Dr. Rahimjon Abdugafurov

Dr. Rahimjon Abdugafurov serves as the Associate Director for Religious and Spiritual Life and Muslim Chaplain at Macalester College. Rahimjon provides support to the Macalester Muslim students, faculty and staff members. He holds halaqa, Qur’an and other Islamic sacred textual reading sessions weekly in the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. He also meets one-on-one with the members of the Macalester Muslim community to support them in their spiritual, personal, academic and professional lives. He serves as an advisor in the MSA empowering and encouraging Muslim leaders as they plan events and celebrate Islamic holidays. He supports Friday prayers which includes community lunch right after the prayer.

Originally from Uzbekistan, one of the countries that used to be occupied by the Soviet Empire, Rahimjon has faced religious intolerance under the Soviet regime. Coming from the family of Hanafi Sunni jurisconsults, and a son of an imam and a religious leader, Rahimjon served as an imam in the Atlanta Uzbek community from 2016 to 2023. Previously, he worked as an Assistant Dean for Spirituality at Namangan State University, Namangan Uzbekistan. 

He came to the USA through the US Department of State scholarship to pursue his Master’s degree in higher education administration at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He also received his M.A. in international studies from the University of Wyoming, and PhD in Islamic Civilizations Studies from Emory University. Before coming to Macalester, he taught Islamic Law at Emory School of Law, where he served as an Executive Director for the Law and Islam Program. He is working on a book project called Putting Religion Second based on his doctoral dissertation about a late medieval Yemeni Sufi theologian and philosopher Abd al-Karim al-Jili. Rahimjon’s second book project is called Hope in Islam: Maturidi’s Theology of Human Nature and Muslim Relations with non-Muslims.

Rahimjon is a Muslim humanist, and focuses on a holistic approach to human well-being. Human physical, intellectual and spiritual aspects remain at the center of his attention while interacting with other human beings. He deeply believes in human equality, human freedom, and human potential. An ardent supporter of interfaith relations, Rahimjon searches for voices that support human coexistence and social cohesion through a multifaith approach. Through his work with Macalester students he contributes to better understanding of interreligious relations.