Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 22. January 2021
As in its nature, life never ceases to come up with its pleasures, distractions, delusions and challenges. Every day that you wake up, you are part of the theater of life. It is a theater full of richness and meaning, but only if you are able to find it. Life is like a dazzling show, full of surprises, glimmer, glamor and tragedy. But the meaning that flows in the heart of all these events often eludes us. It is the hardest thing to uncover, and even harder to hold onto and internalize in your...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 15. January 2021
This is a special jumu’a, as it is the first jumu’a for the Usuli Institute in its new home. The library, which is the heart and soul of the Usuli Institute, the heart and soul of my own entire personal legacy, and the heart and soul of this intellectual and moral project, has been moved from Los Angeles to Dublin, Ohio. This development provides much to reflect on. The ‘why’ is clear enough. In Los Angeles, although the library had a full house dedicated to it, the way that the library...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 25. December 2020
The words of your Lord, the revelation of your Lord, their completion, the way that these words become perfected, is by upholding truth and justice. God's words do not exist frivolously or in vain. These words are called truth because truth exists beyond the veils of human egos, vanities and desires, beyond the little squabbles and big fights. Truth is there. The relationship between truth and justice is intimately tied. The very nature of truth calls for justice, and the very nature of justice...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 18. December 2020
The heart and core of Islam was and will always be the revealed word of God, the Qur'an. It is remarkable that Muslims would ever lose touch with the living word of God among them; the constant, eternal revelation that speaks to them both individually and collectively as beings that came into this world in a state of struggle, seeking to find their way. Collectivities form into communal entities, attempting to do what God has placed them on this earth to do, and that is to act as God's...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 11. December 2020
If Muslims did nothing more than reflect upon the often-repeated supplications that are at the core of their faith, Muslims would transform themselves and transform the world that they live in. So often, we repeat supplications, but their effective force and ability to transform have become vacuous. Recently, my younger son asked me a profound, yet simple question: "What does it take to be a good Muslim? What does it take for me to grow up knowing that I'm a good Muslim?" There are many ways to...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 27. November 2020
It is so critical, when so much in the world is turbulent and confusing, that we go back to the fundamentals within our hearts and minds. Because without re-instilling the fundamentals within us, we drift. If you drift, it is only a matter of time before you are lost. If you are lost, you are without a base. If you are without a base, then you are without a being. If you are without a being, then you are staring down the face of meaninglessness; a state where meaning is lost and an anchor is...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 20. November 2020
The most basic statement that all Muslims know and are meant to internalize are the simple words, “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest). Muslims repeat this phrase in their azan (call to prayer), in their prayers, and often throughout daily life, perhaps even without much thought. But within this simple mantra is an entire philosophy. It goes beyond saying, ‘God is great,’ instead saying, “God is greatest,” which implies a relationship. Greatest in relation to what and to whom?...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 13. November 2020
The issues of representation and self-perception are always present in the affairs of Muslims. Islam is a living religion. Islam is not about idols, artifacts or dead symbolisms. Islam is about a living God that lives with us and that accompanies us in all our affairs, that is ever present with us. The minute that we forget that God is with us in everything, we in fact forget the core message of Islam. We forget the imperative of Godliness and what God and Islam are. In my late childhood, among...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 06. November 2020
The entire world is occupied in one way or another with what is going on in the United States and its elections. There is so much to observe, reflect upon and study. Recall that God intended for us Muslims to take the world as a school. A constant, enduring, unrelenting school for Muslims that see with the light of God. A Muslim that fails to learn from all that God has created is a Muslim that has steered away from the covenant that binds us to our Lord. Bearing witness means keen observation,...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 30. October 2020
October 29th was the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. This occasion cannot pass without us pausing to fully reflect upon the legacy of that great man who gave us the continuing, perpetual and individual revelation of the Qur’an. So many in this world live and die without granting themselves the opportunity of studying the meaning of the presence of that man in their temporal life. The Prophet did not just transmit the revelation of the Qur’an, but embodied the message of the...