Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 06. March 2020
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION: Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with the reminder that because humans are often oblivious and forgetful, we take much for granted. The Prophet Muhammad was a moral example of how we should live our lives, and those who fail to understand this guidance lose so much because they cannot truly be guided to the path of Islam. Last week, Dr. Abou El Fadl shared the news that he had become functionally deaf and reflected upon his thoughts as he coped with this life change. Like most...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 18. October 2019
Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with a reminder that we remain committed to the truth that everything is from Allah, and everything will return to Allah. One of the central narratives of the Quran, that many Muslims learn and often repeat, is Ayat Al Kursi (Chapter 2, Verse 255). It is a monumental reminder of the truth of our existence and our relationship to our Maker. The wisest of Muslims are the ones who reflect even just on this verse, for the amazing amount of insight it yields into our Maker...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 11. October 2019
Dr. Abou El Fadl reminds that Allah has given us the Shari’ah, a path, a guidance, like a map. So, follow it and do not follow the whims of those who do not know. If you enter into a relationship with the Divine, you will feel the Divine and the Divine will guide you. The unjust are supported by the unjust. The nature of injustice is like an infection. It starts small but grows and extends, and when supported, results in further injustice. It is not just a theological principle; it is a...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 04. October 2019
Dr. Abou El Fadl reminds us that Allah in the Qur’an gave us Shariah, a path that we are instructed to follow. There are many people who think that Shariah is something as simple as a group of positivistic laws. However, laws that lead to practices are only half the process, because any practice decreed by law must have a purpose. If one is not following these laws with an understanding of why, how it fits in within the Shariah of Allah, then there is a fundamental breakdown. If it was simply...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 27. September 2019
Dr. Abou El Fadl reminds that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in his persona sums up the entire legacy of the entire line of prophets. He has embodied all of them in his single being as the last and final prophet. All of the prophets came with a singular message to humanity, and it was perfected over a long, protracted educational process about the implications of creation and being God’s creatures. Muslims are told that the Prophet Muhammad perfected the message, and that after the death of the...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 31. May 2019
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl marks the last Friday jumu'a of Ramadan 2019 as the demarcation of another Ramadan passed in the historical legacy of Muslims in the world. It is also the Day of Jerusalem. He recalls that the state of Jerusalem is a window into the health of Muslims. He reminds Muslims that Islam is intended to be a liberation theology for human beings, and that so much Muslim suffering taking place today around the world is because there are those who do not wish for this version to...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 24. May 2019
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl reminds us of our covenant with God, as representatives on this earth, to uphold justice. He discusses the verses in the Quran that equate justice with divinity, and divinity with justice, and explains the covenant and its implications. He discusses the Quranic verses where God states unequivocally what happens to Muslims who kill other Muslims unjustly, and those who kill those who uphold God's justice. He calls Muslims to their conscience and action to stand up for...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 03. May 2019
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delves deeper into the theme of love in Islam. He addresses negative responses to his recent khutbahs, which demand dalil (evidence) and juristic references to justify the centrality of love in the Islamic tradition--demands that arise from obstructionism and an insistence on legalistic details over obvious moral and ethical fundamentals of the faith. He explains why Islam is the only religion that makes sense, and how God calls upon followers to understand that to love...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 15. February 2019
In this transformative moment in human history, Dr. Abou El Fadl recounts the ways in the last three decades since the publication of his book, The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses, that the methodology of justice, beauty and reason he advocated came under attack as a source of "fitnah" (creating discord and dissent). As Muslims, we learned from well known shuyukh that many things like music, art, pictures, relations with non-Muslims and other things identified as "from the...