California legislature’s first Muslim chaplain draws heavily from service in South Africa

Imam Muhammad Yasir Khan tells The National how his past experience abroad informs his service in California

Imam Muhammad Yasir Khan hopes to use his role as the California state legislature’s first Muslim chaplain to help address bipartisan issues such as food security and drug addiction in the state’s divShow more

Imam Muhammad Yasir Khan made history this month after California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon selected him to serve as the state legislature’s first-ever Muslim chaplain from 2021 to 2022.

In an exclusive interview with The National, Mr Khan outlined how he hopes to serve the people of California as the state assembly's chaplain and explained how his past studies and service in South Africa have informed his work in the United States.

"There is a lot of hope in the Muslim community that this is a good step," Mr Khan told The National. "I hope to use this opportunity as a chaplain to bring our community closer together.

“And when I say ‘our community closer together’, I’m not exclusively referring to Muslims. I hope to develop a positive understanding of Islam through collaborations, celebrating diversity and working with other faith leaders to make this world a better place.”

Mr Khan was born and raised in Sacramento, California, but spent a part of his childhood with his family in Pakistan before returning to the United States as a teenager. He has served as a chaplain in local county jails since 2014 and also volunteers at Lodi Memorial Hospital.

“I’ve been very selective when it comes to chaplaincy because I believe that at the county system, our systems were being neglected,” said Mr Khan. “You have Islamic representation in the federal and state prison system, but not so much in the county.”

Mr Khan’s appointment comes after the FBI reported in November that hate crimes in the United States had reached their highest level in more than a decade, including a 7 per cent increase in religion-based hate-crime.

The recent US elections also highlighted the increasingly deep partisan divide among Americans, particularly when it comes to cultural issues. Still, Mr Khan hopes he can wield his influence as the assembly’s chaplain to encourage California’s policymakers to find bipartisan solutions to address myriad socioeconomic challenges facing the state’s diverse communities.

“As a chaplain, my role is not to take sides,” said Mr Khan. “I hope that I’m able to remind assembly members that regardless of which side of the aisle we believe in, we need to understand we’re on the same team.

“When I’m talking about making this world a better place, I’m talking about grassroots-level basics like food security, homelessness, mental illness, domestic abuse and drug addiction. I hope to be able to meet and speak with the assembly member of the geographic area and to see what support we have available, what resources are required to address certain issues and then proceed from there.”

Mr Khan is no stranger to addressing these social issues in California’s communities.

One of the main goals of the non-profit Al-Misbaah, which he founded in 2015, is to provide charitable aid such as food, hygiene products, vehicles and financial assistance to the homeless and other low-income people. Al-Misbaah also provides youth outreach and religious education services.

While serving as a chaplain and working with Al-Misbaah, Mr Khan has drawn on several lessons learnt during the seven years he spent studying to become an imam at Darul Uloom Zakariyya, an international Islamic university in South Africa.

“During my studies, I interned at almost two dozen organisations and non-profits in South Africa that allowed me to learn that there are so many things I’m able to take back from South Africa to the United States.”

After returning to the US in 2014, Mr Khan used the family-focused approached to charitable aid that he picked up in South Africa as the lodestar for Al-Misbaah’s charitable and youth outreach activities. That experience has also guided his own volunteer activities in his personal capacity as a chaplain for California’s prisons and hospitals.

Despite his extensive experience serving the people of California, Mr Khan said it was a surprise when the California speaker’s office reached out to him to serve as chaplain.

“The experience has been extremely humbling,” said Mr Khan. “I did not anticipate nor aim for this position.

“I’m learning every day since I was sworn in as chaplain that, apparently, it is a big deal.”