The Royal Wedding: Ancient Origins

Friday sermon (jum'ah khutba) - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 29th April 2011 - 25 mins 54 secs

On the eve of the wedding of the to-be Duke and Duchess of Cambridge the Sheikh gave his own take on the fanfare surrounding the Royal Wedding.

The public interest in the ceremonies may have been aroused for a number of reasons, not all of them edifying, but perhaps one factor behind it was a collective response of the fitra, the natural state lying more or less dormant in every individual.

It may have been that being attracted by the pageantry was in fact a respect for the ordinances of that most ancient bond of marriage. The Sheikh mentioned how Adam, peace be upon him, was taught the Names of things by Allah, and that he was not taught them in isolation but rather with a partner, Hawa (Eve). Returning back to his original postulation, Sheikh Abdal Hakim commented that the dual singularity of marriage is in the natural order of things, the modern obsession with the individual identity being an aberration a step removed from the primordial path.

The image above is of the spring blossom - to be found at the time of the wedding - in Selwyn College, Cambridge. Taken by the CKETC team.

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The Mercy of Diversity

As-salaam 'alaykum. Please accept my sincere apologies for the hiatus in posting. InshaAllah a new administrator will be taking over the site shortly, who has more time to manage it and update more regularly. There are some great recordings to come, including Sheikh Abdal Hakim's khutba on the royal wedding (!) among other things.

For those of you who have contributed to the transcription project, I also wanted to thank you sincerely for your response and let you know that we are working on getting the transcripts up online inshaAllah.

So, apologies again for the unscheduled break in posts. Please forgive me for that, and rest assured that regular posts will resume shortly with the injection of some new blood!

In the meantime, here is a very interesting recent talk by Sheikh Abdal Hakim on the significance of diversity in modern Britain, which he delivered during Habib Umar b. Hafiz's tour of the UK. You can also see talks by Habib Umar himself here.

Bandwith & Upcoming Posts

We're temporarily out of bandwidth this month, so if you are trying to download any talks you should be able to do it from April 1. Apologies for any inconvenience. We're looking into upgrading or changing our file hosting to avoid this problem in the future.

We've got a lot of great sermons and lessons coming up, including Sheikh Faraz's talk we promised a few weeks ago (sorry, tech goblins temporarily ate it!) and some very moving sermons from Sheikh Abdal Hakim. So please check back soon once the downloads are flowing freely once more inshaAllah!

The Life of Hazrat Shah Shahidullah Faridi

Circle - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 16th March 2011 - 62 mins 4 secs

The last few centuries have seen many an Englishman and Englishwoman convert to Islam. Prominent figures in the modern Muslim collective consciousness, their journeys into the faith have often-time been sources of amazement and wonder to all who would hear them. And yet one would be hard pressed to find an account more stirring and more beautiful than that of John Gilbert Lennard. Born in 1915 into an upper class family, Lennard's heart was turned towards Islam after reading Imam Hujwiri's Kashf al-Mahjub.

In this memorable circle Sheikh Abdal Hakim traces out Shah Shahidullah's life, from the spires of Oxford to the slums of Karachi, from the world of Wodehouse to the realm of Data Ganj Baksh, Baba Fareed Ganjshakar and his own Sheikh, Hazrat Maulana Syed Muhammad Zauqi Shah

In an age of scepticism and doubt, the life of Shah Shahidullah Faridi stands out as a beacon of light, a proof of the spiritual way and the heights that man can reach when he sets out with sincerity on the path towards the Divine.

May Allah accept Shah Shahidullah's efforts and prayers in this life, and grant him the heights of paradise and proximity to the ones he loves in the next. Ameen.

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Islam & Extremism (Arabic)

This interview with Sheikh Abdal Hakim and Sheikh Usama al-Sayyid from Al-Azhar was broadcast on Yemen Radio around New Year. They discuss the topic of Islam and extremism. Good Arabic practice for anyone learning!






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The Idol Within

Friday sermon (jum'ah khutba) - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - Cambridge - 18 February 2011 - 25 mins 09 secs

It is relatively easy not to be seduced into the worship of idols in the obvious sense - bits of wood and stone, statues of powerless 'gods'. How much more dangerous and harder to avoid are the numerous other ways we distract ourselves from our true, natural orientation to the One and Only God. In this sermon, Sheikh Abdal Hakim warns us against 'dividing the qibla' by placing our own desires and self-satisfaction before our efforts to worship Allah, and describes some ways the scholars have recommended to avoid this 'hidden shirk'.

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Duty To God

Talk by Sheikh Jihad Brown - Cambridge - 31 January 2011 - 44 mins 14 secs

This is the first of a pair of talks we were blessed to hear in Cambridge recently on the topic of 'Duty To God, Duty To Society'. In this first part Sheikh Jihad Brown discusses our duty to Allah in light of how we orient ourselves toward Him with courage, consciousness and authenticity. InshaAllah we will post the second of these talks, given by Sheikh Faraz Rabbani, later this week.

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Enjoining Good, Forbidding Wrong

Friday sermon (jum'ah khutbah) - Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - 4 February 2011 - Cambridge - 23 mins 32 secs

TRANSCRIPTION PENDING

In the past days and weeks people all over the world have been following the events in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. The people's struggle for freedom inspires hope, but the dangers they face provoke fear and anxiety. Many question the role of religion in such difficult circumstances. Some fear mixing politics and religion. Others criticise the absence of leadership from religious figures, and say the ulema are out-dated and irrelevant. In this sermon, Sheikh Abdal Hakim provides a timely reminder of the fundamental importance for our leaders of 'enjoining the good and forbidding the bad' (amr bi-l-ma'ruf wa-nahy 'an al-muhkar) - so important that Imam al-Ghazali called it 'the greatest pillar' (al-rukn al-'azim) of the religion.

Among the many great scholars and saints who have discharged this weighty responsibility, despite the grave threat to their livelihoods and even their lives, Sheikh Abdal Hakim mentions Hasan Kaimi Baba of Bosnia, Sheikh al-Hasan al-Yusi of Morocco and Sheikh Amadou Bamba of Senegal. They were true followers of the Prophetic example, because they resisted injustice and oppression. May Allah grant our leaders, our scholars and us ourselves the determination to do the same, and may He in His All-Encompassing Mercy guide and protect the people of Tunisia, Egypt and all over the world wherever they face cruelty, corruption and repression.

Ya Qawiyyu ya Matin ikfi sharr al-zalimin, aslah Allah umur al-muslimin, sarraf Allah sharr al-mu'dhin.

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Purification & Repentance

Friday sermon by Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad - 21 January 2011 - Cambridge - 28 mins 27 secs

TRANSCRIPTION PENDING

In this sermon, Sheikh Abdal Hakim discusses some of the many sayings of the Prophet (may peace and blessings be upon him) that emphasise the importance of ritual cleanliness. If religion is ultimately about the state of our hearts, why should we attribute so much importance to outward ritual? Many Muslims, as well as non-Muslims, conclude of course that we should not. But here the sheikh explains the interconnectedness of all aspects of the human condition, and consequently the fundamental relationship between inward state and outward action.

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From Hippy To Imam: John Muhammad Butt

A wonderful report from the BBC on the life and work of Imam John Muhammad Butt, who works as the Muslim Chaplain of Cambridge University during his time in the UK each year. He arrived in 1960s Pakistan via the hippy traveller trail, and was so attracted to the region, its people and their religion that he became Muslim and went on to graduate from the prestigious Darul-Ulum Deoband.

An amazing life story from which we can all take inspiration. Jaan-Muhammad Sahib, please pray for us back in Cambridge, and we look forward to seeing you soon inshaAllah!

Read the full story here.

The Mawlid of Imam al-Barzanji

Mishkat Media has released a beautiful live recording of the celebrated Mawlid of Imam al-Barzanji. A classic of Islamic culture, it is a sung celebration of the birth and greatness of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

The recording was made in Cape Town at the annual Mawlid Jama’at at the Al-Zawiya mosque, under the direction of Shaykh Seraj Hendricks.

The performance is available on DVD, with full English subtitles of the Arabic recitation as well as several bonus features, including an explanation by Shaykh Seraj on ‘Understanding the Mawlid’. It is also available as an MP3 with the recitation of the mawlid only.

Like all Mishkat Media products, all profits go to the Cambridge New Mosque Project!

The History of Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam

The name of Abdullah Quilliam is one that has been thrust into prominence recently, but how much closer are we to discovering who the man really was and what he was about? In what promises to be a fascinating broadcast Shaykh Abdal Hakim goes in search of the truth behind the remarkable story of the first Shaykh ul-Islam of the British Isles.

Find out when the programme will be broadcast

Unity & the Manners of Difference

Talk by Mufti Muhammad al-Kawthari - 11 December 2010 - Cambridge - 56 mins 22 secs

TRANSCRIPTION PENDING

Another talk at the recent FOSIS Winter Conference in Cambridge was by the renowned scholar Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari. In it he addresses the perennial problem of the lack of respect for others with different opinions. He explains the nature of the unity of ahl al-sunnah wa-l-jama'ah and the proper adab (manners) for engaging in debate and respectful disagreement.

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Can You Help This Site?

UPDATE 26 JANUARY 2011: Many, many thanks to all who have volunteered for this project, jazakum Allah kheir. It's great to make this blog more of a group effort! It will take us some time to process the transcriptions we have promised so far, so we don't need any more volunteers for the time being. InshaAllah we will start to post transcriptions in the next few weeks.

If you have promised a transcription in the Comments section but not emailed in yet, please do so we can have your address to stay in touch - cambridgekhutbasetc [at] gmail [dot] com

***

We are looking for volunteers to help us develop the resources at cambridge khutbas etc. by transcribing one or more sermons or talks.

If you have benefited from the resources on this site, why not help others do the same?

InshaAllah we will then use these firstly to provide transcriptions of the talks here for the benefit of the deaf and hard of hearing and anyone else who would like to read instead of listen.

Secondly, we intend to translate as many of the talks as possible to give speakers of other languages access to good free resources about Islam. We will focus on European languages, as Muslims living outside traditionally Muslim countries generally have less extensive resources.

As you can imagine, transcribing and translating more than 100 talks on this site will be very time-consuming, so we need your help!

Imagine the reward you could receive inshaAllah if you transcribed a talk and it helped someone increase in their belief? Or if someone listened to that talk and then donated to the Cambridge New Mosque Project?

So if you have an hour or a few hours to spare in the coming weeks, please do a wonderful deed by transcribing a talk or sermon of your choice and emailing it to us at the address here. If you do not feel confident transcribing any parts in Arabic, don't worry - just send us the talk without those and we can add them in, but please indicate the time in the recording of the parts you have left out so we can find them easily to add them in.

If you start a transcription for a particular talk, let us know and we will add a note to that entry so no one starts a transcription someone else is already doing. Once the transcription has been sent in, we will update the entry again and add a downloadable file.

If you think you could help with translation, please get in touch as well. We are focusing initially on French and Spanish, but other European languages are welcome - as long as you are fluent enough to give accurate and idiomatic translations. We already have one highly qualified translator working on this project alhamdulilah.

So what are you waiting for? We're waiting for your transcriptions!