Friday sermons - from Hani Ramadan

Friday was instituted to be a time of community gathering, a time whose strong points are the sermon and the prayer carried out in common. It is therefore important that this speech be within reach of the audience, that they can draw lessons from it, and above all a course of action in accordance with the principles of Islam, from one Friday to the next. The sermon is a reminder, which allows believers to renew their spiritual energy in contact with a word whose role is to awaken consciences. This book includes the presentation of sermons that were given at the Islamic Center of Geneva. They come from various sources: from ancient texts such as the writings of the imams Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim, or more recent, such as those of the imam Hasan al-Banna and the scholar Abu al- Hasan an-Nadawî, or lesser-known authors, such as Muhammad Dâwûd. We have adapted these references to the framework of Friday, which supposes a clarification of the themes and the use of an appropriate discourse, but faithful to the intended general meaning.

In addition to providing any reader with enriching elements of the Islamic tradition, we also hope to provide preachers in our community with material that they can use on Fridays and other occasions. Indeed, it is now necessary to take into account a situation that is no longer new: converts or Muslims born in the West do not have access, for the most part, to classical Arabic, and even for some to the dialects of their countries of origin. We have privileged, in our sermons, the use of a simple and clear vocabulary. The main thing, for us, being less the search for literary effects than the transmission of notions intended to develop our understanding of Islam, and to change our behavior.