What an inspirational sermon! Dr. Aslam Abdullah’s sermon had a universal message, meaning, whether you are Muslim or not, you would appreciate its content. He talked about the principle items Prophet Muhammad talked about in his last sermon –and had asked his followers to hang on to; equality of humankind, respect for women, non discrimination based on race or color of the skin, being just to fellow humans, accountability of one’s actions, and no one will bear others burden, human rights, taking care of the neighbors and all of that stuffed with mercy and kindness.
This is the kind of sermon people want to hear, it will open up the minds and truly understand the purpose of Islam or any religion for that matter – to create cohesive societies where no one has to live in fear of the other based on justice and mercy.
The sermon and the discussions following that gave me a lot of hope and strength to my belief that a majority of people are moderates; they want to get along with all and live their lives and let others live theirs. One of these days, we will do a survey of sermons as to which one’s were most remembered and what appealed to them. I bet with prejudice that sermons that respect all of humanity would be the most valued ones.
I missed much of the sermon as we had parking issues, we had dropped Dr. Abdullah and and our friends at the Mosque and went to park the car a mile plus away. Dr. Suhaib Siddiqi is another enlightened Muslim that faces problems now and then. After the sermon, he went to talk to the organizer of the mosque about the parking issue we had, the guy at the parking lot was rude, he did not allow us to park the car, even for the sermon giver, and we had only 1o minutes to start the sermon. While he was sharing it, that rude man came and nearly shouted at him that he was a not a Muslim and is a hypocrite and the organizer should not listen to him… … what?
What a shame, a few Muslims really push God aside and become God for the minute and pass judgments about others, a right only God has, it is time to push the right but new understanding in Islam – that is to declare any one less than a Muslim is a great sin of shirk- associating with God or usurping God’s power. I demand any Muslim who declares other Muslim a Kafir to produce the contract from God that he was appointed as God’s deputy, assistant or associate, if not, they need not talk. Takfiriyat is wrong and must be rejected, it is an idea whose time has come – more at http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2015/05/shia-sunni-takfiris-not-acceptable.html
Dr. Aslam Abdullah and I think and write alike on most of the issues. It was a joy for me to hear him for the first time. I follow him on facebook for a number of years but today was he first day I actually met him. I have given similar sermons at the Unitarian Universalist Churches all over Dallas area, by the way, I fit in the mould of UU, as Islam is similar to me to create a world of harmony and peace.
Before I moved to Washington DC, I had planned on delivering Friday Sermons and have written several Sermons (need to find where they are) based on the following write ups:
1. Connecting with the Prophet –
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/american-muslim-agenda-a-_b_5528706.html 3. Fixing the Muslim Mistakes
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2014/12/fixing-muslim-mistakes.html
4. Is Akhira the root of Muslim Problem?http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2014/07/religious-pluralism-versus-intolerance.html
5. Articles on Quranic verses at www.Quraantoday.com
6. Civic Islam at www.WorldMuslimCongress.com
7. Sharia – www.ShariaLaws.com
9. Apostasy – http://apostasyandIslam.blogspot.com