When feelings replace obedience to Allah
“It's what you feel that's the driving force for you, not just in life, but even in religion.”
The khutbah warns that when anger, hurt, pride, or personal preference displace obedience to Allah, feelings become an object of worship and spiritually blind us, so believers must submit to revelation, accept reminders, and serve communal needs.
The khutbah in 6 steps
- Introduces Surah al-Jathiyah 45:23 and explains its attention-grabbing opening.
- Defines taking one's hawa as replacing Allah's rightful worship with intense feelings and desires.
- Explains the consequences: restricted understanding, sealed hearing and heart, distorted spiritual sight, and loss of guidance.
- Urges listeners to examine themselves, respond to Quran and Sunnah with acceptance, and continue offering reminders.
- Applies the warning to voting by asking Muslims to set aside personal hawa and consider communal needs.
- Closes with prayers for steadfastness, the ill, the oppressed, and the wider Muslim community.
In the khateeb's words
“It's what you feel that's the driving force for you, not just in life, but even in religion.”
“Every single person is subject to this fitna. So don't think that no matter how pious and knowledgeable that somehow I'm going to be excluded from this.”
For the dinner table
Today’s khutbah asked us to examine whether our feelings ever become more important to us than obeying Allah. Using Surah al-Jathiyah 45:23, the khateeb warned that letting anger, pride, hurt, or personal preference rule us can make us spiritually unable to hear and accept guidance. He reminded us to respond to Quran and Sunnah with humility, to keep reminding ourselves and one another, and to trust Allah through hardship. He also encouraged Muslims to think beyond personal feelings when participating in the voting system and to consider the community’s needs. The goal is not to ignore feelings, but to place them under faithful submission to Allah.
- What feeling makes it hardest for you to accept correction?
- How can we remind each other kindly when emotions take over?
- What should Muslims consider when making a community decision?
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