Good Khateebs Are So Hard To Find These Days
When was the last time you were absolutely thrilled to listen to a Jummah khutbah? If you’re like the majority of Muslims, you probably haven’t heard a solid khutbah in a long time. That’s because khateebs nowadays are lacking in so many ways vital to giving that solid khutbah we’re all wanting to hear.
I asked some brothers what they felt was the #1 problem about Jummah khutbahs for them. Here’s some responses and reflections.
Problem: “Lack of Khateebs due to poor excuses.”
This seems to be a problem particularly within the MSAs. The person in charge of finding khateebs is frustrated, because everyone he goes to ask says, “I don’t know enough about Islam and therefore I can’t/don’t want to give the khutbah,” or something pessimistic like, “I’m not pious enough.”
A local MSA’s Jummah Coordinator said about this problem, “Look, we know none of us are scholars, and none of us are gonna give these mind-blowing, life-changing khutbahs. But, we can [at least] go up there and regurgitate a speech we’ve listened to by a scholar and reflect a bit on the Qur’an and Sunnah and share some reflections with an audience, it’s not that hard.”
These young brothers are not only ignorant or “not pious enough” to give khutbahs, they also aren’t doing jack about it.
The Prophet (SAW) said:
“He who treads a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him a path from the paths of Paradise.” (Ahmad)
If more Muslims realized that learning Islam is an easy ticket to Paradise and actually went out and learned their religion, we probably wouldn’t have such problem of Khateeb scarcity in the name of ignorance.
Problem: “Khateebs speaking outside their bounds not knowing their limits in terms of knowledge.”
Sometimes the layman is put on the stage to address the Jama’ah on Friday. Next thing you know, a star is born who can speak words of silk and stir the hearts of the crowd. They’re not the most knowledgeable, but their delivery and influence on the people is higher than others.
And then, of course, the people praise him so much that his ego gets inflated, Shaytan whispers to him, and we now have a khateeb who thinks he can do it all. He’s now lightning-quick to talk about issues and pass judgments and verdicts on things they have barely looked into or have little to no idea about. The words “haraam” and “halaal” flow off of their tongues without any second thought, all of which will occur even within the Jummah khutbah and afterwards when speaking to other laymen.
Allah (SWT) tells us:
“And pursue not that of which you have no knowledge; surely the hearing and the sight and the heart, all of these, shall be questioned about that.” (Surah Isra 17:36)
If only out khateebs knew that they have to be very careful about what they say, maybe then we’d have more cautious khateebs.
Problem: “Reading off of a paper.”
The Jummah khutbah is the most opportune time to deliver a killer sermon and give the Muslims an intense Eman rush that lasts all week. Unfortunately, it’s also the most common time to hear a boring half hour long speech where someone is reading off an article printed from the internet.
One of the Prophet’s (SAW) blessed teaching methods was that he never bored the people.
Not every khateeb is going to be as good as the next, but that shouldn’t stop khateebs from striving their best to give better khutbahs. Imagine if a khateeb were to attend a seminar or read a book on effective speaking techniques. Not only would the community benefit, the speaker would rake in great reward for trying to do something for Allah with ihsan (excellence).
Also many brothers complain about khateebs not being innovative enough in their topics or talking about the same old things week after week, or not giving anybody anything to go home with.
One brother said:
“Khateebs love to talk about how Muslims are so bad and [the Ummah] has it so bad. There’s no emphasis on the positive being done, and no real effort to inspire people with hope and positive energy.”
Problem: “Khateebs with bad character.”
A distant friend told me about one khateeb in his community. Famous for speaking throughout the MSAs in the area and even in various masajid, he’s known for being a role model for the people, both old and young. One day, my friend was accidently forwarded an Email from that very khateeb. The Email had an attachment of a supermodel, with the khateeb’s comments on how much he admired her beauty, physique, and more. Since that day, my friend has hestiated in ever hearing that khateeb give khutbah.
From my understanding, the khutbahs are to be given by people of example. People of knowledge, people who can motivate the masses for change, and most importantly, people who are role models and leaders. SubhanAllah, what kind of leaders do we have standing at our minbars today?
The other day a friend asked me how to advise someone who says, “Salah is between me and Allah (SWT) – that’s why I don’t pray.” Before I could look into some ways to help someone with such a mindset, my friend revealed the bad news. This argument on why one doesn’t need to pray came from someone who gives khutbahs in his community.
If I’m supposed to get something out of the khutbah once a week, what could I possibly take from someone who has such serious problems? I can’t imagine much.
Solution?
The problems with our khateebs are many and frightening, but the solution is simple. We need to realize the importance and power of Jummah.
Every week the Muslims gather on Fridays, taking out time from their busy schedules to go for Jummah prayer. They come just to hear a couple words, only twenty minutes or so, after which they stand together to pray, filling the masjids and MSA rooms with numbers unfound at any other time during the week. This weekly experience can be the biggest way to charge the Eman of the Muslims. If people knew the importance of this day, then maybe they’d place some more effort into improving a key part of it, the khutbah.
I leave you with a quote from one of the brothers I asked whom I asked What do you wish was different or better about MSA khateebs?:
“I wish people realized that the khutbah is the weekly re-energizing for the community, whether it be at a Masjid or on campus. People come to get pumped up on Islam for the next week of trials and tribulations that they’ll undoubtedly come in contact with. Realize the importance, and that it’s not just something you where you can just read off your notes and walk away expecting people to be satisfied. Oh, and take criticism to heart, it helps us in the long run.”
I ask Allah (SWT) to increase our knowledge, improve the abilities of our khateebs, forgive their sins, and help us give the Jummah khutba its due rights.
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:12 PM
I don’t know if it’s just me, but recently I’ve been falling asleep during the khutbah. If it’s a result of the khateeb being so boring, or my inability to pay attention, I don’t know.
Basically, I agree that khutbahs need to be more interesting and about a variety of topics. It seems like almost every week you hear a lecture about having taqwa. And while it’s an important reminder to recieve once a week, try reminding me of something else once in a while!
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:31 PM
Taqwa? At least you’re that lucky! We get Aqeedah lessons every week at the local Masjid! The community needs a recharge, not lessons on Tawheed.
I’m in no way downplaying Tawheed and the importance of learning Aqeedah, but we need to give the people something practical, something that will hook them onto Islam so that they can delve into the deep sciences of Islam, not just give them advanced topics of age-old debates and expect them to understand it. These people don’t even pray 5 times a day! Subhan Allah…
Allahumasta’aan
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:46 PM
Asalaamu alaikum
You know what else is hard to find, good mango ice cream.
Also, I think the bruthaz and sisters who are practicing should make an effort to try their best to understand the ‘bad’ khutbahs (if possible). Sometimes there’s alot of benefit in them because the person has the knowledge, he just can’t present it in a nice way unfortunately.
If you’re able to decipher through a thick accent and learn something, then you should be able to benefit even more when someone who doesn’t have an accent comes up and speaks because you’ve tuned your ears to listen carefully.
And technically we have to listen to the khutbah…
Asalaamu alaikum
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:19 AM
It is not hard to find a khateeb but the problem is that we have categorised the khateeb and the ordinary mUslim as two diffrent thing.Khateeb is in the capacity of Imam and the rationale is that the Imam should be pious one.we should select the most pious among us as the Khateeb and should pray under his imamat.we hire the khateebs adn sometime people immigrate to western world to get money in the garb of being khateeb.the actions r dependent upon the intentions or niat.we should purify our niat and the niat of the hired khateeb.it will solve the matter to an extent or we should select educated person amongst us to become khateebs-it is quite ideal
November 5th, 2007 at 12:46 PM
Faiez,
People do listen, it’s just repetitive information for a lot of the masses who are attending.
If you’re reading a khutbah off of a piece of paper, I doubt you’ve prepared well enough to present information that’s not already known, thus boring the jam’ah and putting a negative twist on coming to the sermon. There is always “how it should be” – but there is also “how it is,” and unfortunately, khutbahs that are just revising lessons that have already been taught are not benefiting many.
November 5th, 2007 at 1:37 PM
Khateebs should keep their khutbahs short. This was the sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallim. By making it long (anything beyond 10 minutes is too long), we now have numerous problems:
1. People don’t come in early – they have a long gap of time before coming to prayer.
2. Because of the long duration of the khutbah, khateebs have to prepare 20 – 60 minutes of material (yes, I sat through a 1 hour khutbah), most of which no one will remember.
3. People fall asleep during the khutbah!
A short amount of time should be spent on topics that focus on building the Eman of the individual because the audience is so diverse. A short 10 min khutbah will be well within attention span of the majority of people.
And, the 2 rakaats of the Friday prayer can be made longer (as it’s supposed to be) rather than watching the khateeb run over the time limit and then scramble to keep the recitation short so everyone can go to class or work.
My 2 cents
Siraaj
November 5th, 2007 at 6:23 PM
AbdelRahman – my comment is towards those who are practicing. In reality, most people aren’t going to listen to boring khutbahs, but I think there is alot of benefit in those khutbahs that we may not get because of how it is presented. Take the advise of our friend AbdulSattar who never finishes his post-series
http://www.xanga.com/Believer2/570981186/khutbah-survival-tips—part-i.html
This is how we, bracticing Muslims, should view khutbahs and knowledge in general. Wa Allahu ‘Alam.
Asalaamu alaikum
November 5th, 2007 at 6:56 PM
Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah is the MAN! mA
Faiez your advice is good, mA. It’s like how if someone were to complain about the mistakes people make in giving Naseeha, we must equally mention the mistakes made in receiving Naseeha.
Captain Attack!
November 5th, 2007 at 7:56 PM
I understand and agree with Shaykh, but I still think that hearing it literally over and over isn’t benefiting. This isn’t an argument about whether or not the information is beneficial, it’s about whether everyone is benefitting. I could give a khutbah about the individual letters and their sounds (tajweed) of the Arabic language – it’s beneficial, right? Yeah. But is everyone really benefitting from a khutbah about tajweed? Not necessarily, definitely not as much as they could from a different topic.
November 5th, 2007 at 7:57 PM
Siraaj –
Maybe that was because the sahaba understood Arabic, thus hearing the Qur’an was a reminder in itself, not just the khutbah. But now, people don’t understand what is being recited, so in terms of maximizing time of people benefitting, lengthening the khutbah and keeping the salah short is in everyone’s interest, wAllahu alam.
November 5th, 2007 at 10:26 PM
There has to be better effort on both sides, and I say more so from the khateebs than from the audiences.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:03 AM
From Sahih Muslim:
Book 004, Number 1889:
Abu Wa’il reported: ‘Ammar delivered to us the sermon. It was short and eloquent. When he (, Ammir) descended (from the pulpit) we said to him: 0 Abd al-Yaqzn, you have delivered a short and eloquent sermon. Would that you had lengthened (the sermon). He said: I have heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying: The lengthening of prayer by a man and the shortness of the sermon is the sign of his understanding (of faith). So lengthen the prayer and shorten the sermon, for there is charm (in precise) expression.
From Muwatta Imam Malik (not sure of authenticity, but interesting nonetheless):
Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that Abdullah ibn Masud said to a certain man, “You are in a time when men of understanding (fuqaha) are many and Qur’an reciters are few, when the limits of behaviour defined in the Qur’an are guarded and its letters are lost, when few people ask and many give, when they make the prayer long and the khutba short, and put their actions before their desires. A time will come upon men when their fuqaha are few but their Qur’an reciters are many, when the letters of the Qur’an are guarded carefully but its limits are lost, when many ask but few give, when they make the khutba long but the prayer short, and put their desires before their actions.”
The above is not a fatwa, just sharing knowledge to add to the discussion.
Siraaj
November 8th, 2007 at 8:10 PM
“I understand and agree with Shaykh”
I’m flattered AbdelRahman, but I’m not a shaykh
I understand what say am you AbdelRahman, but my advice is towards the bracticing Muslims. Its for sure that some people have been given the blessing of good, concise (as siraaj mentioned), and powerful speaking by Allah (swt) and they need to be given the chance to speak more insha’Allah.
But if they were to speak every week, I’m sure they’d run out of topics and people would get tired of them as well. Thus awesome Imams aren’t appreciated as much in thier hometowns.
Awesome quotes Siraaj.
“for there is charm (in precise) expression.” Put that one on the gem baaard.
Asalaamu alaikum
November 25th, 2007 at 5:39 PM
Good khateebs are usually very busy, i’d say. our MSA needs khateebs every week, and when you ask them to come give a Khutbah, they say that they’re busy.
so now you have people with knowledge and good speaking skills, and they don’t put their talent to use. so, at the end of the day, we have someone lecturing us on Hizbi topics. ugh!
Catch 22?
November 27th, 2007 at 3:13 PM
AbdAllah looks like you go to NIU. lol
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:53 PM
http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?p=233202&posted=1#post233202