Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 01. November 2024
When do movements, governments, laws have the most meaning and impact? The modern mind may still appreciate a strong leader and perhaps some level of cultural trajectory to some degree, but the modern psyche does not appreciate the feeling of being dictated to. The moment the modern human being feels the pressure of what it senses is aggressive imposition, especially from laws and government, the need to resist and rebel—emphasis on rebel—swells rapidly from within. Does this rebellion mean...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 25. October 2024
A poet once said, "I stayed up late at night when people had fallen asleep, and I supplicated to my Lord, complaining about what my Lord already knows." In our day and age, it so often feels like all Muslims have fallen into a long, deep sleep, a sleep like death. I like to present pictures in my khutbahs (sermons) because pictures tend to increase our awareness, and, as I have repeatedly said, awareness is the beginning of everything. If we are not aware, there is no hope. Awareness plants the...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 11. October 2024
I have asked myself what emotion overtakes me at the first annual conference of The Usuli Institute. What emotion do I feel? In a word, it is a gratitude (shukr) to God. It is gratitude for the blessing of your presence with us. Gratitude for what God has enabled us, here at this conference, to do. Gratitude for the gift of love, the gift of care, and the gift of your presence with us here today. This is a very central point. For it is not just that I feel gratitude for this day, for The Usuli...
Usuli Weekly Newsletter · 06. October 2024
Greetings of Peace (al salamu ‘alaykum) dear Friends, I pray you are well. First, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that we are at the one-year mark of the genocide that began 7 October 2023. May God honor, bless and elevate those who have been innocently killed, maimed, lost family members, and endured unspeakable suffering in these dark times in human history. We recognize that at this moment, the end is nowhere in sight, but we ask that God will aid and empower each of us to do our...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 27. September 2024
This is the first khutbah (sermon) given from the new headquarters of The Usuli Institute. May God bless, protect, and accept this place in God’s service. May it always be an agent of goodness. May it be a place of service for the good of all Muslims and for the well-being of Islam until the Final Day. This new place was made possible by the donations of supporters of The Usuli Institute. May God bless all those who contributed to the founding of this place. May God reward them, reward their...
Usuli Weekly Newsletter · 21. September 2024
Greetings of Peace (al salamu ‘alaykum) dear Friends, I pray you are well. I can’t believe that we are only three weeks away from the First Usuli Annual Conference! We have lots of special events and surprises in store for those coming! It promises to be a great time insha’Allah (God willing) and we can’t wait to finally meet you in person! :) [If you cannot make it this year, we will miss you! But don’t worry, although we will not be live-streaming, we will record and share some of...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 20. September 2024
Yet again, the elephant in the room that every Muslim on the face of this earth should be concerned about is what Israel is doing to our fellow Muslims, especially the recent terrorist attack that Israel has waged in Lebanon. In the midst of an ongoing genocide in Gaza that is proceeding unhampered and unrestrained, it seems like we are talking about a drop of blood in a sea of blood, which is odd in itself. Nevertheless, to my mind, a khutbah this jum'ua that does not acknowledge the obscenity...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 13. September 2024
It has been an entire year, and the constant source of trauma is unending. Since the emergence of colonialism, the dismantling of Islamic empires, the birth of the nation state, and the emergence of nationalism, Muslims have in one form or another been in a constant state of trauma. Each generation focuses on the trauma it suffers in its own historical moment, but those with a sense of history know that what is unfolding in Palestine—the genocide, the systematic uprooting of a Muslim...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 06. September 2024
Ha-mim. Dear friend, responsibility and balance. It is time to unite and help build anew or suffer a boiling hot cleanse. Ighlī nafsak! At the beginning of the sermon, I have cited a hadith attributed to the Prophet. The translation is as such, the Prophet says the following in the context of the reckoning of the day of resurrection. He says, "A servant of God who knows himself well in that he does not consider himself sinful shall be brought forth and shall be asked by God, 'Did you befriend...
Usuli Weekly Newsletter · 01. September 2024
Greetings of Peace (al salamu ‘alaykum) dear Friends, I pray you are well and enjoying the last bits of summer. Obviously, someone pressed the fast forward button and launched us all to the end of August. Didn’t it just turn 2024 last month?? May we all make every moment count! LAST DAY TO GET EARLY BIRD TICKETS IS TODAY, SEPTEMBER 1! Are you planning to join us in person for our First Annual Usuli Conference in Columbus, Ohio, this October 11-12! We have been working hard to make it extra...