The People of Harmony

Jum'ah khutba - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 11 March 2016 - 21 mins 26 secs

'And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His countenance. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in] neglect.' 

(Surah Al-Kahf, Verse 28)

In this sermon the Shaykh talks about the qualities of the people who desire only to please the Almighty. The Shaykh mentions the ‘wool wearers’ amongst the sahaba (ra) who were the best examples of those who submitted fully to Allah. He goes on to mention how the modern material world gives us a delusional notion of status, pushing us to fantasise about being with those who have nothing to offer our spiritual soul, seeking for role models amongst celebrities and the elite of society; thus going directly against the prophetic tradition of seeking the company of the people who are in remembrance of their Lord.   

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Honour Thy Neighbour

Jum'ah khutba - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 30 October 2015 - 22 mins 24 secs

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'Worship Allah, and do not associate with Him anything, and be good to parents and to kinsmen and orphans and the needy and the close neighbour and the distant neighbour… ' 

(Surah An-Nisa, Verse 36)

The Quran and the Hadith emphasise the importance of honouring our neighbours.  Who are our neighbours and what are their rights.  In this sermon the Shaykh explores this fundamental aspect of our Deen which instructs us on how we should conduct ourselves with those around us regardless of their faith. The right relationships with our neighbours is paramount to the building of cohesive communities and to ultimately earn the pleasure of Allah Almighly.

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Purity: Half of Iman

Jum'ah khutba - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 5 December 2014 - 21 mins 16 secs

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'…and Allah loves those who purify themselves.' 

(Surah Tawbah, Verse 108)

In this sermon, the Shaykh explores the importance of purity in Islam. He explores how outward and inward purity is integral to the human psyche and how this relates to morality, right and wrong, and the natural dignity which is unique to humans. The human soul craves that which is pure and thus the soul finds happiness in that which is pure.

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The Ethics of the Prophet

Circle - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - February 2012 - 1hour 14mins 48secs

In this circle the Sheikh tackles the topic of ethics and what it means within the context of Islam. He begins with a fundamental point; that in the foundation of Islam as with other great faiths the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was no mere theoriser; he laid down no well outlined manifestos or texts titled 'ethics'. Instead he, foremost amongst the greats of the religion, took history by the horns and changed it for the better in a natural way. It was up to those who followed, up to our day, to discover the spirit of how the Prophet was able to take his people and turn them around in an unprecedented time and manner. Many who followed him tried to find that subtle thing, that charisma, that made people hand over the keys to their hearts to him in a way that unified a land that had never been brought together before. It is revealing to note what his wife A'isha - may Allah be pleased with her - said about him: kana khuluquhu al-Quran, his character was that of the Qur'an. The message of Islam is thus intertextual, in a way the Book and the messenger are two facets of the same thing. Thus the Sheikh notes that Akhlaq, 'character traits', is the Islamic term for ethics.

The Sheikh outlines the current polarities of the age, where a post-Enlightenment West claiming to have found a Universal basis for ethics that apply to all human beings clashes with an often Muslim world that is seen as puritanical and backward. Sheikh Abdal Hakim goes on to see whether the virtues of the the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, can go some way to bridging this divide that is felt so keenly in contemporary society. 

Picture taken in the Eski Camii (Old Mosque) In Edirne, Turkey. Taken by the CKETC team.

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Ethics of Trade

Friday sermon (jum'ah khutba) by Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - 19 February 2010 - Cambridge - 28 mins 15 secs

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What is the place of ethics in trade and business? Judging by the exploitation of the developing world through 'free trade' or the disastrously amoral speculations of international banks, one might conclude there is no place for them. In this sermon, Sheikh Abdal Hakim reminds us that despite the example of the major economic forces around us, we each have individual responsibilities when we engage in any kind of trade. The benefits of the justice and fair dealing mandated for us by the example of Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings upon him) would of course have huge social benefits if all of us upheld them. But even more important than any worldly benefits of course, is Allah's reckoning of our dealings on the Last Day, when the everlasting profit or loss is accounted. May He forgive us our shortcomings and in His Mercy make the judgment easy upon us.

PS Part 3 of 'Islam in/and/of the West' next week inshaAllah.

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Purpose of the Sacred Law

Talk by Sheikh Jihad Hashim Brown - Cambridge - 2 March 2009 - 1 hr 34 mins 45 secs

Earlier this month, Cambridge benefited from the visit of Sheikh Jihad Hashim Brown, the well-known scholar and speaker, currently acting as Director of Research at the Tabah Foundation in Abu Dhabi. In this talk, he considers the ethical purposes of the shari'a (Islamic law) and how by connecting with its fundamental meanings and rich heritage we can act to help ourselves and those around us. As he reminds us at one point by relating a hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), 'God does not cease to assist His slave as long as His slave does not cease to assist his brother'. In a rich and thought-provoking talk - as you would expect from someone in regular contact with some of the wisest scholars of our time, such as Mufti 'Ali Juma'a and Sheikh 'Abd Allah b. Bayyah - the sheikh discusses how the dynamic and profound techniques of the shari'a can be used to address the problems of the modern world and bring it back into harmonious submission to the order of creation. It is well-known that the root meaning of shari'a is 'a path to water', a route back to the substance of life. The sheikh reminds us, however, of the necessity of uncovering this water of the Divine Guidance through istinbat (to open up or tap a source of water, as in digging a well). Only through active engagement with the tools of our tradition can we use them to address the questions around us today and thereby promote its fundamental aims for humanity.

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