For the third part of my series on what an imam does, I cover other essential aspects of the imam‘s career. This includes all that falls under the heading of “outreach” and then “inreach”. I then present what the imam actually does in his office. I’ll give you a hint: it’s mostly communications! And finally I touch on a couple other not-so-common duties that some imams may take up — although I personally do not. Read on to learn the details …

Contents

Outreach. 1

What does Imam Chris think about interfaith work? 2

InReach: strengthening intra-community relations 4

Strengthening inter-community relationships: Imam Councils and Masjid collaborations 5

Spontaneous Requests 7

Letters to get things done. 8

Phone and Electronic Communications 9

Sadaqah distribution. 9

Fundraising. 10

Leading Hajj, Umrah, and Islamic tourist trips 11

Outreach

Depending on the size of the city, and which masjid it is, outreach could easily be a fulltime job, or even two. Outreach only. Presenting Islam for middle schools, high schools, and college classes, on their turf as well as in local masjids. Organizing masjid open houses. New Muslim classes, training convert mentors, and following up with converts. Visiting prisons and corresponding with incarcerated Muslims. Tabling at college campuses, public spaces and cultural events.

Creating a dedicated outreach committee is important to handle all such requests and needs, or the imam will be overwhelmed. I’ve generally found that convert imams, and to a lesser extent, Arabs, have a greater concern for converts. If the Muslim community is small or far away from “the big masjid” then such requests may be few and far in between. But the imam definitely cannot make a noticeable impact or even respond to every request, while simultaneously composing his khutbah, reviewing Quran or giving a private Arabic lesson.

Is the Muslim community willing to put in the money to employ individuals in outreach so that we can start being proactive, instead of reactive? We have not been able to implement a “student to student” project because of our lack of attention to find and fund even a part-time organizer. This particular failure of the Muslim community is what allowed Islamophobia to become mainstream in the Obama era, and bring about Donald “Islam hates us” Trump. However, most communities want to see results from an individual before funding them. But if an individual needs funding before they can dedicate the time, as is often the case, then our communities are in a catch 22.

There are some events under the “outreach” heading that should only be filled by someone with “imam” or “resident scholar” as part of their title, specifically panels with other faith leaders. Also, the occasional interview for a student essay. And some outreach requests, panel talks or speaking to a specialized college class, may require a speaker with a specific skill set or experience, like a CAIR activist or Muslim academic. However, if such individuals are unknown or in short supply, it will fall onto the imam.

At my current masjid, I aim to have a weekly “reboot class” with a yearlong curriculum initially designed for converts, but also an infrequent “Islam 101” 60-minute class for non-Muslims. Sometimes in that slot I’ll have “all about the Quran” or “Who was Muhammad” or the occasional hot button issue. And I have begun the process of rebuilding the outreach committee after covid.

In recollection, my most favorite and memorable outreach event that I attended and presented for was a MENSA convention in St Louis. Apart from hearing a child holocaust survivor deliver the keynote speech, I had never seen so many adults who refused to eat vegetables! But maybe it was just my table. ::shrug::

What does Imam Chris think about interfaith work?

I have a personal policy about interfaith work.

When responding to invitations, find out exactly what is asked of you, the imam, and who will be present along with what they represent, and what will take place.

I will usually participate in anything that is pure charity, like giving help to the needy. Or anything purely academic, like a panel discussion, whether private or broadcast, whether it is to find a consensus or compare and contrast traditions and perspectives.

I will almost always avoid anything that involves worship from other traditions unless it is clear to observers that my presence is only as a spectator and not an active participant. Unfortunately, I’ve seen many Muslims at such events, opening up a hymnal book with Christians or Jews and singing their songs with them. They’ll stand when they stand and sit when they sit, side by side with the rest, indistinguishable. I cannot help but be reminded of the ayah, where Allah describes the “worship” of pagan Quraish at the Ka`bah:

وَمَا كَانَ صَلَاتُهُمْ عِنْدَ الْبَيْتِ إِلَّا مُكَاءً وَتَصْدِيَةً فَذُوقُوا الْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْفُرُونَ]

“Their prayer at the House was nothing but whistling and clapping of hands. Therefore taste the punishment because you used to disbelieve.” [8:35]

I have seen many Muslim organizations invite ministers of other religions to pray for world peace, for example. Muslims will ask priests to pray to Jesus for world peace. I do not know of any greater ignorance and inferiority. And so I have personally reached out to such organizations to remind them that this is completely haraam. Even when the Prophet ﷺ prayed for peace between his own ummah, Allah did not grant that. Would he ever again ask for what is known not to happen? And are we so desperate and incapable of duaa that we must ask non-Muslims who have a different belief system from us, one that our religion deems polytheistic?

In between interfaith worship and purely academic or charitable causes, there are a lot of gray areas. Some social justice causes of solidarity that used to be an easy “count me in!” have instead become hard passes. That returns to who is involved or sponsoring the event, and what they represent that might completely undermine Islamic family values. Even some so-called Islamic organizations are succumbing to these ideas. Times are truly bewildering.

InReach: strengthening intra-community relations

The term in-reach popped up when outreach became too comfortable for some imams and deprived his community of him. I know of imams and other faith leaders who become famous due to a good word that went viral, or their presence during a traumatic event, and so they were invited to speak in venues across the country, or a very successful interfaith network. Then, their community reminded them “your place is here”.

InReach is reaching within the greater community of Muslims to bring them closer to Allah, and thus, the masjid, supporting it with the presence, and, admittedly, donations. This means creating relationships with Muslims of the community by visiting them and displaying beautiful manners to endear them to masjid representatives like oneself, the imam. The Tablighi jamaat have made inreach their culture. For the uninitiated, it requires proactive effort to learn of all the disconnected elements of the community. Challenges abound when an imam is new to a city. Influencing factors include demographic and geographic distribution in relation to the imam and the masjid, not to mention, how much “flexible time” the imam actually has.

This leads to another point: there is no “imam job description” except that “maintain regular office hours” is a part of it. But there are just as many walk-ins at random times as there are scheduled appointments within those posted office hours. And if the imam is to conduct active in-reach inside the greater community, and not just cold calls, then maintaining those hours or accepting visitors is also a challenge.

Inreach also means keeping the current supporters of the community happy with whatever they expect to see from the imam. For the more traditional, that means leading the prayers. For the more religiously educated, it means frequent duroos. For some groups and individuals, it may mean public words of recognition. And for others, it is relevance to current events and issues. For the board, it means increased donations, plus keeping all their friends happy, which may include the whole range of the community. Ultimately, it may be a contradictory set of expectations, or one that cannot be filled by one person alone.

People will tell you, “it’s not your job to make everyone happy” but in fact, it pretty much is, because the restless unhappy nature of even one person may spread to others like cancer. What is the imam doing about …? Why isn’t the imam present at …? And this is often forgotten, and why no imam will ever be perfect and make everyone happy, even if he is literally Allah’s Messenger ﷺ giving away free stuff.

Most imam job descriptions will also include a line like “must be experienced and capable in interacting with people of different backgrounds and levels of comprehension.” That is an understatement. And that is also why being an imam is not for everyone, nor even perhaps most students of knowledge, sadly, unless they are part of a team of imams at a center. Beyond simply knowing multiple languages, or their dialects, but having the ability to recognize the level of who you are speaking to and bring things down to that level. This is another aspect of retaining the community.

Strengthening inter-community relationships: Imam Councils and Masjid collaborations

Call it cross community relations if you wish.

I have often found that imams get along far better with each other than the boards of the masjids they represent. ^[1]Usually, masajid form because they split off. Community growing pains. If it were not the case, then one masjid organization could create a satellite masjid which could eventually become a second … Continue reading That is from the benefits of knowledge.

But every major community, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian with clergy and rabbinical councils, all have ultra orthodox, “fundamentalist” or “super Salafi” communities that abstain from any meaningful collaboration. But they are noticeably present when asking for financial assistance for expansions or sadaqah. That is in between their khutbahs and social media posts laden with subtle or overt takfeer, tabdee` and tafseeq of mainstream communities.

Imam councils may consist of Ashari, Maturidi, and Athari imams, along with part-time or volunteer imams from Warith Deen Muhammad community, or other ethnic or niche communities. They may organize events, khutbah exchanges, panel talks, and issue statements as necessary, whether directed to the public, or to the Muslim community. However, there is only so far that these collaborations can go because each imam is usually answerable to a board and cannot “write a check they can’t cash” no pun intended. Some imams will talk big about plans, while I smile and nod, because I suspect their board will not go along with it. Those plans rarely make it to fruition.

Many idealistic imams will push for unity and having “Eid on the same day” as if we cannot discuss anything else before or after that until it is attained. But this attitude slows down all collaborative efforts, as each masjid has evolved its own moon sighting policy. Some masajid double as cultural centers, or the masjid function is entirely secondary. For such places, they often tie their moon sightings to the home country. In life I’ve learned to “do what you can and work around what you cannot” and so collaborating for panels and annual events seems to be the best way to gather imams publicly.

One of the best things to come out of Imam Councils are Sharia Affairs Councils for family matters. In large cities with enough qualified imams, trained in fiqh and matters of divorce especially, they can form a council that hears cases of khul`ah and enforces them as necessary, without any single imam being “culpable” or overburdened.

To collaborate for events and long term programs that may not necessarily require an imam, boards often move slowly. Boards are generally conservative and like to keep private, mirroring much of how American society has evolved, with people less close to each other. Each masjid has its own history, which often times involved a particular vision at its inception which shaped its relationships, appointments, programs and policies. Only the most innocent of collaborations, like a khutbah exchange, will go smoothly, but not always.

Spontaneous Requests

Whenever I read the story of Dawud (AS) worshiping in the mihrab and he is suddenly besieged by two men who climb over it and demand his judgement in an issue, I think of some of the spontaneous and sudden requests I am given as an imam that spice up my day. One Friday afternoon at around 3pm a large Turkish family entered the masjid. They must have come in two cars. I was literally in the middle of reciting a`udhu billahi minash-shaytaanir-rajeem to review Quran for maghrib and isha when they entered. Ministry is interruption. They asked for the imam. Here I am and I am all yours, how can I be of assistance? Unfamiliar families are usually from out of town and want to see the masjid and meet the imam as they consider relocating or simply pass through.

For this family, their child was almost two years old and not speaking yet. They feared some affliction like the evil eye or possession. Have you spoken to your pediatrician? I asked Because my child is also two, and I think she speaks less than yours, and our pediatrician said it’s normal, everyone starts at a different time. No. They hadn’t consulted, and they didn’t want to. I asked where they were from. Small talk. They lived a mile away. Huh, okay, I’m curious as to why I’ve never seen you before, but I’ll keep that to myself. Maybe one of the several dozen families that moved to the neighborhood as the masjid was being constructed, but rarely set foot in it afterwards. But I will withhold judgment, as I’m sure they have their excuse. I recited Quran for them and then they asked me to carry the child around the masjid with the masjid key in his hand. It was apparently a tradition from their home country. I reminded them that the key was a piece of metal, the duaa of the parents was most valuable, and that I knew of no virtue for this practice. Nonetheless they picked up their daughter and handed her to me with my bulky key chain and she immediately started crying and so they took her back and left shortly after.

I get visits like that every so often. And for each visit with a strange request, there are a few e-mails and phone calls.

Can you send free books to my home address in Nigeria?

I’m thinking of moving to your city, tell me EVERYTHING about it.

That’s not to mention people from all around the country that contact your masjid with your limited resources while you see that their home address is a major city with multiple big masajid and organizations. Bro, if the resources in Dallas or Chicago can’t help you, then this town won’t, plus we got our own responsibilities nearer to home.

Many community members that want to give the imam a suggestion wait to do that until immediately after jumuah prayers. And during that time, in my walk from the minbar to the office, I may get 2 or 3 or far more requests. And so, by the time I finally sit down to actually work on what’s next, I have completely forgotten what the first person or two requested. Hence, my catchphrase is, “if it’s important, e-mail me, or let’s make an appointment where I can give you my full attention.”

Letters to get things done

I sometimes find myself writing letters addressed to embassies, lawyers, schools, immigration, employers, and other relevant parties about aspects of Islamic Law and their relevance to a Muslim who needs their accommodation to practice his or her religion in the most complete form. This may be my favorite part of my job, believe it or not. Allah uses me as a vehicle to make other peoples’ lives easier and to help them practice Allah’s religion in peace without scrutiny or prevention. It also educates someone else. It makes me feel relevant and helpful with the Help of Allah. I helped a teenage girl get out of coed school swimming. I helped another be allowed to wear religiously appropriate swimwear for her traveling team. I helped a Muslim woman travel back to her country without her ex-husband. I helped a man bring his wife over to America when immigration thought he was still married to a previous wife. I helped a businessman avoid having to pay bank fees for a service that he did not want nor was even allowed. Alhamdulillah for using me to help them.

In other cases, I send a message to an emotionally distant spouse, child, or other individual to try to bring them back to recognizing the rights of their family. You can imagine the amount of time it takes to think up how I will craft such a message, type it out, and send it, in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Phone and Electronic Communications

I’ve mostly discussed events and things I have to prepare for as an imam. Actually, I wish I had more time to prepare for all those things. Khutbah prep actually eats away from my personal time, and a lot of e-mailing and dars prep takes from my family time. Either that or I just let it pile up, when there just isn’t enough time. What really takes up my time at the masjid, and why I stay in the office so much – the whole title of this series – is crafting e-mails. There are some days where I spend the entire day just answering/returning phone calls and e-mails. Going back and forth to agree on a time, or understand a teacher’s request, or research and explain some aspects of the faith. Add in a walk-in and isha prayer may come and while I have only had ten minutes to review Quran.

Very few imams have a speechwriter or secretary to respond on their behalf to all communications and manage the imam‘s schedule. Lucky guys. Some of my e-mails are brief because I hate writing them. I have to sound professional and present a certain demeanor, when in real life, I am too laid back and casual.

Sadaqah distribution

This is usually done by the masjid board, most acquainted with the masjid funds. However, some imams take this responsibility themselves, or are forced to when the board is dysfunctional.

I can usually tell within the first 10 seconds of listening to someone that they are about to unload a depressing story that will end with their financial needs to be granted sadaqah. I’m a listener and appreciate their stories. However, I usually cut them off as I do not want them to feel they wasted their time talking to someone who cannot give them what they want. But that happens occasionally when I’m cornered or people believe I have that ability. I reneged it intentionally. If the imam denies their request, it could create a fallout that would be the opposite of inreach.

In my current position, my board never offered it to me, recognizing that it would be greatly time consuming and could sour some relationships. Many boards have their own sadaqah committee. They may even, respectfully, refuse to let an imam in on the process out of fear that he may be too permissive with masjid funds.

If word gets out that the imam said “yes” to someone or gave someone some assistance, then the time to prepare duroos, review Quran, and counsel others will be lost. A line would form outside my door and I would have to spend extra time to verify references. It also requires knowledge of welfare organizations and government services, and how to apply for each. Hence, social service is its own field with its own degrees

This may all be the case depending on where the masjid is located. For distant suburban masjids, that may be as rare or common as a Muslim on a road trip who lost their wallet and looked up the nearest masjid and came to yours. And that happened once or twice a year when I was in east St Louis.

Fundraising

You may value imams by their khutbahs, recitation or duroos. But if you truly value the imam, continue donating, or up your donations. Once you become a board member and are face-to-face with how much (or little) is in the masjid coffers, then you suddenly look at the imam and his salary differently. One of the most “make it or break it” parts of being an imam is fundraising. I’ve heard of imams, who I believed were good imams, loved by their communities, and the perfect fit, ultimately let go, or simply not renewed when donations “slowed down”. They were not given any warning or time to rectify or reshape their priorities. Nor did the board apparently say, “okay, maybe fundraising isn’t the imam’s forte, amid his other qualities, so we will get an outside fundraiser or we will approach donors ourselves.” Likely, some board members just wanted a change of scenery when they look up at the minbar.

The auctioneer style of fundraising common among our communities is extremely uncomfortable for many imams, and most humans, especially the introverted among them. Nonetheless, it has become a staple in our communities unlikely to leave any time soon. The simple fact that so many organizations call upon the same entertainers throughout the country to fundraise tells us that it is a highly specialized skill. You can count a hundred scholars at an ISNA conference and track their activities but only a couple of those names will be recognized for fundraising appeals.

Even many of the travelling duaat that give speeches for fundraising do not do the actual fundraising itself. Anyone can speak for a fundraiser, but only a few actually make the appeal, actively asking people for donations.

When you start out and say “Who will give ten thousand dollars?” And people just look at you with a blank face, or curious smile at best, resting angry face at worst, it produces a feeling of dejection, from the apparent rejection. It is hard to keep going with a smile through those moments and remember where you left off. They don’t teach us the jokes that loosen people up in “imam school”.

My personal approach to fundraisers has always been to make them short: let the board speak of masjid needs, and for the imam to simply motivate people to action. The audience should do the rest with their checkbook. Most of them already came with an idea in mind of how much they can donate. You just want them to up that amount a bit, respect their time and enjoy the food. I don’t do the auction style unless it is a quickly reachable charitable cause after jumuah.

Leading Hajj, Umrah, and Islamic tourist trips

I have, in all honesty, never done this. I almost lead a hajj group in 2018. I ran around advertising, collecting payments, linking future pilgrims with the company and serving as a stressed out go-between. Personal family health issues at the last moment prevented me from actually participating. Nonetheless, from that experience as well as the two times I performed hajj, I appreciate the dedication and patience required to lead such groups. Whatever commission the hajj tour groups take seems earned in my book. For the shaykh, to organize uniquely informative and inspiring lessons for every station of the journey, not to mention, answer an endless flood of questions on all topics in between. And then to keep people calm and collected when qadr happens. It’s hard to put a price on that.

Their contract – between the masjid and the touring company – would decide whether this is paid or unpaid leave.

Admittedly, part of me wishes to take part in these endeavors. However, I currently have a greater desire to visit unseen parts of the Muslim world. And I would rather be the tourist than the tour guide.

There will be two more parts of this series inshaAllah. The next will focus on the “back end” of the imam position.