“Friday Sermon”, the Pavilion of Bahrain at the 2018 Venice Biennale

A ritual and space organized by oratory practice, the Friday Sermon has historically played an important role in the shaping of collective life, public opinion and common space for Muslim communities. For believers, it is a regular pulse of collective listening on the social and political conditions of the time. The Friday khutbah takes root in a pre-Islamic Arab tradition of epic poem and speech recitation. This ritual continued during the early days of Islam, gathering people around the mosque and eventually giving shape to planned congregational spaces in Arab cities that would accommodate these gatherings. To this day, the sites of the Friday sermon create a network of public spaces temporarily activated through mass assembly. While they’re not quite sites of debate, they represent the most visible expression of public gathering across the Arab world. Whether as a channel for domination and propaganda or for emancipation and liberation, whether conservative or progressive, the Friday khutbah has the ears of millions of believers around the world. Khutbat Al-Jom’ah/Friday Sermon traces the evolution and apparatus of this ritual of preaching and collective listening in selected cities around the world.

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