An official at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance — this is a long name that has to be shortened — said some 400 imams have been sacked for being negligent, incompetent or too old to carry on with their work, and that the ministry has plans to relieve more imams and rehabilitate others.

The ministry should have taken the step long ago, when newspapers were overflowing with articles criticizing the poor performance of imams, some of whom seldom report to their place of work while leaving the muezzin or even the janitor to do the job for them. Others simply leave it to anyone willing to lead the congregational prayers.

For years now, newspapers and people in their social gatherings kept discussing and complaining about the performance of imams and the status of our mosques. Some imams use every possible means to win the post just to gain status and have people refer to them as imam and khateeb. And once they get the post they delegate their power and leave everything to others while they stay away.

We now have university professors and teachers working as imams, but many among them seem to share a common characteristic: failure to win the trust of those who put them in this position to do this noble work, which is also a religious duty.

While praying at a mosque once, I noticed that the person leading the prayer was not fluent in Arabic. He couldn’t pronounce the words of the Qur’an correctly and his reading was very poor.

When I conveyed this observation to an official at the ministry, I was given to understand that the man who led the prayer was not the actual imam of the mosque, who happened to be a university professor. The imam, added the official, comes to the mosque occasionally, mostly on Fridays, although the mosque is very close to where he lives.

I also understood from the official that some imams and muezzins given a residence attached to the mosque let the house since they have private homes.

They think the residence attached to the mosque is a personal property that can generate an income for them. They care too much for what they believe are their rights while neglecting their responsibilities.

The ministry should tell us why it kept silent all this time and only decided to move now; why they ignored what the press had been writing about the poor performance of imams and the status of our mosques.

Arab News From the Local Press 12 July 2003