspectives on Islamic societies, and theological and social interaction between Islam and Christianity.

The Graduate Certificate will provide Muslim leaders with the pastoral care, arts of ministry and multi-faith relations skills needed to serve as chaplains.

Specifically, the areas of knowledge and skill acquisition covered by the Graduate Certificate will be:

• the responsibilities of Muslim chaplains surrounding life events such as birth, death, marriage, or loss
• the rituals surrounding these life events
• examination of Islamic law, which includes ethics and morality and which undergirds all Islamic rituals
• the application of Islamic law to daily life
• exposure to and understanding of chaplaincy skills in multi-faith settings
• understanding of faith traditions other than one’s own

The United States Armed Forces expects students who want to be military chaplains to earn both a Master of Arts in Islamic Studies and the Graduate Certificate in Islamic Chaplaincy. Previous education or experience may serve as the equivalent of either component. 

Students in this degree concentration are encouraged to widen the core curriculum through independent study, including the study of Islam in the Middle East, Africa, South and East Asia, Europe and North America, using the extensive resources available in the special collections of the Hartford Seminary library.

Students choosing the degree concentration in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations are strongly encouraged to take Arabic.
 

Students completing this certificate will be grounded in the arts of ministry and Islamic law and will have a deepened understanding and appreciation of both multi-faith and Islamic faith communities and of the issues confronting individuals seeking to practice their faith in non-conducive situations or institutions. Students completing this certificate also will have successfully completed supervised fieldwork in an institutional setting and will be expected to have acquired basic skills in Qur’an recitation.Requirements include:

• The 3-credit "Introduction to Islamic Law" course Five courses in Arts of Ministry and Islamic Studies/Christian-Muslim Relations
• Six credits in Field Education/Relevant Life Experience

At least three of the required six field education credits must be earned through Hartford Seminary. Of the six field education credits, a student may choose to take one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), for which he or she will receive three credits or three credits may be granted through Advanced Standing for previous relevant religious leadership experiences (if, for example, a student has served as the Imam of an active mosque for several years, or has worked in a chaplaincy context).  Petitions for advanced standing need to be made in accordance with the Advanced Standing Guidelines of Hartford Seminary and acted on by the Academic Affairs Committee in consultation with the Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program.

The content and setting of field education will vary according to the needs of the students. Normally, students will be expected to work 8 hours a week for 30 weeks for a total of 240 hours in an Islamic institution or organization. Such institutions or organizations include, but are not limited to, mosques, Islamic schools or Islamic social service organizations. All field education placements must have an on-site field education supervisor and a Hartford Seminary supervisor (in most cases this will be the Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program). Supervisors and students will be required to sign an agreement that specifies their mutual rights and duties. The field education supervisor, the student, and the Hartford Seminary field education supervisor (Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program or designee) will meet a minimum of once each semester during the field education experience.   In addition, students completing their field education component will be required to attend a designated number of field education graduate seminars.

In rare instances, students may be permitted to fulfill the field education requirement outside the New England area with the consent of the Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program and with the assurance of appropriate means for assessing the nature and quality of the supervision.

• http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=25115 
• September 13, 2002 Kim Lawton's interview with Ingrid Mattson
• CNN interview with Professor Mattson Oct. 18, 2001
• Beliefnet article by Ingrid Mattson 
• Dignity and Patient Care: An Islamic Perspective in Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine
• Muslim convert takes on leadership role Christian Science Monitor biography of Mattson
• Christian Science Monitor By Jane Lampman
• www1.soc.american.edu/observer/2002/april17/asne.htm

For information about the program itself, please call or e-mail Professor Ingrid Mattson, (860) 509-9531 or imattson@hartsem.edu or contact Abdullah Antepli, Associate Director of Islamic Chaplaincy Program & Interfaith Relations (860) 509-9537 aantepli@hartsem.edu.