The Prophet's Pulpit: Commentaries on the State of Islam

This is one of those books you want to ask everybody to read. An excellent, thought collection which always opens your eyes. A powerful presentation of a beautiful, intelligent, moral and transformative Islam. Highly relevant to what is actually happening in the worldAbu el Fadl starts with a very basic question: how did the revelations received by Muhammad have such a profound transformative effect on the people who came into contact with it? How did it create the leaps forward in human civilisation which followed?He then reflects; it cannot be that people simply were inspired by the ritual acts, the positive laws which we seem to be so preoccupied with in our current age. It was the liberating message of fearing nobody but god, and the message of establishing a just society, or developing and cultivating moral, beautiful and noble human beings.In our khutba we so often are left wanting, there is a painful disconnect between the hearts and minds longing for upliftement and the superficial regurgitation of basic facts which most children already know.Here is the alternative. If only more of our Imams delivered sermons like this our ummah might actually change the face of this dark and troubled world.

I love Shaykh Khaled Abou El Fadl's videos and books. This is a very well put together collection of his Friday sermons over the last few years. He speaks on the ethics, society and duties of a Muslim in our modern era unlike many who just preach about the length of the beard or your thobe! I'd say Shaykh Khaled Abou El Fadl is one of the most important living Shayukh along with Shaykh Farhan Hassan Al Maliki among a few others... 100% recommend!

Thoroughly recommend this book to all my colleagues.

An absolutely stunning book for awakening the real Islam within Muslims today. A central foundation for all Muslims.

The media could not be loaded.  I only came to this book through a connection to the editor of the text. I’m not Muslim. What I knew about Islam was limited to helping my son with A level RS and what I see and read in the media.So how is this text relevant to me?It’s beautifully written, exquisitely edited, accessible even to those with limited knowledge and understanding. It speaks of ethics and justice as well as of faith. It’s a brave piece of writing.

A series of powerful and morally engaging sermons that strike at the heart of what faith should be

Great book and looking forward for more books from the Usuli press

The Prophet’s Pulpit is an exceptional collection of khutbahs, Friday sermons, delivered by an even more exceptional, honest, dignified, and devout scholar, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl. This is an exemplary of what Friday sermons should be like in each and every mosque all over the world.Although each chapter is a short reading journey, it is a long, deep, and wide journey within. It is an invitation to self-reflection and an invitation to elevating yourself and your surrounding. It will make you weep like a baby that has lost innocence upon recognizing his/her wrongdoing. It will make you raise your eyebrows in a bewildered disbelief and will ignite agonistic shame within you. It will soothe your heart with hope and warm it up with the bright light it emanates. It will break you open, but if you take it seriously, it will cleanse that opening and will fill it with love, determination, new insights, courage, and meaning.Some of the stories that the sheikh speaks about are extremely heart-breaking, but they are exactly what we need to hear to prevent further heartbreaks, not only personal ones, but those of a whole of mankind.In short 225 pages, this book captures the essence of Islam, the essence of beauty, and the essence of what life could be if only we internalized these teachings and applied them in our lives. The sheikh speaks truth to power while demonstrating that the true power lies in fearlessness, honor, conviction, unity, and consistent devotion to justice, truth, beauty, and promotion of a dignified living. He emphasizes the importance of not only knowing one’s history, but learning from the collective history of all mankind. He makes you question the legitimacy of those who claim the Prophet’s pulpit, whether they are worthy of it, and warns against those who do nothing, but instill self-serving pietistic affectations. He points out the flaws of individuals that have already become flaws of masses and in turn, offers alternative, graceful, and meaningful ways of correcting such attitudes while rooting these principles in the Qur’an and the sunnah of the Prophet that have either been forgotten or highly neglected by the mainstream that has its own ungodly, narcissistic interests.This book will make you grateful for existing during the sheikh’s lifetime. It will make you proud to not only be a Muslim, but to be a human that chooses to live a meaningful life; a human that sees him-/herself in others, feels their pain, and wishes not to add to their suffering, but to eradicate suffering altogether.Huge thank you to the one and only, Dr Abou El Fadl, and Josef Linnhoff for capturing the authentic messages of the sheikh and for writing this book in such a beautiful way that if you were familiar with the sheikh’s speech, you would hear his voice throughout the book. And so I did. I heard him. I saw ugliness and I saw Islam. It moved and changed my heart. I hope it will change yours, too, if you read.

Great

This book is a great example on how a kuthba should be.This is something we've need more of in our ummah.Relevant Kuthbas that have an impact on us.I believe this is a must read for the people who feel disconnected from their Friday sermons they attend.

Must have reading for several conscientious human questions of the 21st century. The editing is fluid and presentation excellent.

A beautiful and refreshing read. Each chapter is very short so it’s a really easy way to ease into the rest of his writing/ books which are longer. Really stirs the soul, I’m so happy this book exists. It’s a lovely gift for others too.