Introduction
The delivery of the speech that is critiqued in this paper is an argumentative lecture by Yusuf Estes on the subject of Hadith in Islam. The delivery of the speech shall be assessed within the framework of how effectively Estes was able to deliver the introduction, the body and how the speech was concluded, followed by recommendations.
The Critique
For any speech to be effective, it must create an impression on the listener. Even if the content is excellent, it is the delivery by the speaker that decides how the speech is received and how much of it is retained. Studies show that listeners make a positive correlation with certain attitudes of the speaker like expressiveness, involvement, and trustworthiness in all types of speeches . Negative association is made with characteristics like hesitation on part of the speaker, lack of confidence in the subject, and monotonous delivery. However certain characteristics are perceived differently in different contexts. For example, political speakers are expected to express less humility than others, they are also expected to show more objectivity, keep their delivery powerful and should also be display a level of aggression and agitation in their speaking style. The aggression appears to tell the listener that the politician cares for what s/he is taking a position on. However aggression, agitation, and accusation have negative resonance in other arenas like college lectures and corporate speeches.
A good speaker is also a prepared speaker. Effective speakers know their audience and write their material to suit their audience. Their speech will have a purpose, it will have a clear introduction which states the purpose, the body which breaks down the topic and presents evidence supporting or negating a claim, and a conclusion that will summarize the intent of the speech and end with a purposeful statement .
Estes delivered the speech on the subject of Hadith in Islam to a congregation of men aged below 40. Yusuf Estes, an American and former Christian preacher, is well-known in Muslim religious circles. In Islam, it is believed that the Hadith is a record of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and is looked upon as complementary to the Quran as a reference for religious law . Estes spoke to the men about the importance of the Hadith in Islam and why it needs to be viewed as a part of the Quran and not separate from it. While most of the audience members were primarily from Norway, which is the country where the speech was delivered, there were a few people from other countries as well. There were no women in attendance. The speech was delivered in the form of an argumentative lecture. While Estes did use light humor and a few close-ended questions as devices for engaging the audience attention, at no point did Estes invite the audience to present opinions or ask questions.
Since Estes was well-known, he perhaps did not have to use too many attention getting devices. Estes opened the speech with a prayer. He then went on to explain how he had come to be in Oslo. He described a journey he had undertaken to New Zealand to see the southernmost point in the world where there was a mosque. His intention had been to make a documentary film on the subject. While there, he had met some Norwegian men and women who had invited him to visit the northernmost part of the world where there was a mosque. This was Tromso in Norway. After sharing his experiences in the town during summer, when the sun does not set for six months at a time he goes on to explain how he was fascinated by the existence of these two extremes since most Islamic nations are very close to the Equator and prayer times are devised according to the sun as seen from those places. He wondered how people living so far away from the Equator manage their prayer times. He then used the example of how Muslims in Tromso keep time for their prayers to introduce the concept of the Hadith. The introduction to the thesis took seven minutes.
At the outset of the speech the agenda of the speech was not directly stated. Estes used a narrative style to arrive at the thesis of the speech. As he did not use any visual aids, initially it was not clear what subject matter would be tackled in the rest of the speech – it almost appeared that he intended to speak about his travels. It was only when he gave the specific example to introduce the concept that it becomes clear that the subject is Hadith. To someone who may not have been informed of the agenda of the speech, it would have been difficult to grasp what the speech was about. Estes did use attention-getting devices through his anecdotes and closed-ended questions like ‘Have you been to New Zealand?’. He even used humor to introduce the theme of the speech; his shock at finding out that it was already midnight when the sun was shining brightly was one such case and even greater shock at finding the sun would set only in July.
Estes kept to the argumentative form of delivery by first making his claims and supporting them with evidence and then he also took up alternate views on the subject and refuted them with evidence from the same sources. However, he did not use any other evidence beyond the Quran and the Hadith and did not use material from other Islamic scholars to corroborate his views. This could be disadvantageous, in that the audience may still feel that there perhaps exist equally strong claims to the opposite of Estes’s views. In his attempt to further his point on the strength of the Hadith, he used the anecdote of his experience, when he was still a Christian, of talking to a Muslim man. He did not provide any specific details of who the man was or what was the context of the conversation. He also made references to the various numbers of books of the Bible from the various Christian denominations to illustrate the strength of the Hadith as a unifying force. However Estes did not elaborate the reasons for Christianity’s differences, perhaps because it was a vast subject meriting its own discussion. However, the weak reference meant that he left the interpretation open – it was possible that the Bible and Christianity are not as weak as he claimed them to be.
Estes began his conclusion by showing that the Quran unlike the Bible could not be interpreted in many ways, there were only different recitations. This knowledge came from the Hadith. He summarized by saying Muslims had propagated all over the world, and that no matter where they were, Muslims recited only the Quran even if it’s different languages. He closed with an illustration of the Hadith by saying that the Prophet had already said that there would be occasions when people will try and remove Muslims. When his followers asked what would happen to Muslims in future, the Prophet replied that Muslims would be all over the earth which had become true as was evident from Estes’ recent travels. Estes closed with a prayer that all Muslims and non-Muslims would understand the power of the Hadith and recognize the Prophet as the One Prophet of God.
Estes used no visual aids during the speech and used only his voice and minimal hand gestures to narrate. His expressions changed at appropriate places – smiles for humor, mock surprise and shock for emphasis, and seriousness when illustrating thoughtful points. This aided in understanding the points he made and the humor was used in a manner that did not detract from the subject. He also put forth well-timed thought-provoking questions at the audience. By not depending on too many stylistic devices, he showed that he was a speaker who can command attention based on his content and style of speaking alone.
However, there were still some areas that could be made more effective. Estes could have opened the speech with even a simple attention getter like “Not everyone understands the Hadith, isn’t that true? So why is it important?” It would have helped in establishing the purpose of the speech at the outset .
In the argument section of the speech, the evidence could have been corroborated with references to similar views from other scholars as well. While Estes was an eminent authority, not using works of other scholars to present both claim and alternate views gave the speech the appearance of a one-sided view of the subject. Considering the audience was young and in a demographic that is almost always connected to the world via the Internet, they may have access to different world views on all subjects including the Hadith. By referencing other scholars, Estes would have appeared more confident to the audience and left little room for skepticism.
Just before closing with a prayer, Estes made certain agitating remarks using the word ‘enemy’ and emphasizing ‘us’ and ‘them’. Since this was not a political forum, agitation might have worked against Estes . Estes was at least 20 years older than the oldest member in the audience and this may again represent a gap in his understanding of young audience. World over the 18-40 demographic are tired of war of any kind whether religious or cultural or punitive , , . References to war in today’s diversified world may in fact have turned the audience away from the main message of the speech. In conclusion the speech would have been truly impactful if Estes had ended the speech with the profound prophecy regarding the propagation of the Muslims and closed with a thoughtful prayer for peace and understanding. It would have been enough to emphasize the message of the speech.
References
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