News published in the media about an imam receiving a salary amounting to 48,000 dinars has triggered a wave of ridicule and criticism, which affected all imams. The news referred to the involvement of a number of imams in a corruption case at the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affair. The story was published under the title "Monthly Salary of Mosque Imam Amounts to 48,000 Dinars."

The comments affected the image of mosque imams as a whole, while some users on social media sites mentioned particular names of imams and leveled accusations against them. They mentioned Imam Ghaleb Rabab"ah, who is the mufti of the Armed Forces and imam of the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque. One of the news sites hastened to deny this piece of information. Rabab"ah himself spoke to another site, denying that he was the one concerned with this case. He affirmed that his salary was equivalent to that of a brigadier general in the Jordanian Armed Forces, that he was delegated by the army to the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque, and that he had no other monthly income, whether from the Royal Court or the Awqaf. He said that he was willing to provide his bank account number so that people would confirm for themselves that he had nothing.  

The wave of ridicule, led by users of social media sites; namely, Twitter and Facebook, promoted the hashtag #I wish_I could be_imam_in Jordan." Users made jokes and used expressions of ridicule of imams and religious scholars without verifying the truth and confirming the accuracy of what was published. Al Ghad daily published a report on these violations, headlined "Story of "Imam of 48,000 Dinars" Opens Jordanian Facebook Pages to Ridicule. Also, an Arab newspaper published a report on the momentum of the ridicule and satire on social media sites concerning this case.

The silence of Awqaf Minister Wael Arabiyat when a journalist asked him about the truth of the news during a press conference he held provoked activists on social media sites. The minister remained silent and did not deny the truth of media reports, according to the site that published the story. In light of the absence of official information from the Ministry of Awqaf, most media outlets relied in their reports on vague sources, such as an official source, reliable source, or informed source." This includes the Jordanian News Agency (Petra), which confirmed, through an official source at the ministry, the formation of an inquiry committee and the discovery of manipulation and concealment of papers, receipts, and original checks by a former official at the Finance Department dating back to 2013, 2014, and 2015.  

According to the story, the employee in question was pensioned off last year after he was referred to the public prosecutor on charges of abusing public funds because he had issued checks for huge amounts from the Da"wah Fund for three imams as monthly salaries for a single time. Later, he recovered the difference and received the amounts from the persons involved, claiming that there was a mistake. 

Afterward, many reports were published, revealing the details, relying on statements by the awqaf minister and other sources, some of which showed photocopies of the check that proves the financial violation. The reports explained that three imams had received monthly salaries in the amount of around 48,000, 17,000, and 20,000 dinars. They were then informed about a mistake and that they had to return the sums of money after cashing the checks from banks. Therefore, it turned out that they had nothing to do with fraud. They complied with the request of the financial assistant and returned the difference between their salaries and the value of the checks to him as they were disbursed by mistake only. 

The committee investigating the "checks of imams" at the Da"wah Fund referred the file of the case to the judiciary.

Obviously, the hesitation by the relevant party (Ministry of Awqaf) to announce its position after the case leaked to the media provided ample time for the circulation of erroneous information that affected particular personalities. This also caused offense to all those who are affiliated with the job of imam, depicted a stereotype of this profession, and linked it to a morally condemnable practice, which is abuse of public funds. Meanwhile, it was not proven that any of the imams had anything to do with the administrative or financial error at the ministry.