of the servants of the All-Merciful: “Our Lord, grant us in our spouses and our offspring a joy to our eyes, and make us a leader for the God-fearing” (Qur’an 25:74).

Leading the prayer, then, is part of religious leadership. This is all the more true when the imam devotes himself to advising, exhorting, and reminding those who gather in the mosque, for by doing so he becomes one of the callers to Allah who unite sound words with righteous deeds. “And who speaks better than one who calls people to Allah, acts righteously, and says, ‘Indeed, I am of those who submit’” (Qur’an 41:33). None but a person deprived of blessing would disdain the office of imam. There is no might and no power except through Allah.