Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 20. August 2021
We begin in the name of God, always acknowledging that God is the Ultimate, the One and Only; and that Muhammad was the final Prophet, sent as a mercy and a liberation unto humankind. Everything that takes human beings to the direction of the merciful; to the direction of the compassionate; a step further towards enlightenment; towards liberation and self-determination, IS Islam and IS the Islamic project. Islam did not come to teach human beings a set of rituals among the many ritualistic...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 13. August 2021
We begin another khutbah with the clarity that comes from illness. God grants human beings a sense of clarity when they are plagued by pain and forced to face the limitations and humility of their condition. Part of reflecting upon challenges is to go beyond yourself and think of how insignificant you are in relation to the universe that God created. If you are truthful with yourself, your own pains remind you of the pains of other human beings, and especially the pains of your ummah. Our ummah...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 05. June 2020
We cannot ignore what surrounds us all over the U.S.; what has become a plight of the nation – protests focusing on racism and its many different forms, but particularly police brutality and the unjust killings of many minorities, especially African Americans. There are several things to say from an Islamic point of view. What is the most remarkable is how everything is interlinked. With social laws, like physical laws, there are equations and rules for causation that make the current...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 06. March 2020
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION: Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with the reminder that because humans are often oblivious and forgetful, we take much for granted. The Prophet Muhammad was a moral example of how we should live our lives, and those who fail to understand this guidance lose so much because they cannot truly be guided to the path of Islam. Last week, Dr. Abou El Fadl shared the news that he had become functionally deaf and reflected upon his thoughts as he coped with this life change. Like most...
Circles of Learning (Halaqas) · 15. February 2020
Part 1: In the introduction to the halaqa (circle of learning) on the continuation of original Quranic commentary (tafsir) on Surah 90, Al Balad (The City), Director Grace Song reflects on her recent birthday, the remembrance of death, and life lessons from her journey as a Muslim convert. In the segment after her talk, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl adds some commentary on death and the remembrance of death as a Muslim, and more. Part 2 is the tafsir. Part 3 is the Q&A.
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 31. January 2020
"HUMILITY, CERTITUDE AND 'THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY'" 31 January 2020 In Surah al Furqan, God reminds us of the quintessential character of a Muslim. A Muslim treads on this earth lightly with humility and with the blessing of certitude—that there will be accountability and justice, and that God is the anchor that stabilizes us in our existence, giving us a sense of direction and a commitment to what is truthful, good and beautiful. This certitude does not make us arrogant, self-entitled or...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 17. January 2020
Tawhid, in the sense of monotheism, is the realization that this existence has a Maker, an Owner; someone responsible for it that is not the product of chance. The one God, which is the core of Tawhid, can have no partners precisely because it is a God who is not subject to the laws of human beings, nor the laws of physics, nor the laws of time and space, nor the logic of human beings, physics or mathematics. Islam is the only religion on this earth that is firmly anchored in the theology of...
Circles of Learning (Halaqas) · 11. January 2020
Part 1: Introduction to halaqa on Surah 90 Al Balad (The City). In the introduction, Director Grace Song shares stories and talks about the wealth of content that the Usuli Institute has created in the past year to provide education, strength and empowerment to survive the dark times confronting Muslims today. After the introduction, Dr. Abou El Fadl gives a powerful commentary on Islamophobia as a colonial project.
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 10. January 2020
Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with the troubling fact that despite consisting of over one billion people and collectively controlling over half of the world’s sources of energy, material and natural resources – everything that would enable them to empower themselves – Muslims worldwide are plagued by powerlessness. Many Muslim countries are led by corrupt puppets that effectively rule for someone else’s interests. Since colonialism, it is common that a Muslim ruler would rule over Muslim...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 06. December 2019
"RETURNING THE GAZE: A WALK THROUGH THE BIBLE" 6 December 2019 Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with the caveat that he will deliver a different kind of khutbah. The modern age of information comes at a time in history when Muslims are at one of their weakest points. Information is power, and power negotiates information. Information is not simply an objective reality that is presented, or data that you either take or leave. Information is intimately connected with power. The flow of information...