Khutbah: A How-To Manual
After a group of brothers asked me to give a khutbah (sermon) training workshop, I decided to write this paper to serve as a record of one method for my community and beyond.
There are potentially endless ways to deliver a khutbah, and my masjid (mosque), the ADAMS Center, oversees 32 khutbahs (sermons) in 13 different locations every Friday. So, after a group of brothers asked me to give a khutbah (sermon) training workshop, I decided to write this paper to serve as a record of one method for my community and beyond.
Introduction
In the 10th year after the Hijra, standing on Mt. Arafah, the Prophet ﷺ gave his famous Khutbah Al-Wadaa’ (Farewell Sermon). For a khutbah of this magnitude, given by anyone else, especially in today’s era, it is almost expected it to be full of complex rhetorical tricks, quotable soundbites, and used as a tool for personal political gain. Not for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. “He does not speak of his desires; rather, it is revelation revealed.”1 In his iconic, concise but comprehensive style,2 roughly four-fifths of his khutbah addressed the social ills relevant to the 7th-century Arabian peninsula—injustice and inequality, division and discrimination, misogyny and disrespect towards women, disregard towards life and property, embracing interest and exploitation, and neglecting faith and responsibility. With this captivated audience, the Prophet ﷺ spoke directly to the needs of his congregation and figuratively pulled no punches.
Imagine being present for this khutbah. How powerful would it be—standing with 40,000 Sahaba (companions),3 everyone in Ihram (a state of consecration assumed on pilgrimage to Makkah)4—listening to the khatib (preacher), who also happens to be the Prophet ﷺ? Also, how spiritually transformative (internally and externally) of a khutbah would it be? While we are not the Prophet ﷺ and do not have the same spiritual gravitas, our responsibility, as khatibs, is to remember that atop the member (pulpit), we are representing the Prophet ﷺ. The goal of our khutbah is to serve others in hopes it draws them closer to Allah.
Ideological Perspective
Unfortunately, only twenty-five percent of American Muslims attend the Jummah (Friday) khutbah, despite being obligatory for Muslim men to attend, and thirty-two percent only attend the masjid once or twice a month.5 Sixty-nine percent of American Muslims say they pursue their spiritual life primarily outside the mosque.6 The khutbah is likely the only source of religious instruction our congregation will get in real life; therefore, the opportunity costs are so high, and it should be taken with great seriousness.
We all have different experiences and dispositions, and we will never satisfy everyone, nor should that be the goal. I believe we should craft our khutbah specifically directed to address the needs of our own hearts. The community should always be secondary. If we craft our khutbah specifically for our own hearts, building off what we like and dislike from others and what we need to hear, this will (InshaAllah—God-willing) intuitively protect us from arrogance or showing off. As the saying goes, we are but dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants. The benefit we impart is only because Allah made it meaningful for others to hear, and our delivery is only a means to that end.
Becoming comfortable speaking in front of an audience and developing a delivery style takes time. Also, not every khutbah will be perfect, and we should not expect it to be. As we are trying to find our own voice, we should consider: How were all the horrible khutbahs we attended? What was wrong with the khatib’s delivery? Was it too long or too short? Was his message succinct and easy to follow, or did you find it chaotic? Our experiences should help inform what we give importance to and what we strive to avoid. At the end of the day, we are all striving to serve our community with as much ihsan (spiritual excellence) as possible and that will only be achieved via intentionality and effort.
Practical Application
My khutbahs are unabashedly formulaic, each one structured exactly the same. I use the logistical restraints—that they are divided into two parts—as a structural framework. The first khutbah establishes theoretical concepts, and the second provides instruction inspiring practical application of those theoretical concepts.
First Khutbah
After the praising of Allah, I like to open with a story. Communications professor Lynn Meade said in her book Advanced Public Speaking, “Capturing the audience through the story is one of the most powerful ways to start a speech. A story engages the brain in powerful ways and causes the audience’s brains to sync with the speakers.”7 She also mentioned that stories engage the audience and make a point, help ideas stick, and inspire action.8 But, the opening story cannot be random; it must have some underlying connection to the theme of the khutbah.
An example of this can be found in my previous paper, Gratitude: Thanksgiving + Palestinians, because it was initially a khutbah.9 It starts by recognizing the season of Thanksgiving (since that was the weekend I gave the khutbah) and then transitions into the story of prophet Musa and the Israelites. All of this was to segue to the verse, “And ˹remember˺ when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more. But if you are ungrateful, surely My punishment is severe.’”10
I try to keep the khutbah’s concept simple. I use the opening story as a rhetorical device to connect the audience with one or two, no more than three, main theoretical points. Anything more becomes overwhelming and too much to follow. In the previous example, the theoretical point was only gratitude, culminating in the question, “We have to look at the tremendous level of faith and conviction of the Palestinians and use it as motivation for our test. How can we use those videos we see, not just to numb our senses, another video, another picture, but something to remember Allah?”
Second Khutbah
I will never forget one day after my khutbah when a brother requested a few minutes of my time. We sat down, and he asked if he could give me some nasiha (advice), which I welcomed. He said, “While I love your khutbahs, they leave me without direction. It is essentially a nice speech, but it does nothing for me. What do I do with that information?” I did not realize I was no longer doing that, but I have made it a point to befriend that brother. Also, since then, I have focused my entire second khutbah on the practical application of the first khutbah.
After invoking Allah’s blessings and salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ, I ask, “How can we achieve [the first khutbah’s goal]?" Then, I try to give two or three simple and practical things everyone can do. If I am honest, every khutbah typically ends up with different versions of the same basic concepts—e.g., taqwa (God-consciousness), tawakkul (God-reliance), sabr (patience), shukr (gratitude), suhba (companionship), etc. These generic concepts are always required for all Muslims, so I am comfortable with the repetition. Furthermore, because the theoretical points of the first khutbah differ every time, the practical application will inevitably have different variations.
Before concluding, I try to summarize the entire khutbah. I encapsulate the overarching theoretical points of the first khutbah and the practical application advice from the second into a couple of sentences. Psychologist Ludy T. Benjamin said,
If you do not regularly provide a summary in your lectures, start now. Such a capstone is critical in maximizing learning in the lecture. If students come to expect such regular summaries of key ideas, they will be attentive at the end of the lecture knowing the importance of such integration for their own understanding, not to mention better grades.11
Contrary to teachers, who try to help students achieve good grades, khatibs try to help those in attendance achieve a better spiritual state (internally and externally).
Considerations
The Disenfranchised
We must be considerate of the most disenfranchised of the audience. That is not to say we change the khutbah's overarching meaning or the Shariah (law) to accommodate them, but a level of sensitivity goes a long way. As it is famously said, “You get more bees with honey than vinegar.” Thus, especially when addressing sensitive topics (take marriage, for example), we should keep in mind the disenfranchised who may be present in the audience (i.e., the unmarried, in this example). Ensure you are speaking about it in an inclusive manner wherein everyone can find a place to connect with the message. Even those in contradistinction to what is objectively the Shariah, we must be sure our khutbah does not feel ostracizing and that they know Allah is Al-Ghafoor Al-Rahim (the Oft-Forgiving Most-Merciful).12
Language Proficiency
The education level of the audience should be another consideration of ours. Allah told Harun and Musa (Aaron and Moses) before going to address Pharoh (the worst person ever), “Speak to him gently, so perhaps he may be mindful of Me or fearful of My punishment.”13 So what about us speaking to Muslims? Regardless if we have a doctorate-level English vocabulary or Arabic fluency, we must speak in a way people will understand. As newspapers and magazines are written on a high-school level,14 we must translate and provide synonyms for all potentially foreign words.
Time
Lastly, we must consider the length of our khutbahs. Although some of my teachers’ khutbahs are notoriously long (e.g., 45 minutes) and people absolutely love them, I believe, as a general rule, the khutbah should be limited to 20 minutes in an effort to keep the entire prayer within 30 minutes. Jummah occurs during the middle of a workday, and most of the audience has to return to work. Furthermore, if our goal is for the khutbah to inspire transformation, we must maximize the audience’s attention as much as possible.
Conclusion
The opportunity to give the Jummah khutbah is a blessing from Allah, but also a responsibility. Trying to help people connect with their true purpose, we are following in the footsteps of the Prophet ﷺ; hence, we must remain mindful of this and strive to do our best by crafting a khutbah that speaks to the needs of our hearts. “Surely whoever is mindful of Allah and patient, then certainly Allah never discounts the reward of the good-doers.”15 As the Prophet ﷺ would give two khutbahs, sitting in between them,16 I believe this serves as a wonderful structural framework for us to follow. In the first khutbah, we establish two or three theoretical concepts, and in the second khutbah, we provide how to practically apply those theoretical concepts in our daily lives. Everything else, the audience’s reception of the khutbah or its impact, is in Allah’s control. We merely ask Him to accept our efforts and forgive us for our deficiencies.
This paper was written not just to be theoretical but also as a practical example of a khutbah’s style and structure. Ultimately, with Allah is all success!
Here are other papers I have written addressing community needs:
The Masjid: Kids + Uncles
With the masjid at the center of the American Muslim community, we must identify and adopt masjid etiquettes rooted in our tradition that applies to each demographic.Dawah Mercenaries, OnlyImams, and the Structural Genocide of the American Muslim Community
A criterion for our organizations, communities, and clergy.
Quran 53:3–4.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “I have been given superiority over the other prophets in six respects: I have been given words which are concise but comprehensive in meaning (jawami’ al-kalm) …” See Sahih Muslim 523a.
Al-Sakhawi, Shamsudin Muhammad b. Abdul-Rahman. Fath Al-Mughith Bi Sharh Alfiya Al-Hadith. Riyad, KSA: Mektaba Dar Al-Minhaj, 1426AH. Vol. 4, 108.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “ihram,” accessed May 17, 2024, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ihram.
“U.S. Muslims Concerned About Their Place in Society, but Continue to Believe in the American Dream”. Pew Research Center. July 26, 2017. 108.
Ibid., 110.
Meade, Lynn. “1.4: Opening a Speech- Get Their Attention from the Start!” In Advanced Public Speaking. University of Arkansas, 2021. Via https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Communication/Public_Speaking/Advanced_Public_Speaking_(Meade)/01:_Writing_a_Speech/1.04:_Opening_a_Speech-_Get_Their_Attention_from_the_Start.
Meade, Lynn. “1.6: The Power of Story- The Secret Ingredient to Making Any Speech Memorable” In Advanced Public Speaking. University of Arkansas, 2021. Via https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Communication/Public_Speaking/Advanced_Public_Speaking_(Meade)/01%3A_Writing_a_Speech/1.06%3A_The_Power_of_Story-_The_Secret_Ingredient_to_Making_Any_Speech_Memorable.
Typically, I do not record my khutbahs, but that week, someone requested that I do so. Once I got home, I put the audio recording in Otter.Ai and then edited the speech for the blog.
Quran 14:7.
Benjamin, Ludy T. “Lecturing” in The Teaching of Psychology: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie and Charles L. Brewer. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 2002. 57.
Allah says, “Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him ˹in worship˺, but forgives anything else of whoever He wills.” See Quran 4:48.
Quran 20:44.
DuBay, William H. Smart Language: Readers, Readability, and the Grading of Text. Costa Mesa, California: Impact Information, 2007. 31.
Quran 12:90.
May Allah swt bless you sheikh, for all the effort you put into serving the community. Your writing does not get anywhere near the attention and appreciation it deserves (i may be biased because i really like it haha), but in a funny way, that kind of proves your point. The effort is your responsibility, and how it gets accepted or appreciated is not in your hands.
I like the 20 min threshold. I've been told to prepare for a 40 min khutba so I'm more than well prepared for a 20-30 min delivery.
I also really like what you said about crafting the khutba to what you need yourself, and that it will iA resonate.
I'm shre you're terribly busy, but would you be willing to take a look at a khutba draft? I want to try and give one in my uni in a month or two iA. My friends have been asking me to for a long time.
Sure, send it to me and I will read it, InshaAllah.