Mawduat Saliha lil-Khutab wal-Waz
- Author died
- 1421 AH
- Editions
- Mawduat Saliha lil-Khutab wal-Waz
Mawduat Saliha lil-Khutab wal-Waz (Suitable Topics for Sermons and Exhortation) is a collection of thirty-seven Friday sermons compiled, arranged, and published by the Saudi scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Qasim (d. 1421 AH / 2000 CE) to serve as a practical resource for preachers and orators.
Background and Methodology
The compiler completed the introduction to the collection in Jumada al-Akhira 1419 AH (c. October 1998 CE). He clarified that the sermons were not original compositions of his own; instead, he extracted, arranged, and adapted them from existing classical texts. His editorial method involved selecting relevant passages, condensing certain phrasing, linking sections together, and adding explanatory commentary and transitional remarks where needed. Ibn Qasim attributed each excerpt to its original source and appended the specific textual references at the end of every individual sermon.
Sources and Content
The vast majority of the sermon material was adapted from the writings of the fourteenth-century theologian and jurist Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751 AH / 1350 CE), with a particular reliance on his work Miftah Dar al-Sa'ada (Key to the Abode of Happiness), alongside a minor portion drawn from other sources.
The collection focuses primarily on theological and spiritual subjects, structured around several central themes:
- Theology and proofs of God: Establishing the existence of God, contemplating His signs and the divine wisdom manifested in creation and revelation, upholding the unity of divine lordship (tawhid al-rububiyya), and answering atheist contentions.
- Prophethood and Islamic law: Demonstrating the necessity and miracles of prophethood, highlighting the supreme status and wisdom of the Sharia in general, and examining specific legal matters.
- Spiritual purification and eschatology: Explaining the inner actions and spiritual disciplines of the heart (a'mal al-qulub), as well as reflecting on the origin of humanity, its moral accountability, and ultimate destiny.
- Adherence to orthodoxy: Addressing contemporary spiritual laxity, warning against grave veneration and idolatrous practices, and advocating the moderate path of Islam between theological and devotional extremes.
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