HOW WE UNDER-DEVELOPED OUR IMAMS

This title is not meant to insult or ridicule our imams rather this article is written to throw more light on our imams and their poor meagre salaries.

All I have done is to add my own voice to this issue, which we have successfully neglected in our discussions in our various Islamic fora. Despite its tone, I am not anti rich people or anti anything. I am just speaking my mind, our commentators have through false modesty and perhaps because of fear of looking too materialistic not pointed out this anomalies in our masjids and in our muslim communities as a whole.

Having made this disclaimer, I was reading the UnMosqued Series on patheos when I came across a well written article on imams and the low salaries they earn in America. It was quite disheartening as this article dives into the deeply discomforting question of why Millennials, Generation Xers, reverts and women seem to be giving up on American mosques, and the third spaces they are creating in the absence of regularly attending mosques.

Here is a Link for those interested in following the unmosque discussions on patheos, it is hoped that we would all learn a lot and find solutions and ways to revive the role of the mosque.

Moving to the issue at hand, although no research has been carried out on how much an average imam makes here in Nigeria, but we all know that they end ZERO and NADA compared to their Christian counterparts that can afford to buy a private jet in the blink of an eye.   We all seem to believe that since imams (and their families) are working fi sabilillah – in God’s way they should sacrifice financial security. But, while Islam does frown upon extravagance, it does not require its adherents to take a vow of poverty.

A critical look at our mosque system in Nigeria reveals a decline, I have heard so many Muslim youth complain about the fact that they don’t have access to good and beneficial lectures in their community. Why? Because our Islamic scholars and commentators have been looking for consolation rather than the resolution of the various dilemma we face in our various Muslim communities. Examples are so abundant that I can’t even bother with particular instances.

Apparently our imams who seem as the only ones who possess the tools and possibly the insight to build our Muslim communities are constrained even sometimes without their knowing it, by certain provincialisms like poverty and cowardly inability to challenge mosque boards.

Unfortunately, many of these imams are also struggling with busy schedules and are ill-equipped to deal with the challenges facing their congregations in  a productive and culturally sensitive manner which is one of the reasons why so many people especially youth are becoming unmosqued.

I remember at a very young tender age of 15 while I had so many questions bothering me about Islam, I had no imam to answer my questions as some of them were unequipped despite their our vast resources (the Quran, and the Sunnah), scholars of ilm etc. to answer my atheism questions and they took the escape route of saying “we dont ask questions in Islam, we hear and we obey!!”

WHATTTT!!?? This is an answer unsuited for a generation like ours.

From my perspective and a thousand others I think, the title of a great imam should not be limited to one who recites the Quran with great tajweed and a mashaa Allah voice but rather one with sound and sober Islamic knowledge, an imam that totally understand the cultural intricacies of Nigeria, an imam that is concerned about the emotional and psychological welfare of his audience. Someone who understands the nature of structural tribalism and religious bigotry in this country and challenges it among his congregation. Someone who knows how to respond to a survivor of domestic violence or sexual assault, who can give advice to a teenager confused about marriage without judgement, who can comfort an audience suffering from depression, who can help frame the questions a person struggling with atheism is asking without spiritual abuse. Someone who would speak the truth and remind us about our temporary the dunya is. Yes, this might be a tall order, but I think that guy would be worth a lot and would need our support.

According to the Unmosqued series, One way to attract an imam with that kind of temperament is to offer him competitive salary, a salary that may siphon away some of the young men in our communities from medical, law or engineering schools, but really, how many more doctors, lawyers and engineers do we need? We do, however, critically need more imams who care for the needs of others, promote justice and are creative thinkers. I don’t want our communities to joke anymore about the kid who couldn’t get into medical or law school and went to the madrassa instead. We need more people like him in our society.

We must invest heavily (both human and fiscal capital) in building Muslim seminaries for imams and other religious leaders. We must develop a nationally recognized imam certification process which will help to keep imams accountable to their congregations. We must protect the rights of imams who are usually employed “at will” and at the mercy of their mosque boards. And we must pay them competitive salaries, in order to both attract the most qualified candidates and to mitigate the needs for imams to take on second or third jobs to support themselves and their families.

Also we should ensure that the voice of the imam is not dwarfed by the voice of the owners of the mosque. This happen in so many cases when the people who built the mosque dictate whatever happens in the mosque including the prayer times. Subhann Allah this is totally wrong, the mosque is the house of Allah and we all should refrain from referring to mosques as our own personal properties.

And I think I should also address the issue of the prayer times here too, it is very upsetting that after all the explanations about the prayer times subject to change some mosque still insist on praying Zuhr at 2pm and Asr at 4pm, This is very incorrect.

The lesson is clear, and in the words of Hind Makki “Being an imam is an emotionally draining job. We must acknowledge that as a community. There are many imams who frankly should not be in their positions – they have neither the temperament, nor the educational background for it. We must acknowledge that as a community. The solutions to these challenges are multifaceted and include developing religious educational institutions that serve our needs and paying our religious leaders better for the critical services they provide our communities.  We deserve better and so do our imams”.

For if we treats our leaders better, there is hope for us as a community and in shaa Allah Islam would perhaps lead the way again.