He did it again.

He never learnt and he did it again and again he fumbled. Subhanallah. The entire three Imams was absent during the subuh prayer on 9 November 2009. The Bilal attempted to put up Ali Termizi to lead the subuh prayer but the Nazir overruled and he lead the subuh prayer instead. He is the Nazir and the highest ranking Mosque Officials available. He fumbled during the doa qunut when he read the verse only meant for himself not for the makmum that he lead. He does not know the difference between “Allah hu ma dini” and “Allah hu ma dina”. Dini when you pray alone and dina when you become an Imam. He has got a long way to learn about the simple Arabic vocabulary applicable in the daily prayer.

Syukur alhamdullillah he did not perform the sujud sahwi as he had done sometimes in August 2009 when he fumbled the surah Al Baqarah during one Maghreb prayer. On this instance he did not even know that he had made a mistake.

After the prayer, some makmum just stood up and walked off. The Nazir recited the after prayer doa, paused several times and one of the makmum had to coach him to proceed. Finally only one or two hard core follower remained to amin his doa. He just made a mockery of himself and the talk of the kampong. I wonder when he ever learnt.

Not known to many including the Nazir, Ali Termizi prefers to remain at low profile and avoid exhibitionism. In actual fact Ali Termizi is more qualified than the existing four Imams. That’s a fact and he has certificates as proof. The present Chief Imam was once his makmum and many of LPK personnel can testify.

To become an Imam is not a plaything. The responsibilities are great and one must be knowledgeable. If one is not well verse with the criteria to be an Imam, don’t try to do it. It is a question of blessing and sins of the makmum that one is leading. When it becomes an issue it creates unnecessary “fitnah” and “tohmah”, eventually a sin on the beholder. Why want to create such when one can just leave the Imam Job to someone knowledgeable?

I would never be an Imam because I know the level of my capabilities and what more the responsibilities. Some Ustaz who frequent the Mosque to deliver the “Ceramah Ugama” always leave to the local Imam to lead the prayer. These people are religiously learned but they very well know the responsibilities lies. To be an Imam especially in the Mosque is not like playing hide and seek. What if immediately after one becomes an Imam, someone requested to perform a tahlil or suddenly a jenazah appeared? As an Imam the responsibility is on you.

Two days Imam intensive course at JAIS does not qualify someone to be a capable and reliable Imam. Of late someone with long tail serban putih and kopiah tajam can claim to be an Imam. Impersonating as big time ulamak and a Haji look who frequent Mekah. These people have not even reached Bangkok what else Mekah?

An Imam must be someone receptive to the makmum, so that the Jemaah can pray in tandem for the sole sake and with pure intention to face Allah in His house. In simple term, an Imam is the Leader at any time when we face Allah during prayer in the Mosque. If the Leader screwed up, the makmum followed suit.

Before we want to be an Imam, please for goodness sake evaluate ourselves whether we meet the criteria as required to be an Imam. Do the makmum accept me? I am free of “dosa besar”? My pronunciations of the Holy verses are correct? Slight deviation of pronunciation would lead to different meaning. Most of all, we must know the “sunat” and “wajib” in accordance with Imam Shafie subject on prayer that we adapted.