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An imam (Arabic: إمام‎, plural: أئمة A'immah; Persian: امام‎) is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question. In smaller communities, an imam could also be the community leader however most Imams are there for religious guidance.

Sunni Imams[link]

An Imam leading prayers in Cairo, Egypt, in 1865.

The Sunni branch of Islam does not have imams in the same sense as the Shi'a. In every day terms, the imam for Sunni Muslims is the one who leads congregational Islamic worship and prayers, and the Friday sermon is most often given by an appointed imam.

The term is also used:

for a recognized religious scholar or authority in Islam, often for the founding scholars of the four Sunni madhhabs, or schools of jurisprudence (fiqh). It may also refer to the Muslim scholars who created the analytical sciences related to Hadith or it may refer to the heads of the Prophet Muhammad's family in their generational times.

Those who are considered imams in the context of scholarly authority by Sunni Muslims.

Shi'a imams[link]

In the Shi'a context, imam has a meaning more central to belief, referring to leaders of the community. Twelver and Ismaili Shi'a believe that these imams are chosen by God to be perfect examples for the faithful and to lead all humanity in all aspects of life. They also believe that all the imams chosen are free from committing any sin, infallibility which is called ismah. These leaders must be followed since they are appointed by God.

Twelver[link]

Here follows a list of the Twelvers imams:

Fatimah, also Fatimah al-Zahraa, daughter of Muhammed (615–632), is also considered infallible but not an imam. Many Shi'a believe that the last imam will one day return.

Ismaili[link]

See Imamah (Ismaili doctrine) and List of Ismaili imams for Ismaili imams.

Zaidi imams as rulers of Yemen[link]

In the Zaidi Shiite sect, imams were temporal as well as spiritual leaders who held power in Yemen for more than a thousand years. In 897, a Zaidi ruler, al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya, founded a line of such imams, a theocratic form of government which survived until the second half of the 20th century. (See details under Zaidiyyah, History of Yemen, Imams of Yemen.)

Gallery[link]

• 

  An Imam reads verses from the Quran after Isha' (night prayers) in the Mughal Empire.

• 

  A manuscript from the Mughal Empire describing the story of an Imam.

• 

  Crimean Tatar Imam's teach the Quran.

• 

  Imam presiding over prayer, North Africa

• 

  Imam Shamil, Caucasus

• 

  Imam in Bosnia, c. 1906

• 

  An Imam in Omdurman, Sudan.

• Constantinople(1878)-begging dervis.png

  An Ottoman Imam in Istanbul.

• 

  A Bosniak Military Imam in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

• 

  Imam Thierno Ibrahima Thiello

See also[link]

• Women as imams
• Mullah

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. 
• Encyclopædia Iranica. Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University. ISBN 1-56859-050-4. 
• Martin, Richard C.. Encyclopaedia of Islam and the Muslim world; vol.1. MacMillan. ISBN 0-02-865604-0. 
• Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Gale Group. 2004. ISBN 978-0-02-865769-1. 
• Corbin, Henry (1993 (original French 1964)). History of Islamic Philosophy, Translated by Liadain Sherrard, Philip Sherrard. London; Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies. ISBN 0-7103-0416-1. 
• Momen, Moojan (1985). TAn Introduction to Shi`i Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelve. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03531-4. 
• Sachedina, Abdulaziz Abdulhussein (1988). The Just Ruler (al-sultān Al-ʻādil) in Shīʻite Islam: The Comprehensive Authority of the Jurist in Imamite Jurisprudence. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0-19-511915-0. 
• Tabatabae, Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn; Seyyed Hossein Nasr (translator) (1979). Shi'ite Islam. SUNY press. ISBN 0-87395-272-3. 

External links[link]

Look up imam in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Imams

Look up imam in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• A brief introduction of Twelve Imams
• A Brief History Of The Lives Of The Twelve Imams a chapter of Shi'a Islam (book) by Allameh Tabatabaei
• The Twelve Imams Taken From "A Shi'ite Anthology" By Allameh Tabatabaei
• A Short History of the Lives of The Twelve Imams
• Detailed description of the Shiite belief
• List of Sunni Imams
• International Imam Organization

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2011)

Siraj Wahhaj
Born	Jeffrey Kearse (1950-03-11) March 11, 1950 (age 62) Brooklyn, New York City New York, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Islamic scholar
Religion	Sunni Islam
Spouse	Wadiyah Wahhaj
Website
www.mana-net.org

Siraj Wahhaj (born Jeffrey Kearse, March 11, 1950) is an African-American convert to Islam. He is imam of Al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, New York and the leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA).

Early life[link]

Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His mother Gloria Sage was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian. His brother is writer and editor Gregory S. Kearse of Silver Spring, Maryland. He went to church religiously and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church.^[1] Wahhaj then later went on to the New York University on a partial scholarship. He also played basketball where he met a teammate who interested him in the Nation of Islam, an African-American movement.

In 1969 he ended his schooling and joined the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Jeffrey12x.^[1] During this time he was vocal in his belief that “white people are devils." He said of this, “I preached it. I taught it.”^[2] Wahhaj says of his interest in the Nation: "It wasn't the theology that attracted me to the Nation of Islam at all... It was the kind of do-for-self black pride."

When Elijah Muhammed died in 1975, "His teachings began to unravel in my mind", and he became a Sunni Muslim with the encouragement of Muhammad's son Warith Deen Mohammed. Mohammed took over and reorganized the Nation of Islam, urging members to come to orthodox Islam. Kearse then changed his name again to Siraj Wahhaj, which means "bright light" in Arabic. He was chosen to study Islam at the Umm al-Qura university of Mecca for a period of four months in 1978.^[2] He also briefly taught a course in Islamic studies at Howard University, where Johari Abdul-Malik is the chaplain.

Public Life[link]

Wahhaj is a prolific speaker in America. He makes many appearances at major North American Muslim conventions, and numerous forums and lectures in New England. His audio and video lectures are also popular in America's Muslim community. He is known to encourage Muslims to be God-fearing, enjoining good and forbid evil, practice regular charity, stay away from drugs, abstain from pre-marital relations, and other issues as well. He has also appeared on several national television talk shows and has had interviews with several media outlets.

In 1991 Wahhaj offered an invocation (opening prayer) to the United States House of Representatives. He was the first Muslim to do so.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hosted Wahhaj and notable scholars for a Ramadan feast of lamb, lentils and saffron rice.

Activities[link]

Masjid At-Taqwa Mosque[link]

Masjid At-Taqwa, in Brooklyn, New York

In 1981 Wahhaj started his own mosque, Masijd Al-Taqwa, in a friend's apartment in Brooklyn. Later they bought an abandoned clothing store which is where Masjid At-Taqwa still resides today. The Masjid has expanded since then and is usually overcrowded on days of Jummah (Friday prayer).

Anti drug movement[link]

In 1988 he led his community in an anti-drug patrol in which they staked out drug houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the cold of winter for 40 days and nights, forcing the closure of 15 drug houses. This effort received high praise from the New York City Police Department and the media.

Organizational Involvement[link]

Since that time, Wahhaj has been active in many Islamic organizations. He has been vice president of the Islamic Society of North America since 1997 and has served on the Majlis al Shura, a consultative council of Islamic scholars, since 1987. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the American Muslim Council and has also served on the national board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In 2005 Wahhaj was elected as the Amir (Chair) of MANA's Diwan (Executive committee). MANA was founded on the independent ideas of many scholars including Wahhaj, Zaid Shakir, Hamza Yusuf, Talib Abdur Rashid, Asim Abdur Rashid, Ihsan Bagby, R. Mukhtar Curtis, Sherman Jackson, Amir al-Islam and many others. The organization's initials stand for Muslim Alliance in North America. The organization has since held two conventions in 2007 and 2008, in which the topics of community activism, criminal justice and marriage were given great concern.

Recent speeches[link]

Wahhaj is still the resident imam of Masjid Al- Taqwa as well as a speaker across the country. One of his most recent speeches was given on September 5, 2009 during the "United Against Malaria" conference, were he helped to raise money for people of Africa suffering from Malaria. On March 27, 2010, he gave an emotional speech about the Youth at Darul Islah Mosque, in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Lawsuits[link]

A jury threw out Wahhaj's $5 million (libel) lawsuit against Curtis Sliwa for claiming the mosque had run guns to Canada, after the Guardian Angels had helped the mosque fight a crack epidemic in the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

Battle with Prostate Cancer[link]

Wahhaj, having publicly spoken about his battle with hyper tension stated in a letter posted on his website that he'd been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.

As a result of being thoroughly checked by the competent doctors in Atlanta , I have been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Al Hamdulillah, inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun. (All Praise is for Allah. Truly, to Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return.) My diagnosis is not as bad as it sounds on the surface. Many men have been cured from prostate cancer. My doctors are very optimistic about my cure, and so am I. InshaAllah the treatment should last about two months.^{[citation needed]}

Months later, Wahhaj wrote another letter on helpimamsiraj.com where he stated that he was now cured of the disease:

Al Hamdulillah, I'm happy to announce to MANA readers and supporters that my major treatment for prostate cancer has been successfully completed. This has been a major milestone in my life and I thank Allah, Most High, for His purification, love and mercy. Likewise, it is through Allah's love and mercy that my treatment has been paid for with help from so many of you. The generous donations, acts of kindness, duas, and overall love shown to me and my family has been a true blessing and is deeply appreciated. Jazakallah khairan! Your highest reward is with Allah, Most High. Many of you want to know how I'm feeling. This is an easy question to answer. Al Hamdulillah, I feel very good. I think I'm in very good condition and I actually feel more healthy now than I have in years. I'm exercising everyday, eating healthy and am more conscious of making the best choices for my health. I really feel I'm on the right track in terms of achieving and maintaining a lifestyle of wellness. In terms of the efficacy of my treatment, my doctor has informed me that we are "right on target". Insha'Allah, after one month I will return for an evaluation, and again three months later for a full examination. With the full examination we will have a good idea of where things are, insha'Allah.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• Him Promoting A Cair Fundraiser
• Muslim Alliance in North America
• Siraj Wahhaj Lectures
• ImamSWahhaj.com Official Site for CDs/DVDs by Imam Siraj
• Siraj Wahhaj's interview on Australian radio
• Imam Siraj Wahhaj on IBN MEDIA
• Guide For Humanity

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (August 2009)

Islamic scholar Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi
Title	Hujjatul Islām wal Muslimeen
Born	1957[1]
Died	N/A
Ethnicity	Indian[1]
Region	India[1] * Dar es Salaam, Tanzania[1] * Vancouver, British Columbia[1] * Vaughan, Ontario
Maddhab	Twelver Shī‘ah, Usuli
Main interests	History, Islamic History, Fiqh
Influences	Grand Ayatullah Vahid Khorasani[1]

Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi (Arabic: سيد محمد رضوي‎, born in 1957) is a Twelver Shī‘ah scholar, a speaker, as well as an author.^[1] He is the second-born son of Sa‘eed Akhtar Rizvi.

Biography[link]

Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi was born in the Saran district of Bihar, India.^[1] He migrated with his family to Tanzania, where he underwent elementary schooling.^[1] In 1972 he went to Qom for religious studies where he pursued his Ijtihad under Ayatullah al-Uzma Shaikh Wahid Khurãsãni. . After successfully attaining the rank of mujtahid, he returned to India in 1982.^[1]

In 1983 he migrated with his family to Vancouver, and by 1991 he completed his Master of Arts degree in History (with no prior undergraduate degree), at Simon Fraser University.^[1] He then moved to Ontario in the same year, and since 1996^[1] he has been the Imam of the Islamic Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat of Toronto.

Among his many accomplishments is building bridges with people of other faiths. He has been a key figure in conducting numerous interfaith dialogues and has written literature promoting peace and understanding.

Works[link]

His published works include:

• An Explanatory Translation of the Qur'ān. Canada: SMR Publications. 1984. ISBN 0-920675-06-9. 
• Imam Husayn: the Saviour of Islam. 1984. 
• Khums an Islamic Tax. 1984. 
  • Khums an Islamic Tax. Qom: Ansariyan Publications. 1993. 
• The Ritual Ablutions for Women (Tahāratu 'N-Nisā'). Canada: Vancouver Islamic Educational Foundation. 1985. ISBN 0-920675-11-5. 
• The Ritual & Spiritual Purity. Qom: Ansariyan Publications. 1989. ISBN 978-964-438-083-9. 
• Marriage & Morals in Islam. Canada: Vancouver Islamic Educational Foundation. 1990. ISBN 0-920675-10-7. 
  • Marriage & Morals in Islam. Qom: Ansariyan Publications. 1999. 
• An Introduction to the Islamic Shari‘ah. Qom: Ansariyan Publications. 1992. 
• Writing an Islamic Will. Canada: Al-Ma‘ārif Books. 1993. 
• Hajj: The Pilgrimage to Mecca. 1996. 
• Shī‘ism Imāmate & Wilāyat. Canada: Al-Ma‘ārif Books. 1999. ISBN 0-920675-11-5. 
• Islam: Faith, Practice & History. Qom: Ansariyan Publications. 2004. 
• Hijab: A Muslim Woman's Dress. 2004. 
• The Infallibility of the Prophets in the Qur'an. Canada: Al-Ma‘ārif Books. 2005. 
  • (in Swahili) The Infallibility of the Prophets in the Qur'an. Dar es Salaam: Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania. 2008. 
• Islamic Business Ethics. Canada: Al-Ma‘ārif Books. 2007. ISBN 0-920675-12-3. 

Works which he co-authored:

• Rizvi, Sayyid Sa‘īd Akhtar; Rizvi, Sayyid Muhammad (1985). Imāmate: (the Vicegerency of the Prophet). World Organization for Islamic Services. ISBN 0-920675-11-5. 
• Rizvi, Sayyid Muhammad; Kanju, Muhammad S. (2003) (in Swahili). Imam al-Mehdi. Dar es Salaam: Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania. ISBN 9987-620-38-8. 

See also[link]

• Sa‘eed Akhtar Rizvi
• List of Shi'a Muslim scholars of Islam

References[link]

Glenn Beck
Beck speaking at the Values Voter Summit in 2011
Born	Glenn Edward Lee Beck[1] (1964-02-10) February 10, 1964 (age 48) Everett, Washington, U.S.
Residence	Fort Worth, Texas[2]
Nationality	American
Education	Sehome High School
Occupation	Radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host
Home town	Mount Vernon, Washington, U.S.
Salary	US$32 million (2009–10)[3][4]
Net worth	US$65 million (2011)
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)[5][6][7][8]
Spouse	Claire (1983–1994) Tania (m. 1999); 4 children total
Awards	Defender of Israel Award, Zionist Organization of America 2011[9]
Website
Glenn Beck's Official Website

Glenn Edward Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. He formerly hosted the Glenn Beck television program, which ran from January 2006 to October 2008 on HLN and from January 2009 to June 2011 on the Fox News Channel. Beck has authored six New York Times–bestselling books.^[3] Beck is the founder and CEO of Mercury Radio Arts, a multimedia production company through which he produces content for radio, television, publishing, the stage, and the Internet. It was announced on April 6, 2011, that Beck would "transition off of his daily program" on Fox News later in the year but would team with Fox to "produce a slate of projects for FOX News Channel and FOX News' digital properties".^[10] Beck's last daily show on the network was June 30, 2011.^[11] In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter named Beck on its Digital Power Fifty list.^[12]

Beck's supporters praise him as a constitutional stalwart defending traditional American values,^[13] while his critics contend he promotes conspiracy theories and employs incendiary rhetoric for ratings.^[14]

Personal life[link]

Early years[link]

Glenn Edward Lee Beck was born in Everett, Washington, to William and Mary Beck, who lived in Mountlake Terrace, Washington at the time of their son's birth.^[15] The family later moved to Mount Vernon, Washington,^[16] where they owned and operated City Bakery in the downtown area.^[17] He is descended from German immigrants who came to the United States in the 19th century.^[18] Beck was raised as a Roman Catholic and attended Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Mount Vernon.

Glenn and his older sister moved with their mother to Sumner, Washington, attending a Jesuit school^[19] in Puyallup. On May 15, 1979, while out on a small boat with a male companion, Beck's mother drowned just west of Tacoma, Washington, in the Puget Sound. The man who had taken her out in the boat also drowned. A Tacoma police report stated that Mary Beck "appeared to be a classic drowning victim", but a Coast Guard investigator speculated that she could have intentionally jumped overboard.^[19] Beck has described his mother's death as a suicide in interviews during television and radio broadcasts.^[19][20]

After their mother's death, Beck and his older sister moved to their father's home in Bellingham, Washington,^[21] where Beck graduated from Sehome High School in June 1982.^[22] Beck also regularly vacationed with his maternal grandparents, Ed and Clara Janssen, in Iowa.^[23] In the aftermath of his mother's death and subsequent suicide of his stepbrother, Beck has said he used "Dr. Jack Daniel's" to cope. At 18, following his high school graduation, Beck relocated to Provo, Utah, and worked at radio station KAYK. Feeling he "didn't fit in", Beck left Utah after six months,^[24] taking a job at Washington D.C.'s WPGC in February 1983.^[21]

Adulthood[link]

While working at WPGC, Beck met his first wife, Claire.^[26] In 1983, the couple married and had two daughters, Mary and Hannah. Mary developed cerebral palsy as a result of a series of strokes at birth in 1988.^[26] The couple divorced in 1994 amid Beck's struggles with substance abuse. A recovering alcoholic and drug addict,^[27] Beck has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.^[28][29]

By 1994, Beck was suicidal, and imagined shooting himself to the music of Kurt Cobain.^[28] He credits Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) with helping him achieve sobriety. He said he stopped drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis in November 1994, the same month he attended his first AA meeting.^[28] Beck later said that he had gotten high every day for the previous 15 years, since the age of 16.^[21]

In 1996, while working for a New Haven area radio station, Beck took a theology class at Yale University, with a written recommendation from Senator Joe Lieberman, a Yale alumnus who was a fan of Beck's show at the time.^[30] Beck enrolled in an "Early Christology" course, but soon withdrew, marking the extent of his post-secondary education.^[28][31]

Beck then began a "spiritual quest" in which he "sought out answers in churches and bookstores".^[28] As he later recounted in his books and stage performances, Beck's first attempt at self-education involved six wide-ranging authors, comprising what Beck jokingly calls "the library of a serial killer": Alan Dershowitz, Pope John Paul II, Adolf Hitler, Billy Graham, Carl Sagan, and Friedrich Nietzsche.^[28][30] During this time, Beck's Mormon friend and former radio partner Pat Gray argued in favor of the "comprehensive worldview" offered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an offer that Beck rejected until a few years later.^[28]

In 1999, Beck married his second wife, Tania.^[28] After they went looking for a faith on a church tour together, they^[28] joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 1999, partly at the urging of his daughter Mary.^[32][33] Beck was baptized by his old friend, and current-day co-worker Pat Gray.^[28] Beck and his current wife have had two children together, Raphe (who is adopted) and Cheyenne. Until April 2011, the couple live in New Canaan, Connecticut, with the four children.^[34][35]

Beck announced in July 2010 that he had been diagnosed with macular dystrophy, saying "A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor because of my eyes, I can't focus my eyes. He did all kinds of tests and he said, 'you have macular dystrophy ... you could go blind in the next year. Or, you might not.'" The disorder can make it difficult to read, drive or recognize faces.^[36]

In July 2011, Beck leased a house in the Fort Worth suburb of Westlake, Texas.^[2]

Career[link]

In 2002 Beck created the media platform Mercury Radio Arts^[30][37] as the umbrella over various broadcast, publishing, Internet, and live show entities.

Radio[link]