Ihsan Center – Islam From The Heart

My Dear Brothers and sisters, as salaam alaykum – greetings of peace to you.

Today’s Khutbah is about “Talking the talk and walking the Walk” What does this mean? It means do we take the responsibility, as Muslims, to represent Islam in our lives and in our relationships with other people? And especially with people of other faiths? Are we presenting ourselves as the Muslims that we say that we are? Do we represent Islam in the way that we say we do? It is a hard time to be a Muslim in a minority in a country (both the USA and other nations) where many of the people are distrustful and fearful of Muslims and Islam. Even though they may not even know one single true fact about us. In fact, ignorance of the “other” is the most compelling force in bringing about this distrust and hate. But what are we doing to dispel this ignorance? What do we do in our lives that helps alleviate and dispel the ignorance, and to counter the lies that are spread? What we have to do is much more than simply talk the talk. We need to do much more than come to Jummah once a week; we need to do much more than fast Ramadhan. We are in a unique situation in history. We are a minority Muslim community with an important message to send to our neighbors and communities. The message is that we are here, and we are not that different from you in so many ways.