Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states: “As a matter of fact, this is the only way for us to improve; we can only evaluate ourselves and learn to improve ourselves through positive criticism.
To render positive criticism in order to improve our performance as individuals and as a community is an important religious duty. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Religion is nothing short of rendering advice.” They asked, “Towards whom, Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Towards Allah, His Book, His Messenger, to the leaders of Muslims and their common people.” This is why `Umar ibn al-Khattab used to say, “May Allah have mercy on him who points out to me my own faults!”
So, as is true of all other matters, in this regard as well, we ought to adhere to the path of moderation, which is the hallmark of the Islamic way. In other words, we must avoid the two extremes: the first is to beat us to death by telling us about our own failures and weaknesses to such an extent we are rendered totally helpless and made to feel cynical and pessimistic, and thus allowed to simply wallow in self-pity and self-loathing.
The other extreme is to feel utterly complacent and apathetic while living unrealistically in the shadow of a bygone past glory, thus conditioning us to believe that all that happens to us has nothing to do with us; rather it is all the fault of our own enemies or others. Ironically, both of these extremes engender or produce the same negative consequences: They end up disempowering us and forcing us to accept or perpetuate the status quo, thus giving us no reason to hope for betterment of our condition.
Our preachers, therefore, will do well by avoiding both extremes. Instead they should make Muslims aware of their own faults while empowering them to take action to improve their condition by putting their trust in Allah and expending their utmost efforts while cherishing faith in Allah and in their own Allah-given ability to create their own destiny.
Our preachers and scholars can never do any better than rereading the seerah (life-history) of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and learning from his example of empowering the people. His miracle of miracles was that he changed a people by instilling in them sound faith in Allah and giving them confidence in themselves. He taught us the most important lesson: The humans, if they have the will, can succeed in changing themselves and the world around them, if they follow it up by taking appropriate actions, and cherishing firm faith in Allah and in their own Allah-given abilities.”

Role of Friday Khutbah