Usuli Weekly Newsletter · 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,...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 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...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 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...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 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...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 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...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 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,...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 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...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 15. April 2022
I do not know how anyone can take the podium this Friday and dare talk about anything other than what is transpiring in our beloved Jerusalem and our beloved Aqsa Mosque. As I say this, I am certain that there will be plenty of khutbahs and plenty of mosques that will not even mention the Aqsa Mosque. But what is new, right? This is the sign of the ailment and disease of our Ummah. First, it would be immoral to not mention the fact that throughout the West Bank, Israeli forces have been killing...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 08. April 2022
The month of Ramadan invites a revisiting of one's relationship with God. It is in the way that God decrees fasting and informs us about Ramadan. The purpose and the dynamics of fasting and Ramadan is in Surah Al-Baqarah itself. Surah Al-Baqarah was revealed shortly after the hijra of the Prophet, which anchored the basic principles of how Muslims are going to interact, the type of relationships that Muslims will have with society at large, their place in society, and indeed, the very purpose...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 01. April 2022
Another Ramadan is upon us, and as I have said on previous occasions, it is not coincidental that you can measure your life by the Ramadans that you have lived and the Ramadans that remain. How many Ramadans do you have left in your life? By the time that next Ramadan rolls around, where will you be from one Ramadan to another? What will your relationship to your Maker look like? How will the distance between you and your Maker shift? Equally as important, what is the distance between you and...