Imam Abdul Rahman Latif Becomes Tucker Assoc. Director, Muslim Chaplain

Dartmouth has students of many faiths, and the College nominally attempts to support every religion present on campus. Yet, for a year, the Muslim community, a small but vocal presence on campus, went without a spiritual advisor. 

In 2021, Dartmouth’s Muslim Spiritual Advisor, Khalil Abdullah, left the College. He was not replaced until Fall 2022, when Dartmouth hired Abdul Rahman Latif to become its first Muslim Chaplain. Imam Latif also became Associate Director of the Tucker Center. Latif had previously served as the Affiliate Campus Minister for the Muslim Students Association at Boston College and the academic advisor for the IQRA Academy.

Latif said that his goal while at Dartmouth is to make students’ voices a collective, “prophetic or comforting voice,” as opposed to just “students screaming in the woods.”

 So far, Latif has proven himself to be an effective advocate and an involved figure on campus. He has succeeded, for instance, in making prayer rugs available in the Student Wellness Center in Berry Library. He has also led both a weekly religious-learning circle (halaqa) and an intellectual discussion group. 

Latif has been able to begin revitalizing Islamic life at Dartmouth, left somewhat dormant by the departure of Khalil Abdullah. At the annual Ivy Muslim Student Association Conference in November, he was able to organize the attendance of 26 students, a strong showing. This was, according to Reverend Nancy Vogele, the second-largest contingent from any school in attendance.

Dartmouth itself, however, lacks any real infrastructure for Islamic religious life. Hanover does not have a mosque, and so Latif has to lead religious ceremonies elsewhere. Specifically, he leads Friday-evening prayers on the first floor of North Fairbanks in the Muslim Prayer Room, which is the meeting place of Al-Nur, Dartmouth’s Muslim Student Association.

Moreover, it is important to underline that, while in previous years Dartmouth had a Muslim advisor in Khalil Abdullah, Latif is in fact the College’s first Muslim chaplain. Increased efforts to provide pastoral care to students in light of the COVID pandemic as well as mental-health concerns, as Reverend Nancy Vogele has emphasized is critical, doubtless played a role in Latif’s hiring as a chaplain.

We at The Review welcome and appreciate the efforts of Imam Latif to foster an emotionally healthy environment on Dartmouth’s campus by way of his post at the Tucker Center. We also applaud his efforts to protect the religious concerns of Muslim students.