First Khutbah – Main Points
Opening from the Qur’ān:
كل نفس ذآئقة الموت – و إنما توفَون أجورَكم يومَ القيامة – فمن زُحزِحَ عن النار و أُدخل الجنةَ فقد فاز – و ما الحيوة الدنيآ إلا متاع الغرور
“Every soul shall taste death. You will be recompensed your due on the Day of Rising. As for the one that is distanced from the fire and is admitted to the Garden – he has triumphed. And as for this life: it is just the enjoyment of delusion.” [Q: 3: 185]
I wish to open the khutbah today but discussing death. Modern life balks at an earnest discussion about death. It is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Popular culture propagates the illusion of eternal life with a hyper fixation on youth. The consequences are drastic. Not only are people unable to come to terms with the reality of death, it also has societal repercussions, namely the neglect of the elderly and the sick. Death is treated as an embarrassment – never to be looked in the eye. If Muslims are to not only adhere to lifestyles that are pleasing to God, but to engage in thought patterns that engender the type of reflection that leads to a God-pleasing lifestyle, then we must try and steer the discourse to include contemplation on our own deaths. (continue reading here…)
First Khutbah – Main Points
Opening from the Qur’ān:
والذين يذكرون الله قياما وقعودا وعلى جنوبهم ويتفكرون في خلق السماوات والأرض – ربنا ما خلقت هذا باطلا سبحانك فقنا عذاب النار
“And those who remember God, either standing, sitting, as well as sitting on their sides and is given to frequent contemplation about the creation of the heavens and the earth respond: ‘O our Lord! You have not created this without purpose. You are without peer or similitude so protect us from the punishment of the Fire.” [Q: 3: 191]
I often hear in modern day discourses about Islam where it is regarded as a religion of actions and not words; deeds, not thought. Doubtless this comes from a reading of Islam from a particular Christian perspective; it too is also mistakenly seen as a religion of belief, not works. But Islam is a religion that seeks the middle way, encompassing both. This misconception has to some degree been perpetuated by Muslims themselves for a variety of reasons [minority status, reaction against Colonialism, etc.), but one of the primary reasons I would like to talk about today is the loss of Muslim thought. I say Muslim thought, versus Islamic thought, because this word [Islamic] has become a hollow word, or as Uwe Poerksen wrote in his book, Plastic Words: The Tyranny of a Modular Language, a plastic word. It can be taken wholly out of any appropriate context and used in those in which it denotes nothing what so ever, or worse, is used beyond its scope, reducing or even destroying any efficacy it might convey.
This is also problematic when we discuss the word sunnah. When you ask many Muslims to tell you what the Sunnah is, they usually begin by saying it was what the Prophet [s] did, said, and so forth. And while none of these are wrong, however, they fail to convey the nature of the Prophet – his Qur’ānic nature, as per A’ishah’s notable recount. And while we won’t have time today to cover all of the details, it’s the process of thinking anew, thinking deeper about ourselves and our relationship with Islam to produce a more meaningful Islam [or Muslim!], that will serve us as a guide in this life, headed for the Next. (continue reading here…)
