Keep hope and work for justice
“When we are believers and we put our trust in the Creator, we never lose hope.”
The khutbah teaches that believers should respond to setbacks with hope in Allah, resilience, unity, and principled action for justice in community and civic life.
The khutbah in 6 steps
- Uses Nur ad-Din Zanki’s justice, scholarship, and resilience as a historical example.
- Describes Jerusalem’s occupation and the unified effort that eventually enabled its liberation under Salah ad-Din.
- Draws a Quranic lesson to maintain hope and trust Allah during crises.
- Urges ethical voting based on justice, integrity, care for the poor, and opposition to discrimination.
- Recognizes anti-Palestinian racism and offers prayers for the deceased, grieving family, Gaza, and suffering communities.
- Concludes with Jumu'ah prayer, janazah instructions, and community announcements.
In the khateeb's words
“when we are believers and we put our trust in the creator we never lose hope”
“you cannot accomplish 100 percent result you cannot forsake the 40 percent result or the 50 percent result”
“vote for those who will establish justice those who will care for the poor those who will fight discrimination those who will fight hate”
For the dinner table
Today the khateeb told us about Nur ad-Din Zanki, a just and humble ruler who cared for the poor, built many schools, and treated his Jewish and Christian subjects fairly. In his time, invaders had taken Jerusalem, banned Muslims from the city for 90 years and kept horses in Masjid al-Aqsa. Nur ad-Din brought the people together and even built a minbar for al-Aqsa, but he died before it was freed. His commander Salah ad-Din finished the job, and on the first Jumu'ah after Jerusalem was freed, people cried with joy. The lesson is that after every hardship comes ease, so we should never lose hope, because Allah's power has no limits. He also reminded us to vote for honest people who stand for justice and care for the poor, and to stand against hate toward any community.
- Nur ad-Din started something that Salah ad-Din finished. What good thing could you start that someone else might carry on?
- Can you think of a time something felt hopeless but then got better? What helped?
- If you could vote, what would you want a leader to care about most, and why?
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