Remove harm and make hardship easier
“Whenever there is harm, we must remove that harm.”
Islamic faith and law call believers to respond to doubt with certainty, hardship with ease, harm with removal, and communal tragedy with compassion and prayer.
The khutbah in 5 steps
- Reminds listeners to practice taqwa through obedience and avoidance of prohibitions.
- Explains that troubling doubts can coexist with genuine faith, citing a hadith in Sahih Muslim.
- Introduces five Islamic legal maxims and discusses certainty, hardship, harm, and customary norms.
- Applies the principle of removing harm to the suffering of Sudanese people affected by war.
- Concludes with prayers for forgiveness, relief, peace, and an end to war.
In the khateeb's words
“This is the plain faith. This is the true faith. The fact that you struggle with these doubts and you think of them as so hard even to utter indicates the degree and the level of your faith.”
“Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not want to complicate things for us. Instead, He wants to make things easy.”
“The fourth one is the one that is actually the cornerstone. Whenever there is harm, we must remove that harm.”
“Because in the end of the day, they are all Sudanese, they are all Muslim, and they are all victims of this terrible war.”
For the dinner table
Today’s khutbah reminded us to stay conscious of Allah by obeying His commands and avoiding what He forbids. The khateeb explained that struggling with troubling doubts does not mean someone has lost their faith. He taught that hardship calls for ease, including in how we treat our families, and that we should work to remove harm. He also said that community traditions are welcome when they do not contradict Islamic teachings. Focusing on the suffering in Sudan, he called for removing harm and prayed for an end to this war and all wars, and for peace and mercy throughout the world.
- Which family tradition helps you feel connected to your faith, and why?
- What could our family do to show care for people suffering because of war?
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