عمر باجوہ
Omer Bajwa
Director of Muslim Life at Yale University. Chaplain, teacher, writer and mentor to a generation of students.
Photograph by Dan Renzetti, Yale University
Since 2008
Yale’s first full-time Muslim chaplain
Omer Bajwa came to Yale in 2008 to build a Muslim Life program from a single part-time role. Today it holds weekly Jumu’ah in Dwight Chapel, draws students from across the Ivy League to an annual conference, sends undergraduates to Mecca on a pilgrimage fund, and keeps an open door for students, faculty and New Haven neighbors.
Media
Khutbahs, lectures and a film
The book
Mantle of Mercy
Islamic Chaplaincy in North America. Templeton Press, 2022.
Thirty essays by Muslim chaplains on their work in universities, hospitals, prisons and the armed forces, the first book of its kind written by the people who practice it. His chapter, “Open door, open heart,” describes the five roles a university chaplain holds at once.
In the press
In his words
Although I never know who is going to walk through my door or in what role I am needed, my door is always open, literally and figuratively.
What others say
“I immediately felt at home on campus because of the Muslim community. I think a lot of that is attributed to the environment, atmosphere and community that has been created by our chaplain, who’s been at Yale for over 18 years. He’s just really cultivated an environment where anyone regardless of your level of religiosity can go in, feel welcome, and explore who you are as a Muslim.”
Nabil Rahman ’26
Yale Daily News, 2026“The first thing Imam Bajwa taught me was adab, the manners of the heart, and he never once lectured me on it. He simply did it: standing for whoever walks in, learning your name the first time, letting you finish, honoring the people who taught him. I came to Yale thinking leadership meant being impressive. He showed me it begins with how you treat whoever is in front of you. That is the leader I am trying to become.”
Zain Anwar ’29
