Dear Friends,
Greetings of Peace (al salamu ‘alaykum)! I pray you are healthy and well despite the turbulence and life-altering changes taking place in our current moment everywhere. It is a difficult and uncertain time for so many in the world with so many challenges yet to come. Here in America, it feels like in some ways, we are returning to the wild, wild West, where there is a lot of chaos and danger, but also opportunity. It is clear to me that now is the time to find our strength, beauty, and hope through a deepening relationship with God, bolstered by clarifying knowledge of his beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is time to hunker down and educate ourselves to find our empowerment. At The Usuli Institute, we have always insisted on reconnecting Muslims with their beautiful, reasonable, and liberating tradition - the Islam that was the pulse of human civilization at its height. We push back on the status quo and apply critical thinking as we believe God calls us to do in every time, place and context. Now more than ever, we will need our wits about us, and our intellects, hearts and spirits, in this moment when Muslims, in particular, are in the cross-hairs.
DEFINING UMMAH: RETHINKING GAZA, SHIA AND SUNNI
In this past Friday’s khutbah (sermon), Dr. Abou El Fadl reconnected us with the Qur’anic vision of Ummah, and what it means to be One People. He took us through God’s Words on this powerful concept and then juxtaposed this Divine vision with what is happening in today’s Muslim world. He addressed the current schisms and sectarian divides that stand in the way of our fulfilling this Qur’anic vision. And, he walks us through why he believes Gaza is the single, most important lesson for us in understanding the Qur’anic conception of Ummah, and what happens when it fails. It was a morally clarifying sermon to say the very least.
RE-EXAMINING THE TRADITIONS OF THE PROPHET
One question that immediately jumps out in my mind is: how can we build on the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), when we don’t know them, or if the traditions we do know are contradictory, negative, or cause doubt?
We all know that the character of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has come under heightened Islamophobic attack, especially post 9/11. Hateful traditions are circulated to defame Islam and the Prophet, to instill disgust and fear of Muslims among non-Muslims, and to create doubt in the hearts of Muslims themselves. At Usuli, we often receive messages from Muslims who are struggling with their faith. The truth is that Islam-hating narratives are powerfully effective with both non-Muslims and Muslims.
The most important antidote is education. Without the knowledge and tools to assess and discern, we are left in confusion and doubt. As many of us know, sometimes the hadith (traditions of the Prophet) are weaponized to support claims and beliefs that contradict the ethics of the Qur’an. What better time than the present moment to reengage the traditions of the Prophet (the Sirah), especially in light of the today’s challenges?
In this spirit, I am so excited to announce that, at long last, we are launching Project Illumine II: The Light of the Prophet Muhammad, the natural continuation to our three-year Qur’anic commentary (tafsir) journey, Project Illumine: The Light of the Qur’an, with Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl. The first episodes will drop on March 1st, 2025, at the beginning of the month of Ramadan, insha’Allah (God willing). (More detailed information on how to access the content will follow soon!)
Project Illumine II, also known by our shorthand as The Sirah Project, has been a highly anticipated series. I wanted to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for your patience and support. We originally announced that we would be launching The Sirah Project this month, but decided to take a little more time to make it even better. We have already recorded our first episode and it is fabulous! We are now editing and doing all of the pre-work in preparation for the launch. I hope that you will find the finished product to be absolutely worth the wait!
In addition, we have been working hard to up our game in many ways: the production quality of the series, the delivery of our content, and our overall approach to what we put out in the world. We take a lot of pride in what we do and do not want to release anything until we are confident we have given it our all. We have lots of exciting changes coming, so look forward to more announcements soon! We will soon let you know more details about how you can access and subscribe to Project Illumine II when it comes available!
NEW! POST-KHUTBAH CONVERSATIONS!
Among the exciting new additions to our content line-up are the post-khutbah conversations! Right after Dr. Abou El Fadl’s powerful Friday sermon this past week, we immediately recorded an in-depth conversation between Dr. Abou El Fadl and our own Shayan Parsai, to dig even deeper into the issues raised in the khutbah. It was absolutely eye-opening and a must-watch, so don’t miss it! Well worth your time!
A WELCOME RESPITE
We know this is going to be a rough year for so many of us. I hope that at Usuli, we can provide a comforting place of respite for learning and reconnection with the things that matter - our beautiful faith, the importance of critical thinking, and finding empowerment as we seek to strengthen our relationships with God, ourselves, and our fellow companions in the good fight. We will need each other more than ever in the coming days (and years) ahead.
On behalf of everyone at Usuli, I want to express our profound gratitude for your support, your care, and your belief in our work. We are excited to show you more of what we have been up to! We could not do what we do without your support.
As always, we pray that God will protect you and your loved ones and guide all of us to the most beautiful and elevated path. May we all reach our fullest potential for good! Hope to see you online soon!
In Peace and Hope,
Grace