Usuli Newsletters · 07. March 2026
View this email in your browser RAMADAN REFLECTIONS from Cherif Abou El Fadl “The Alchemy of Safety,” Cherif Abou El Fadl, 2/13/2026 Dear Usuli Community, Al salamu alaykum. It has been quite some time since I have written. I wanted this to be special and so I turned the lights down low and made a cup of herbal tea. I turned on the soundtrack from Interstellar to invite the slowing which used to beckon words back when I wrote as ritual. When writing was a form of solemn prayer that erected...
Usuli Newsletters · 28. February 2026
View this email in your browser RAMADAN REFLECTIONS from Dalia Abouelfadl!! Dear Usuli Community, Al salamu alaykum! As we approach the halfway point of Ramadan, I pray yours is full of blessings, good company, growth, and healing insha’Allah. For those of you who may not know, my name is Dalia, and I primarily handle Usuli’s social media and assist in digital communications. Each week this Ramadan, a member of the Usuli team will be sharing via the Usuli newsletter some of what is on their...
Usuli Newsletters · 21. February 2026
View this email in your browser RAMADAN REFLECTIONS from Shayan Parsai Dearest Usuli Community, Salam alaykum, May God’s peace and blessings be with you. I pray that our beloved month of Ramadan is filled with joy, love and fulfillment for you and all your loved ones. You are all very dear to me and to all of us at Usuli. I cannot express how much your ongoing support means to us. It is most heartwarming to receive your letters or comments on our material. Your encouragement means the world...
Usuli Newsletters · 26. March 2023
Dear Friends, Al salamu 'alaykum (greetings of peace) and Ramadan Mubarak! I pray you are well and that your first days of Ramadan have been blessed, comforting, and inspiring. I have been blessed to spend the first days of Ramadan visiting with my parents in my childhood home in California. It has been a reflective time. It is in some ways strange to be back to my hometown, where I spent so many days and nights wondering what my life would be like once I "grew up." I am accompanied by my son,...
Khutbah Transcripts · 27. May 2022
Al-wa‘ith, the Arabic word for someone who conveys ‘itha. ‘Itha is advice, wisdom, a lesson. So many challenges, if you assume the position of this most of challenging words, al-wa‘ith. Al-wai’th is not a teacher, because there is another word for a teacher: mudarris or mu‘allim. But this particular word of al-wa‘ith is someone who imparts to others what are supposed to be lessons of wisdom. How do you even assume that role when in your heart of hearts, you know that there are...
Khutbah Transcripts · 20. May 2022
There is an image that is hard to ignore, that really puts Muslims to the ultimate test. The image is quite simply this: An excavator, a big monstrous truck beginning to tear down the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is accompanied with a caption stating the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque will begin on May 29th, inviting all Israelis to come to Al-Aqsa Mosque so that the tearing down, the dismantling, and the destroying of Al-Aqsa Mosque can begin. This call for the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque to begin...
Khutbah Transcripts · 13. May 2022
We have truisms, things that we say as Muslims that we have become so accustomed to. The problem with developing habits of familiarity and becoming accustomed to things is that human beings often become complacent in their habits. With complacency, there is also often the loss of meaning. We as Muslims have the Qur'an in our midst. By conviction, the Qur'an is God's revelation. It is God's testament to us. What God affirmatively chose to leave to us as a will and trust. We do not know God's...
Khutbah Transcripts · 06. May 2022
The challenge in any act of public discourse or public communications is that one must tap within and seek to connect with people on what is presumptively shared common grounds, on what is presumptively something that the speaker shares with the listener; centered around the idea, in the case of jumu’a khutbahs, that the remembrance of God in this public, collective devotional act must be the foundation for the communicative act. For the speaker and the congregation in the listening role, the...
Khutbah Transcripts · 29. April 2022
It is the last Friday of Ramadan of the year 1443. Although we do not register it as such, it is a year in our life that will never return, a year in the life of our Ummah that will never return, and a year in the life of this planet that will never return. It is remarkable that our relationship with time itself is a reflection of our relationship to our Ummah and our relationship to God. Time is not just the way that the earth revolves and interacts with its two partners, the sun and the moon,...
Khutbah Transcripts · 22. April 2022
We are already in the third jumu’a of Ramadan, and already in the last 10 days of Ramadan. This month of contemplation and reflection, the rare passing opportunity at rebirth, is already coming to a close. I wish that we could speak about the last 10 days of Ramadan without having to confront the reality of what is happening in the Aqsa Mosque, but before I delve into this, the entire plight of the Aqsa Mosque, which has become habitual - but not predictable in a mundane and unimportant...