Writing a Taraweeh listing that attracts the right Hafiz

Compare two listings. One is titled ‘Seeking Hafiz for Ramadan’ and says nothing else. The other gives its dates, rakaat, khatm expectation and honorarium, says a private room and evening meals are provided, and explains that a volunteer collects the Hafiz from the station. A Hafiz scrolling through Find can make a decision about the second listing in a minute. The first one either prompts a string of questions or gets skipped.

What a listing contains

• Title: a short, specific summary, such as ‘Hafiz needed for full Ramadan, 20 minutes from the city centre’.
• Dates: a start and an end date. The ‘Full Ramadan’ option fills them in from the configured Ramadan season.
• Rakaat and khatm expected.
• Honorarium.
• Accommodation, meals and transport: whether you provide each one.
• Imam needed urgently: a switch that adds a badge and moves the listing to the top of Huffaz’s results.
• Description and expectations: everything else a Hafiz should know.

Your location, Madhab and congregation size are not entered on the listing. They come from your mosque profile and are shown read-only on the form. If any of them is out of date, fix it on your profile first, because it appears on every listing you publish.

Get the dates exactly right

Dates do more work than they appear to. You cannot send a Hafiz an offer on a listing without dates. Huffaz who filter for the last 10 nights only see listings whose dates fall within those nights, so a Full Ramadan listing does not appear in that filter. If you only need an Imam for the final nights, set those dates rather than the whole month.

Use the description for what the form can’t say

The switches say whether accommodation, meals and transport are offered. The description is where you say what they actually involve. Useful things to include:

• What the accommodation is: a private room, a shared house, or a family home.
• Which meals are provided, and by whom.
• How transport works: a lift from the station, a travel allowance or nothing at all.
• When Taraweeh usually starts each night, and roughly how long it runs.
• Any other duties you hope the Hafiz will take on, so nothing comes as a surprise.
• Parking and access at the venue.
• Who the Hafiz’s main contact will be on the night.

State the honorarium

The honorarium on a listing is shown on the listing page. A clear figure saves both sides an awkward conversation and helps a Hafiz compare opportunities fairly. It is separate from the honorarium range on your mosque profile, which stays hidden unless you switch on ‘Show financial details to Huffaz’ in Settings → Preferences.

After you publish

You are taken straight to the new listing’s page, which is what Huffaz see. While the listing is Open you can edit it, mark it as filled or close it. My listings shows every listing with its status, dates, and application and invitation counts.