The Mosques

[sanajamal]

Across the United States Masajid (mosques) have expanded in physical size, improved mass communication via websites and social media accounts, begun to offer live-streaming for Friday Khutbas (sermons) online, and have improved women’s prayer areas. But in recent times, many imams have left their posts, leaving communities and trend followers to speculate and ask, “Why?” Was it the imam’s ego or a salary dispute or are they just becoming too impatient?

No, this wave of resignations is a symptom of a greater problem: while incoming imams treat their position as a profession by becoming increasingly qualified, the masjid board has not taken the same strides in becoming trained in nonprofit management. Those who run the masjid and supervise the imams’ affairs are still volunteers with, generally speaking, no expertise on how to manage nonprofit organizations. As a result, the operational structure of the masjid is not equipped to manage the imam, the other employees, or to draft and execute long-term plans with a vision for the changing needs of the community. Masjid reform must take place to not only bring stability by retaining their imams but by also allowing for future growth, and attracting Muslims of all backgrounds and ages.

To analyze the surge in recent Imam’s resignations from Masajid large and small, it is important to understand the dynamics between the masjid board, the imam, and the community.

 

[BigJoeNobody]

I'm not quite sure of the happenings of budget and such at the mosques I frequent, I'm not sure this really falls under a topic which can be discussed either. If you have an issue with the way things are being run in your community, then for sure I encourage you to get as involved as possible in finding solutions to these problems. Here in Houston, MAS and ISGH are fairly well organized. They even work together to ensure the Masjid aren't too crowded or overlapping too much so that they can sustain their buildings with their donations. Imams from what I can tell tend to be fairly stable, happy with their arrangements. In Memphis, the Masjid seem to have issues even finding a qualified Imam. The Ummah in that town tend to share Imams for duties and the ones who are there seem very content.

Like I said, I'm not sure there is any discussion to be had, and our Muslim population on this forum tends to fluctuate from 1-5, so your message isn't reaching far.