First, the definition of a Professional Muslim in America—someone who is a citizen or a permanent resident with a college education, who has demonstrated competency and leadership, and has been accepted by their peers as a person of integrity, intellect and thoughtfulness. In addition, a professional Muslim demonstrates a deep interest in advancing his or her faith and serving the Muslim community as well as the larger community in which he or she lives.
Though this person would not fall into the category of an imam or religious scholar, I believe such a person should be given and should claim equal opportunity to serve and to lead any professional, civic or religious activities or organizations in the US based on talent, interest and a transparent selection process.
A Brief Personal History
Before we had mosques to go to in this country, we would meet at a party room in an apartment complex or in a hotel meeting room and one of the community organizers would step in and lead the prayers. There was no question of layman vs. clergy, finding someone within the community to lead prayers was not a problem.
I also remember during my days as a student at MIT, before the days of organized Muslim Student Associations and Muslim Chaplaincy, we would offer our Friday Prayers at a graduate housing complex and one of the graduate students would lead the prayer.
Maybe whoever would lead the prayers did not have perfect Arabic, but there was a sense of understanding and forgiveness for each other based on mutual respect and a deeps sense of humility—the focus was on the prayer. We did not even worry about dress code or Hijab or a Shia/Sunni divide at prayer gathering. How, as an American Muslim society today have we become horrified at the imperfect Arabic, so concerned with the dress code and justify divisions along sectarian, ethnic and racial lines, as if our prayers can not be heard by God because of these?
A Second Definition of the Professional Muslim
There has been another shift as well, a second definition we can see in the community where a “professional Muslim” is someone whose priorities have changed from their faith to their professional careers. This is understandably a quite necessary priority to have when it comes to financial stability, but at the same time, the consequence is that we are losing these same professional Muslims as leaders within our community of faith.
The Question Emerges
I remember the day when we built our mosque in Pittsburgh, the question came up who will lead prayers each day and whether we will need a paid imam or not to lead the prayer. A simple question to which many Muslims today may immediately answer “Yes.” The professional Muslims who used to lead prayers have slowly been replaced by imams. But how this came to be is a more complex and consequential explanation. We’ll explore more in our next blog.
Translation:
Charity is for those who are confined to the way of God and who are unable to move freely in the land (to seek livelihood); insensitive people think of them to be above need since they do not beg. But you can recognize them by their dignity; they do not go about begging openly. (Therefore, if you recognize them), and whatever you spend of good things (for them), God knows for sure.150
Those who spend their resources (physical, material, and intellectual) day and night, openly and privately, will have their reward with God—they will have no reason to fear or grieve.151
Interpretation:
150 People who are dedicated to the education and teachings of faith, serving people, and actively engaging in establishing peace and justice in the society either in war time or peace time and are therefore constrained by choice or by circumstances deserve to be supported by charity if they are genuine. Nowadays, there are too many charlatans, pirs, mullahs, clergies, rabbis, swamis, and gurus who exploit the soft-heartedness of the faithful and demand charity in the pretense that they are confined to the ways of God. Society has a responsibility to those who are physically confined due to illness, war wounds, and other limitations, such as mental disorders, as well as to those who are genuinely involved in the welfare of the human race. As we look into the Qur’an and reflect on the teachings of God and His Prophet, it is fundamentally important to note that Islam encourages activism and selfless dedication to serving God and His people, and it is incumbent upon the rest of the society to support these individuals and institutions. Having said that, it is also important to note that these services have
to be much broader than just leading prayers in mosques and giving empty sermons
(e.g., the Friday Khutbah, or sermon) to qualify for such supports.
151 The Qur’an is most eloquent and persistent in asking us to dedicate our resources for the benefit of others on a daily basis, i.e., in a consistent and constant manner and openly or secretly, as the situation may dictate, as long as the intent is clear and pure. Here we come to the conclusion of a long series of verses (2:261–274) on the subject of charity and alms, verses that are very comprehensive and give a broad range of
guidelines, approaches, intents, and mannerisms with which to practice charity and service to people. It is important to reiterate that God is self-subsisting and does not require anything from His created beings. Therefore, the only mechanism available to us in which to serve God, other than personal worship, is to serve our fellow men
in the manner of charity, maintain peace and justice, support economic and physical prosperity, and gain knowledge, actions all targeted toward improving the quality of life on this planet. Too many Muslims and people of other faiths are converging on the
notion that ritual worship is sufficient to achieve God’s grace, but this is far from true.
Reflection:
There are few places in the Qur’an where a single subject is dealt with at such length. This implies the importance that Islam gives to charity and helping others. Yet too many of our lives are spent in self-adulation, arrogant self-right- eousness, empty rituals, and seeking gains at the expense of others when they should be spent seeking to uplift others.
Action:
The key action item should be twofold: (1) Make a personal commitment to charity, whatever your means may be, and do it consistently. This commitment should factor in all available means, such as material, physical, and intellectual help and not just monetary help, and (2) Work to develop a collective framework to provide charity to make people self-sufficient instead of just offering a day’s worth of reprieve and sustenance. Services such as free education, free healthcare, vocational training, income-producing tools and equipment, and public works should be part of the charity work and our collective responsibility. Youths and adults need to dedicate a part of their time to supporting such services with public sectors in broad-based efforts strategically as well as tactically.
Translation:
God is the friend of those who believe—He pulls them out of darkness into light. But those who disbelieve, their friends are the devils that pull them out of light into darkness. They are the companions in Hellfire, where they will stay.141
Interpretation:
141 The analogy above is very important to understand and have ingrained in our psyche. God befriends those who wish to follow His light and guidance. In a similar vein, those who wish to be rightly guided toward light, knowledge, and purity have to look toward God as the guiding hand and be willing to follow the values and prin- ciples laid down by Him and His prophets. The definition of a sincere believer is one who has a constant desire to follow the light of God and affirm his friendship with God on a daily basis and in the face of every temptation that the Devil may bring forth. In contrast, those who disbelieve and deny the guiding hand of God will seek out the Devil to be their guide and companion, and the Devil will lead them to igno- rance, immoral behavior, and oppression.
We also need to be able to distinguish between material well-being and spiritual well- being. Islam asks for a balance between what is material and what is spiritual, and going toward either extreme is discouraged. It is not the accumulation of wealth that is discouraged but how one acquires it and what one does with it. In a similar fashion, spirituality is good if it does not lead to arrogance or the deception of others.
Unfortunately, Muslims today are falling into the hands of the Devil more often than being in the presence of God. Some groups of people are pursuing wealth and comfort to the degree that they ignore the moral values and impact of others in the society and have no desire to increase the level of material well-being of the rest of the society. Unfortunately, also true is the fact that the vast majority of Muslims is being pushed to illiteracy and a lack of hope because they are unwilling and unable to better their futures and because they are leading lives of despair. Concerned and sincere Muslims need to rise to the occasion and demonstrate their friendship with God by increasing the human spirit within themselves and others, as the Prophet of Islam magnificently demonstrated in his lifetime of struggle, teaching, and mercy for mankind.
Reflection:
We need to understand the contrasts between God and the Devil, as this verse describes in simple terms but with broad meaning. The company we keep, the knowledge we seek, and the purpose for which we live have fundamentally important bearings in our lives and act as enormous levers that pull us toward the right or wrong direction. Islam has always symbolized God as truth, truth as light, light as knowledge, and knowledge as freedom, whereas falsehood, symbolized by the Devil, has always been associated with darkness, which refers to ignorance, which translates into despair and imprisonment.
Action:
Each one of us needs to make a very important choice in life: Who will be our friend and guide: God or the Devil? This choice should be made by focusing on the true purpose of who we are and what we want to be and not based on day-to-day circumstances where we react with or without the guiding hand of God. We also need to help others make the proper choices and make the world a better place for all people. Seeking knowledge and truth is a fundamental responsibility of a Muslim, and the Prophet of Islam once said that if you need to go to distant China to seek knowledge, then do so. Knowledge properly acquired and put to use for the benefit of humanity is an essential element of Islamic teaching, as the Prophet of Islam also said that if God wishes to benefit someone, He gives him knowledge. It is ironic that a religion that places so much emphasis on knowledge and whose early followers were the leading scientists, educators, and legal counsels of their times now has followers who fall far behind in literacy, who tolerate governance that is contrary to serving the common good, and who are lead by imams and leaders who are themselves inept and corrupt and dominate the mosques and the public. The beauty of this situation is that our great history teaches us that we can turn this around, just as the Prophet turned Arabia around and just as Muslims for over a thousand years contributed to the world in countless and productive ways.