Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 24. September 2021
This khutbah will deal with a difficult and touchy subject. It is a subject that not only must be addressed but addressed frankly and honestly. Part of this khutbah will be technical, but it is not technical for the sake of technicality. When moral and ethical perspectives are obstructed because of the technicalities, it is the job of the moral scholar and the moral jurist to address these technicalities in order to make space for morality and decency. Recently, a well-known Muslim figure...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 17. September 2021
God reminds us in Surah Al-Ra’d of a basic principle that is affirmed in different forms repeatedly throughout the Qur'an. After reminding us that nothing escapes God's knowledge and that nothing is beyond God's will, we find a very simple statement that holds the potential to have a truly transformative impact upon a human being: “Truly God alters not what is in a people until they alter what is in themselves” (Q13:11). In other words, God does not change a people until the people...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 10. September 2021
Suddenly, the news is full of talk about Afghanistan, the fate of Afghanistan and the Taliban, and I cannot help but think about how the world responds to the way that news is weaponized to focus our attention on issues and, at other times, to distract our attention from other issues. For years, ex-military have been writing books warning about defeat that actually transpired in Afghanistan. My library is full of books published all the way back in 2005, published during the Obama...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 03. September 2021
Time and again, I return to the Qur’an, the most marvelous book, both in concept and practicality. God is in everything, in all creation, and we seek God in all creation through our imperfect senses. But the living word of God - the will and testament from the divine to human beings - is contained in the single book that, because it was the last message to humanity, remained uncorrupted and incorruptible. Earlier revelations contain the kernel of truth from divinity, but as I have alluded to...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 20. August 2021
We begin in the name of God, always acknowledging that God is the Ultimate, the One and Only; and that Muhammad was the final Prophet, sent as a mercy and a liberation unto humankind. Everything that takes human beings to the direction of the merciful; to the direction of the compassionate; a step further towards enlightenment; towards liberation and self-determination, IS Islam and IS the Islamic project. Islam did not come to teach human beings a set of rituals among the many ritualistic...
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) · 13. December 2019
"LIBERATION FROM MYTHOLOGY AND THE POWER OF A WHITE JESUS" 13 December 2019 Dr. Abou El Fadl reminds us that the message of God and His prophets has always been the same in its central themes, its basic precept, and in the normative, ethical, moral message and trajectory brought to humanity time and again, which can be summed up in the phrase, “There is no god, but God”. We worship no One but God and submit to no One but God. It is a simple and straightforward message. There is only One God...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 06. December 2019
"RETURNING THE GAZE: A WALK THROUGH THE BIBLE" 6 December 2019 Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with the caveat that he will deliver a different kind of khutbah. The modern age of information comes at a time in history when Muslims are at one of their weakest points. Information is power, and power negotiates information. Information is not simply an objective reality that is presented, or data that you either take or leave. Information is intimately connected with power. The flow of information...
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...