“Khoṭba”

Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL SCIENCE: C Sociology & Culture, 2020

In this article we will try to show the process of transformation that underwent the Arab oratory, the ḫaṭâbah, from its genesis up to the construction of the cultual model of ḫuṭbat ṣalât al-ǧumu'ah (sermon of Friday's canonical prayer) spread today among Muslims. Our brief socio-historical analysis of ḫuṭbah goes from the period called Ǧâhilliyyah (pre-Islamic, up to 610 AD) to the dominion of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258 AD). We will see how the ḫuṭbah in Ǧâhilliyyah was situated in a precise space-time framework and had specific socio-cultural functions, how its producers had definite roles and its development possessed well-known characteristics. The arrival of Islam sacralized this social practice, turning it into a religious rite, and so the ḫuṭbat al-ǧumu'ah was born. The death of the prophet of Islam in 632 AD caused a charismatic emptiness that generated a conflict of a symbolic order (Pace, 20042). The protagonists of the discord used the ḫuṭbah as a communicative tool to launch their own theological-political invectives. With the Umayyad hegemony (from 661 AD to 750 AD), this practice entered a period of great transformations.

2020

In this article we will try to show the process of transformation that underwent the Arab oratory, the ḫaṭâbah, from its genesis up to the construction of the cultual model of ḫuṭbat ṣalât al-ǧumu'ah (sermon of Friday's canonical prayer) spread today among Muslims. Our brief socio-historical analysis of ḫuṭbah goes from the period called Ǧâhilliyyah (pre-Islamic, up to 610 AD) to the dominion of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258 AD). We will see how the ḫuṭbah in Ǧâhilliyyah was situated in a precise space-time framework and had specific socio-cultural functions, how its producers had definite roles and its development possessed well-known characteristics. The arrival of Islam sacralized this social practice, turning it into a religious rite, and so the ḫuṭbat al-ǧumu'ah was born. The death of the prophet of Islam in 632 AD caused a charismatic emptiness that generated a conflict of a symbolic order (Pace, 20042). The protagonists of the discord used the ḫuṭbah as a communic...

Classical Arabic Humanities in their Own Terms: Festschrift for Wolfhart Heinrichs, 2008

We know of no orations (khuÔbas) except by the Arabs and Persians. As for the Indians, they have inscribed themes, ageless books, that cannot be ascribed to any known man … The Greeks have philosophy and the craft of logic, but the author of the Logic [Aristotle] himself … was not described as eloquent … The Persians have orators, except that the speech of the ÝAjam … derives from long contemplation and … the studying of books … [As for] the [speech] of the Arabs it is all extemporaneity and spontaneity, as though it is [simply] inspiration … (al-JÁÎiÛ, d. 255/868 or 9, al-BayÁn wa-l-tabyÐn) 1 17 A less common plural form is makhÁÔib, which is also said to be a plural of makhÔab, a noun of place, meaning the place where the khuÔba is delivered. KHUÓBA 181 ceremonial occasion such as a public celebration." 18 It subsumes meanings conveyed by multiple English terms-exhortation, admonition, discourse, sermon, homily, debate, and speech-which also express the wide range of applications of the khuÔba. The definition of the term khuÔba by E.W. Lane, based on the medieval lexica, includes the umbrella category of "oration," as well as the subcategories mentioned in the OED. 19 All these applications of khuÔba (and several others, such as the proposing of marriage), are associated with the underlying denotation of "direct address" of the root kh-Ô-b. The scribe and critic IsÎÁq b. IbrÁhÐm al-KÁtib (wrote in or after 335/946 or 7) as well as the famed lexicographer Ibn ManÛÙr (d. 711/1311) offer an alternative derivation from "khaÔb," which means "an important event" or "a calamity," saying the khuÔba was thus named because the Arabs only delivered it on momentous or catastrophic occasions. 20 The morphological classifications of the relevant derivatives of kh-Ô-b are as follows: The form I verb "khaÔaba" (with a fatÎa on the 2 nd root letter), according to the medieval lexicographers, means to deliver an oration, while "khaÔuba" (with a Ãamma on the 2 nd root letter), means to become a preacher. To indicate the orator, the intensive noun form (ism al-mubÁlagha) "khaÔÐb" (pl. khuÔabÁÞ) is generally used in place of the active participle form (ism al-fÁÝil) "khÁÔib." However, the intensive sense of khaÔÐb is not completely lost, for the term is also used to connote a superb orator or a professional preacher. The word "khuÔba" is most commonly categorized as a form I verbal noun (maÒdar). Alternatively, it is categorized as a substantive used as a maÒdar or passive participle (ism al-mafÝÙl) equivalent to makhÔÙba. 21 18 The OED also offers two other specialized meanings of the word "oration:" a derogatory usage, denoting "any impassioned, pompous, or long-winded speech;" and, in the 15 th -19 th centuries, "a prayer or supplication to God," derived from the Latin etymon orare = to pray; this latter usage is now rare, and confined chiefly to the Roman Catholic Church. 19 Lane 1863, kh-Ô-b. Lane leaves out the OED's (internet site) oration subcategory of debate; but, as we shall see in Section IV, this was a valid subtype of the khuÔba. 20 IsÎÁq b. IbrÁhÐm al-KÁtib (d. after 335/946), al-BurhÁn fÐ wujÙh al-bayÁn, 192; Ibn ManÛÙr, LisÁn al-Ýarab. 21 Lane 1863 says it is "a word of the measure fuÝla in the sense of the measure mafÝÙla, like nuskha in the sense of mansÙkha." TAHERA QUTBUDDIN 182

Khutbah is the primary formal occasion for public preaching in the Islamic tradition. Khutbat al-jum'ah or Friday sermon is delivered in the mosque weekly on Friday. The Friday prayer is one of the symbols of Islam, one of the most important aspects of the worship performed on Jumu'ah day is the deliverance of the Friday sermon (Khutbah). The Khutbah originates from the practice of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, who used to deliver words of exhortation, instruction, or command at gatherings for worship in the mosque. By serving as a means to unite, educate, and build the Muslim community, the Friday sermon has been transformed beyond a religious ritual into an important social institution. The content of the khuṭbah can be viewed as a social commentary on the conditions that confront that particular Muslim community. This paper tries to analyze Friday sermon linguistically on how directive speech acts are performed by preacher. According to Searle directive speech act occurs when the speaker expects the listener to do something. Moreover, Huang (2007) states that directive speech acts can be performed to several types, they are advice, commands, orders, questions and requests. The data of this research are taken from Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) as written Friday sermons at http://www.officeofthemufti.sg/khutbah.html. This study uses qualitative method; the descriptive interpretative technique is used for analyzing data. The writer will read the written Friday sermon, find the utterance using directive speech acts and explain the phenomena using pragmatic theories.

Communication is the key of all sorts of relations and societies. Religion is one of them, which is related with both individuals and the society they belong to. Muslim religion is mainly based on communication. But this is not usually interaction between individuals but giving advices of the one who is more knowledgeable. In this way higher ethic values, friendship and cooperation was promoted to the community.

Brill: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East, 2019

In Arabic Oration: Art and Function, a narrative richly infused with illustrative texts and original translations, Tahera Qutbuddin presents a comprehensive theory of this preeminent genre in its foundational oral period, 7th-8th centuries AD. With speeches and sermons attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad, ʿAlī, other political and military leaders, and a number of prominent women, she assesses types of orations and themes, preservation and provenance, structure and style, orator-audience authority dynamics, and, with the shift from an oral to a highly literate culture, oration’s influence on the medieval chancery epistle. Probing the genre’s echoes in the contemporary Muslim world, she offers sensitive tools with which to decode speeches by mosque-imams and political leaders today.

Practices of Islamic Preaching Text. Performativity, and Materiality of Islamic Religious Speech. Edited by Ayşe Almıla Akca, Mona Feise-Nasr, Leonie Stenske, and Aydın Süer. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter. Open Access: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110788334/html, 2023

Preaching, a practice composed of and accompanied by a myriad of different activities, is an essential element of Muslim religious life both within and beyond mosques. As such, Islamic preaching is a common means of religious promulgation and knowledge transfer, of pastoral guidance and uplift, but also of communication between believers, and as a source of negotiating religious normativity, power relations, and societal topics. Given the centrality of preaching in Muslims’ religious life, this collective volume presents contributions on various aspects of performance, text, space, and materiality of Islamic preaching in history and present. The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary framework captures Islamic preaching as it unfolds in its social setting. The volume aims at representing the inner-Islamic diversity by depicting the practice of preaching as it came about in different times and geographical locations, shedding light onto Friday gatherings and sermons (ḫutba), and other forms of preaching (e. g. waʿẓ), be it during Ramadan, at religious feasts and commemorations, or on personal occasions such as weddings and funerals. Therefore, each chapter offers a different insight into the interwoven character of sermons’ contents, the preacher him/herself, and the audience by emphasising the role of their bodily performance, of the temporality and spatiality of preaching, and of the objects and items involved.

Ritual and Social Dynamics in Christian and Islamic Preaching, 2024

Across the mosques, homes, battlefields, and open town spaces of the Middle East in the seventh and eighth centuries ad, religion, politics, and aesthetics coalesced in the richly artistic public performance of spontaneous Arabic oration (khuṭba). Exquisite in rhetorical craftsmanship, these interactive speeches and sermons by the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), Imam Ali (d. 661), and other political and military leaders were also the major vehicle of policymaking and persuasion, and the primary conduit for dissemination of ethical, religious, and legal teachings. The Friday sermon that is an intrinsic part of Muslim ritual across the globe in our present time has a long history rooted in the first Friday sermon delivered by Muhammad in Medina, and more broadly in these multifunctional orations of the early Islamic world. In this chapter, I consider Arabic-Islamic oration across different social domains in its foundational age and situate religious speech within them. Drawing on a decade of research for my book published in 2019, Arabic Oration: Art and Function, I discuss the major features of classical Arabic oration, with a focus on religion, ritual, and the rhetoric of orality; further details for each of the points discussed below may be found in my book. I begin with a section on rhetoric, discussing the oral milieu of early Islamic oration and its aesthetic memory-based techniques. In a second section focusing on religion, I then discuss the pious themes of the early oration, and their diffusion across political and military speechmaking, which shows how boundaries between religion and other spheres of life were fluid in the early Islamic period. In the third section, on ritual, I say a few words about ceremonial aspects of the oration that served, among other things, as a mode of authority assertion. Altogether, I present the religious face of Arabic oration in early Islam, and some of its interconnections with art and society.

Theolinguistic study tries to explain the relationship between linguistics and religion. Religious rituals in Islamic teachings are closely related to verbal activities such as pray, daily prayer, sermons, and wedding ceremony. One method of delivering the teachings of Islam is through Friday sermons. The speech of preacher in Islamic Friday sermons is relevant to be approached pragmatically by using the theory of speech acts. This research tries to focus on studying directive speech acts performed by khatib (Islamic preacher) in Friday sermons. The data in this study was taken from the recording Friday sermon mosque in the Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The result shows that the strategy of directive speech acts using suffix "lash" and "kan" also has higher number among the finding data. The directive speech acts strategy using inclusive pronoun "kita" indicates that khatib want to be more polite. The strategy of directive speech acts using prohibition words also has quite high number. Khatib asked attendees to fear God, be thankful, always remember and pray to God, khatib supported his argument with Quranic verses and prophetic tradition.