The Friday Sermon Isn’t What It Used To Be
Al-Qabas, Kuwait, April 8
The Jummah Khutbah – the notable Friday sermon in mosques around the world – is no longer as influential on people as it was in the past. This can be attributed to two main reasons. The first is the growing shortage of successful, charismatic, and knowledgeable preachers. Today, Sharia colleges tend to take in those students who couldn’t get admitted to any other institution of higher education. Most preachers fail to enroll in top colleges, and many of them simply learn to memorize verses from the Noble Quran without diving into the interpretation of the text. Surely, the vast majority of them don’t master the Arabic language with all of its subtleties and nuances. They resort to memorizing sermons from old books or from notable preachers – and simply repeat them. Their speeches have little to do with relevant timely topics or with the problems experienced by their followers. Thus, the rhetoric turned into a mere job, and the preacher became an employee. The second reason is that people are becoming less religious and less pious. The Friday afternoon prayer has become a mere ritual for many Muslims around the world, used to waive all their other religious duties and obligations. They simply attend to prayer because they’re expected to, not out of deep religious or spiritual motivation. Finally, the khateeb – the preacher – must also have experience and competence. After all, the Friday sermon is not permissible to be carried out by just anyone. To command the attention and garner the interest of the masses, a preacher must not only be well-versed in the text but also be a brilliant orator. Few of those exist today. –Mohammed Nasser Al-Sanousi (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)
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