Imam In America Research Paper

An Imam in America

An imam is an Islamic religious leader of the Muslim community who is in charge with various roles, namely: leading Islamic worship services on Friday at the mosque and providing religious guidance. He poses exemplary knowledge of the Islamic laws and teachings that strongly govern the way of life of Islamists; thus, serves as their divine leader, who presides over the day to day disputes that faces his congregation. He is expected to judge as per the Islamic laws. He should bear knowledge of the Koran and the language in which it was publicized which is Arabic and be wise in his decision making. With the increasingly significant rise of the Muslim population in the United States over the last half century from all over the world, Islam has turned into one of the nation’s fastest growing religions with an establishment of an estimated 1,200 mosques spreading across the nation from Boston to Los Angeles. Based on Andrea's (2006) estimate, “as many as six million Muslims now live in America” (para. 11).
Clad in their long robe, he heads to the mosque where he says his morning prayers. Thereafter, he heads to his office at the mosque where he sits and awaits to solve disputes that arise from his congregation with an array of the endless questions to come. To his congregants, the Imam serves far more than their leader of the daily prayers and giver of the Friday sermon. With many of these Islam immigrants living in a land far away without their families, Andrea (2006) points out that the Imam serves a far much greater role in the lives of his congregants other than their leader of the daily prayers and giver of the Friday sermon. He assists in finding spouses, he resolves personal disputes and issues ruling on ethical questions (para. 6), acts as an Islamic judge, a matchmaker, a nursery school principal, marriage counselor and, a 24-hour hot line on all Islamic issues (para.