Is It Permissible To Offer the Friday Khutba in a Melodiously Signing Manner?

Answered by Shaykh Salman Younas

Question

My question is regarding “waaz”. It’s basically a very common style of delivery of Islamic sermons in Bangladesh and generally amongst the sub-continent.

A lot of supposed Alim (Mufti/Mawlana, etc) in the subcontinent seem to deliver their sermon in this style, which involves melodiously singing out their message and words and probing the audience to respond with words of affirmation or zikr (such as SubhanAllah, Amin, etc)

This style is so prevalent and insisted upon that anybody who delivers a sermon in any other style would be looked down upon or even considered to have less knowledge.

My questions are two-fold:

What’s the basis of this practice? And Is it permissible to do so?

Answer

The waaz you describe would take the ruling of any other speech: if the content is blameworthy and unsound, the ruling is one of dislikedness or impermissibility; if it is praiseworthy and sound, it is recommended and rewarding.

Speaking in Melody

Speaking in melody and rhyme is in itself permissible.

However, looking down upon people for not engaging in such a practice or deeming them less knowledgeable is problematic. While cultural and social expectations are natural and found within various communities, fields, and occupations, the act of looking down upon people is often a manifestation of arrogance and a cause for strife among people. Often, these expectations are also not a sign of a knowledge and to conflate it with knowledge is harmful and counterproductive. People should be taught not to think in this manner.[al-Nahlawi, al-Durar al-mubaha]

[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Born and raised in New York, Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studied Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. He is now in his final year of his PhD at Oxford University, looking at the early evolution of the Hanafi madhab.
His teachers include: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, Shaykh Salah Abu’l Hajj, Shaykh Ashraf Muneeb, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Shaykh Ahmad Snobar, Shaykh Ali Hani, Shaykh Hamza Bakri, Ustadh Rajab Harun and others.
Ustadh Salman’s personal interests include research into the fields of law/legal methodology, hadith, theology, as well as political theory, government, media, and ethics. He is also an avid traveler and book collector. He currently resides in the UK with his wife.