Omer Bajwa delivering a khutbah at Masjid Samiya

Recordings

Media

Khutbahs, lectures, panels, podcasts, television and a film, 2009 to today.

Still from Masjid Samiya's recording, 2026

The film

A Chaplain’s Journey

Chaplain Omer Bajwa’s journey to becoming Chaplain at Yale University was not a straightforward path. Trust in faith paved his way and continues to inspire his journey.

Directed by Steven Havira. 16 minutes 54 seconds. October 2023.

Watch on YouTube FilmFreeway page Hartford International University announcement

Awards and selections

2023
Platinum Award, Documentary
Viddy Awards
2024
Platinum Award, Long Form Documentary
AVA Digital Awards
2024
Platinum Award, Religious Video
dotComm Awards
2024
Gold Award, Documentary
Hermes Creative Awards
2024
Award of Excellence, Religion and Spirituality
Communicator Awards
2024
First place, Video for Web
Connecticut Press Club
2024
Merit Award, Special Video
Educational Advertising Awards
2024
Official Selection
Ridgefield Independent Film Festival, Connecticut
2024
Official Selection
Muslim Film Festival, Australia

Video archive

Audio and appearances

Talks, podcasts and broadcasts

Newest first. Items without video link to their host pages.

2026

Chaplaincy and professional life
University of New Haven student government and Muslim Students Association, Gehring Hall, talk
Saturday Night Live: campus connection
Roots of Sunnah and ISNA, 63rd ISNA Convention, Detroit, as co-host, panel
Guest halaqa
University of New Haven Muslim Students Association, lecture
Iftar fundraiser, with Imam Zaid Shakir
Masjid Al-Islam, New Haven, at Roti Boti in West Haven, talk
Find your balance this Ramadan
Bayan Islamic Graduate School, with Muhammed El Marouk and Chaplain Nora Zaki, webinar
Preparing the soul for Ramadan
Maqam CT, at MOTW Coffee and Pastries, New Haven, lecture
Ramadan on campus
Association for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life in Higher Education, member session, workshop
Fundamentals of prophetic youth leadership
The Islamic Seminary of America, weekend short course at Yale with Mona Islam and Jimmy Jones, course
Voices of Bayan, episode 9
Bayan Islamic Graduate School audio series, podcast
Ramadan on high-achieving campuses: presence, not performance.

2025

Tuesday halaqa
Masjid Al-Islam, New Haven, lecture
Keynote, 51st annual fundraising dinner
Islamic Foundation, Villa Park, Illinois, address
College life and faith, for juniors and seniors
Islamic Foundation School, Villa Park, Illinois, talk
On campus chaplaincy
Association of Muslim Chaplains annual conference, conference talk
Benediction, Yale Baccalaureate
Yale University, Class of 2025, address
Conversing with God: an Islamic approach to ritual prayer
Listening to Other Voices series, Glastonbury Abbey, Hingham, lecture
Seminar on Islam for rabbinical students
Hebrew College winter intensives, Newton, course

2024

Blessings for your students: prayers for interfaith communities in higher education
Hartford International University book event, with Maytal Saltiel and Lucinda Mosher, panel
Invocation, Yale Prison Education Initiative commencement
The first bachelor’s degree ceremony held in a Connecticut prison, MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, address
Peace and Dialogue Leadership Initiative speaker event
Yale, talk
Suhba is the secret sauce: paradigms of knowledge and Islamic literacy on college campuses
Faith in Fine Print, with Imam Ebadur Rahman of Columbia, podcast
Book talk: Mantle of Mercy
Boston Islamic Seminary, lecture
Islamophobia: origins and consequences
Hartford International University webinar series, Antisemitism and Islamophobia Then and Now, webinar

2023

Community forum on the war in Israel and Gaza
Quinnipiac University, talk
Invocation, Hopkins School commencement
Hopkins School, New Haven, address
A Chaplain’s Journey
Documentary directed by Steven Havira for Hartford International University, 16 minutes, film
Nine awards and festival selections, including Platinum at the Viddy and AVA Digital Awards.
Muslim guide to the gap year
The Tayseer Podcast, with Ustadha Zaynab Ansari, podcast

2022

The art of spiritual care
Office of Religious Life, Princeton University, lecture
Benediction, Yale Baccalaureate
Yale University, Class of 2022, address
Benediction, Veterans Day ceremony
Yale University, address
Mantle of Mercy: lessons from the pandemic
Association for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life in Higher Education, with Muhammad Ali and Patty Anton, workshop
Twenty years of chaplaincy education: alumni panel
Hartford International University, panel
Why the work of Muslim chaplains is important
Association of Muslim Chaplains, video
Time for Omer
Time for the Soul, the Yale Chaplain’s Office podcast, with Sharon Kugler, podcast
Ramadan fast feeds the soul
Dateline New Haven, WNHH FM, with Paul Bass, radio

2021

How Chaplain Omer Bajwa handles crises of faith at Yale
The Middlepath Podcast, podcast
Campus life, mental health and faith in a pandemic world
Addy Hour, Yale Podcast Network, with Sharon Kugler and Orlando Yarborough III, podcast
Surprise blessings from COVID-19: five interfaith religious leaders' perspectives
Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance, panel
A year of faith: the Chaplain’s Office
Yale Alumni Association IMPACT conference, with Sharon Kugler, panel

2020

Abrahamic perspectives on civil rights
Peace Islands Institute New York, with Rabbi Ebbin and Pastor Monrose, panel
Religious leaders on providing comfort during the pandemic
CNBC, with Rabbi David Seth Kirshner and Pastor Raymond Muniz, television
Preparing for Ramadan in a time of crisis
Muslim Student Association, Georgetown University in Qatar, lecture
Growing up Muslim in America
Islamic Center of New London, Groton, lecture

2019

Muslim-Jewish relations: can we be friends?
Young Israel of Oceanside, with Rabbi Jonathan Muskat, dialogue
A crash course in Islam
Yale Divinity School Summer Study, five-day course, course

2018

Catholic-Muslim relations
Albertus Magnus College, Saint Thomas Aquinas Lecture Series, lecture
A taste of Ramadan: an interfaith fasting panel
Farmington Valley League of Light and Muslim Coalition of Connecticut, Avon, panel
What do Christianity and Islam have in common?
Yale Religion podcast, with Ian Oliver, podcast

2017

The Mantle: City of the Beloved
Rumi’s Corner, Bridgeport, lecture

2016

Uniting against hate: an Islamic perspective on social justice
Eid banquet, University of Rhode Island, lecture
Inner and outer dimensions of fasting in Ramadan
Church of the Good Shepherd, Orange, lecture
Forum on Islam
Southern Connecticut State University, lecture
Muslim pilgrimage: the Hajj
Church of the Good Shepherd, Orange, lecture
The misrepresentation of Muslims in the media
Quinnipiac University, lecture
Drawn from his Cornell research on press coverage of Muslims before and after September 11th.
Law, life and culture
WNHH Community Radio, New Haven, with Betsy Kim, radio

2015

Pope Francis' encyclical: climate change evokes moral change
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, St. Thomas More Chapel, with Rabbi Joshua Ratner, panel
A panel response to Laudato Si'.
Extremism as a destabilizing force
30th Islamic Conference of New England, University of Bridgeport, lecture
Psychology of extremism
Let the Quran Speak, television

2014

Loving the Beloved
Islamic Association of Greater Hartford, Berlin Mosque, with Imam Refai Arefin, lecture

2013

Stories from the Muslim world
Fairfield Public Library, lecture
Islam and community: a path to submission, or a guide to life?
Happiness Across Religions and Cultures series, Yale, talk
Meet the chaplains: seeking guidance
50th annual convention, Islamic Society of North America, panel
Tragedy, trials and tribulations: the grace in calamities
Hedaya Center, Newtown, with Yasmin Mogahed and Newtown’s interfaith clergy, panel
Five months after the Sandy Hook shooting.

2012

Prayers at the New Haven vigil for Newtown
New Haven Green, with Sharon Kugler and city clergy, address
Muslims and Christians: listening together for God
United Church on the Green, New Haven, sermon

2010

Islamophobia
Oberlin College, lecture

2008

America’s original sin: Obama, race, religion and politics
Cornell University panel, as interim Muslim chaplain, panel

2007

Islamophobia: myth or facts
University of Rhode Island, as Cornell’s Muslim chaplain, panel

2006

Islam 101: everything you need to know about Islam
Islam Awareness Week, Cornell University, lecture

Sermons

Selected khutbahs and halaqas

Most were recorded at Dwight Chapel for the Muslim Life at Yale channel.

The People of the Cave
ISNA Canada
Inculcating futuwwah: noble character
Masjid Samiya
Live your life like Ramadan and death will be your Eid
Muslim Life at Yale
Eid al-Fitr: finding our true place in the world
Muslim Life at Yale
The life and teachings of Prophet Jesus, the son of Mary
Muslim Life at Yale
The Prophetic Code: etiquettes of social life in Islam
Muslim Life at Yale, six-part halaqa series
Stars vs. gems: how does your character define you?
Muslim Life at Yale
Live what you believe: reflections on the Chapel Hill shooting
Muslim Life at Yale
Friday khutbahs
Full playlist of recorded sermons