Many times we are eager to build a masjid. We get motivated to donate and we get excited when the cement foundation is placed and see the walls go up, the dome, the minaret, chandeliers and the roof get in place and other amenities. However, prior to even building a masjid the community and the masjid board needs to ask itself a couple of tough questions which if asked prior to the first brick being laid down will help the masjid prosper longer and grow much faster.
1) Why Are We Building a Masjid?
To some this is probably a simple or unnecessary question, but at a very fundamental level it will help keep the community and the masjid board focused for many years to come. It also helps orient the intentions of the community and masjid board to be for the sake of Allah instead of for egos or recognition. A part of this step would be to develop a mission and vision statement for the masjid. These two statements will help the masjid keep focused in achieving its goals.
2) Are Our Constitution, Policies and By-Laws Solid?
Having a strong and clear constitution along with by-laws that are clear and easy to understand can help avoid several problems in the near future for your masjid. Some (if not all) masjids have some pretty awful constitutions and by-laws that are extremely narrow-sighted and short-sighted and limit the ability for the community to grow, function or operate properly. Also, strong governance is essential to the success of successful operations of a masjid. Board training and onboarding should be required for all board members to ensure they are aware of their role, responsibilities, masjid policies, procedures, operations and overall governance of the masjid.
A well-written constitution and by-laws will take into account the expansion and growth of the masjid and truly understand how to operate the masjid efficiently and effectively. A strong constitution and by-laws are the foundation on which a masjid is built. If the foundation is faulty the operations and execution of services and programs will suffer immensely over time and the masjid will never truly be able to realize its full potential.
3) Can the Community Afford (and Sustain) the Masjid?
Building a masjid is obviously a major expense for the entire community. It’s not easy to gain the funds necessary to build a masjid. Thus, it’s important to see if the community is able to afford the initial costs of building a masjid. Often we see masjids seek funding outside of their local community to build masjids or resort to online fundraising. This may help initially fulfill the initial needs of building the masjid, but can the local community afford the operations of the masjid? It makes no sense to build an expensive structure when the local community cannot sustain the basic operations of the masjid and/or if there is no financial sustainability plan in place to sustain and expand operations.
4) What Facilities in the Masjid are Critical for Its Operations?
Sometimes in our efforts to build a masjid we build huge beautiful structures and facilities, but often build masjids that don’t necessarily meet the needs of the community. Building a musallah (prayer area) is an obvious feature of a masjid, but our communities with the way they are developing need a lot more than a simple musallah. We need gyms, babysitting rooms, meeting rooms, conference rooms, classrooms, and other facilities critical to the operations of a functioning masjid. It’s important to speak to and understand the needs of one’s community. Facilities in the masjids must meet the basic needs of the Muslim community and the community-at-large. Each masjid should have communa discussions on what facilities are critical to the needs of the community.
Thus, it becomes important prior to laying the first brick to know the needs of the community and meet those needs while keeping in mind future expansion and growth of your community.
5) Are We Leaving Space for the Masjid Facility (and Operations) to Expand?
Many masjids make the mistake of not thinking long-term in terms of masjid operations. This includes not leaving enough space land-wise to expand their facility or plan for their community to grow. Thus, in the blueprints or planning of the masjid facility it’s important to plan for the future growth and expansion of your masjid and community. In 5-10 years your community may grow, but will the infrastructure of your masjid grow with it? If not, then you need to begin planning how to accommodate the needs of the community as it grows.
In addition to this masjids should ensure they are planning 5-10 years ahead in terms of expanding operations and staff to better serve the community. The old model of having one imam meet the needs of hundreds and if not thousands of community members is not a sustainable model nor is it effective in meeting the growing needs of our community. We must think about the needs of our community. Future masjid operations may require full-time therapists, social workers, guidance counselors, matrimonial services, financial advising services, and other critical services.
6) How Will the Masjid Operational Costs be Maintained?
Many masjids make the mistake of building large facilities which the community more often than cannot afford to maintain. It’s embarrassing to see masjid fundraisers year after year begging the community to donate or the masjid operations will grind to a halt. Begging year after year for masjid operational costs isn’t just embarrassing and unsustainable, but makes the community lose its confidence in the masjid board and leadership to make smart financial decisions for the community and also make community members question how the donations and funds are being allocated and spent.
There are models masjids should be looking into including the development of endowments and membership-based models to ensure long-term sustainability of their operations. Masjid leadership should be creative in their financial plans and ensure that community members don’t feel harassed year after year to donate. There should be value provided to the community that community members see and benefit from.
7) What is the Long Term Financial Sustainability Plan for the Masjid?
This brings us to the next question: how do you plan to financially sustain the masjid? Masjids in this day and age should not be operating on a fundraising model of depending on donations from the community. There needs to be long-term planning where masjid funds are being spent or invested in opportunities to generate revenue for the masjid operations and expenses. This may include but not be limited to investing in buying rental or commercial properties that can be rented out to gain revenue for the masjid or building an endowment which funds masjid operations and expenses. Continuously begging and demanding funds from one’s community builds donor fatigue and frustration long-term when the donors don’t see progress.
8) What are the Community Demographics the Masjid will be Serving?
Knowing your community demographics is so important not just in helping you understand what facilities to have in your masjid but also help you develop programs and services that meet the needs of your community. It makes no sense to build a gym when the majority of your community is elderly Muslims in their 60’s or 70’s. Likewise it makes no sense to create programs and services targeting families when the majority of your congregation and community is high school or university students.
Understanding and knowing your community demographics and their needs is critical to building a masjid that is effective in meeting the needs of the community. Conduct surveys or studies on your community to simply understand who you are serving and what their needs are. Getting community input and feedback is critical to becoming an effective masjid. Demographic studies or surveys should be conducted every two years to keep a pulse about how your community is growing or changing.
9) What will the Role of the Masjid Be?
Masjids’ roles, responsibilities and services may differ based on location and demographics served. Each masjid will have their own unique strengths and focus areas. Every masjid should identify its strengths and play towards it. Strengths may include location of the masjid or certain resources within your community you could use. For example, if your masjid is located in the middle of a city —perhaps your operations, programs and services may need to be different than one located in the suburbs or if your demographics are largely university students your programs may need to cater to that demographic.
Masjids should also identify internal resources in the community. This may mean identifying individuals with unique skill sets that may benefit the Muslim community and the community-at-large. An example may be one’s community may have a large group of doctors who may be able to provide a free healthcare clinic in your city/community or a masjid may have a large group of Muslim therapists who could provide mental health and counseling services for the community.
10) What Services and Programs Will You Provide and How?
The basic obvious services a masjid needs to provide are: prayer, marriage services, zakat collection and distribution, Islamic classes, and funeral services. Beyond this the masjid leadership and community need to figure out what services or programs are needed to serve the community. This would require a survey to be conducted to figure out what the community needs.
11) What is the 5-10 Year and Strategic Plan for the Masjid?
A 5 year plan for your masjid can assist and give you a roadmap of where you want your masjid and community to be. Simply keeping a status quo for 10-20+ years makes your community members lose faith and confidence in the masjid board’s ability to make decisions for the betterment and growth of the masjid and community. Presenting this roadmap to the community will show direction and allow for community members to see the big picture of where the masjid and its operations is moving towards. Community members who may see the roadmap may also provide their skills or services pro-bono or at a reduced cost and pitch in to fulfill the vision of the strategic plan.
12) What Critical Staff (And Skills) Are Needed to Run the Masjid?
Many masjids simply think an imam is the only position truly needed full time to be a masjid employee, but honestly if we truly understood the needs of the community we would realize that masjids need upwards of 10-15 full-time employees to fully function and be effective. Simply having one imam at a masjid expecting them to do everything from the adhan (call to prayer), khutbahs (sermons), cleaning and maintaining the masjid, conducting classes, and other responsibilities is simply not fair to the imam nor is it sustainable or effective.
There are many more critical services that masjids need to provide. We need to understand the needs of the local communities in which our masjids are built to provide critical services. Full-time staff with the necessary skills, education and experience need to be hired who are given good salaries, benefits, and incentives to perform at a high-level and truly work towards meeting the needs of the community. Without an organized hiring process and management of staff we will not see the needs of our community fulfilled. Unfortunately we see high turnover in our masjids with masjid staff. This not only stalls the progress of a masjid’s operations but it is essentially like setting the reset button everytime you lose staff. Oftentimes we may think salary is the only cost when hiring staff, but hiring, training and onboarding staff is also a cost incurred. If we constantly see high turnover we’re losing not only progress, institutional knowledge, but also are incurring financial loss for each lost employee. Thus hiring the right employees/staff is important and keeping them happy is critical to keeping operations smooth and consistent.
13) How do we Plan to Build a Community?
This is probably one of the most important of the questions in this list. We can build a beautiful masjid, but if the masjid is empty 90% of the year except for Ramadan and jummahs, then what’s the purpose of building the masjid in the first place? Our goal should be to have the masjid that is busy with programs and events throughout the week. There should be proactive efforts to build a community that is inclusive, warm, welcoming and compassionate to all Muslims.
We may invest in beautiful masjid architecture, but do we invest in our communities? Do we invest in full-time staff to help build communities? Do we invest in full-time staff to connect the hearts of the Muslims to the masjid or do we feel that building beautiful masjids with soft carpets and expensive chandeliers are sufficient for our community? What ways are we ensuring community members of all backgrounds and demographics are engaged or involved? Simply having community members present from jummah to jummah is not engagement. How many individuals have their hearts tied to the masjid and how many community members are you positively impacting and ensuring their needs are fulfilled by the masjid? How many community members feel at home and welcomed at the masjid?
These are all questions I cannot claim to answer, but are all questions masjid leadership and community members should ask themselves when building masjids.
14) Who are Our Neighbors and How Can we Work with Them?
While it’s important to build a community from within it’s also important to understand the community that surrounds your masjid as well. If your masjid exists and is built and none of your neighbors know you exist then that’s problematic. Muslims should be known as community-changers and beneficial citizens to the communities in which they live. Your neighbors close to your masjid should be proud and happy that a masjid is being built in their vicinity because they know that masjids are great resources that produce Muslims who contribute to the communities in which they live.