Administration of Mosques and Appointment of Imams in Nigeria: Between Islamic Law, Customs, and State Law

Abstract

Mosques are pivotal to the practice of Islam. Imams are important to the administration of mosques. In Nigeria, the administration of mosques and the appointment of their imams are governed generally by a combination of Shariah, local customs (urf) and statutory law. The actual mix of this combination in any particular mosque depends on those who establish the mosque. In the northern emirates, central mosques are under the control of the emirs. Among the Yoruba peoples in the southwest, traditional rulers also play a nominal role in the recognition of a newly appointed Chief Imam. In central mosques established by individuals or groups of persons or organisations, the control lies in their own hands, and in the case of incorporated organisations, the relevant administrative rules are spelt out in the organisations’ constitutive documents. There is no central governmental or Islamic authority regulating the establishment and administration of mosques in the country, which means that there is little or no control over the sermons preached in central mosques.  There is the need to create an official or a quasi-official Islamic authority to regulate the affairs of central mosques in the country.