In European contexts, Muslim chaplains can contribute to professional spiritual care oriented to diverse individual needs.

Growing individualisation and pluralisation call for new ways of supporting people in crisis situations. Spiritual care is a blend of religious and psychological resources for a holistic understanding of health. For this to succeed, imams and Muslim counsellors must have a high standard of professionalism and work in conjunction with specialists in the fields of health, psychology and caregiving. In this way, spiritual care can also contribute to the development of a diversity-aware understanding of Islam in Europe.

Hospitals, prisons and the armed forces
Over the course of a year, the research team examined the practice of Muslim spiritual care in Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina in hospitals, prisons and the armed forces. This exploratory study highlights the occupational requirements and typical challenges in institutional day-to-day work, taking legislative frameworks into account. Examples of actual cases reported from interviews with practitioners provide concrete illustrations: in a moment of acute need, a soldier receives support tailored to his situation; a prisoner benefits from an intervention combining both spiritual and psychological components.

These examples show how Muslim caregivers, imams and chaplains act as brokers between individual spiritual needs and institutional rules. The core skills which prove crucial here are inter-faith and inter-professional cooperation with care workers or psychologists, as well as a broad repertoire of flexible intervention options customised to the situation and the person concerned. The findings make it clear that an awareness of different realities of life, including those of people with little religious socialisation, is crucial for professional spiritual care. The study can be used for training purposes in a variety of occupational categories.

Experience-sharing between Switzerland and Bosnia
This joint project between the Swiss Centre for Islam and Society (SZIG) and the Faculty of Islamic Studies of the University of Sarajevo (FIN) formed the basis for intensive experience-sharing and knowledge transfer. While awareness of religious diversity beyond Christianity has developed only over the past few decades in Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina has a long experience of inter-faith coexistence, as well as a European Islamic tradition which has also been the subject of scholarly study. By contrast, spiritual care is more strongly established in Switzerland at health facilities and prisons, which opens up prospects for developing this field in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The study was conducted by an interdisciplinary research team led by SZIG director Hansjörg Schmid with the support of Movetia, the national agency for exchange and mobility in the education system. Also participating in the project were Islam specialist Amira Hafner-Al Jabaji from SZIG and psychologist Aid Smajić and religious historian Ahmet Alibašić of the University of Sarajevo.