Parvez and Omar welcome R. David Coolidge (former Muslim chaplain at Dartmouth College and Brown University, and current PhD student at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA) to discuss his journey into and within Islam, which has taken him through the Sunni and Shia traditions.  The discussion was especially timely considering we’re in the month of Muharram.

Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, is held to be the second holiest month, after Ramaḍān. The Tenth day of Muharram is known as the Day of Ashura. Sometimes, as part of the Mourning of Muharram, Shia Muslims practice partial fasting, and Sunni Muslims practice fasting on Ashura.

About David Coolidge

David Coolidge was born in Chicago, and raised in Kenilworth, IL. He has a BA from Brown University and an MA from Princeton University. He converted to Islam in 1998.  From 2008-2013 he worked as a Muslim chaplain, first at Dartmouth College and then again at Brown. From 2014-2017 he taught an undergraduate course on Islamic law and ethics at New York University. He is currently a PhD student at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA.