Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 10. July 2020
Life on this earth makes sense if and only if it is a temporary abode with consequences and results, a state that has been ordained by someone bigger than this life, that understands its objects and its purpose, and that decreed it. In life, it is tempting to lose sight of the fact that this is a purposeful existence. Either we exist in a world measured by justice - and in order for justice to be the premise of our existence, there must be a Creator and Owner - or we exist in a whimsical,...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 03. July 2020
Dr. Abou El Fadl recently watched a video that unsettled him so much that he found it very challenging to focus on anything else. The video was of a woman – a widow and orphan herself with one child - in Egypt, pleading for help because a police officer started harassing her six months ago, demanding that she submit to him sexually. When she refused, he arrested her younger sister – a divorcee with no children – and has kept the sister in detention without charges for several weeks. The...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 26. June 2020
It is not an exaggeration to say that we human beings – our intellects and our psyches – are a product of numerous cumulative narratives that we have received at different parts in our lives. The fabric of human consciousness is formed by stories from the past and present. They form what we define as our reality: the way we understand things, the way we associate and relate to values, and the way that we feel entitled to feel or not to feel. When we look at the present Muslim condition, we...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 19. June 2020
Islam should be the most important thing in the life of a Muslim, the very framework through which a Muslim sees and understands the world. It is critical that Muslims have a clear vision of what Islam represents to them, and a clear understanding of the moral role of the Islamic faith in the context of human history. Human history is marked with constant movements towards human dignity and self-determination, which are always met with resistance. This resistance takes the form of various...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 12. June 2020
The Prophet’s life and the way he translated the Islamic message into real life examples holds continuing and living lessons for us to internalize, as they have the ability to transform our lives into something other than what we have been mired in for a long time. The Quran is the accompanying text to this living example. Although it addressed many of the events unfolding in the life of the Prophet, the discourse of the Quran existed and continues to exist in perpetual relevance with the...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 08. May 2020
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl tells another fascinating story of the time of the Prophet Muhammad, which demonstrates the strength and social justice orientation of the early Muslims despite horrific persecution. It is a yardstick by which to measure our own spirit and personality. He answers the question of why Islam was revealed to the Arabs as opposed to another group of people. Detailed summary description forthcoming.
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 01. May 2020
God is the source of light and true love. All other forms are but derivative, incidental and temporal, but the love of God and love that comes from God is unbounded, unrestricted and universal. We turn to God who is the source of all goodness. God gave us the month of Ramadan as a way to discipline and teach ourselves to have sovereignty over our willpower. From the minute human beings are born on this earth, they are tempted by dependency – first, dependent on parents; then soon enough, on...