A young boy said to me after my Eid Khutbah: “You are the best Imam!” I don’t think this is the case, however at Eid Al-Adha one year, I led the prayer and delivered my usual short Khutbah – about 5 minutes at the Muslim World League at Goodge Street in central London.
After I finished and greeted the congregation with many hugs and had photos taken to treasure the memory, I left the mosque.
Outside I met many people and a young voice with an accent was calling me, ‘Ya Imam!’ I turned my face towards the voice and it was a confident, little Arab boy who was almost 10 years old, speaking in English. He approached me and said with a big smile on his face and joy in his eyes, ‘Ya Imam, your Khutbah was excellent, you are the best imam!’ He was with his mother and father. I asked him his name, and he said ‘Husam’ and I made du’a for him and his family.
His statement left me quite surprised and wondering what had impressed him.
I asked myself:
What had he understood from my Khutbah?
What was ‘excellent’ about my Khutbah?
Is it really possible to appeal to our youngsters and get to their minds and hearts?
I wish I could have asked him what it was he liked about my Khutbah, but his parents were in a hurry.
Did he like it because it was short?
Did he like it because it was relevant?
Did he like it because it was simple, clear and easy to understand?
Did he like it because some of it was funny?
Did he like it because it was not boring?
Did he like it because it was educational?
Did he like it because it was showing how strong we are as an Ummah when we are united?
Or all the above ?
Or none of the above?
I don’t know.
It filled my heart with joy to know that he enjoyed and understood the Khutbah, and could relate to it.
I tried to recollect what I had said in my Khutbah that had appealed to him. Perhaps it was my statement to parents: ‘Do not be grumpy this Eid; be happy and spread happiness because this is the Sunnah of Rasulullah peace be upon him’.
He took me back to my childhood where I used to attend Jumuah and Eid Khutbahs, but many of them were irrelevant to me and I couldn’t connect with them.
I don’t know what Husam got from my Khutbah, but I was pleased that it put a smile on his face and left him with a happy memory.
I hope we imams can do this always, in every Khutbah that we deliver.
Shaykh Haytham Tamim July 2022