This post is in response to Mariam’s comment. I’m moving it here so it’s easier to respond.
Q. …None of the sheikhs speak greek….and barely english….so in other words our khutbas are in arabic, and all the greeks either sit there like lemons, or we sit next to an arab speaker and they explain wat is goin on…..
thereforeeee…rather than having these problems, could we work together to find ourselves a local greek or cypriot sheikh coz it is kind of crucial.
fi aman allah
mariam
My answer:
Mariam, wow, subhan Allah, sounds like major drama. I have to say I don’t have a solution to this problem so I’m just going to post some ideas that might help and if anyone else has ideas or feedback, please comment below.
First, as we know, the ideal shaykh would be of course someone who is qualified with knowledge of the deen. After that, knowing the language of the people plus the cultural norms of the land is of utmost importance.
Let me give you an example. I was once watching a video of people attending a mosque in Greece. At the end of the khutbah, while people were leaving, you wouldn’t believe it but they were all lined up (in the masjid!) to greet these two guys who are singing nasheed, then they touch something, make dua, wipe their faces and then leave the mosque. I was like…. whaaaaat?!! I thought it was a bad rerun of a Greek church service…no joke!
Did the prophet (saws) or the sahaba ever do that? NO! Not that I know of anyway. I showed it to an Arab and we both started laughing out of the ridiculousness of it all but the thing is my Arab friend didn’t really get why they would do such a thing. Me, being Greek, I understand that they, in essence, just copied what the Greek church does at the end of their service and “Islamified” it with nasheed and dua to replace the the “chanting” of the Bible verses in Greek plus the lining of the people to kiss the priest’s hand and recieve the bread that was “blessed”.
So back to an Arab shaykh who doesn’t speak Greek and wouldn’t really relate to the example above, how do make this situation better? Here are just a few ideas that I had. I’m not sure if they are practical to your situation, but it’s worth a mention:
1. If there is a knowledgeable Greek Muslim that can be assigned as an assistant to the shaykh, that would help because he be an advisor on the cultural norms and the Greek language. He can also either translate the shaykh’s khutbah’s for him so the shaykh can either do Arabic/Greek or Arabic/English or if this is totally not possible, perhaps the assistant can do the Greek version after the khutbah. You just have to investigate that becuase there are certain things you can and cannot do during the khutbah. This can also work for halaqahs or classes.
2. If you can’t find anyone locally, perhaps, someone could contact the University of Madinah or AlAzhar University and see if anyone there is qualified who knows the Greek language, or even English at least who might be willing to relocate to Cyprus. This might be far-fetched but at least you can try.
3. For long-term planning, your masjid can sponsor a brother to travel to one of these universities to study and return with the agreement to become the shaykh of the masjid a few years later.
Just some ideas… what do you guys think?
I have absolutely no suggestions for your problems, although a young friend who studies at the Islamic University in Medinah is classmates with a brother from Greece, although I don’t know how good his Greek is.
When Muslims are wanting Greek speaking Sheikhs, then that is definitely a blessing from the Almighty. Alhumdulillha people are hungry to learn the Deen. Is there some sort of an Islamic revival going on in Greece/Cyprus?