While leading salat al-Jumu’ah — Muslim Friday prayers — in Cannon Chapel, rising sophomore and imam Suhayb Ahmedin noticed he was having a hard time seeing the full congregation.
Thankfully, Rahimjon Abdugafurov, Emory’s Muslim chaplain and director of interfaith academic partnerships, already had a solution in the works. In early 2025, he suggested that the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life commission a custom minbar — a stairway used as a pulpit in Islamic worship services — from Atlanta artisans.
Abdugafurov and the congregation welcomed the completed minbar at a recent prayer service and celebratory halal lunch.
“The minbar is an important element of congregational prayer because of its significance in prophetic tradition,” he explains, noting that it’s an essential feature in any mosque. He adds that it will help students remain connected to the customs of their religious practice.
“It provides a sense of completion to our Jumu’ah prayer services,” he says.
More than 100 student congregants often attend the Friday services, in addition to faculty, staff and affiliates from Emory Healthcare.
The Rev. Dr. Gregory W. McGonigle, university chaplain and dean of religious life, notes that the chapel previously added prayer rugs and ablution stations to support the Muslim community. The minbar, he says, is yet another meaningful addition.
“It represents the evolution and growth of Muslim life at Emory over time,” McGonigle says. “Chaplain Rahimjon showed us this would be a way to bring the community together and feel supported. The minbar is a physical sign of how much he has added to our Muslim and interfaith life on campus.”
Abdugafurov and McGonigle selected the materials — primarily oak — with the counsel of Sarah McKlin, the Cannon Chapel site operations manager, who helps maintain aesthetic cohesion throughout the sanctuary. The minbar’s warm wooden hues blend seamlessly with the chapel’s other religious accoutrements.
For the inaugural service featuring the custom-made pulpit, Abdugafurov charged Ahmedin with delivering the first sermon from the minbar’s steps, on charity. The theme was in recognition of alumna Amanda Phillips, whose donation funded the minbar’s construction. Phillips, a physician, founded and was the first president of the Muslim Students Association at Emory's Oxford College campus in the fall of 1991. She was one of many in the crowd.
“You might imagine that the chapel wouldn’t have been that busy on a summer Friday,” McGonigle says, “but there were people from the front of the room to the back.”
He adds that he looks forward to introducing more students to the minbar when they return from summer break.
For Abdugafurov, the donation reflects the spiritual significance of charity. He is thankful Phillips and other alumni continue to support Muslim life at Emory.
“One of the best forms of charity is supporting people who are seeking knowledge,” he says. “I think that the minbar will serve Emory’s mission to create, preserve, teach and apply knowledge, and it will help us better teach love and humanistic values to all our students. I am very grateful to be in a community that respects different religious traditions and promotes pluralism.”
Ahmedin, who preached from ground level throughout his first year on campus, says he was honored to speak from the minbar. Elevated, he feels his words carried an additional weight.
“After the sermon, a member of the congregation came up to me and said, ‘I wish you could have seen how you looked on the minbar,’” he recalls. “And it made me think that the environment can be as important as the speaker, because it’s the environment that gives the words a sense of presence and impact. When I was speaking from the minbar, I felt that my words had a sense of presence they may not have had before.”
And this time, Ahmedin could see everyone in the crowd.
Sophomore Suhayb Ahmedin delivered the inaugural sermon from the minbar's steps.
Becky Stein