Alhamdulillah... We praise
Allah, we seek His aid and we seek His forgiveness.
We seek refuge in Allaah from
the evil of ourselves and the evil of our deeds.
Whomsoever Allaah guides,
none can misguide, and whomsoever Allaah allows to be led astray, none can
guide. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Allaahu ta
aalaa the exalted, and that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah (peace and blessings
be upon him) is His last messenger and slave. As to what follows.
Indeed we're extremely
grateful to Allah (SWT) for binging us back to this noble platform after a long
period of absence.
We ask Allah to grant us the
maximum benefit of this session, and save us from any fitna(s) that comes with
it.
To begin with, I'll like to
define all the key terms that make up the topic, so we will all be on the same
page inn shaa Allah
YOUTH can be defined as the
period between childhood and adult age... or a young person (Oxford dictionary)
A MUSLIM is anyone who
believes and adheres to the total submission to the will of Allah(SWT) instead
of their own egoistic desires, and Muhammad(PBUH) as His final Prophet and
Messenger, as well as the other four other pillars of Islam(i.e salat, zakat,
sawm and hajj).So the term can be used to represent the person or the state of
being a youth or a young person.
We mean in this day and age
i.e. modern age, 21st century, 2017 etc.
Throughout history, the Muslim
goal has been very clear, thus to
worship The One and Only God.
Allah(SWT) explicitly states
in the Quran.
And I did not create the jinn and mankind
except to worship Me.
Adhariyaat(51) :56
This task should begin from
within us (internal purification) and should manifest in our deeds and dealings
with our environment and everything in it. And this is how we can attain
success.
He has certainly succeeded who purifies
himself.
Al A'alaa (87)
The youthful age is somewhat
the most demanding and critical period in the life of every person and is
mostly singled out for attention and discussion for obvious reasons.
Rasusulullah (PBUH) mentioned the youthful age as one of the blessings we
should beware of before we lose it.
The Prophet(PBUH) is reported
to have said to a man while he was advising him;
“Take
advantage of five matters before five other matters: your youth, before you
become old; and your health, before you fall sick; and your richness, before
you become poor; and your free time before you become busy; and your life,
before your death.”Imam Ahmad
It’s
a stage that comes with numerous opportunities and advantages such as strength,
health and creativity.
And as the saying goes “to
who much is given, much is expected”....
The Muslim youth are
therefore seen as the hope of the Muslim society.
Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen (May
Allah's mercy be upon him) categorized
the Muslim youth into three states:
- The upright
- The corrupt, and..
- The confused youth
The upright
The upright youth are those
who sincerely and diligently observe the five pillars of Islam, believe in the
six articles of faith and follow the Quran and sunnah in all their endeavours.
They are on the path of
taqwa, they enjoin good and forbid evil. These young people practice their
religion with total sincerity(ikhlas) and diligence.
They deal with people with
the straightforwardness and clarity with which they would like to be treated.
Treachery, malpractice,
crookedness, or hiding facts have no place in their dealings.
Though this category of young
people are not in a state of perfection(as every Muslim is work in progress),
they are the pride and hope for the Ummah. And every young person should strive
to be part of this category. May Allah include us among the upright youth.
Ameen!
The corrupt
The 2nd category. The corrupt
youth are young people who are religiously deviating, behaviourally reckless,
self-deluded, and engulfed by their own vices.They are obdurate, do not give
truth a chance, and do not care that they neglect obligations that are due to
Allah or those that are due to their fellow human beings.They deviate from the
straight path of their religion and from good manners in their behaviour.
They are a calamity to
themselves and a catastrophe to society.
They are like a deadly
disease that is not easily curable except by the will of Allah alone. May Allah
save us from this category...
The confused youth
These young people are the
ones who are uncertain, irresolute, and at a crossroad.
They have a lot of unanswered
questions in their minds, and they sometimes doubt their deen.They are exposed
to evils like scepticism about the truthfulness of the Muslim creed, corruption
in conduct and behaviour, decadence in actions, attacks on the established
customs and traditions, and other various absurd trends of believes and ideologies.
Unfortunately, most of the youth of today find
themselves in this category...We live in an age where materialism and
immorality is the social norm,
The Muslim community has
become more disorganized and divided than ever, the home, which is a critical
agent of upbringing is now messed up, parents are struggling to make money at
the expense of the proper nurturing of their children...
In short... the environment is
not enabling enough, to catalize our quest to reach the first category ie
uprightness.
May Allah teach us what will
benefits us in both worlds and unteach us what will harm us in both worlds.
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