Muslim Prayer Leaders Face Changing Role in the US

June 29, 2003

Source: The Boston Globe

On June 29, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "Muslim leaders say the position of imams in the United States has evolved to the point that they are becoming an institutionalized clergy-- a remarkable shift since Islam has no ordained clergy and is led instead by religious scholars, traditionally a group that is distinct from imams... Imad Benjelloun, an imam for mosques in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa, said Muslims often ask him for guidance on issues that counselors, scholars, and others would provide in his native Morocco."