ICC | Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu. I hope you are all doing magnificently well, Insha'Allah. I do have a present for you all, a khutbah critique, Today, I went to the Islamic Cultural Center of New York located on 96th St and 3rd Ave. It's a nice center and they have a private school that they run there as well. It was a nice and clean mosque, the people were mixed in both ethnicity and perhaps even religious alignment, please continue reading for more insight. |
The mimbar was really interesting, quite modern in design.
Old Arab khatib with henna stained beard.
Starts by giving Arabic khutbah.
Keeps giving khutbah in Arabic.
16 minutes into it.
All praise be to Allah, I bear witness there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad (S) is his messenger.
Our subject today is between us and Islam, our din (religion).
Allah said "O you who believe, sincerely fear Allah. No lying, backbiting, cheating, whatever Allah says to stay away from you must.
But if you disobey him, knowingly, you leave the masjid and sin, what is the quality of your servanthood?
No matter what, stick to your din. The prophets are gonna get into Jannah (Heaven) but they had the very heavy tests. Adam, David, Solomon, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Joseph, they all had heavy tests.
If you backbite someone, he gets your good deeds and you get his sins. Stop your hand from taking anything haram, your eyes from seeing anything haram, your tongue from saying anything haram, and your foot from going anywhere haram.
Are you the servant of Allah or shaytan? You choose what you are gonna be. Don't make any excuses. Allah knows what you can do and what you can't do. "Fear Allah, truth and live with truth." When you live with truth Allah will help you to do only good things. Whoever believes in Allah and you do good things, you will be among those that are successful in this life and the hereafter.
Ask yourself every where you go, are you the servant of Allah or shaytan and your desires? People cannot go to jannah using money. Qaroon is still sinking in the earth.
Omar Ibn Al Khatab (R), when he was dying, sahabah said, make agreement to make one of your family a khalipha (caliph). He said no, its enough for me to be judged in the next life, not my family. [Couldn't find a source for this, not negating that this happened, but looking for source texts]
Don't let Allah see you in any time place or position in which you are disobeying him.
99% of the prophets were poor. So say Alhamdulillah.
Read the Qur'an and practice it the way the Prophet has taught you, not in the way you interpret it not in the way you want.
Get ready until the time the angel of death comes and says "Let's go."
He won't give you a warning, "Get ready I am coming next week." Only the prophet knew this, we will not.
When you judge be halal, you talk be halal, etc.
If you are close to Allah in dunya (life) you will be close to him in akhira (after life).
Brothers I have said what I tried to get from Allah, and Qur'an and sunnah, if I said something wrong it is from the shaytan and my nafs. I tried to share what Allah and His Prophet taught.
Starts by giving Arabic khutbah.
Keeps giving khutbah in Arabic.
16 minutes into it.
All praise be to Allah, I bear witness there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad (S) is his messenger.
Our subject today is between us and Islam, our din (religion).
Allah said "O you who believe, sincerely fear Allah. No lying, backbiting, cheating, whatever Allah says to stay away from you must.
But if you disobey him, knowingly, you leave the masjid and sin, what is the quality of your servanthood?
No matter what, stick to your din. The prophets are gonna get into Jannah (Heaven) but they had the very heavy tests. Adam, David, Solomon, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Joseph, they all had heavy tests.
If you backbite someone, he gets your good deeds and you get his sins. Stop your hand from taking anything haram, your eyes from seeing anything haram, your tongue from saying anything haram, and your foot from going anywhere haram.
Are you the servant of Allah or shaytan? You choose what you are gonna be. Don't make any excuses. Allah knows what you can do and what you can't do. "Fear Allah, truth and live with truth." When you live with truth Allah will help you to do only good things. Whoever believes in Allah and you do good things, you will be among those that are successful in this life and the hereafter.
Ask yourself every where you go, are you the servant of Allah or shaytan and your desires? People cannot go to jannah using money. Qaroon is still sinking in the earth.
Omar Ibn Al Khatab (R), when he was dying, sahabah said, make agreement to make one of your family a khalipha (caliph). He said no, its enough for me to be judged in the next life, not my family. [Couldn't find a source for this, not negating that this happened, but looking for source texts]
Don't let Allah see you in any time place or position in which you are disobeying him.
99% of the prophets were poor. So say Alhamdulillah.
Read the Qur'an and practice it the way the Prophet has taught you, not in the way you interpret it not in the way you want.
Get ready until the time the angel of death comes and says "Let's go."
He won't give you a warning, "Get ready I am coming next week." Only the prophet knew this, we will not.
When you judge be halal, you talk be halal, etc.
If you are close to Allah in dunya (life) you will be close to him in akhira (after life).
Brothers I have said what I tried to get from Allah, and Qur'an and sunnah, if I said something wrong it is from the shaytan and my nafs. I tried to share what Allah and His Prophet taught.
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Baller status mosque decor, unforunately they still have barren walls without either God's or the Prophet's names.
Overall, this khutbah was luke warm. The khatib got heated a few times, I still don't understand why you need to yell when explaining something that doesn't require such emotion. Even in general, it's better to never raise your voice, as our Prophet (S) practiced. In any case, the khutbah was good, it sounded quite orthodox, leaning toward Salafi ideology. I don't say this lightly, sure, whatever the khatib said was correct, you must follow Islam, our Prophet (S), God, the whole shebang. However, the khatib made it sound like there was no recourse for sinners, he totally brushed past God's unlimited mercy.
This is what I truly dislike about khatibs that speak so passionately about a thing but don't fully develop the thought or provide you will all the knowledge. Now, granted this jama'at (congregation) could be of the type that needs to have their palms smacked with a stick every now and then, the khatib would know best, but let's be honest, this is a big mosque in an international city, the crowd is ever-changing, so in this particular case, there is not support for that line of defense.
Coming back to the khutbah, it would have been nice if the khatib made all the points he did, the way he did, but as an appropriate denouement, he should have addressed God's mercy, His love for His creation, and explained that we must never lose hope. Even if we mess up again and again, that we continue trying and never fall into despair which would only lead us to our utter ruin.
I did like when he said: "Read the Qur'an and practice it the way the Prophet has taught you, not in the way you interpret it not in the way you want." This was quite appropriate to add, that not just anybody can interpret the Qur'an for themselves, we must trust how our Prophet interpreted it and by extension those trusted and noble scholars that can comprehend the Qur'an better than we can.
I also like how he ended the khutbah, saying he did his best to relay his message and that for any inaccuracies they are due to his nafs (ego), that was a humble way to end it.
Hmm... anything else worth commenting on? Oh yeah!
The African brother next to me was annoyingly persistent about touching my feet during the prayer, I kept moving it away from his and he kept stuffing it in the 1 inch empty gap. I was getting thoroughly annoyed and wanted to reprimand him after the prayer. But I understood that although there is no compulsion in religion, he may not have understood what he was doing as forcing me to accept his feet touching mine. It's really really stupid, but there you have it. Some people are ignorant and we should respond with mercy and compassion instead of anger and lecturing, they will never come around if you berate them. Ha, take that Salafis!
More from NYC next week Insha'Allah!
God bless you all.
This is what I truly dislike about khatibs that speak so passionately about a thing but don't fully develop the thought or provide you will all the knowledge. Now, granted this jama'at (congregation) could be of the type that needs to have their palms smacked with a stick every now and then, the khatib would know best, but let's be honest, this is a big mosque in an international city, the crowd is ever-changing, so in this particular case, there is not support for that line of defense.
Coming back to the khutbah, it would have been nice if the khatib made all the points he did, the way he did, but as an appropriate denouement, he should have addressed God's mercy, His love for His creation, and explained that we must never lose hope. Even if we mess up again and again, that we continue trying and never fall into despair which would only lead us to our utter ruin.
I did like when he said: "Read the Qur'an and practice it the way the Prophet has taught you, not in the way you interpret it not in the way you want." This was quite appropriate to add, that not just anybody can interpret the Qur'an for themselves, we must trust how our Prophet interpreted it and by extension those trusted and noble scholars that can comprehend the Qur'an better than we can.
I also like how he ended the khutbah, saying he did his best to relay his message and that for any inaccuracies they are due to his nafs (ego), that was a humble way to end it.
Hmm... anything else worth commenting on? Oh yeah!
The African brother next to me was annoyingly persistent about touching my feet during the prayer, I kept moving it away from his and he kept stuffing it in the 1 inch empty gap. I was getting thoroughly annoyed and wanted to reprimand him after the prayer. But I understood that although there is no compulsion in religion, he may not have understood what he was doing as forcing me to accept his feet touching mine. It's really really stupid, but there you have it. Some people are ignorant and we should respond with mercy and compassion instead of anger and lecturing, they will never come around if you berate them. Ha, take that Salafis!
More from NYC next week Insha'Allah!
God bless you all.