Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 01. October 2021
A people have an energy. However one defines a unit of people, every unit of people has a prevailing energy. The energy is characteristic of a people, however defined, like a magnetic field generated in a locality and, like magnetic fields, are formed by numerous small particles within certain characteristics of the land. The energy that characterizes a people is the sum-total of the numerous individuals that define the collectivity. We Muslims have a number of cross-cutting identities. We are...
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) · 02. April 2021
The Qur’an is a book of continuing revelation, it is a very personal book. It is a book that is the source of all blessings, and the source of all guidance. It is a book that enables us with the grace, blessings, and beauty of the divine, but only if we open our hearts and minds. One of the most troubling aspects of human beings is that we are so susceptible to social construction. We are so susceptible to influence by the environment that surrounds us, so much so that the Qur’an repeatedly...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 26. March 2021
We live in a small universe, in which those who possess power have the ability to make that power resonate to every corner of the globe, and to leverage that power to levels that are truly unprecedented in human history. As human beings advanced technologically, so many of these technological inventions were designed to enable the individual to do things that individuals could not do just a short period ago. But the irony is that these very same inventions that empower the individual in a very...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 25. January 2019
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl begins by discussing the Quranic intent of the Friday congregational prayer (jumu'a) prayer and the weekly address to the community (khutbah) at the time of the Prophet, and its role in serving as the divine uplift, community accounting, and spiritual re-invigoration of the Muslim community. He then recounts how this purpose became usurped over time. He continues by covering the required qualifications of the person who should lead the jumu'a -- the most learned in the...