Omer Bajwa with Muslim Students Association members at the welcome-back gathering

Chaplain’s Office

Muslim Life at Yale

The program he has led since 2008, now shared with Assistant Muslim Chaplain Leenah Safi.

Omer Bajwa with students at a suhoor gathering during Ramadan 2026 — Suhoor with students, Ramadan 2026.

Omer Bajwa with Muslim students at Yale in 2023 — With students, 2023. Yale News.

Programs

Full details and the term calendar live at muslimlife.yale.edu.

Jumu’ah at Dwight Chapel
Fridays at 1:00 pm, 67 High Street, during the academic year
Weekly congregational prayer followed by lunch, a tradition he borrowed from chapel coffee hours so that no one has to leave alone.
Ivy Muslim Conference
Annual gathering of Muslim students across the Ivy League
Conceived at Cornell, launched at Yale, and still hosted on campus each fall.
Yale Umrah Fund
Spring-break pilgrimage with the Islamic Center at NYU
Established in 2012 so that cost never decides who gets to go.
Muslim Leadership Lab
With Dwight Hall, Abdul-Rehman Malik and Leenah Safi
Retreats and town halls on leadership, spirituality and social justice.
Monday halaqa
Mondays at 8:00 pm in the Musalla, and on Zoom
A weekly study circle on faith, the Prophet’s life, history, law and the inner life. Attendance nearly doubled when it moved online in 2020.
The Musalla
Bingham Hall, 300 College Street
Yale’s dedicated Muslim prayer space since 2001, open around the clock. Students write to him for access.
Ramadan and Eid on campus
Iftars at Morse, taraweeh in Dwight Chapel, Eid prayer at Payne Whitney Gymnasium
Yale held its first on-campus Eid prayer in a very long time in 2022. By 2026 he was leading a joint Eid for the city’s mosques.
Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Memorial Lecture
Annual, with the Muslim Leadership Lab
Speakers have included Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Aisha Al-Adawiya.
Imam Hussein Lecture on Social Justice
Annual since 2022, with the Shia Racial Justice Coalition
A lecture from the Shia tradition on memory, space and justice.
Fall Muslim Life Banquet
Since 2008, the program’s marquee event
Began as a Ramadan banquet in Commons his first autumn. Keynotes have included Rami Nashashibi, Omid Safi, Ubaydullah Evans, Shawkat Toorawa and Asma Uddin.
Muslim Life Council at Yale
Convened by the University Chaplain, facilitated by the Director of Muslim Life
Meets twice a year to bring students, faculty, staff and alumni into the program’s planning.

Since 2008

Ivy Muslim Conference

Conceived with his wife Lisa Kinney-Bajwa at Cornell and launched at Yale, the conference brings Muslim students from across the Ivy League to New Haven each year.

Conference site

2008
The conference comes to Yale, an idea conceived at Cornell with Lisa Kinney-Bajwa, as the Yale MSA records it.
2010
Held in a snowstorm with about 120 delegates from five Ivy League schools.
2012
Keynote by Ingrid Mattson, the first woman to lead the Islamic Society of North America.
2013
Keynote by Imam Suhaib Webb.
2014
Keynote by Ustadh Usama Canon.
2016
Keynote by Hassan Shibly; about 200 attend.
2017
Keynote by Imam Zaid Shakir.
2018
Keynote by Imam Khalid Latif, “In Search of the Beloved Community.”
2019
Keynotes by Shaykha Ieasha Prime, “A Call to Care,” and Mokhtar Alkhanshali, with more than 200 students.
2022
Back in person after the pandemic, with Dr. Marwa Assar.
2023
Keynote by Ustadh Ubaydullah Evans; opened to students from Quinnipiac, UConn, Vassar and Williams.
2024
Keynote by Dr. Celene Ibrahim, with Leenah Safi, Abdul-Rehman Malik, Soraya Hosni and Mark Gonzales.
2026
Held October 30 to November 1 at the St. Thomas More Center.

Prayer space

The Musalla

Yale’s dedicated Muslim prayer space in Bingham Hall, 300 College Street, open around the clock since 2001. He narrates the tour.

Contact

For students

Office hours, Musalla access and pastoral conversations begin with an email.

omer.bajwa@yale.edu

203-432-8753

Chaplain’s Office, Bingham Hall, 300 College Street, New Haven

muslimlife.yale.edu