Khatira [ The Imam's Choice of a Friday Khutbah Topic, Part 2 ] | Dr. Ahmed Abouseif | 11 September 2020

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered on 11 September 2020 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. First, many thanks to everyone who commented on the video we made last week, at this very same time, about the imam's choice of a topic for the Friday khutbah. Last time we spoke about the kinds of audience: the sleeper, the one who is awake, the one who is awake and has come to listen, and the one who is awake and has come to pass the time or to lift the obligation off his shoulders. Today we want to ask: what do we say to people, in terms of what suits their actual needs?

People's Need for Reassurance

For some people, the basic need is to have their souls strengthened, and to find calm and stability. The problems that face people night and day are real problems that never end, and that is the nature of this world. When Allah, glorified and exalted be He, created the human being, He did not tell people that they would be happy in this world at all. Rather, He told us of some of the causes by which hearts find reassurance, among them the Noble Qur'an, when He, glorified be He, said: ﴿أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ﴾ (Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest).^[1]

But on the other hand, we see that the Lord of Might, glorified and exalted be He, informed us, saying: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنْسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَاقِيهِ﴾ (O human being, you are laboring toward your Lord with great exertion, and you will meet Him),^[2] so we understood from the noble verse that toil in life, weariness and hardship will remain until the day of meeting Allah, blessed and exalted be He. And the other verse that we always repeat is His saying, blessed and exalted be He: ﴿لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ﴾ (We have certainly created the human being in hardship),^[3] so He, glorified be He, informed us that the human being is in constant, unceasing hardship, and that is the nature of life, and part of the test of Allah, blessed and exalted be He, for us in this world in which we live. So the idea that people should find themselves in a great measure of happiness is not very plausible; otherwise we would have seen those closest to the Lord of Might, glorified and exalted be He, in complete happiness, and that was not the reality in terms of the causes and effects of life. On the contrary, we found them growing weary, toiling, being tested, being afflicted, weeping, being moved and being wounded, to the point that the blood of the Prophet ﷺ was shed before his enemies.

Three Kinds of Discourse

So if we are speaking to people as khatībs, do we speak only to their souls and spirits, on the grounds that they need this kind of psychological calming? Then the imam or khatīb, at that moment, would be like a psychiatrist who treats people's psyches, soothes their fears, settles their minds, and makes them settle psychologically to some degree.

The other kind is purely rational discourse: that I speak about a scholarly question that has premises, results, inferences and rational dialogue, as if it were a debate between a person and himself on the minbar, so he speaks on a general issue or a particular issue. And there is a third kind, which speaks about a set of facts or conveys a set of information. So the discourse is either exhortative, to reassure souls; or rational, to discuss a particular issue; or informative, to benefit people with the new developments of life that they face in their lives, so that the imam or khatīb is like one announcing to the people at large the news that reaches him night and day.

And if we look at the discourse of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we find that it combined these three at one time. But where is this khatīb who can present people with an integrated discourse of this kind? And if we look at the Qur'anic discourse too, we see that Allah, glorified and exalted be He, speaks to people with precisely this integrated system.

The matter of exhortation differs from the matter of scholarly discourse. Exhortation, as we perhaps pointed out last week, may be forgotten as soon as a person leaves the mosque. And rational discourse is, for the most part, a rational dialogue that does not affect the heart. So how can we combine rational discourse and exhortative discourse? I believe this is a subject worth discussing, and I hope to find comments from our dear brothers and sisters who follow us: how can the imam combine these kinds of discourse, the rational and the exhortative, at one time? And I know that I am speaking somewhat to specialists, but my confidence in your experience, whether you are khatībs or listeners, makes me make this request directly, and that we follow the comments on this question.

What Does the Khatīb Say Today?

Today, after the Fajr prayer, I asked one of my friends: what will you give the khutbah about on Friday? His very direct answer was: Shaykh, the world has eaten our hearts; we want to bring our hearts back again. That put me in a difficult position! For we have very many problems on the scene today. There is a discourse in all of America about the eleventh of September and the crimes that took place, and it is a general discourse that society may need. And there are the events taking place in Sudan, where the level of the Nile has risen as it has not in more than a hundred years, and people's homes are flooded and all their interests are threatened, and their lives are almost threatened. And there are the events in Lebanon. There are very many problems in the world night and day, and I do not know how the khatīb can address all these issues at one time without losing any of them, and at the same time speak to all levels of understanding; because it is also a matter of reception. The one sitting listening to me, not all people are the same, and not all people have the ability to understand, derive and infer to the same value and degree. So how can we combine this and that?

Perhaps we will complete this, God willing, in another meeting. We ask Allah, glorified and exalted be He, for us and for you, for covering, well-being and safety, and may Allah be pleased with you, and peace be upon you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Ra'd [28]. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Inshiqāq [6]. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Balad [4].