Pentagon Iftar Dinner For Muslim Servicemen

By Rick Marshall, Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The Pentagon hosted its second annual Iftar meal January 15 in a ceremony highlighting the growing recognition of Muslims within the U.S. military.

Vice Admiral Vern Clark, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began by expressing his appreciation to the thousands of Muslims who serve in the U.S. forces on behalf of all the service chiefs.

"We are extremely grateful for your contributions to our nation's defense," he said.

Clark stressed the importance of religious and ethnic pluralism in American life and the strength that a long tradition of tolerance has lent to it.

"Diversity is part of our greatness," he stated.

Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, who also spoke at last year's Iftar meal in the Pentagon, continued on the themes Clark had begun.

We come together tonight as people of faith, he said, for faith and service to the country are inter-linked values. Quoting from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution -- "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" -- Hamre said: "There isn't a word here that a good Muslim wouldn't fight for."

Still, he conceded, American soldiers sometimes go off to war to fight for this country's ideals, only to return to injustice back home. Rectifying such situations is the duty of all Americans of all faiths, he said. We can be faithful to our nation and to our Constitution only if we fight for our ideals at home as well as abroad.

"I thank you," he told the troops attending the ceremony, "for being good Muslims and great soldiers."

Lt. Abdullah Hamza Al-Mubarak, who recited from the Koran to begin the ceremony, recalled for USIA in a later interview the sense of emptiness he felt when he first joined the service because there were no Muslim chaplains then. Encouraged to take the initiative upon himself, he contacted Air Force personnel who agreed that a program should be established to create Muslim chaplains.

With their support and the help of a number of chaplains from other faiths, Al-Mubarak gained his officer's commission and entered chaplain school in Leesburg, Virginia. When he graduates in May, he will be the first Muslim chaplain in the Air Force. Two others are in the first year of the program.

Al-Mubarak, a native of El Paso, Texas, studies Arabic and the Koran every day along with his other coursework. He made the Hajj in 1994.