Mostafa Abdullah Each year the Eid-al-Adha reminds me of an Eid sermon (Khutbah) that I heard back in the nineties while visiting the Washington DC during the festive season. My cousin took me to this congregation somewhere in the state of Merrylands adjacent to the DC. The Khatib announced that the key-note Khutbah will be delivered by a young man, whose name I do not recollect now. The young man, in his teens, was a student of Government and History at the George Washington University and an intern of the White House in the then Clinton era. He spoke on sacrifice, a fitting subject for the occasion. He spoke about the sacrifices needed by the parents to raise children in a non-conducive environment. He spoke about his own growing up, challenges he faced, how he overcame those challenges and the roles played by his parents. He talked about where his parents succeeded, made errors of judgement and what was needed to improve upon those. It was a spellbound 10 minutes where the audience seemed to hold their breaths so as not to miss a word. When he finished, the silence was broken only by the Khatib’s announcement that he wished that the lecture never ended. The learned Khatib spoke for only about 5 minutes in a distinctively clear English about a subject pertinent to the time and place. He spoke about the importance of obligatory prayers and other rituals in our everyday life but cautioned not to consider them as anything other than means to an end. He insisted that one must understand the ultimate objectives of performing these rituals. Daily five time obligatory Salat are continuous reminders and caution for us to hold on to the right path and to perform the good deeds. A ritual by itself is like a soldier training hard all his life but avoiding the call-to-arms in defence of the homeland. He prayed for Allah’s help to steer the nation of Islam out of the current disarray and stagnation. But he doubted that unless we moved forward and improved upon the knowledge and intellectual treasure left behind by our early thinkers, Allah’s help is unlikely to arrive. For "…surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition…" (Al-Quran, 3:11). The learned Khatib then continued with the ritual Khutbah in Arabic for the next few minutes. I looked around and sensed an aura of satisfaction and enlightenment among the devotees. I am calling the Khatib ‘learned’ not because of his academic degrees, which I do not know of, but because of the signs of knowledge and understanding that he displayed in his delivery. In fact I have always doubted if there is a direct correlation between one’s academic degrees and one’s knowledge in most cases. However, going back to the issue of Khutbah, how often do we a see a masjid full of devotees listening attentively to the Khutbah, be that on Fridays or during Eid congregation? Not very often, do we? One may notice that a few are dozing, a few biting or clipping their nails, some engrossed in distant thoughts and a few very intensely listening without any clue as to what the Khatib is talking about. There are of course few others who understand what’s going on because either they are Arabs or are conversant in the Arabic language. Even for someone who understands Arabic, often the topic is so repetitive and irrelevant for the time and place, that it turns out to be an exercise in performing a ritual of no effective outcome. I believe we do attend Khutbah with the intention and honesty to be enlightened in the ways of Deen. I only wish that our intentions and honesty were properly respected and met. Given the way the Khutbahs are delivered mostly, I doubt if that is the case. Often the major qualification of the Khatib is that he can speak and read Arabic. If that is to be the case then I believe, Allah wouldn’t have perfected the religion of Islam for mankind of all colour, creed and languages. Allah proclaims "And amongst His signs is the creation of heaven and the earth, and variation in your language and colours; Verily, in there are signs for those who know" (Al-Quran, 30:22). For about a year or so I used to attend the Jumma prayers at a Musalla inside the Macquarie University. There was a regular Khatib and whenever he could not to turn up, a security personnel of Arab descent delivered the Khutbah. And when he could not be present, often one of the students would volunteer and offer Khutbah. I noticed from the after-Khutbah reactions, most people seemed relatively more content and satisfied on those occasions. This may provide some food for thought for those who are responsible for identifying and/or nominating the person to deliver the Khutbah in their respective Masjids. Now a days the translation of the Khutbah in English is an encouraging improvement. Even then, subject matters of the Khutbah is mostly repetitive and often lack substances to relate to the current social and geo-political reality. I believe this is one other reason that our younger generation is increasingly staying away from the Masjid. More than any other times it has now become extremely important for our youth to learn and understand the correct teachings of Islam. For any religious sermons to be meaningful to them, or for that matter to anyone else, it must relate to the life and reality of the day. Our younger generation need to be aware not to be provoked into any irrational act. Any irrational reaction may only serve the design of provocateurs. I was pleased to note that a visiting Khatib addressed this issue couple of Fridays back at the Quakers Hill mosque. I wish only those who can address and tackle such sensitive issues at such critical times be chosen to deliver the Khutbah. Sadly, not very many Khatibs are up to such marks. Present day Khutbah is a continuation of a practice established by Prophet Mohammad (S) before the weekly Jumma prayers in Medina. The object of Khutbah was to awaken and advise the followers of Islam. It addressed social, cultural, and political issues pertinent to the time and place and often included advice and directives for the Ummah. The Prophet (S) spoke in a language that his audience could understand. That is only rational, otherwise the practice would have been of no avail. Would the Prophet (S), Allah knows best, want his followers to conduct Khutbah in a language that the audience would fail to understand? I doubt, for Allah says in surah Ibrahim, aya 4 "We have not sent any Messenger except with the language of his people so he can make things clear to them." One may argue why don’t we offer our five time prayers in our own language? In my defense I wish to say that we are supposed to recite the suras in the original Arabic in our prayers. One could easily memorize those and learn its meaning with some efforts. Moreover Salat has been ordained by Allah in the Quran to be performed through recital of the Quran (Sura Bani Israel, aya 78). On the other hand Khutbah is supposed to encompass various subjects for different occasions. Unless one has a very good command over the Arabic language, it is almost impossible to understand the deliberations. Besides, Allah knows best, if the Prophet ever intended it to be delivered in a language where the audience would fail to understand it. I believe it is time to rethink how our Khutbahs are to be conducted. We need to ask ourselves if it is meeting its objectives as it should. Is that what our Prophet (S) thought of when he instituted the Khutbah? Are we following things blindly without using our intellect given by Allah? Should we not give heed to Allah’s message when He proclaims: "We have revealed for you (O men!) a book in which is a Message for you: will ye not then understand?" (Sura Al-Anbiya, 21:10). |
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Home Page Published on: 16-Oct-2014 
