Sir,
In the November 2023 issue of IV, Tahsin Ahmed has raised a weekly and often critically debatable topic of “Making Friday Sermons More Effective.”
The author has covered every imaginable issue of the Jumma Khutba, Imams as orators, and their inability to correlate current worldly affairs in the light of Deen and Shariah and also whether it is prudent to burden them with such issues.
Let’s flip and see the other tarnished side of the coin when it comes to attendees of Jumma.
As I see every week, seventy-five percent of the people coming to the masjid for Jumma prayers arrive late, mostly just before the start or during the Arabic Khutba. People have a lackluster approach and have forgotten the basic etiquette of going to Jumma in the masjid and maintaining its sanctity. Many people occupy the spots where they can rest their backs on the walls. Some sit closer to the doors to make a quick exit. Few of them doze off during the sermon. Such audiences are there just to fulfill their self-satisfaction that they have gone through the ritual of attending the Jumma prayer without putting heart and soul into it.
The point I’m trying to make here is, that it is just not about the orator but also about the receptor. The message is not going to get into an individual’s heart and mind if there are no active spiritual receptors illuminated in him. A person, who is not serious about his obligatory five times prayers may not get that emotional connection with the Lord of universe and his word, even when they are in Jumma obligatory Salah.
The entire article is well-written. May Allah guide the Ummah to be on the straight path. Aameen.
Qazi Minhaj Azher
USA .
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