The title of today’s article in this column is not the coinage of yours sincerely. It is rather an adaptation of the title of a book recently published by the University of Lagos. The book was jointly written by some Muslim scholars and edited by Professor M. A. Bidmos (the Chief Imam of the University of Lagos Mosque) and Dr. I. A. Musa. Both editors are renowned scholars and contributing experts to the contents of the book.
What actually motivated the writing of the book is the concern in many quarters about the methodology of managing the Mosque especially by Nigerian Imams and the effect of such methodology on the contemporary Muslim congregations. In its determination to put round pegs in right holes the University of Lagos decided to establish a special course through which prospective Imams could be properly trained on leadership and management of the Mosque. It is the very first of its type in Nigeria.
Definition of Mosque
The word Mosque is the corrupt English pronunciation of the Arabic word ‘MASJID’ (otherwise called ‘MASGID’ in Egyptian dialect) which literarily means a place of prostration. Contrary to the general misconception here in Nigeria, Mosque is not meant for SALAT alone. Therefore leading Salat alone does not really make a Muslim an Imam. Any Muslim who can recite Suratul Fatihah and some other Surahs or Verses very well can lead Salat. The Mosque, on the other hand, serves many purposes each of which has a fundamental significance. For instance the very first Mosque established by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Madinah was a multipurpose one. That Mosque named the ‘Mosque of Qubah’ did not serve as a place of worship alone. It also served as a school, a library, a bank, a clinic, a court of law and even a parliament for the Muslim community. Whoever will manage such a vital institution, therefore, must be adequately trained for it.
Mosque as a source of
knowledge and civilisation
The very first University in the world, (University of Cordoba), established in the 8th century CE by the Muslims in Spain, started as a Mosque. And, it will be recalled that even the three oldest Universities in the world today: Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia, (each of which is well over 1000 years old) started as Mosques. Thus, it becomes clear that one cannot seriously talk about human civilization without a fundamental reference to the Mosque as well as the Imams who happen to be its managers. Actually, nothing is called Mosque in the absence of Muslim congregations and their Imams.
The Mosque and the Imam
Mosque and Imam are like the message and the messenger. There can hardly be any access to one without going through the other. And if the one is afflicted by any disenchantment the other will surely feel the pain. In Islamic doctrine, the functions of a Mosque are both spiritual and temporal. For Muslims, none of these can be taken for granted or handled with levity.
Imamate by Scholarship
When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) described learned scholars as the heirs to the Prophets he was referring to Imams. This is because no genuine Muslim can statutorily be an Imam without first being a learned scholar. However, there is a sharp difference between a scholar and a learned scholar. The one can be self-arrogated. The other is intellectually evident.
Becoming an Imam, if due process is followed, is like becoming a judge after a period of certified experience acquired subsequent to graduating from the Law School. It is not enough to graduate from a Qur’anic school and teach in a Madrasah for a few years to be qualified as Imam. Neither should attainment of Imamate be by heritage through a consanguine lineage. Lawyers do attend the Law School after graduating from the Universities and even practise in law chambers for a number of years before they become qualified for appointment as judges.
Doctors undergo Houseman-ship after their graduation from medical colleges before they are formally admitted into the medical Profession. Other professionals also undergo practical industrial training in their respective fields of discipline before they can be qualified as practising professionals. Now, apart from graduating from Madrasah, where do our Imams undergo training to be statutorily qualified as Imams? This question indicates that a glaring vacuum exists in the methodology of Mosque management which Nigerian Muslim Ummah is yet to fill.
Problem of Appointing Imams
One of the first problems arising from appointing Imams in Nigeria is lack of leadership training. People are made Imam or assume the office of Imam only on the basis of what they learned from the Qur’anic schools. Besides the preliminary general Islamic knowledge which most Muslim clerics often claim to have acquired what else can be said to make a Muslim an Imam? In reality, the aspect of dealing with the complexity of human nature and the competent management of that aspect is the quality that is supposed to make a person an Imam. But incidentally, that is the real aspect that is missing in Nigerian Mosques today.
Even after coming into office as Imam, no special training is ever organized to enable the Imam know the enormity of his duty and map out the strategy with which to handle it. It is a well known fact that no written documents are ever handed over to the new Imam to show where the last Imam stopped and where the new one should commence from. In other words, no records of activities or achievements are available in our Mosques except by oral transmission. How can there be progress?
The need for training
Whereas the intellectual sophistication of Imamate is such that requires periodic workshops, seminars, conferences and trainings, none of these is ever arranged to update our Imams and improve their quality. Thus, our Imams remain ignorantly static in the belief that they have reached the peak of Islamic knowledge having become Imams. This is not the case with the Christian counterparts who as a matter of obligation must undergo tutelage in Christian doctrines and Church management at specialized seminaries before becoming qualified as Pastors or Bishops. In the case of Imams, there is no such training and thus, imamate is seen as a meal ticket which provides the Imam an opportunity to cheapen the title and abuse the office. Perhaps that is why most Nigerian Imams shun self esteem as they struggle for crumbs under the tables of moneybags in the society. With such a degrading status, how can the leadership of an Imam be respected and his supposed guidance be followed?
The Prophet’s recommendation
Whereas Prophet Muhammad’s recommendation for Imamate is that one should only become an Imam when legitimately chosen and appointed as such, based on intellectual capability and exemplary mannerism, the situation in Nigeria today is the direct opposite of that recommendation. In the cause of appointing an Imam, factions of Muslim groups often gang up against one another just as families pick quarrels and hostilities against families having turned Imamate into an inheritable title within a clan. Yet, the claim is that they want to serve Allah. Must Allah be served desperately with ignorance and degradation?
Implications of Imamate
If those fighting to become Imams knew the implication of serving in that office and reporting back to Allah in the Hereafter, they would never have presented themselves for the post. An Imam is the spiritual guarantor of his congregation. He takes responsibility for any spiritual misdemeanour of that congregation before Allah.
But like any other Nigerian public office, Imamate has been so grossly commercialized that the process of putting people in that office has been seriously corrupted. That is why most of our Imams are half-baked intellectually and even bankrupt morally.
Though, the Prophet’s recommendation is for dedicated Muslims to compete for the office of the Muadhdhin (one who calls people to Salat and practically manages the Mosque), Nigerian Muslims prefer to slog it out with one another over the office of Imam just because of the pecuniary benefit accruing from that office.
The objective of the training course
It is in order to correct the anomaly in appointing Imams in Nigerian Mosques and to forestall the entailed danger embedded in that anomaly that the authorities of UNILAG came up with the idea of a training course for Nigerian Imams and invited experts to write the concise book entitled ‘MOSQUE LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT’ for the course. The book is both a curriculum for the training and a compendium of factors of knowledge and dignity in leadership and management.
The Book
The 165 page book consists of eight parts with each part classified into chapters. There are 21 chapters in all. Every Part in the book serves is a reference point for the tutorials to be provided in the classrooms at the end of which each enrolled Imam will be awarded a Diploma Certificate if successful. The eight parts are as follows:
Part One: Imams and Imamate Responsibilities. Under this part are chapters such as: An Imam and Self Esteem; Qualifications and Qualities of an Imam; The Duties of Imam in the Light of ‘Maqasid Al-Sharia’ah. Under this part are chapters like:
Part Two: Arabic Grammar for Khutbah Writing and Delivery. Under this Part are chapters like: The Importance of Arabic to Imam; Essential Nahw Concepts in Khutbah Writing and Delivery.
Part Three: Noon of Islam. Under this part are the following chapters: An Overview of Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates; Appraising the Golden and Silver periods of Abbasid Era; Towards Restoration of Spirituality and Morality of Education.
Part Four: Qur’an and Hadith Texts. Under this parts are the following chapters to be found: Ethics and Mechanism of flawless Reading of the Qur’an; Selections from the Sihahus-Sittah and other Collections of Hadith on Imamate.
Part Five: Communication Skills in English. Under this part are chapters such as: Nature and Relationship between Language and Literature; Time and Tense in English; Essentials of Public Speaking; Guidelines for Essay Writing.
Part Six: Approaches and Ethics of Da’wah. Under this Part are the following chapters: Approaches to Islamic Propagation; Conditions and Ethics of Da’wah Practice.
Part Seven: Conducting Tafsir. Under this Part are chapters like: Qualities of the Mufassir and Types of Tafsir; Model Tafsir.
Part Eight: Conducting Islamic Ceremonies. Under this part are to chapters such as: Overview and Methods of Conducting Nikah, ‘Aqiqah & Janazah Ceremonies to be found.
It is necessary to hint here that getting a copy of the book and reading it inside out does not make a Muslim cleric a qualified Imam. There is much more to learn in the classroom than the book contains. The hood does not make the Monk. There is no short cut to knowledge.
About the course
For the first time in Nigeria, a University course for training Muslim clerics in the art of leadership and management of the Mosque debut at the University of Lagos. The course which is designed for a period of six months and hold every Saturday within the period commenced sometime in 2015. It is strictly meant for graduates of Higher Madrasah who possess at least Thanawiyyah/Senior Secondary School Certificates as well as University graduates who aspire to become qualified Imams. The cost of the course is N120000 and the cover price of the book is N1000. This course is a great opportunity for serious Muslim Organizations with Mosques to train their Imams or prospective Imams.
The resource persons
Most of the resource persons for this programme who are also co-authors of the book in question are not just renowned scholars they are also men of dignity and impeccable character. They are as follows:
Professor M. A. Bidmos (Coordinator); Professor T. G. O. Gbadamosi; Alhaji M. O.Junaid; Dr. I. A. Musa; Dr. Nurain Alimi; Dr. Tajudeen Yusuf; Dr. Abdul Hakeem Adekunle; Alhaji Bashir Abdur-Rahim; Imam Abdullah Akinbode and Imam Zakariya Muhmmad Thanni.
The first graduating set
The first set of aspiring qualified Imams enrolled for the course as pioneering students in 2015 and graduated on Saturday, October 22, 2016. They were 20 in number. Every participant in that set who graduated last October has now become a qualified Imam with high sense of pride.
Similitude of the Mosque
The similitude of the Mosque is like that of a beehive. It ventilates the activities of the Muslims to solve their spiritual and temporal problems through interactions with their fellow brothers and sisters and through the guidance of their Imams if such Imams are well educated and do not constitute liabilities to their congregations.
That our Mosques have not lived up to expectations in this sphere even in the 21st century is however, not the end of the story. Righting the wrong is one of the foremost characteristics of Islam. It is better to be late in doing the right thing than not to do the right thing at all. We can still start to put things right as from today by ventilating our Mosque atmospheres for social welfare; for education; for health care; for conflict resolution; for Zakah management; for spiritual guidance and counselling; for economic growth and skill building; as well as for information and publicity. It is only by doing these that our Imams and clerics can rightly claim to be engaged in sensible Da’awah.
Conclusion
As a Muslim community, we have lived with a system for hundreds of years without achieving the necessary objective of our religious mission. In the process, we have lost most of our best brains to the other side of the bridge. We cannot afford to surge ahead with an unprofitable venture at this twilight of the world. We must change the system! The Muslim Ummah must be made to see why they need the Mosque as much as why the Mosque needs them. Experimenting with a new system will not only put a stop to basking in the euphoria of the past, it will also engender a durable legacy for the current generation of Muslims. While congratulating the University of Lagos for this historic initiative ‘The Message’ column hereby implores all forward-looking Muslim Organizations in Nigeria to take advantage of this programme to lay a solid foundation for good management of the Mosque in Nigeria. Our Imams must meet the required standards by becoming qualified.