(RNS) — Roughly half of the content creators on social media platform TikTok are under the age of 28. It’s just one reason why the popularity of Army Colonel Khallid Shabazz, who has some 43,000 followers on the social media platform, is so surprising.
Most TikTok users hadn’t even been born when Shabazz joined the military 28 years ago and are of a generation with few ties to military service — some 71% of young Americans between 17 and 24 are thought to be ineligible to serve due to health or other issues, according to a recent report.
Shabazz’s TikTok account includes a mix of his weightlifting exploits peppered with Quranic and biblical messages. Aphorisms abound. “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it” appears to be one of his favorites. As a chaplain, Shabazz is used to handing out nuggets of advice and wisdom to troubled soldiers — the sort of counsel a younger, more troubled Shabazz could have benefitted from.
Not long after converting to Islam — facing discrimination from other soldiers, disappointment from his Lutheran family and with more than one citation for insubordination on his record — Shabazz was ready to quit the military.
But a chance encounter with a Christian army chaplain not only convinced him to stay in the military but to pursue chaplaincy himself.
“Honestly, it was like a revelation from God,” Shabazz told the Army News Service. “When it hit my ears, I knew that was what I was going to do in life. It was incredible.”
Nearly three decades later, with his 2018 promotion to colonel, Shabazz is the highest-ranking Muslim chaplain in the U.S. Military. He serves as command chaplain for U.S. Army Central, the three-star command responsible for land operations in the Middle East, according to Army Times.
As a child, Shabazz was molested by a family friend — an experience, he said, that put him in an emotional tailspin and left him an angry young man. He spent 8th grade in special education. He failed 9th grade and 12th grade.
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