No Politicians in Mosques Khutbah Talking Points

Key Themes and Objectives:

1. Maintaining Sanctity and Purity: The mosque is a place where Muslims pray, recite the Quran, make dhikr and duaa. To visit a mosque is to visit a “House of Allah.” Prayer, recitation, and preparing to stand in front of Allah in one of his “houses” requires a spiritual and ritual purity not shared by non-Muslims.

2. Protection and Gheera over our Mosques: Encourage a stance against superficial and false participation in our most sacred spaces. Remind the community that we can and should be exclusive over who has access to our masaajid. 

3. Humility and Reflection: Learning and considering what the scholars have said about how we treat our masaajid. Challenging ourselves to rethink the approach we’ve taken as tradition and question why such a practice came about in the first place. 

4. Rejecting Meaningless Gestures at the Expense of our Deen: While some may point out that some scholars have permitted non-Muslims to enter mosques when “necessary” or for the sake of “peace negotiations,” explain that we are not in this position now. Remind the community that most politicians visit mosques as an empty gesture; they rarely make promises, and they don’t keep the ones they do make. 

Quranic References

• (At-Tawbah, 9:28) “Oh you who believe, indeed the polytheists are impure (najis), so let them not approach Al-Masjid Al-Haram after this, their (final) year.”
  • يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ فَلَا يَقْرَبُوا الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَذَا
• (At-Tawbah, 9:17) “It is not for the polytheists to maintain the mosques of Allah [while] witnessing against themselves with disbelief. [For] those, their deeds have become worthless, and in the Fire they will abide eternally.”
  • مَا كَانَ لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ أَن يَعْمُرُوا مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ شَاهِدِينَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِم بِالْكُفْرِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ وَفِي النَّارِ هُمْ خَالِدُونَ
• (Al-Jinn. 72:18) “And [He revealed] that the masjids are for Allah, so do not invoke with Allah anyone.”
  • وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا
• (An-Nur, 24:36) “[Such niches are] in mosques which Allah has ordered to be raised and that His name be mentioned therein; exalting Him within them in the morning and the evenings”
  •  فِي بُيُوتٍ أَذِنَ اللَّهُ أَن تُرْفَعَ وَيُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ فِيهَا بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآصَالِ
• (Al-Mumtahina, 60:1) “O you who have believed, do not take My enemies and your enemies as allies, extending to them affection while they have disbelieved in what came to you of the truth, having driven out the Prophet and yourselves [only] because you believe in Allah, your Lord. If you have come out for jihad in My cause and seeking means to My approval, [take them not as friends]. You confide to them affection, but I am most knowing of what you have concealed and what you have declared. And whoever does it among you has certainly strayed from the soundness of the way.”
  • يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَاءَ تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا بِمَا جَاءَكُم مِّنَ الْحَقِّ يُخْرِجُونَ الرَّسُولَ وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۙ أَن تُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ رَبِّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ خَرَجْتُمْ جِهَادًا فِي سَبِيلِي وَابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِي ۚ تُسِرُّونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَأَنَا أَعْلَمُ بِمَا أَخْفَيْتُمْ وَمَا أَعْلَنتُمْ ۚ وَمَن يَفْعَلْهُ مِنكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاءَ السَّبِيلِ

Hadith

• Anas b. Malik (RA) reported: “While we were in the mosque with Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), a desert Arab came and stood up and began to urinate in the mosque. The Companions of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: Stop, stop, but the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Don’t interrupt him; leave him alone. They left him alone, and when he finished urinating, Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) called him and said to him: These mosques are not the places meant for urine and filth, but are only for the remembrance of Allah, prayer and the recitation of the Qur’an…” (Sahih Muslim, 285)
  • عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ رَضيَ اللهُ عنه قَالَ: بَيْنَمَا نَحْنُ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ مَعَ رَسُولِ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِذْ جَاءَ أَعْرَابِيٌّ، فَقَامَ يَبُولُ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ، فَقَالَ أَصْحَابُ رَسُولِ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: مَهْ مَهْ، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «لَا تُزْرِمُوهُ، دَعُوهُ» فَتَرَكُوهُ حَتَّى بَالَ، ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ دَعَاهُ فَقَالَ لَهُ: «إِنَّ هَذِهِ الْمَسَاجِدَ لَا تَصْلُحُ لِشَيْءٍ مِنْ هَذَا الْبَوْلِ، وَلَا الْقَذَرِ إِنَّمَا هِيَ لِذِكْرِ اللهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ، وَالصَّلَاةِ وَقِرَاءَةِ الْقُرْآنِ

• Ai ’shah (RAA) reported: Allah’s messenger (ﷺ) said: “It is not permitted for a menstruating woman or one who is junub (ritually impure) to stay in the mosque.” (Sunan Abi Dawud)
  • عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اَللَّهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اَللَّهِ ‏- صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏-{ إِنِّي لَا أُحِلُّ اَلْمَسْجِدَ لِحَائِضٍ وَلَا جُنُبٌ }

Major Scholars

• Imam Malik forbade non-Muslims from entering mosques: He said “The mosque is a place for Muslims to worship Allah and non-Muslims should not enter.” (Narrated by Al-Muwatta) 
• Imam al-Shafi’i in Al-Umm said, “The mosque is sacred, non-Muslims are not allowed to enter except for dire necessity.” 
• Ibn Taymiyyah said, “The mosques are sanctuaries for the Muslims alone; the disbelievers are forbidden from entering except for a necessity that cannot be avoided.” (Majmu’ al-Fatawa, 26/280) 
• Imam Al-Nawawi said, “The mosque is for the Muslims, and it is not permissible for disbelievers to enter except for some need, as the sanctity of the mosque must be preserved.” (Al-Majmu’ Sharh al-Muhazhab) 

Practical Examples

• There are mosques in NYC that invite sitting mayors to speak and have iftar at the masjid with little impact on police brutality and targeting Muslims for surveillance. 

• There are mosques in the D.C. that have spent years inviting congressional leaders, white house officials, and even the FBI to speak to our congregations, with little impact on targeting Muslims.

• [Discuss local example of a non-Muslim politician previously invited to a local mosque but still ignores the community’s plight]. 

Self-Reflection Questions for Congregation: 

• What are our true intentions behind inviting non-Muslims in? What are the critical differences between “Dawah” and an inferiority complex? 
• Can you think of a time when a politician made and kept a promise to our community after being invited to our mosques? 
• To the extent that some policies that are good for Muslims have passed either locally or nationally- what actually propelled the actors behind them? Was it the invitation to Jummah or sustained protest, pressure, media, and maybe even lawsuits? 
• Are we doing what we can to preserve the sanctity of our mosques? 
• Have we inadvertently cheapened the mosque through our actions and solicitations? 

Recommended Duaa 

• Oh Allah, show us the truth clearly and grant us the strength to follow it, and show us falsehood clearly and grant us the strength to avoid it
  • اللَّهُمَّ أَرِنَا الْحَقَّ حَقًّا وَارْزُقْنَا اتِّبَاعَهُ، وَأَرِنَا الْبَاطِلَ بَاطِلًا وَارْزُقْنَا اجْتِنَابَهُ

• Oh Allah, use us and do not replace us. Keep us steadfast on your Deen, and do not make us amongst those who, when they are told “do not spread fasaad in the world” they answer “verily we are fixing it.”
  • اللهم استخدمنا ولا تستبدلنا و ثبتنا على دينك و لا تجعلنا من الذين إذ قيل لهم لا تفسدوا في الأرض قالوا إنما نحن مصلحون
• Oh Allah, forgive us for our shortcomings towards You and our Ummah. Do not hold us accountable for our weakness, Oh Most Merciful.
  • اللهم اغفر لنا تقصيرنا في حقك وحق أمتنا، وال تؤاخذنا بضعفنا يا أرحم الراحمين

Summary

• Even the most permissive of the fiqh schools emphasize that permission is needed for non Muslims to gain entry to the masajid and stress the importance of preserving their sanctity 
• With election season upon us, many politicians will seek to enter our masjids in order to address our communities and win support
• As custodians of the houses of Allah it is our duty to not grant automatic permission to politicians to enter our masjids, but to do our due diligence and ensure that their presence benefits the Muslim community and doesn’t harm it.
• When considering whether to allow politicians access to the masjid, consider the following questions
  • What is the necessity? Is there actually a maslaha? What are the potential harms? 
  • Is the sanctity of the masjid being preserved?
    • Is prayer or jummah being disrupted? 
    • Are lies and falsehoods being spread? 
    • Are they observing proper gender boundaries? 
    • Are they dressed appropriately? 
• Keep in mind that in the majority of situations, these conditions are not being met and concrete benefits do not actually materialize for the Muslims. Most of the time politicians don’t keep their promises to Muslim communities, or even neglect to promise us anything of substance
  • Therefore, our recommendation is to prohibit politicians from entering the mosque and addressing the community unless there is concrete benefit that can be reasonably expected to materialize. That is best to preserve the sanctity of Allah’s house. 

Messaging Guidelines

• Be clear, firm, assertive, and reflective. 
• Tie local issues/events as examples to the overall message as anecdotal backing 
• Emphasize collective responsibility for maintaining the sanctity and purity of our deen and mosques, and the importance of Gheera over our mosques, our ummah, and our deen. 

Sample Khutbah 

Alḥamdulillāh, we praise Allah, Lord of the heavens and the earth, who has honored this Ummah with guidance, dignity, and the mission of upholding truth. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone without partner, and that Muḥammad ﷺ is His final Messenger and servant.

Whoever Allah guides, no one can misguide. And whoever Allah allows to go astray, no one can guide them back. We ask Him to place taqwā in our hearts, sincerity in our actions, and clarity in our principles.

Dear brothers and sisters,

We are now in a time when the climate of politics is heating up. Elections are approaching. Candidates are looking for votes. And suddenly, the Muslim community is remembered. The same community that is ignored, vilified, and scapegoated in many political seasons is now being approached with smiles, promises, and photo ops.

And so our masājid—houses built for the remembrance of Allah—are being used as campaign stops, as backdrops for press releases, as venues for hollow speeches.

We must ask: Are we protecting the sanctity of the house of Allah? Or are we opening the doors to manipulation?

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🔹 The Masjid is Not a Political Stage

Allah says in the Qur’an:

“And [He revealed] that the mosques are for Allah, so do not invoke anyone along with Allah.”
(Sūrat al-Jinn 72:18)

The masjid is not a platform for human agendas. It is a place of tawḥīd and submission, not of slogans and self-promotion. No one—whether powerful or powerless—has the right to come into Allah’s house and use it for their personal gain.

In another verse, Allah says:

“And who is more unjust than the one who prevents the name of Allah from being mentioned in His mosques and strives to ruin them? It is not for such people to enter them except in fear…”
(Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:114)

This is not just about physically preventing prayer. It includes any act that distracts, degrades, or desecrates the spiritual function of the masjid.

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🔹 The Prophet ﷺ Preserved the Purpose of the Masjid

The Prophet ﷺ did not allow just any kind of speech or activity to take place in the masjid. In one authentic narration, he said:

“When you see people buying and selling inside the masjid, say to them: ‘May Allah not make your trade profitable.’ And when you see people announcing lost items inside the masjid, say: ‘May Allah not return it to you.’”
(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, 1321 – ḥasan)

This may sound harsh—but the message is clear: the masjid is not a marketplace. It’s not a town hall. It’s not a debate stage. It is a sanctuary for remembering Allah, seeking guidance, and organizing for righteous action—not being sold lies.

Today, we see some politicians—not all, but many—come into our mosques without any meaningful relationship with the Muslim community, without knowledge of our pain, our principles, or our priorities.

They come with empty language, vague sympathies, and carefully-worded statements, only to remain silent when Muslims are under attack, when mosques are burned, when children in Gaza are being slaughtered with U.S.-funded bombs.

And yet we allow them into our sacred spaces without accountability.

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🔹 The Scholars Warned Us

Imām Mālik رحمه الله said:

“The masjid is not a place for judgments, nor for public worldly matters.”
(Al-Mudawwanah)

In al-Majmūʿ, Imām al-Nawawī writes:

“All speech or activity in the masjid that is not related to the worship of Allah or what is necessary for the function of the masjid should be minimized and discouraged.”

This does not mean we cannot discuss important community concerns. It does not mean we cannot host conversations about social justice, or about the affairs of the Ummah. But it does mean that we do not turn the masjid into a stage for people whose interest is not the dīn, but their own election.

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🔹 A Lesson from the Prophet’s ﷺ Engagement

The Prophet ﷺ engaged with leaders. He received delegations. He signed treaties. But he did so on his own terms, not from a place of weakness or naïveté.

When the Quraysh came with offers of wealth, position, and power—he refused. Even when they offered to make him king, he said:

“By Allah, if they were to place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, I would not abandon this message until Allah makes it prevail or I perish.”
(Sīrah of Ibn Hishām)

That is principled engagement—not appeasement.

Even in Madinah, when he received delegations from the Jews, Christians, and surrounding tribes, he listened, negotiated, and collaborated—but he never allowed falsehood, oppression, or political games to enter the sacred spaces of his mission.

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🔹 The Masjid is a Place of Dignity and Integrity

Dear brothers and sisters, when we open our masjids to unfiltered, unprincipled political visits, we send a message:

“We are desperate. We are cheap. We will welcome anyone who gives us attention.”

But that is not who we are.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“The upper hand is better than the lower hand.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī)

We engage from a position of dignity, not desperation. We are a people of principles, not platforms.

Yes, we want safety for our children. Yes, we want to protect our rights. But we will not sell our souls—or our sacred spaces—to anyone who cannot speak truth or stand for justice.

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🔹 A Call to Wakefulness

Let us be awake. Let us be discerning. Let us be principled.

• If someone wants our support, let them earn our trust.
  
• If someone comes to our mosque, let them know what our priorities are.
  
• If someone speaks in our name, let them speak the truth, or not speak at all.

May Allah protect our masjids from being dishonored.
May He give us the wisdom of the Prophet ﷺ, who was neither naive nor cynical, but clear-eyed, strategic, and rooted in revelation.
May He raise in our communities people who will uphold the sanctity of Allah’s house, and speak truth to power.

Aqulu qawli hādhā wa astaghfirullāh li walakum. Fa-staghfirūhu, innahu huwa al-Ghafūr al-Raḥīm.

Second Khutbah

Brothers and sisters,

Let me be clear: Islam does not call us to political isolation. The Prophet ﷺ signed treaties, received delegations, and negotiated with tribes. He was not naïve. He understood the necessity of strategic engagement—but never at the cost of principle. Never at the expense of the dignity of Islam or the purity of its institutions.

So what does that mean for us today?

It means that:

• We must not allow any politician—Democrat, Republican, or otherwise—to use our platforms without scrutiny.
  
• We must not allow empty platitudes to go unchallenged.
  
• We must ask hard questions: What have you done for justice? For Gaza? For the oppressed in our country and abroad?
  
• We must refuse to let politicians think that a photo-op in a masjid equals support from the Muslim community.

And we must never forget: our allegiance is first and foremost to Allah. Not to any party, not to any candidate. Allah says:

“O you who believe, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or your parents or your kin…”
(Sūrat al-Nisāʾ 4:135)

So yes, we engage. But we engage selectively, principally, and strategically.

We do not engage from a place of desperation, but from a place of dignity. We are not begging to be included—we are calling people to the truth. We do not enter politics to be absorbed by it—we enter it to hold power accountable, speak truth, and protect the rights of the oppressed.

May Allah protect our mosques from being compromised.
May He grant us the wisdom to engage without selling our integrity.
May He make us people of dignity, who worship in His masājid and uphold their sanctity.