English course for imams in Mumbai to empower them

MUMBAI: Islam Gymkhana at Marine Lines is all set to launch an English learning course for imams in the city. Imams lead prayers and deliver Friday sermons at mosques and command immense respect in the community. Mostly madrassa-educated, these clerics usually lack proficiency in English, which the Gymkhana wants to remove with a specially-designed course.
"As part of social work, we already have schemes to help cancer patients and provide scholarships to deserving students. We have decided to start an English course which will empower imams to converse and address youngsters in the language they are comfortable with," Gymkhana president Yusuf Abrahni said.
He said a meeting with senior clerics, preachers and imams would be called soon to discuss the project.
Senior clerics and preachers have appreciated the initiative. "It is the need of the hour. Today, English is an internationally understood language and the medium of communication in many places. If our imams know how to write and speak English, it will be a big service to the community and society. I endorse such a programme and will do whatever I can for it," senior spiritual leader Maulana Moin Ashraf (Moin Mian) said. A number of imams are associated with Moin Mian as he also heads a couple of religious organisations. He expressed the hope that he would be able to convince many of them to enrol for the course.
The initiative is being viewed as significant. Mufti Ashfaque Kazi, chief mufti (one who issues fatwas) at the historic Juma Masjid near Crawford Market, also hailed the proposal. "It is important that our imams know English. It will benefit them and the community. Besides being able to communicate with the younger generation in a better way, they can also enhance their own employability," he said.