whats the plot

my 5th khutbah in alexandria was with sheikh 7atem farid.  sheikh 7atem is famous for his beautiful recitation of the quran.  it is said that during ramadan, an incredibly massive number of people come and pray taraweeh behind him, especially on the 27th night of ramadan.  i attended the khutbah at masjid bilal, which is a very short walk away from the mediterranean sea and is right next to san stefano.

anyhow, the khutbah was about life insurance companies and how, as muslims, we know that there is no such “insurance” except that given to us by Allah – that a muslim does good deeds, etc and Allah promises to protect them, etc (as can be seen from many verses in the Quran) – for example:

“They who believe and do not mix their belief with injustice – those will have security, and they are [rightly] guided.” (6:82).

in this masjid also, there was only one khutbah.  i asked my friend, may Allah protect him, as to the reasoning, and he explained that during the time of the Prophet (saw), sayidna Abu Bakr (ra), sayidna Omer (ra), and part of the time of sayidna Uthman (ra), there was only one athan.  however, during the time of sayidna Uthman (ra), people complained that they didn’t have enough time to get to the masjid because they wouldn’t hear the athan, etc.  as a result, sayidna Uthman (ra) ordered for a second athan to be given (before the first athan) in the market.

this practice stayed and as thus, there remain 2 athans in many masajid.  wa Allahu a3lam.

masjid al salam is the masjid next to the place i am currently staying.  most of the people who go there are the people who live or work in assid, where the masjid is located.  i am not sure if the masjid has a full time imam or not, because the same subset of n people always lead the salah – some are good, some are okay (in terms of qira2a, etc – not that i am one to judge).

anyway, the 4th khutbah i attended in alexandria was at masjid al salam because i was running late and didn’t have time to go to al hedaya.  the khutbah was about the story of sayidna musa (as), and more specifically, about the beginning years of his life.

the only different/notable things were:

1.  i walked in the masjid and found a tape player playing surat al kahf with loud volume.  i never experienced/encountered this before, but turns out it’s common in some masajid in egypt.
2.  only one athan for salah – my friend later told me why (i’ll discuss this in the next khutbah related post insha’Allah).
3.  the khateeb, at the end, after the khutbah, stood up and said that whoever doesn’t thank people doesn’t thank Allah (hadeeth i guess) – and then proceeded to thank the egyptian president for opening some route for supplies to the palestinians.  i found it odd, even though he did say something to the extent of, “in the same way that we have to point out when they’re wrong, we have to give them good feedback when they are good.”

today is friday…  and in just 2 hours, i’ll be attending my 5th khubah here in alexandria insha’Allah.  unfortunately, i only mentioned 2 of the prior khutbahs in a previous blog post, and still haven’t talked about the other two yet.

so the 2nd khutbah i attended in alexandria was also at masjid al hedaya.  the sheikh was visiting the masjid and gave a good khutbah about the tafseer of surat al 7ujurat.

as is the seeming norm for masjid al hedaya, the sheikh gave an additional (optional) talk after the khutbah.  during this, he mentioned a story that i’d like to share.

there was once a sheikh who was invited somewhere – so he went, sat down, had a good time, good chat, etc.  when all was done, the sheikh needed a way to get home (he didn’t have a car, etc).  he was too shy to ask any of the people with him to drop him (especially since those people had their family with them, etc) so he went down to the street and tried to decide how to get home.

he thought, “i could take a taxi, but i don’t have any money…” – not knowing what to do, he raised his hands to Allah and asked, “oh Allah, give me x money” – afterwards, he found some money that he had missed in his pocket or bag.  he said, “great, i can go home now!” – but there was one problem – no one would stop for him (no taxi would stop to drop him home).

he then realized his mistake – so he raised his hands again and said, “oh Allah, i want to go home!” – a short while later, a brother was driving and recognized him – he said, “oh, you’re sheikh so and so!  come let me drop you!” – and he dropped him off, refusing to take any money from him.

moral of the story – instead of just asking Allah for the means, ask Allah for the end that you want to reach!

when i came to alexandria, one of my newly made friends suggested that i come with him for jum3ah rather than go to the masjid near my home, and offered to pick me up – may Allah reward him!

my friend picked me up, and together we went to masjid al hedaya, located close to the hedaya medical facility on the path of the tram.  the masjid had two people outside sitting with a huge box of clear plastic bags for people to put their shoes in.  after the prayer, people would return those bags to the people outside for use the following week.  the masjid is a nice masjid with no cell phone reception – apparently because they installed a reception-blocking device in there.

needless to say, the khutbah by Dr. Shehab was a breath of fresh air given the previous khutbah i had attended in cairo.  in the first khutbah i attended for Dr. Shehab, he talked about “علو الهمة” (which i can’t think of a good translation for) – it was masha’Allah a really awesome khutbah.

two weeks later, Dr. Shehab gave a very moving khutbah in which he spoke about our role and duty towards the people of Palestine, especially given the then-recent flotilla incident.

during the khutbah, Dr. Shehab was talking about justice and how we have to help those who are being transgressed against and such.  immediately after the salah, a man stood up and said out loud, “Sheikh, you talked about justice, help me get my right from this man – he  stole my life’s earnings during the many years i was away in Suez…”  an argument erupted, and the sheikh took them both to his office to resolve it, thereby skipping his normal post-khutbah talk.  sub7anAllah.

sadly, Dr. Shehab apologized from his lectures, classes (he teaches in Tanta, in a university that is part of al-Azhar), and khutbas until the beginning of july for medical reasons.  may Allah give him shifa’!

for more info on Dr. Shehab, see his website or facebook page.

the first khutbah i attended in egypt this trip was in cairo a few days after i arrived.  i decided not to go to the “zawya” (literally means “angle,” refers to a small masjid underneath an apartment buildings) near where i was staying and instead decided to go to the bigger masjid (near a really big church in the area).

i don’t remember what the khutbah was about – but what i do remember is being surprised at the usage of words like “neela” and “balawi” during the khutbah…