Your character matters more than your speech
“Your manners and your characteristics matter so much more than even the speech you're giving.”
Muslims should continually improve themselves while teaching Islam through family, friends, and conduct, recognizing that wealth, worldly connections, and aiding wrongdoing cannot replace sincere faith and good deeds.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Pray for oppressed Muslims and remember the responsibility of giving dawah in a non-Muslim country.
- Use Abu Lahab and Surah al-Masad to show that opposing dawah and relying on wealth lead to ruin.
- Emphasize individual accountability, sincere deeds, and personal responsibility rather than relying on family or intercession.
- Give dawah with patience, respectful manners, dialogue, and emotional control when criticized.
- Avoid facilitating haram in homes, work, and rideshare driving, while advising others kindly and sincerely.
In the khateeb's words
“The right currency on the day of judgment is your good deeds. It's how you earned that money. It's how you spent that money. Not how you hoarded that money.”
“You don't get angry. Because one thing you're going to notice. When you're trying to give dawah. Your manners and your characteristics. Matter so much more. Than even the speech you're giving.”
For the dinner table
The khateeb reminded us to thank Allah for our blessings and keep people who are suffering in our prayers. He encouraged us to keep improving ourselves while helping our families and friends learn about Islam. Through the account of Abu Lahab and his wife, he warned against arrogance, opposing good, and relying on wealth or family connections instead of taking responsibility for our own actions. He reminded us that what matters is how we earn and use our money, and that helping others is an opportunity for reward. When we share our faith or address something harmful, we should speak with kindness, stay calm under criticism, and remember that we are doing it for Allah.
- How could you respond kindly if someone brought up a mistake you used to make?
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