the usuli institute
tackling today's most pressing human issues
from an islamic intellectual, moral and ethical perspective.
WEEKLY VIRTUAL FRIDAY PRAYERS WITH
DR. KHALED ABOU EL FADL!
This Friday, 7 August 2020
at 1:15 p.m. Los Angeles, CA Time
Live on our YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/c/TheUsuliInstitute
NEXT VIRTUAL USULI HALAQA:
**New Quran Halaqa**
Saturday, 1 August 2020
at 4 p.m. Los Angeles, CA Time
All khutbahs will be recorded and posted online afterwards.
THE NEW QURAN PROJECT
The New Quran "Pilot" Halaqa on Surah al Hadid
27 June 2020
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LEARNED SOMETHING NEW ABOUT THE QURAN?
This is most revolutionary research on the Quran in our time - mining and understanding the deeper meaning of each individual chapter of the Quran as a unique, stand-alone part of a whole. To extract and preserve this goldmine of knowledge and transform our relationship with the Quran, we need some brave, forward-thinking, visionary souls...
watch our latest events:
LATEST FRIDAY KHUTBAHS (SERMON)
"ON EID AL ADHA AND THE PROPHET'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT"
31 July 2020
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. On the occasion of Eid Al Adha, he discusses the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his last sermon on Mount Arafat before his death in the coming year. In it, the Prophet leaves his last will and testament to Muslims, imparting the core teachings of the faith. Dr. Abou El Fadl emphasizes that with each Eid al Adha, Muslims must ask themselves, "How are we doing?" on these principles the Prophet left with us. He asks those questions of where we are as Muslims today.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ON SOUNDCLOUD!
"HOW ARE THESE THINGS CONNECTED? MECCA AND THE PLIGHT OF THE UYGHURS"
24 July 2020
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday #VirtualKhutbah and Jumu'a prayers at The Usuli Institute. In the first khutbah, discusses two seeming unrelated circumstances, which are in fact related. First, with regard to the state of the affairs in the Muslim world in these first ten days of the month of Dhu'l Hijjah, and the condition of Mecca now versus in the past decades; also the prospects of Hajj in the age of the pandemic. Second, Dr. Abou El Fadl reads from a harrowing report about the brutality that Chinese Uyghur Muslims face both inside and outside of concentration camps that exist TODAY: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8542485/EDWARD-LUCAS-harrowing-evidence-Beijings-concentration-camps-aimed-educating-Muslims.html
He powerfully implicates Islamophobes and the Islamophobic industry, and the complicity of Muslim countries in painting all Muslims as a dangerous threat with one brush stroke, and draws the connection between the two seemingly unrelated events and their connection with the pandemic.
In the second khutbah, Dr. Abou El Fadl relates a story of a famous Quran copyist and the lessons to be learned about hope and redemption.
LINK:
More resources on Global Brands that take advantage of forced Muslim labor in China
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ON SOUNDCLOUD!
USULI CONVERSATION SERIES:
RAMY YOUSSEF AND THE SHAYKH
A Beautiful Engagement Between Artist and Scholar
RAMY YOUSSEF AND THE SHAYKH
A Beautiful Engagement Between Artist and Scholar
14 September 2019
As part of The Usuli Institute Conversation Series, we were honored to host Ramy Youssef in conversation with Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl and Grace Song about the challenges and opportunities for artistic expression in advancing faith, understanding, and the human side of being Muslim. Ramy Youssef is best known for making TV's first Muslim American sitcom, Hulu's millennial comedy series entitled, "Ramy." He also recently released his HBO Original stand-up comedy special entitled, "Feelings." Both shows jump headlong into uncharted on-screen territory when it comes to the challenges confronting Muslim millennials attempting to navigate the grey areas of faith and religion, society and culture, expectation and acceptance, and ultimately, humanity in all of its forms. An honest, raw and fascinating discussion. Hosted at the Usuli Institute, 14 September 2019.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO ON SOUNDCLOUD!
Latest Circle of Learning (Halaqa):
Surah 89: Al FAJR (Conclusion)
Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl concludes his line-by-line original commentary (tafsir) on Surah 89 Al Fajr. After a brief review, he continues from Verse 17. In the introduction, Executive Director Grace Song gives an update on the New Quran Project (https://www.usuli.org/new-quran-project/) and shares reflections on the topic of the Signs of God raised in the New Quran Halaqa on Surah al Jathiya through two events in her life in the past week. Part 2 is Q&A.
SHARING THE LOVE
love to our friends in australia!
We are so grateful to receive beautiful messages and pictures from our friends around the world! This heartwarming picture features a reading group in Australia that has been discussing Dr. Abou El Fadl's book, Reasoning with God: Reclaiming Shari'ah in the Modern Age. If you have pictures you would like to share, email us! Love to our friends in Australia!
on reclaiming truth through intellectual activism
"...To win this very real war that has done inestimable damage to so many Muslims and to the truth of the Islamic faith, it is absolutely imperative that moderates declare a counter-jihad against the puritan heresy. This is not a call for the shedding of blood; it is a call for matching the zeal of puritans through unrelenting intellectual activism. This is a counter-jihad to reclaim the truth about the Islamic faith and win the hearts and minds of Muslims and non-Muslims all around the world..."
Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists