The Chivalry of Youth

Friday sermon (jum'ah khutba) by Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 23 October 2009 - 23 mins 48 secs

It often seems that our society locates human perfection at a certain age - children and younger people are only becoming it, older people are considered past it. Here Sheikh Abdal Hakim discusses how people of every age have a divinely ordained station appropriate to them, and in particular the characteristics young people can aspire to.

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Love for Allah's Decree

Friday sermon (jum'ah khutba) by Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 16 October 2009 - 21 mins 44 secs

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In this sermon, Sheikh Abdal Hakim discusses the difference between having patience (sabr) during the struggles of life, and taking pleasure or having contentment (rida') in them. By Allah's Mercy, accepting what He decrees with patience for us is a route to salvation, but it is a higher degree for us to embrace and love that decree. By another inspiring aspect of Allah's guidance, the latter is initially harder but actually makes the path toward Him easier. Instead of religion just being a set of duties or things we have to put up with, it becomes an on-going source of wonder and contentment. May Allah grant us the state of being contented with His Decree.

NB The first 2-3 minutes of this recording are disrupted by noise from a game of squash taking place next to the room in which the prayer was held this week. Apologies for this unavoidable acoustic infelicity.

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Thoughts on Evangelical Christianity

Talk by Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Alquería des Rosales, Spain - 29 June 2009 - 34 mins 12 secs

In this talk, Sheikh Abdal Hakim offers some thoughts on the increasingly assertive evangelical trend in Christianity, and how Muslims can constructively repsond to it. He emphasises firstly the importance of the Qur'anic principle of responding with what is better, and not being dragged into the abusive slanging matches so often sadly seen on Internet discussion fora and elsewhere. He then outlines some of the important points of discussion that can be had with committed Christians who want to engage in respectful dialogue. These points include: the importance in all religious traditions of God's love for the poor and outcast, and the problems of being identified with worldly, especially military, power; the importance of respecting that the Divine Love makes redemption available throughout history, not only during a defined period; and the need to deconstruct the stereotype often imposed upon Muslims (as on Jews in the past) as being legalistic. As the sheikh points out, the Muslim theology which considers God, while the source of Justice, as absolutely free in His Love and Mercy to forgive who He chooses seems a lot less legalistic than a theology that considers mankind's sinfulness a debt that He must collect.

Many thanks to Zak Whiteman for sending this in, jazahu Allah kheir.

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Muslim Identity In Europe

Talk by Prof. Tariq Ramadan - 7 October 2009 - Cambridge - 38 mins 44 secs

Prof. Ramadan recently gave the first CMC Lecture for Cambridge Muslim College at an event organised in association with Trinity Hall Islamic Society. You can listen to the lecture here.

Avoiding Hypocrisy

Friday sermon (jum'ah khutba) by Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - 9th October 2009 - Cambridge - 23 mins 57 secs

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At the beginning of another new academic year here in Cambridge, Sheikh Abdal Hakim takes the opportunity to remind himself and us of the importance of going back to first principles. In particular, he considers the very beginning of Surat Baqara and analyzes how we can actualise our belief with sincerity and avoiding being on the wrong side of the line that divides the believer from the hypocrite.

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