Our Vision
A campus community that is the most inclusive, informed, and compassionate—where all students live as their authentic selves and experience the best Muslim Life in higher education.
The Center for Muslim Life (CML) at Duke provides a welcoming environment for students to explore Muslim identity, celebrate Muslim and Islamic cultures, build community, and engage with Islam in spiritual, social, and intellectual ways. Through the combined efforts of our staff, which includes a Muslim Chaplain & Director, Assistant Director and Program Associate, the CML strives to attend to the needs of the diverse community of Muslim students at Duke. Muslim Life at Duke aims to create a space where people of all backgrounds feel welcome and supported as they engage with and learn about the Duke Muslim community.
In addition to programming that deals with issues in Muslim communities, we organize a variety of activities and events related to interfaith, community service, and social justice and activism and offer mentorship and student leadership development. CML’s programming creates spaces for all students, staff, faculty, and community members to discuss issues related to faith, identity, spirituality, and activism.
Our Mission
The Center for Muslim Life (CML) supports students in bridging their faith and values with their Duke experience. We foster an environment where Muslim students can thrive, while enriching campus understanding of Islam through meaningful engagement with students, faculty, staff, and alumni of all backgrounds.
The CML provides a home away from home for students, staff, faculty, and community members who seek an inclusive Muslim community at Duke. If you haven't visited the Center for Muslim Life yet, we invite you to come check us out: watch a movie on our flat-screen TV, play games from our collection, host a study group, or join us for some of our scheduled programming. Our doors are always open!
Our Story
Over the past 13 years, the Center for Muslim Life has served as the hub for Muslim Life at Duke, a home away from home for students, families, staff, faculty, and community members. The story of the Center for Muslim Life begins in 1998, when Imam Abdul Hafeez Waheed volunteered as the first Muslim Chaplain at Duke. As chaplain, Imam Waheed helped to organize and conduct Islamic religious services on campus and advocate for the needs of Muslim students at Duke, particularly a call for a space to pray and call home.
A Message From the Chaplain
Is it possible to learn about different faiths, political ideologies, and cultures, without trying to be right or prove others wrong? Can we try to understand before insisting to be understood? At the Center for Muslim Life, we want the answers to both of these questions to be…YES!! I believe that humanity’s differences have been strategically designed to provide us an opportunity to learn from one another (Qur’an 49:13). We all have the ability to expand our knowledge and horizon by getting to know each other. The Muslim world is very diverse, and that diversity is present here at Duke. One of the main things I learned in seminary is that it is possible to strengthen one’s own beliefs and opinions while exploring others. The anger and hate that lives in our conversations can be replaced with love and compassion. Our differences can be appreciated, and sometimes even celebrated, instead of aggressively trying to convert and change others. We look forward to working with others who agree with this philosophy. And we’re excited to learn from those who do not. The doors of the Center for Muslim Life at Duke University are open to all. God Bless you.
Our Impact
The CML Annual Report highlights the impact we've made on the Duke community each year.
2021-2022
Building a community of Muslim leaders for tomorrow
2024-2025
Coming soon!