[Badyalectlawl]

It's hard to fix a figure on the salary for an Imam because it can vary because of many reasons. But many Masjids don't even pay the Imams minimum wages. Imams are usually at the bottom of the pay scale in most communities.

One of the greatest harms of not paying the Imams well is that the brightest minds of the Ummah will not like to pursue a career as an Islamic scholar because of the low wages. Usually, the parents who send their children are from religious backgrounds. It's very hard to find a student in a Darul Uloom whose family is not religious. So when the smartest youth of the Ummah are not turning towards Islamic scholar degrees because of low wages, then the Ummah loses out.

So the blame lies on Masjid committees who can spends thousands and millions on building Masjids and competing with other Masjids to make theirs look better, but who wont pay the Imams decent salaries.

The harm is that, many Imams and scholars at least in the UK are taking up careers in prisons and hospitals as chaplains because they get paid ten times more than what a Masjid will pay. Also, as chaplains, they don't have to deal with all the politics which goes on in the Masjids and they don't have to deal with Fussaq and Fujjar committee members and presidents. So a lot of the blame lies on the Masjid committees and many of you, for not trying to join your local Masjid committees. The only way things can change is when young people involve themselves in Masjid committees which usually doesn't happen. So the problems never go away and they perpetuate when the same old old people run things.

At the same time, Masjids in the US usually pay much more than Masjids in any other country. There are more professionals here in the US as compared to other countries. On Eid day there are probably about 100 doctors in my congregation which includes both the genders. And the Masjid where I'm Imam at, it's considered to be an average sized Masjid.

Bottom line is that an Imam should at least be in the middle of the pay scale of the community he is serving. But usually, the Imam is at the bottom of the pay scale but I don't think any Imam will complain openly and publicly about it. They are not in it for the money because they could easily make more money elsewhere but the worst thing is when they are paid the lowest and then on top of that, committee members treat them very badly and that is what an Imam will never tolerate. They can tolerate low wages but they can never tolerate being disrespected for no reason or being mistreated.