“The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was a man of the people! He wasn’t holed up somewhere waiting for people to come to him. Rather he engaged them, not only in the musalla, but in the streets, at their homes, in the marketplace!”

“Why doesn’t the imam lead all the prayers? That’s the name of the job(!!!). Why is he out having lunch with some businessmen who never attend prayers when it’s iqamah time!”

“Why isn’t the imam in his office? I have personal things I want to speak with him about, and I don’t want that conversation to take place in front of everyone in the middle of the prayer hall!”

See the contradiction?

“The Imam should be representing us at all interfaith events. I do not want to see someone who doesn’t know the deen or an incompetent presenter who doesn’t even mention Allah.”

“The imam should not be involved in outreach so much, but rather in-reach to develop our own community!”

Just another contradiction of expectations. Move along.

“The Imam should be kid friendly, playing a pickup game of basketball, and know how to address children of all ages and backgrounds — intellectually doubtful brooding confused as well as those attracted to street life and hustling.”

“The imam should be a scholar and academic, I cannot believe how ignorant the imam is about crypto.”

“The imam should be a licensed counselor, have a social science degree, maybe be a first responder—heck, there are a lot of young and old people in our community, maybe he should be a physician, a pediatrician, a cardiologist, a physical therapist…”

Okay, I exaggerated with that one, but I hope you get the point.

Hardly anywhere else in the world is a single individual expected to have such a wide and almost contradictory array of expertise, talents and drop-of-a-hat capabilities as imams in Muslim minority communities. So inevitably, they fall short of the superhuman expectations that their congregations have and expect of them.

These complaints are a tip of the iceberg. You cannot please everyone, although it is your job, regardless of what anyone else says. 

But in an attempt to explain the roles and hats of an imam, I’ve penned this humble series of articles. They will be arranged according to the main “offices” of the imam’s responsibility, tertiary duties and what goes on behind the scenes for each. I have also given a lot of detail about my own work-life balance, perhaps too much, but it could be an assistance for others.

The intention behind this series is to explain why Imams need assistance, and how you may assist them. Consider this series a cry for help for the greater American Muslim community.

The series consists of five separate articles. This first one will cover the most foundational and routine duties of most Western imams: the khutbah, leading prayers, and giving regular lessons. 

I’ve titled the series “What does the Imam do in his office all day?” because it was something I heard from some worshipers at my first position in the suburbs of east St Louis. I often heard them gush over another particular imam of the city, and one day I decided to pay that imam a visit since I had some questions for him about conducting marriages. And during my time with him, he said, “some people ask me what I do in my office all day…” So it wasn’t just me! And I realized every community seems to perceive the grass greener on the other side. 

 

The Khutbah

 

The khutbah is the heart of the imam position. As it is said, “they won’t remember what you said, but they’ll remember how you made them feel.” While every word and act of the imam touches the hearts in different ways, this has the greatest potential and reach. It is what gets the community excited to come every week, to come early to hear the reminder, and to come more when other programs go on. It can be what converts the curious semi-unmosqued Muslim into the weekly disciple.

The khutbah can also be what makes people frustrated, anxious, and just feeling like their imam is out of touch, if the khutbah is either irrelevant, or if the delivery style is difficult to follow.

Some imams plan  every breath they will take during the khutbah, every rise and fall of their tone and pitch, and quickening or slowing of their tempo. I am one of those. This is in addition to the research they go into for what scripture to evoke and how best to translate it while remaining faithful to tradition, yet not go overhead the average worshiper. Let’s not forget the contemplation required to not only choose an engaging topic from week to week, but also to make sure to touch a diverse set of heartstrings. This, while sidestepping any words or phrases that could be misunderstood or come off as offensive to any of a varied set of mosque goers with extremely divergent backgrounds and comprehension. The khutbah, therefore, should not be belittled. 

The consensus from the imams I have spoken to is that khutbah prep comfortably takes ~10 hours. A 5-hour window of prep would make for a haphazard sermon without enough time to either research or adapt. A 15-hour prep would be ideal, allowing research, creativity, adjustment of length, and even planning which passages of Quran to recite during the prayer itself that may remind worshipers so that all is not forgotten once the imam calls for prayer. In a perfect world — depending on how we define perfection — the khateeb would have several days to prepare and rehearse.

Considering this, I have a special respect for imams who happen to be present outside their primary masjid and a board member from that other masjid recognizes them, approaches, whispers in their ear, “our imam just called in sick today, would you be able to give the khutbah?” and without any notice, they oblige, stand up, and deliver a khutbah from the heart. That usually comes after decades of experience. 

Regarding the heavy accents of foreign imams, I have a soft spot for those who strive hard with English and bring a beautiful old culture to the American masjid. However, the understandability of their English is often very poor, whether they recognize or not. I remember sitting in a khutbah and hearing an imam say, “males before down”. It wasn’t until the Arabic portion of the khutbah that I realized he meant “meals before dawn” and he was talking about suhoor! Mistakes like this are disastrous and make an English rendering, by a foreign imam, near detrimental. Allahu musta`an. 

 

What it really means to lead prayers

 

Maybe I am the most ignorant imam in the world. I can recall many prophetic virtues of attending prayers and khutbah, but cannot recall any for leading them. Calling the adhan, yes. But leading the salaat is a responsibility, not a privilege. 

I have heard that leading the prayers is only an hour-long commitment that Muslims should be doing anyway, so why should that be a burden or even worth a salary?

Aside from comparing with the amount of time dentists spend looking at your teeth, or plumbers looking at your pipes, let us ask: is leading prayer a skill that requires knowledge and training?

It requires a more comprehensive understanding of the how to’s and what if’s of the mechanics of prayer, their scriptural and scholastic basis – from prostration of forgetfulness to the rules of combining, replacing istikhlaaf, requirements of the congregation and prayer rows. That’s not to mention, answering the questions worshipers may have about their prayer if they are new, or if they are versed in a madhab and are curious about the imam’s precedent (i.e. why did you not recite the basmalah out loud? Last time you weren’t here, someone led prayer but their head was uncovered, etc etc).

But of perhaps far greater import is the skill of proper recitation, knowing and following the rules of tajweed. I’ve met some individuals referred to as “imam” but their recitation of al-Fatihah has shortcomings, some of which could change its meaning. But then again, this is something nearly every imam is accused of from time to time, by differently evolving hearings. 

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “The imam has only been made to be followed” and people want to have confidence that their imam is qualified to be followed. So while the prayer itself may not take great time, they certainly require study and mentoring, as tajweed cannot be self-taught.

 

Commute-ment

 

Remember, if you want your Imam living near the masjid, then he and his family have less personal privacy, which may lead to anxiety—if not for the imam, but for his wife or children. This is especially true for American born and raised imams. If they feel like they are enslaved ball and chain to the masjid as some community members may visit them at odd hours of the night. But if he lives far, then it is almost as if he is not part of the community.

When I lived and taught in west St Louis while being a part-time imam in east St Louis, it would be 45 minutes one way if I beat traffic. If there were accidents, construction and city events going on, that could turn into 90 minutes just one way. I remember one particular snow day when it took me three hours to get home. This kind of long distance scenario happens when an individual is already rooted in a city, but later becomes an imam after agreement with a distant masjid. 

Even in Pittsburgh where I live a 22 minute drive from the masjid on average, 33 minutes at worst, I invariably stay at the masjid from dhuhr till isha. When the prayer times are closer together, it is harder to make appointments or tend to obligations elsewhere because you cannot come back in time for the next prayer. You simply either schedule at the masjid in between prayers or make prayers on the road or solitarily when you return to the masjid later. I mention these details because the community still asks, even if the imam is visiting a sick boy in a hospital: where is the imam? Can’t he do that in between prayers?

This is why my *open office hours* are typically from thuhr till maghrib all year long. In the winter, that makes for 8-hour days, but in the summer, 10 hours. Always give or take, due to appointments that could be scheduled before thuhr in the masjid, or even lunches or meetings scheduled outside at that time.

If and when I add fajr prayer into my day and routine, then that one prayer is easily an hour-long commute-ment. 20 minutes there, and 20 minutes back, with time for sunnah, the fardh, and dhikr before leaving. But it’s never just the prayer. As an imam, people may frown on me if I don’t wait until sunrise to perform ḍuḥā and exemplify the best of the Sunnah at all times. Not to mention, some worshipers may have questions, and I won’t say no to them.

Depending on the imam’s family situation, age of his children, wife’s routine, etc., it could be easier or harder for him to commit to the masjid in “off hours”.

 

Reviewing Quran for prayer

 

If I am going to lead isha and then fajr the next day I may spend 2 hours just to review Quran for that purpose alone. Sometimes, even from asr prayer onwards, the rest of the evening is just Quran review and nothing else, except the occasional e-mail distraction. This is so I do not rotate the same parts of Quran to worshipers every week and bore them—because it is prohibited to bore people from the Quran. Nor do I want to stumble during a passage I haven’t reviewed or memorized too well.

Before becoming an imam, I would sometimes avoid coming to the masjid, or intentionally come a couple minutes late, just because I knew if I was there people would push me forward to lead and I had not reviewed Quran and did not feel confident to lead—this reached a height around the time I was diagnosed with laryngopharyngeal throatburn reflux in Peoria and was unable to review without pain.

To improve, I do rotate a few portions of the Quran like memorable endings of Surahs that I track to make sure I haven’t recited any one passage more than twice each month. 

Admittedly I rarely pray fajr in the masjid due to the time commitment at an hour that my family needs me to help them with their mornings or because I am sleep deprived and need to go back to bed immediately after the salaat and I experience great difficulty trying to sleep anywhere on earth but my own bed. Again, I mention all this because I know some people will say “why not rest after fajr at the masjid?”

They believe the imam should figuratively be around the masjid 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. All I can say is that if that is what you want and expect, you’ll need to hire an imam for prayers, and other religious director for anything else outside the masjid. 

Further, when you work all afternoon, and your children are in school all morning, the only time I have to see them is fajr time. If I am deprived of that too, then I would only see my children a few hours every weekend, even though we live in the same home. For this reason, I take off a couple weekdays—and make that explicit in my contract, so that I get at least two afternoons and evenings with them each week, and I also only pray fajr in the masjid on weekends if I do, just so that I can in fact see my kids every day and help with their school prep. As I’m writing this, my children are ages 7, 5, and 4. [When I first wrote this, the ages were 5, 3, and 1… my how time flies]

Compare this to Christian ministers who perform services just a couple hours a week and read from scripts. Imams may lead vocal prayers at least a dozen times a week, from memory. For these reasons, I strongly support the model that several larger masajid have adopted, of having an “imam rateb” who simply leads prayers, and maybe does Arabic and Quran teaching, in addition to a “resident scholar” who performs many of the other tasks, but both have extensive Sharia knowledge, while the latter may have better English.

So when a potential imam looks at an “imam job description” and sees “lead all prayers” … that could evoke a variety of emotions. “MashaAllah a 17-hour work day! And they ask me why I’m not an imam anymore!” Is one I’ve heard sarcastically from a well-known daiyah from the West.

 

 

Leading Tarawih prayers

 

This is another example of, “it’s only one hour a night where the imam would be anyway!”

I’ve met some imams who lead tarawih from hifz during the entire Ramadan. If they are young and it is one of their first several times doing this, it can be an all-day endeavor, to review twenty pages of Quran every single day for that cause. Most huffaaz have to follow a disciplined schedule to accomplish this, especially on days before surahs they have greater difficulty with, or for difficult passages, or even “easy” passages but full of mutashaabihaat.

Imams who lead from memory will often duck out of iftar, for fear of disturbing their bowels before prayer time. And there is always one night of Ramadan it seems that everyone gets stomach flu from some auntie’s homemade biryani. You ever wonder why you never see an imam pause their reading and say “I’ll be back in ten minutes, nature is calling!” while worshipers go in and out throughout the course of the prayers keeping the bathrooms full for two hours straight? The stress of leading the prayers, getting the hifz right, and keeping the body nourished without being held back by food or drink in any way is what often leads some huffaaz to lose ten or twenty pounds during the month. Whatever it is that huffaaz ask for of payment to lead Quran from memory in the month of Ramadan is probably well deserved, either for the effort they make that month in particular, or as respect for the efforts that they have made over the decades.

 

 

Halaqahs and Duroos

 

If the khutbah is the heart of the imamate, the dars is the brain. You cannot expect to teach too much to the community in the middle of their Friday workday. Yet surprisingly, many people consider the goal of the khutbah to teach and increase knowledge. It is the evening or weekend dars where they have a chance to truly learn, regardless of what they remember of that dars, even one week later. If anyone followed along with Yasir Qadhi’s 104-part Seerah series, they will hear him quiz his audience week after week, some of the same questions, “where did we hear this name from before? C’mon guys you should know this?” and no one will have an answer, not even the one transcribing the lectures. As one of my fellow IU Medina colleagues said, “Imagine you are talking to Gomer, don’t make it too advanced or high brow.” I’ve read some Muslims on social media lament imams preaching to the audience as if they are children, but while some masjid goers may have a good Islamic culture, there will nearly always be attendees for whom things are new.

For me, the purpose behind the dars is to refine my own knowledge, more than anyone else’s. I’ll present it as best as I can for the purpose of inculcation, but I keep my expectations low. Since the masjid is not designed like a classroom, people do not come with laptops or notepads, and unfortunately it can be logistically complicated to display on a projector screen or TV to both the men and women’s areas simultaneously, or difficult to move everyone to a classroom or cafeteria with a proper screen viewable to all. During such transitions, a few people will always decide to grab their shoes and leave. So we have to settle for this voice only medium of instruction. I wish new masajid were designed to alleviate this, but alas.

Going back to the imam, a high quality dars or series, with the most accurate translation and fewest awkward pauses, will take many hours of preparation. If there is no time to prepare, then it will simply be a gathering of what is already “ready-made” so to speak, of the articles or videos of other imams, or past notes, or hasty faulty translation, or simply reading aloud. But if an imam has lots of time to prepare (and I can’t imagine any imam does, unless they’re part time at a small masjid and they live with their parents or their wife is the main provider) then he will want to read books about the topic, summarize them, and maybe do his own tahqeeq of narrations and tarjeeh of the issues. It could take a month or two to prepare for a dars, just like what one would do for a college research paper and presentation. Unfortunately, we often do not have the luxury of time.

I remember when I was in my second year of Medinah and I asked a recent graduate, about his thoughts on graduating and finishing his studies. He said he wished he memorized the Quran, but that he was happy to be able to read a book without worrying about a deadline. He wasn’t an imam but worked with an educational dawah organization. As an imam, I can sympathize with the Quran part, but I wish I could also savor the feeling of sitting down with a book without worrying of some other urgent matter.

Having a consistent Quran halaqah is a masjid foundation. Other topics such as fiqh and tafseer, hadeeth and seerah, or translating and explaining books and special topics or current event topics, of course require their own preparation. But when it comes to classroom topics, I’ve found Arabic is the most popular. But Arabic is also the one that, once people sit down to learn it, they immediately become stricken with other life events and seem unable to continue. Other imams may even have a “side halaqah” for private students to learn Islam more traditionally from the mutoon.

Depending on the community, a weekly dars may not be the best medium. But rather, monthly workshops, weekend seminars, and intensives. This is a model I gravitate towards after observance of what worshipers attend and praise or do not.

 

 

This concludes the first article of this series, giving an idea of the foundation of an imam’s work, and what is required of it. The final note will be a theme for these articles: how to make our imams (and communities!) more effective and dynamic.

 

How can YOU help your imam with prayers? Memorize Quran. Study the fiqh of prayer. Work on your tajweed with the imam or a qualified shaykh. Be that capable back up for when your imam is occupied or running late. Always have a portion ready to lead with. Remember how the Prophet Muhammad would always assign an amir of Medinah whenever he would travel. And he told Ali when leaving for Tabuk, “You are to me like Haroon was to Musa, except there is no prophet after me.” Or when the companions pushed Abu Bakr forward one day but when the Prophet ﷺ came, Abu Bakr retracted. The more men that can do this, the less of a burden it is for each. 

 

How can YOU help your imam with the khutbah? In some masajid, the imam will give 52 khutbahs a year. In others, 2-3 per month. Find other khateebs who have a good sense of how to speak to the Muslim audience, what to say and how to say it, to fill in for the imam from time to time. Not only when the imam is sick or on vacation or at a conference but to give the imam a chance to visit other masajid or sit in the audience for once and seize the virtues that he reminds others of from week to week.