Usuli Institute Khutbah: Returning the Gaze: A Walk Through the Bible 6 December 2019

Dr. Abou El Fadl begins with the caveat that he will deliver a different kind of khutbah. The modern age of information comes at a time in history when Muslims are at one of their weakest points. Information is power, and power negotiates information. Information is not simply an objective reality that is presented, or data that you either take or leave. Information is intimately connected with power. The flow of information disempowers the disempowered and augments the power of the already powerful. An example is the way the Islamophobia industry uses the information age to its advantage. The realm of social media is a marketplace that has many dangers. It is best that people do not engage Islamophobic sites and steer away from them. Islamophobia is rooted in a racist colonial enterprise that has been developing and adapting itself for centuries. Islamophobic sites today present information that the average Muslim is not equipped to respond to or deal with. Unless they are well educated or well anchored in their tradition, Muslims in the West can easily fall prey. This situation is compounded by the fact that Muslims in the West do not have the institutional infrastructure that allows for a solid education for the average Muslim. Islamophobes – whether of the evangelical breed or the Israeli right-wing breed – will lie quite strategically, relying on Muslims’ ignorance of the Islamic tradition to cast doubt. If a Muslim is not morally, ethically and spiritually firm from within, it is much safer to not engage with Islamophobic material. Institutions of Muslim learning in our day and age are so weak that they are unable to respond to even the most simple arguments. For instance, Islamophobes will raise the issue of the marriages of the Prophet Muhammad, but they will not talk about the marriages of the Prophets of the Bible. According to the Bible, the Prophet Solomon married 1,000 wives and concubines. Prophet David had 100. The evangelical Islamophobes never mention this, but rather focus on the areas of Muslim vulnerability. In their literature, evangelical Islamophobes instruct to not start by preaching to Muslims about the Christian faith, but rather to start by casting doubt in their hearts about their own religion. Then they provide sample questions to pose to Muslims under the guise of seeking the Truth. Once doubt sets in and it appears the Muslim is thoroughly confused and lost, then they will introduce them to the “good news” of the love of Jesus Christ. This methodology is as old as colonialism in Islamic world. In this khutbah, Dr. Abou El Fadl demonstrates what the powerless must do with the powerful. The powerless remain powerless unless they learn to return the gaze, a lesson Muslims have not yet learned. He engages in some Bible study, using the New Oxford Bible, and gives an illustration of what an educated Muslim can do if they are proud of who they are, confident, and able to return the gaze. Often the best defense is a good offense. It is important to respect and honor Christians, but Muslims must return the gaze. To do so takes years of study, which is exactly why Muslims should support our educated, so that they can return the gaze. Muslims should either not engage this material or educate themselves before ignorance destroys their Hereafter. The Bible confirms the One and Only God, who has sent the son of man, as Jesus called himself. We are all sons and daughters of God, as we are all bonded to God with love and passion. The difference is that in Islam, we don't need someone to die for our sins, or need to see someone suffer for us to feel God's love. We feel God’s love without God suffering. The age of social media has turned the world into a place of noise. We must learn to purify our ears, so we can listen only to what is worth listening to.