To continue the conversation about youth at risk, and how imams and Muslim chaplains can respond, I asked my dear friend and student at al-Azhar’s College of Shari’ah, Jamaal Diwan, to reflect upon the points raised in my article “What Happened to Ahmad: Responding to Muslim Youth at Risk.” The following is his response.

Since I was asked to write about this topic from the perspective of a student of Shari’a, I would like to begin my comments with some reflections on the role of the imam in America and then work from there towards my thoughts on the relationship between chaplains and imams.

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