How do You Actually Make a Masjid Professional?

By On · 7 Comments · In Masjids

To answer the question in one statement: By asking questions.

By not doing things for the sake of doing them because that’s how they’ve been done.

By challenging the status quo.

By not settling.

Seth Godin offers some comments on the difference between being naive and professional:

The naive farmer farms as his parents, grandparents and great grandparents did. She plants, hopes and harvests. Anything that goes well or poorly is the work of the gods.

The professional farmer measures. She tests. She understands how systems work and is constantly tweaking to improve them. When failure happens, she doesn’t rest until she understands why.

…The naive farmer is failing to take responsibility and failing to learn. The naive marathon runner straps on sneakers and runs (but doesn’t finish). The professional marathoner trains. The naive office worker empties his inbox. The professional works to understand how the office functions.

Mostly, the professional asks questions… What’s next? How to improve? What’s this worth? Why is this happening?

Why can’t we hire a youth director? Why don’t we have a full time staff?

Why can’t the masjid invest in real estate or businesses instead of first building a multi-million dollar facility? Why aren’t people with HR, management, and other relevant forms of expertise involved in the administration?

Why is a doctor managing the expansion project instead of the civil engineer in the community with 20 years of experience running construction? Why don’t we utilize a real accountant?

Why does our website have to be so ugly? What instructional training needs to be provided in order to get people to use spell check before posting things in the masjid?

Why don’t we check references on an imam before hiring one?

Why don’t we ask people who stopped coming to the masjid why they left? How can we improve the services we are offering to the community?

Setting up a comment box or feedback form on your website isn’t enough. If you want your masjid to run professionally, start thinking critically and ask the pertinent questions. Then take action.

About Omar Usman

Omar Usman is a founding member of MuslimMatters, Qalam Institute, Muslim Strategic Initiative, and Debt Free Muslims. He is a regular khateeb and has served in different administrative capacities in various national and local Islamic organizations. You can follow him on Google+ or on Twitter @ibnabeeomar.

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  • Anonymous

    Great thought-provoking posts..I think an entire day’s workshop can be done on this topic, which would be very interesting.

    • http://twitter.com/ibnabeeomar ibn abee omar

      jazakallahu khayr!

  • Aemad

    Agreed; but there are two core problems: $ and volunteering time.  

    I say that Masajid should get a semi-Imam / semi-Director who manages masjid operationally and gives the occasional khutbah. 

    • http://twitter.com/ibnabeeomar ibn abee omar

      not necessarily, i think its more a problem of vision. for example, i know someone who just took a youth director position recently, and the community he is going to fundraised specifically for his position – ie they have 3 years worth of salary sitting in the bank for no other reason than to pay a youth director. 

      once a communit gets behind an idea, or sees something of true benefit, it can be fundraised. the problem with something like a youth director (to continue the example) is that a lot of masjid administrations just flat out don’t feel it’s important, and often times will actually spend more money on other things that dont benefit the community as much as something else

      • Aemad

        let me clarify – smaller startup masajid, particularly in low volunteer areas (affluent or less dense areas) should get a Imam / Director to run the masjid and give the occasional dose of Islam

  • pshs1999

    Salaam. Great post. Do you think most of these problems will continue with the next generation? My theory is that these problems exist because of the old-school immigrant mentality. I’m hopeful that future generations will be able to ask the right questions. Why not us?

    • http://twitter.com/ibnabeeomar ibn abee omar

      i partially agree –  there’s still immigrants who are forward thinking, and there’s people from our generation who still act like the old generation. its just like any other team, you gotta have the right people – but you also have to make an effort to create the right team.