Princeton’s first Muslim Chaplain Imam Sohaib Sultan dies
Emily Aronson, Office of Communications
April 23, 2021 10:59 a.m.
Imam Sohaib Sultan, Princeton University s first Muslim chaplain, died April 16 of cancer. Sultan was an inspirational leader, teacher, mentor and friend to students, faculty and staff from across religious affiliations and backgrounds. He was called a “diamond” in the life of Princetonians and was credited with influencing a generation of Muslim students on campus.
Photo by
Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications
Princeton University’s longtime Muslim Chaplain Imam Sohaib Sultan, an inspirational leader for the Islamic community on campus and within New Jersey, died April 16 of bile duct cancer. He was 40.
Imam Sohaib Nazeer Sultan
Imam Sohaib Nazeer Sultan, a Hamilton resident who served as the first full-time Muslim life coordinator and chaplain at Princeton University, died Friday after a year-long battle with a rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer. He was 40.
A beloved and well-known figure on campus and in the greater Mercer County community for more than a dozen years, he was passionate about interfaith dialogue and was known as a bridge-builder who worked to foster relationships between the Muslim community and other faith communities.
Born in North Carolina and raised in Indiana, he became interested in studying Islamic traditions from a young age because of his father’s work as a scholar in Islamic education. When he was 11, he and his family moved to Saudi Arabia, where he learned Koranic recitation. He returned to the United States at 16, finished high school in Charlottesville, Virginia. He then earned a degree in journalism and political science from Indiana U