Jihad begins with mastering your desires
“Striving to learn true guidance and following it and then calling others to it and then bearing the patience of it.”
Jihad primarily means striving against the self through knowledge, worship, sacrifice, and patience, overcoming attachment to worldly life in order to draw closer to Allah.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Defines jihad as four forms, beginning with striving against one's own soul and desires.
- Argues that knowledge creates certainty in Islam and must lead to action and calling others.
- Attributes Muslim weakness to love of worldly life and dislike of death, contrasting this with the sacrifices of earlier Muslims.
- Clarifies that the deen being easy does not excuse missed prayers or sin, while warning against unbearable religious excess.
- Applies striving to rejecting riba, impermissible mortgages, and temptations surrounding marriage and college, then closes with prayers for suffering Muslims.
In the khateeb's words
“if you cannot beat your own nafs if you cannot wake up for a fajr if you cannot beat your own desires then what do you have”
“jihad and nafs means striving to learn true guidance and following it and then calling others to it and then bearing the patience of it”
“the true race not how nice your house is not how beautiful your wife is not how much money how many zeros you have in your bank account it's about how close you are to Allah”
“oh young person who's trying to get married and you're going to college and there's so much fitna and there's so much haram and the haram is just on the feet on your fingertips strive because that is jihad”
For the dinner table
This khutbah encouraged us to grow closer to Allah through sincere effort, beginning with the struggle against our own desires. The khateeb described a path of learning our religion, acting on what we learn, sharing it with others, and being patient through difficulties. He reminded us to value prayer and closeness to Allah more than money, possessions, or status. He also discussed fighting and sacrifice as aspects of jihad, while returning to everyday choices about worship, finances, and resisting temptation. He explained that ease in religion does not mean ignoring our responsibilities, and that improving our worship should not mean overburdening ourselves. Together, we can help one another turn what we learn into thoughtful, steady action.
- What is one good choice that feels difficult sometimes, and how could we help you make it?
- What is something you learned about Islam that you could practice this week?
- What could our family celebrate that reflects closeness to Allah?
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