Friday khutbahs (sermons) and Usuli Virtual Khutbahs by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, delivered at The Usuli Institute and various other locations.

Khutbahs

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the weekly Friday #VirtualKhutbah and Jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). Dr. Abou El Fadl explains how as human beings, our character is built on the stories that we experience, hear and that form us from an early age and at all times throughout our lives. Especially as Muslims, this underscores the importance of knowing and learning moral lessons from the stories of our tradition. Most Muslims today do not hear or know the rich and nuanced stories from the Islamic tradition that build a person's moral character, which is why his recent khutbahs have increasingly integrated stories from the Early Muslims at the time of the Prophet Muhammad. In this khutbah, he recounts two stories which Muslims are not taught or familiar with, which demonstrate the passion and character of the early Muslims. Detailed description forthcoming. For more weekly khutbahs by Dr. Abou El Fadl, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "Our Character is Built on Our Stories," 26 June 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday #VirtualKhutbah and Jumu'a prayers at The Usuli Institute. He discusses the case of a woman in Egypt who appears in a YouTube video begging for help from Muslims around the world because she and her sister have been assaulted by the local police who have since arrested her sister and taunt her that unless she submits herself sexually to the policeman, that they will not release her sister. She is appealing to Al Azhar, to the President of Egypt, to anyone who will help her. Dr. Abou El Fadl calls attention this horrific situation and compares and contrasts the state of this woman and so many like her to that of Umm Salamah, before she became the wife of Prophet Muhammad. He shares the story of Umm Salamah at the time of the Prophet, revealing many morally insightful lessons and calling out the moral apathy of our day and age. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "Who is the Better Muslim and What Would God Think?" 3 July 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday #VirtualKhutbah and Jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. He recounts that in the Quran, when God speaks to the Prophet Muhammad, the first prophet God ever mentions to the Prophet Muhammad is the Prophet Yunus. Dr. Abou El Fadl recounts a detailed version of the story of Prophet Yunus, of which most modern Muslims are unaware, and explains why this is a moral lesson against despair. Dr. Abou El Fadl recounts two additional forgotten stories from the Sirah of the Prophet Muhammad as powerful reminders of justice, mercy and the divine presence of God. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "The Story of Prophet Yunus and Why Despair is Not an Option," 10 July 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). Dr. Abou El Fadl receives countless questions by email each day from people he does not know. From their questions, he can immediately know their level of awareness, knowledge, biases and intellectual influences. He explains the critical importance of asking the right questions and presents the example of the companion of the Prophet Muhammad asking the Prophet Muhammad how he would describe himself. In a beautiful recounting of this forgotten hadith, we learn the entire philosophy of existence in a paragraph.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "The Entire Philosophy of Existence in a Paragraph," 17 July 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday #VirtualKhutbah and Jumu'a prayers at The Usuli Institute. In the first khutbah, discusses two seeming unrelated circumstances, which are in fact related. First, with regard to the state of the affairs in the Muslim world in these first ten days of the month of Dhu'l Hijjah, and the condition of Mecca now versus in the past decades; also the prospects of Hajj in the age of the pandemic. Second, Dr. Abou El Fadl reads from a harrowing report about the brutality that Chinese Uyghur Muslims face both inside and outside of concentration camps that exist TODAY: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8542485/EDWARD-LUCAS-harrowing-evidence-Beijings-concentration-camps-aimed-educating-Muslims.html

He powerfully implicates Islamophobes and the Islamophobic industry, and the complicity of Muslim countries in painting all Muslims as a dangerous threat with one brush stroke, and draws the connection between the two seemingly unrelated events and their connection with the pandemic. 

In the second khutbah, Dr. Abou El Fadl relates a story of a famous Quran copyist and the lessons to be learned about hope and redemption. For more, visit: www.usuli.org.

More resources on Global Brands that take advantage of forced Muslim labor in China: https://enduyghurforcedlabour.org/news/402-2/?fbclid=IwAR0BB1FpCHlwATjg2SgehR7DTrqSnX2fp3vjh6oB7kJyxcYrssInmq8egAU

Usuli Khutbah: "How Are These Things Connected? Mecca and The Plight of the Uyghurs," 24 July 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). On the occasion of Eid Al Adha, he discusses the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his last sermon on Mount Arafat before his death in the coming year. In it, the Prophet leaves his last will and testament to Muslims, imparting the core teachings of the faith. Dr. Abou El Fadl emphasizes that with each Eid al Adha, Muslims must ask themselves, "How are we doing?" on these principles the Prophet left with us. He asks those questions of where we are as Muslims today. For more visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "On Eid Al Adha and the Prophet's Last Will and Testament," 31 July 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayers at The Usuli Institute. Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with the understanding that all human beings are created by God as individuals with equal human rights to dignity, life and the full array of associated privileges by virtue of being human. From there, he presents the shameful report just released by The Commission on Unalienable Rights regarding the American version of human rights. He unpacks what the report says, its significance and implications, details all of the committee members that were appointed to the commission who signed off on the report, including the one Muslim representative, and explains where this leaves Muslims. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Draft-Report-of-the-Commission-on-Unalienable-Rights.pdf

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "The Shame of the 'Commission on Unalienable Rights Report,'" 7 Aug 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and Jumu'ah prayer at The Usuli Institute. In the first khutbah, Dr. Abou El Fadl expands on the state of the health of Jerusalem as a measure of the state of Muslims in light of recent events. In the second khutbah, he tells the story of Thalaba, who asked the Prophet Muhammad to pray for him to become wealthy. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "The State of Jerusalem and the Test of Wealth," 14 August 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. Dr. Abou El Fadl begins by explaining the significance and sacrosanct month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and applies the moral lessons of the history of the month to our current day. He brings to bear the current state of affairs in a time driven by Islamophobia, and what happens when so-called Muslim leadership allow politics to trump our Islamic virtues. He advises on what ethical Muslims must do to resist and take a stand against the unethical actions of those who seek to represent the voice of Muslims in America. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "When Truth, Principle and Ethics are Trumped by Politics," 21 August 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. Addressing the persistent misperception that voting is not allowed in Islam, Dr. Abou El Fadl walks the audience through the rise of this misperception, which intensified after the Arab Spring. He explains why autocrats and dictatorial Muslim governments pushed for this conception, how it is counter to Islamic principles, and how scholars who gain benefit are complicit in this narrative. He walks through the convoluted arguments put forward to undermine notions of democracy or other means for holding Muslim leadership accountable for their injustices. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: On Democracy, Voting and Defending Dictators, 4 September 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. Dr. Abou El Fadl blasts the use of the phrase, "All Lives Matter," as a means of using a divine ideal to deny the reality on the ground that Black Lives are not equal to that of others; using rhetoric to undermine principle. He further elaborates on the recent controversies over the UAE - Israel normalization accords and its backing by prominent American Muslim figures of leadership. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "All Lives v. Black Lives and the Sin of Holy Rhetoric," 28 Aug 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. He addresses the current state of Muslim affairs in light of the recent normalization agreements between Muslim countries and Israel, and the consequent impacts on long-standing issues that concern Muslims. He discusses the Muslim response to injustice. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "The New Islam of Absolute Silence," 11 September 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). He discusses the Trump Administration banning of Critical Race Studies and the impact on the future of racism and white supremacy in America, particularly in law enforcement. He covers privilege, power, colonialism, normalization of relations between Israel and Muslim countries, Yemen and the point of departure between Muslims who stand for ethics and principle versus those who do not; leading up to the ultimate question of "What is the Point of Religion?"

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "On Critical Race Studies and What is Point of Religion?" 18 September 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). In this khutbah, Dr. Abou El Fadl presents the history, development and ultimate acceptance of the doctrine of "the legitimacy of the usurpers", which argues that the Prophet Muhammad supposedly supported the idea of obedience to unjust rulers - those who can usurp power by any means have the legitimate power to rule by tyranny and despotism without the consent of the governed. He demonstrates the immorality and irrationality of this popular argument, which has currency in our modern times.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: Death by Doctrine of the 'Legitimacy of the Usurpers', 25 Sept 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the weekly Friday #VirtualKhutbah and Jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). Dr. Abou El Fadl presents a long, illuminating, authentically sound tradition taught by the Prophet Muhammad on the centrality and foundational importance of the intellect in the Islamic tradition. Dr. Abou El Fadl applies this hadith to the question of whether women can recite the Quran in public or perform the public call to prayer (adhan). For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "The Prophet's Hadith on the Intellect," 2 October 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'ah prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). This week, he addresses the issue of Muslim women being forced to marry or stay married to men they do not love nor wish to stay with due to pressure from the family, the community, or the local imam. In the second part, he discusses the history of female reciters of the Quran in Islamic history. He closes with a detailed explanation of the conflict taking place between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and why the Los Angeles city government has taken a position on this foreign dispute. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: On Preserving Women and Female Reciters of the Quran, 9 October 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). He discusses the weighty responsibility of taking the Prophet's pulpit - literally every pulpit from which any Friday khutbah is delivered around the world - and the qualifications required of those who take the pulpit. He discusses the recent Islamophobic developments in France driven by its president, bolstered by the silence of Muslim leadership.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "The Prophet's Pulpit and French Islamophobia," 16 October 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the weekly Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). On the occasion of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, Dr. Abou El Fadl reminds us of the simple facts that defined the greatness of the human that was the Prophet Muhammad, a man that changed the face of the planet. Dr. Abou El Fadl explains the recent events in France leading to the murder of a teacher by a 16 year old Muslim student, and provides the context and history and continuing legacy of racism that fuels such acts of hatred in France.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: A Great Prophet and the Racism of France, 30 October 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the weekly Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. He reminds what it means to be Muslim and living a life of Godliness, particularly when it comes to treating rulers effectively like the divine; speaks to the transfer of power in a democracy and its relationship to Godliness; and delves deeper into the motivations of French domination over Muslims given the recent new laws proposed by Macron in France, targeting Muslims.

Usuli Institute Khutbah: "Godliness, Democracy and The Post Colonial Muslim Super Ego," 6 Nov 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute (www.usuli.org). He begins by breaking down the theology of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Greatest") as the key premise of Islam, and how Islam came as a radical liberation for human beings from the oppression of other human beings or other forms of oppression. He develops the idea through numerous examples and applies it to the notion of "Political Islam," a concept which has taken hold around the world but which derives from political opportunism.

Usuli Khutbah: 'Allahu Akbar,' "Political Islam" and the Radical Liberation of Faith, 11.20.20

The Institute for Advanced Usuli Studies (The Usuli Institute)
www.usuli.org

For more resources visit Linktr.ee/UsuliInstitute