Dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, I greet you today with the greeting of Paradise, “as-Salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu”.

First Khutbah – Main Points

اقترب للناس حسابهم و هم في غفلة معرضون

“The Reckoning is ever drawing closer to Mankind, yet they are woefully heedless of it, turning away.” [Q: 21: 1]

Last week, I opened the khutbah with a reading from suwrah al-Anbiyā’ in which Allah states the coming of the Hour. And while this coming of the Hour encompasses both the iterations of it: the Big Hour or the demise of the world [الساعة الكبيرة], or our individual hours: [الساعة الصغيرة].  Attached to this coming of the Hour is the account of all we have done in our live [or not done for that matter].  This is similar to what Allah says in suwrah al-Infatar:

علمت نفس ما قدمت و أخرت

“Every soul will know what it has put forward and what it held back.” [Q: 82: 5]

How do we react to advice when we’re given it from those we know?  What about advice from Allah of His Messenger [s]?  Are we as quick and eager to alter our character, our awareness as much as we think we are?  A case in point is the imagination that many Muslims have, thinking that we would have loved to have been with the Prophet [s] during his lifetime.  What we do not realize is this: we would have learned and been told a great many things about our character that we may have found hard to swallow.  And like it or not, we would have to imbibe this for there would have been no other arbiter to take one’s case to in the face of the Messenger critiquing your character. (continue reading here…)

Ya faqir! How long have you traveled on this path? Your
trousers caked with the dust of unleavened prayers. How many
moons have you orphaned yourself from the world?

Seek it in solitude, during the pitch of eventide for that sin which
crept in your heart like the coming of a black ant on a black rock
on a moonless night.

Seek it a hair’s width past the morning star’s zenith, when the
fulgor of midday tempers your pate.
Seek it in the shrouding of yourself – with the supplications of
the saints. Only in self-negation will your divine allowance be
metered out.

Seek it in the your sleep, your ihrâm a bed sheet. And tidy your
bed. No good will a furnished house do you if your way-station
is neglected.

Seek it in the pardon of all those you wronged in the proem of
your guidance. Thankfulness is not simply the incantation; it is
also the will to revisit your deeds.

Seek it in every lure your stubbornness trapped you in. You will
never overcome this obstruction through cunning or guile. Treat
not your salvation as a bartered transaction in the market square
– like foreign currency, your money is no good here.

Seek it in your enslavement. Desist from picking the lock from
this cell. Make yourself more and more an indispensible servant.
But be warned – do not be overcome in joyous celebration over
your obedience. It should be remembered that obedience
overcame you.

Seek it in the vigilance of character. Any inattention to this is
worse than forgetting the one who blew into you. Steadfast, you
may achieve through character what you could not through pious
regiment.

Ya dervish! Keep down this path and never turn from it. Tread
the road till your pantaloons fall from your emaciated legs. How
many moons will it take to orphan yourself from this world?

This poem is one of several I have written for my poetry workshop this term. I will be posting some of them here. It has been an enlightening experience to share Islam with a group of non-Muslims through the conduit of poetry.

Dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, I greet you today with the greeting of Paradise, “as-Salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu”.

First Khutbah – Main Points

اقترب للناس حسابهم و هم في ذلك غفلة معرضون

“The Reckoning is ever drawing closer to Mankind, yet they are woefully heedless of it, turning away.” [Q: 21: 1]

The times we live in are full of doubt, confusion and heedlessness.  Many people, having capitulated to the false demands of science, have decided to bury their heads in the sand.  Many varieties of philosophies abound about the nature of reality but none of them possess even the merest ability to launch out on this endeavor.  Science is not wholly equipped to look for God, though some of God’s Signs [آيات] are detectable by science.  One of the signs of this heedlessness is over the argument about the Hour, which for some has become either a joke or an unquantifiable determinacy.

One of the flaws that science has is that while it is capable of looking out, it cannot look in.  Even when applied in microscopic terms [which may seem like looking inward but in reality it is not], it is still looking out; a “horizontal” activity.  For Islam, the phenomenon of Revelation is a top-down one.  One may even say that Allah’s relationship with the creation is “vertical”, a top-down relationship.  Thus, for man, if he is to know his Lord, he must reflect, ponder, and use his heart and brain in tandem.  While this process does involve looking out to the cosmos or up at the heavens or at the wonders in creation, ultimately the human being must turn inward if s/he is to understand their role in relation to God. (continue reading here…)

إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه و نستغفروه و فيه نتوآل، و نعوذ به من شرور أنفسنا و سيئات
أعمالنا،
فمن يهده الله فلا مضل له، و من يضلله فلا هادي له،
و نشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، وحده لا شريك له، رب الأرباب و مسبب الأسباب، فاطر السموات
السبع، خالق آل شيئ،
و نشهد أن محمدا، النبي الأمي، عبده و رسوله، خطم الأنبياء و أشرف المرسلين، صلى الله
عليه و على آله و أزواجه و أصحابه و أنصاره و ذرياته و سلم. إن الله و ملائكته يصلون على
النبي، يا أيها الذين ءامنوا صلوا عليه و سلموا تسليما، و بعد

Verily all praise belongs to God ‐ thus we praise Him, seek His aid, repent our sins to Him and in Him do we place our trust. We seek protection in Him from the evil whisperings of our own souls as well as from
blameworthy actions and deeds.

For the one God has chosen to guide, there is no misguider for him. And as for one whom God has
misguided, there is no guidance. And we bear testimony that there is no god but God, Allah, One is He,
with no partner, Lord of lords, Causer of all causes, the Fashioner of the Seven Heavens, Creator of all
that is. We also bear witness that Muhammad, the Unlettered Prophet, is His slave and messenger, Seal
of the Prophets and most noble of the Messengers. May God send peace and blessings upon him, his
family, his wives, his companions, his helpers, and his progeny. Surely God and His Angels send blessings
upon the Prophet therefore O’ you who believe!, send prayers and blessings upon him abundantly.

Dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, I greet you today with the greeting of Paradise,
“as‐Salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu”.

First Khutbah – Main Points

In today’s world, where the Sacred is hardly ever mentioned in the public space, people have lost any
connection or notion of knowledge either being sacred, or in the case of Muslims, leading to the Sacred,
as one of Allah’s Beautiful Ninety‐nine names is al‐Qudduws [The Holy]. This detachment from knowledge being
sacred has caused the modern world to suffer from a number of maladies, from schizophrenia to
megalomania. With the first, we see its symptoms everywhere: emotionally stunted; social isolation
[we have to resort to online “social networking” web sites to know one another]; disorganized speech,
in which much is connoted [ دلالة – “care”, “standard of living”, “welfare”] yet very little is denoted
[ إشارة] – welfare for who? What does a ‘standard of living’ look like? What type of care and for who?],
and disorganized behavior [one can even say in the absence of man’s recognition of tawhīd, he
becomes both more fractured socially, where all attempts to repair such fractures aim to make tawhīd
by his own hands]. In summary, this state can be described as the simultaneity of contradictory and/or
incompatible elements. (continue reading here…)