Faith must shape your inner character
“You sell yourself short if you only concentrate on the exterior.”
The Prophet Muhammad’s mission is not only to teach outward religious practice and belief, but to cultivate ihsan, conscious worship, sincerity, humility, and good character, so Muslims purify their inner selves.
The khutbah in 6 steps
- The sermon introduces the Prophet’s mission as teaching revelation, wisdom, and purification.
- It explains wisdom as applying guidance appropriately as circumstances change.
- It distinguishes outward practice from inner character and warns that pride can corrupt good deeds.
- Through Hadith Jibreel, it presents Islam, iman, and ihsan as dimensions of faith.
- It defines ihsan as worshipping Allah with awareness that He sees us, supported by knowledge and good company.
- It urges listeners to abandon envy, arrogance, mockery, and ill-will while examining themselves.
In the khateeb's words
“Outwardly you can be the most splendid person, you can be the most phenomenal person, but inwardly you be corrupted.”
“You sell yourself short if you only concentrate on the exterior. How big your beard is, how short your thawb is, you sell yourself short.”
“Looking at our words and our actions. Not looking at others. Looking at our own words. Our own actions. Looking at ourselves.”
For the dinner table
Today’s khutbah taught that the Prophet Muhammad came not only to teach people what to do, but also how to become better people. Islam includes outward worship, iman includes belief, and ihsan means worshipping Allah with the awareness that He sees us. True spiritual growth includes sincerity, humility, good character, and leaving behind envy, arrogance, mockery, and ill-will. We should focus less on judging other people and more on correcting our own words, actions, and hearts. Good knowledge and good company can help us grow in this way.
- What character trait would you like Allah to help you improve?
- How can remembering that Allah sees you change one thing you do tomorrow?
- What is one way our family can look at our own actions instead of judging others?
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