Chutba

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Believers listen to the prayer leader ( imam ) sermon in a mosque
Festive prayer in the open field ( eidgah ) in Indonesia

Chutba (or Khutba , Arabic خطبة, DMG ḫuṭba ), also called “ Friday sermon ” in German , describes the sermon during the weekly Friday prayer of Muslims or during the festive prayer (Salat al-Eidain) for the Islamic festival of breaking the fast and the festival of sacrifice . It serves for spiritual edification and moral perfection.

Prayer leader

The person who holds the chutba is called the chatib . This is usually the prayer leader ( imam ) of the respective mosque . However, the address can also be given by another person, but a certain basic knowledge of Islam is a prerequisite for this. The chatib , standing on the second or third highest level of a prayer pulpit ( minbar ), usually speaks about a topic of his choice or relates to current events.

In Friday prayer, the chutba is held before the actual prayer ( salāt ) and lasts about 20–40 minutes. During the festive prayer, the assembly of the faithful often takes place in an open area that is not walled or roofed over ( Eidgah ); the chutba held on this occasion takes place after the prayer and is usually a little shorter.

history

Historically, the Friday prayer and official Friday address were held in the main mosque in every city. In the early days, political decisions were (also) announced by the caliph (or his provincial or military leaders). Since the Abbasids gave up the mosques as political centers, there have been several Friday mosques in the cities . The political aspect remained as long as the Chutba was held in the name of the caliph or the respective ruler.

The number of Friday mosques grew rapidly where the Friday service was open. The widespread use of Friday mosques was also noticeable in language usage. Today the Chutba is held in every major mosque, but in the Islamic diaspora (e.g. in Europe) it is also held in very small mosques.

literature

  • Mustafa Baktır: “Hutbe” in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi Vol. XVIII, pp. 425a – 428a. Digitized
  • Stephan Dähne: Speeches of the Arabs: the political ẖuṭba in classical Arabic literature . Lang, Frankfurt / Main, 2001.
  • Patrick Daniel Gaffney: Shaykh, khutba and masjid, the role of the local Islamic preacher in upper Egypt . UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, 1982. Also Chicago, Ill., Univ.-Diss., 1982.
  • Thomas Patrick Hughes: A dictionary of Islam being a cyclopædia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion . Allen, London, 1885. pp. 274-277. Digitized
  • Linda Jones: The Power of Oratory in the Medieval Muslim World . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012. pp. 38-108.
  • Hadia Mubarak: "Khuṭbah" in John L. Esposito (ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. 6 Vols. Oxford 2009. Vol. III, pp. 345-350.
  • Tahera Qutbuddin: "Ḵoṭba" in Encyclopaedia Iranica online version
  • Paul E. Walker: Orations of the Fatimid caliphs: festival sermons of the Ismaili imams; an edition of the Arabic texts and English translations of Fatimid khuṭbas . Tauris, London, 2009.
  • Paul E. Walker: "Islamic ritual preaching (khuṭbas) in a contested arena: Shī'īs and Sunnīs, Fatimids and Abbasids" in Anuario de Estudios Medievales 42/1 (2012) 119-140.
  • AJ Wensinck: " kh uṭba" in Encyclopedia of Islam . Brill, Leiden, 1913-1936. Vol. II, pp. 1054b-1057a.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lexicon of the Islamic World, Volume 2, Kohlhammer, 1974, ISBN 3-17-002160-5 , page 183/184
  2. AJ Wensinck and JH Kramers: Handwortbuch des Islam , EJ Brill, Leiden, 1941, p. 431