Imam

Since the word "imam" has a long and complicated history in Muslim society, it is not surprising that its meaning and conceptualization should undergo some development when Islam is transferred to the North American milieu. Meaning "leader" or "master" in its early Arab form, it took on important new meanings with the historical evolution of Muslim civilization. Thus, in Sunni tradition, the imam is associated with community leadership of a ritual kind, while in Shi?ism, the Imam (always capitalized) takes on transcendent dimensions. Within Shi?ism there are obvious differences in understanding the roles associated with the imam, depending on whether we are referring to Twelver Shi?ism as represented by the majority religion of Iran, or Isma?ili tradition, whose religious head is the Aga Khan. These differences continue among Muslim immigrants.

At the same time, there has been an evolution of the imam of the local mosque brought about by the North American experience. For example, two important influences have been the rise of powerful African-American Muslim groups and the pressure of congregational structures within American culture. There are four principal areas of modification: educational, programmatic, official, and developmental. While most of these changes are found within Sunni organizations and African-American Muslim groups, they have also had an impact on Shi?a structures. While given different names, the functions are developing whatever the religious focus of the group.

Educational changes are most noticeable with regard to the leadership itself. In present-day North America, mosques are self-consciously taking an active and involved role in community life, and the need to have an educated leadership to appeal to the educational levels of members is having its effect. This is particularly evident where second- and third-generation immigrants have moved into positions of responsibility; these leaders have insisted that mosque personnel reflect their own educational levels. In some mosques, imams are also called on both to address the educational requirements of a college-educated clientele and to provide intellectual and cultural background for the practice of Islam for their children. One of the ongoing responsibilities is the teaching of Arabic, the liturgical language of Islam. Management, educational, and psychological counseling skills are also in high demand. These needs have encouraged a more educated leader within the mosque community.

Early leadership among immigrant communities arose from among immigrants themselves or from imams trained in schools "back home." Bringing imams to North America required sufficient financial commitment to pay salaries and provide housing, a situation that was difficult to sustain in the first half of the twentieth century. Several Middle Eastern countries subsidized organizations for this purpose. On the other hand, among the early Black Muslim masjids, missionary imams were supported by Elijah Muhammad's organization; once established, they were primarily dependent on family and converts for financial assistance. As Islam has matured in North America, some commuinities have set a benchmark amount for leading families to contribute so that religious organizations and mosques can be placed on fiscally solid ground. In keeping with North American expectations of "results" for payment, the imam has had to develop skills to meet expectations. At the same time, the demand for greater social and religious abilities has spawned a culture of workshops, seminars, and weekend retreats designed to address specific Islamic issues. In some cases, advanced schools have been set up on an ad hoc basis to address these sophisticated requirements for imams.

Muslims in North America have had to face the difficult task of dealing with a society whose values often conflict with those of traditional Islam. Moreover, mosque communities function in line with the congregational norm in North America: Religious institutions are entirely a matter of personal, not state, interest. Without a Muslim culture to sustain it, the mosque community must sustain itself, and this makes the local mosque much more a center of personal and religious continuity. The result is that programs aimed at maintaining and enhancing Islam shift to the mosque and its personnel. Imams must carry out training sessions for children and other young people, organize and staff family enrichment programs, promote Islam among converts, and develop community spirit. In these tasks the imam functions much as a minister or a rabbi in a Christian or a Judaic congregation. Promotional activity for Islam in general or the local mosque in particular is an added programmatic dimension of the imam's work.

Most religious jurisdictions in North America have an official face—that is, they represent to the public, to the media, and to the institutional culture distinctive attitudes and ideas. The official charged with this responsibility, reflecting the expectation of ministers in the population at large, is the imam. He (there are no female imams) must present the views of the group in public forums and in interactions with various charitable, educational, and political organizations; hence the requisite that the imam be highly articulate in English, and perhaps also (in some locales) in French and Spanish. Moreover, high-profile African-American Muslim spokespersons have established the expectation that Muslim leaders be able to handle themselves in interviews with radio and TV personnel. Preaching, traditionally associated with the ùlama (scholarly class) in Muslim countries, has shifted to the mosque environment in North America, and likewise may be the responsibility of the imam. Interreligious dialogue is another task normally assigned to the imam. Finally, the imam is now crucially involved in ceremonial aspects of social life, such as marriages and funerals, which bring Muslims into the public eye, and peoples from other faiths into contact with Muslims. The role of mediator and interpreter of the tradition has rested on him.

Finally, the imam in North America has had to marshal support for developmental issues, such as the construction of Islamic schools, the formation and care of halfway houses for prisoners, and housing and support for broken families. Without the close family system found in traditional Muslim society, the mosque community, lead by the imam, has had to provide a surrogate network for the sustenance of community life. Thus, where families have traditionally been the foundation for marriage counseling and encouragement, in some cases that responsibility has shifted to the mosque community and professional help. Indeed, it is more the case that religious people will seek such assistance through sympathetic imams rather than in secular counseling services. Moreover, the mobility of North American society has meant that the elderly may not live in the vicinity of their families. Mosques have therefore had to step in with programs to sustain the retired and the elderly, a responsibility that ultimately comes to bear on the imam and his sensitivity to problems of an aging society.

In short, the function of the imam within both indigenous and immigrant Islamic communities in North America has evolved perceptibly from the notion of leader and traditional ritual specialist originating in Islamic countries, reflecting the new and different cultural situation of Islam on this continent. More and more, the imam in North America is becoming a religious professional, befitting a sophisticated Islamic society with its own distinctive character in the religious landscape.

See alsoClergy; Islam; Ministry; Mosque; Nationof Islam; Practice; Preaching; Ritual; Seminaries.

Bibliography

Madelung, W. "Imama." In The Encyclopediaof Islam, 2nd ed., vol. 3, edited by B. Lewis, V. L. Menage, C. Pellat, and J. Schacht. 1971.

Madelung, W. "Imamate." In The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 7, edited by M. Eliade. 1987.

Waugh, Earle H. "The Imam in the New World: Models and Modifications." In Transitions and Transformations in the History of Religions, edited by F. Reynolds and T. M. Ludwig. 1980.

Waugh, Earle H. "Muslim Leadership and the Shaping of the Umma: Classical Tradition and Religious Tension in the North American Setting." In The Muslim Community in North America, edited by E. H. Waugh, B. Abu-Laban, and R. Qureshi. 1983.

Earle H. Waugh