Be certain about Allah, cautious with people
“What if I haven't seen the whole picture?”
The khutbah argues that believers should be certain about Allah while remaining humble and cautious about people and information, practicing self-accountability, verification, compassion, and generous excuses to avoid injustice.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Raise the bar for oneself while lowering judgmental expectations of others.
- Distinguish spiritually valuable certainty from harmful certainty about people and communities.
- Use memory’s fallibility and AI deepfakes to show why verification is essential.
- Connect self-awareness and withheld judgment to justice, compassion, and accountability before Allah.
- Adopt three practices: daily muhasabah, verifying accusations before sharing, and giving people abundant excuses.
In the khateeb's words
“if there is anyone for whom we should raise the bar should be ourselves for self-improvement for us to become better human beings, better Muslims.”
“what if this assumption that I'm making about this person this community this group what if I'm missing the context what if I haven't seen the whole picture”
“seeing it is also actually not much of a source of certainty we see a lot of things that are not certain right”
“being truthful to yourself being merciful with others and being careful with the reputation in honor of other human beings”
For the dinner table
This khutbah asks us to be confident in Allah while staying humble about our judgments of people. Our memories can be incomplete, and today’s AI-generated videos and audio can make false stories look real, so we should verify before believing or sharing accusations. The imam recommends three habits: daily muhasabah, pausing to check information, and giving people generous excuses and good opinions. When we are truthful with ourselves and merciful with others, we become more just and compassionate Muslims.
- What is one thing you could check before forwarding it to someone else?
- When has giving someone the benefit of the doubt helped?
- What does it mean to raise the bar for yourself?
- How can you notice when your perspective has become a tinted lens?
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