My other suggestions are

- Muslims in a workplace—what kind of example should we be setting? Are there some Islamic role models?

- Time managment for Muslims in the West. Life is very hard and it’s hard to balance everything. Suggestions would be great

Bottom line, we need lectures that address our everyday lives and how to balance them with Islam. None of us want to be bad Muslims, and sometimes balancing all these demands of every day life is discouraging.

Wa 'Alaykum Assalam Shaykh,

Sister/Brother I would like to respectfully disagree with you. The Muslims nowadays, are now living in too much hope from Allah سبحانه و تعالى that He will forgive us and have mercy upon us. This type of behaviour is causing an imbalance as we are commanded (not sure or maybe recommended) to be in balance with fear and hope. Not only fear and not only hope.

As for the question the shaykh asked. Shaykh, it would depend if I was given some time to prepare for the topic or not. AlhamduLilah, Allah سبحانه و تعالى has blessed me to give khutab in my university. If I suddenly, without any notice have to give a khutbah, then I have some khutab on Sahabah رضي الله عنهم in my pocket and have memorised them so I am ready for such days alhamduLilah. But, if I am given time to think over the situation of our Muslims, then I chose a topic according to that. For example, I gave khutbah on not fearing anyone when obeying Allah سبحانه و تعالى because people do have tendency to fear Muslims or even non-Muslims when doing a commanded act. I even gave a khutbah on having husn adh-dhann (good suspicion) about your brother/sister, talking about aakhirah was my favourite khutbah I delivered and talking about Jannah when we needed to fund raise for orphans and talking about manhood. Insha'Allah my next khutbah is going to be on topic of hijab, both, for men and women.

And, indeed, Allah سبحانه و تعالى knows best.

There is a story from our history of how a Muslim army was denied victory in their siege of a city by Allah for many days until they took a hard look at themselves and uncovered (and corrected) some flaws. The way the story goes, and I apologize for not having references, was that they uncovered that no one was brushing their teeth, and thus the order was sent throughout the camp to break out the miswaks. Upon seeing this, panic spread throughout the enemy as they thought the Muslims were sharpening their teeth to come and eat them, so they ran away (the victory of Allah – striking fear into the hearts of the enemy) and the Muslims were victorious in taking the city.

The point? As someone mentioned above, hygiene (and more below). Why? Aside from it being civilized, it is not unreasonable to expect that if an entire army was denied victory until they brushed their teeth, that being proper Muslim individuals is step one of earning any sort of respect for this Ummah.

This leads to, in my opinion, a major shift in how we think about ourselves and our deen. I know we hear the “start with yourself” and “Allah will not change a people until they change themselves” talk all the time, but what it really comes down to is: if Allah denied a Muslim army victory until they brushed their teeth, what would He deny the Ummah when its members do not even know how to properly perform the arkan of salah, the most important (as I understand) act of existence after Shahada?

I suspect that this subject may have been ignored for so long because either the Khutbah is not the proper place for this lesson or that imams lead the prayer so often that they may not be as exposed as the rest of us to the lack of knowledge of the arkan of salah (and I'm not talking about the things where there are differences of opinion, but of the “muttafaq 'alayh” stuff) of the majority of the people praying behind them. If it is the former reason, then I humbly submit the opinion that the problem is so widespread that it must be addressed at the highest (and most public) of levels. If it is the latter, then I hope that it comes up someday in the next international scholar gathering, and that each of us here takes the initiative to contact our own imams or learns the material and teaches it to others on our own.

Baraka'Lahu feek!

what is our role as Muslims in the U.S. to our entire society?
http://generationintegration.wordpress.com/2009...

A group of brothers have started an excellent initiative to help address and bring awareness to this pressing issue, Muslim Men Against Domestic Abuse…http://www.mmada.org/

Sign the pledge!

We as Muslims need to say it is important enough, worth talking about without that person feeling that they have to go to someone else like a Non Muslim who will say something inferior to our belief as abuse is not accepted in any religion, shape or form, against islam, against human law. We should support people through this to help them through it and get out of that.