9 Ways to Expand the Role of Imams in America

Spiritual Counseling & Character-Building

Many may judge an Imam’s success on his ability to bring large numbers to the masjid or fill a room up when he does a lecture or class. However, an imams’ real success should be measured by his ability to touch the hearts of the people and improve the lives of his congregation. I know this is hard to gauge at an organizational level and can’t be a measurable KPI (Key Performance Indicator) for an imam, but imams should focus on tarbiyah, akhlaq and adab with the community and work to help the congregation build a truly Muslim character.

An idea may be to create select groups of sister and brothers for clubs where they keep each other accountable and the imam creates a spiritual boot camp curriculum for the members of the group. So, at the end of three months, six months and a year, the group members see spiritual and character development. Another idea may be to create a Fajr Club where the imam recruits brothers and sisters to attend fajr on a regular basis and focus on character-building with the club members.

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