Role and responsibility of Youth in Islam
Rayees Ahmad Bhat
The importance of Youth is another name for strengths, abilities, courage, perseverance, loftiness and ambitions. The youth has an important role in the success and failure, victory and defeat, progress and decline and rise and fall of any nation and country. Every revolution, whether it is political or economic , social level or national level, scientific field or information and broadcasting field, the role of youth is very important and key in all fields.
Even in the past, as history has proved, every small and big change has come through the youth. Even in modern times, every small or big organization or movement whether political or religious, social or military, young people are at the forefront.
Now let’s discuss about what the Holy Quran has to say about the importance and role of youth. The Qur’an describes the character of the youth in reference to the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad in this way: “We narrate their original story to you.” They were a few youths who believed in their Lord, and we advanced them in guidance. These were the young people who dared to stare in the eyes of the tyrant rulers of the time and declared their righteousness by believing in the Lord of the Worlds.
Allah Ta’ala says thus about their ambitions, courage and unwavering faith and their universal proclamation.
(Al-Khaf 18:14) “We made their hearts strong when they stood up and declared that our Lord is He Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and we worship no other God besides Him. Will not call. If we do that, we will be talking in vain.”
The role played by a few young people in their time is an example for all young people. In the same way, the Holy Qur’an mentioned some young people who believed in Hazrat Musa (AS). Hazrat Musa (AS) was denied by the people in every way, but they were only a few young people who declared their faith in the prophethood of Hazrat Musa (AS) in difficult circumstances. It is said by Allah Ta’ala.
(Yunus 10:83) “None believed Moses except a few youths from this nation, because of the fear of Pharaoh and the fear of the leaders of their own people that Pharaoh would punish them.”
The roles of young people and the guiding principles for them are often found in the hadiths of the Prophet. Adolescence is the most powerful period of a person’s life. At this age young people can do whatever they want. If a person tries to spend this age properly, all kinds of success will touch his feet, and if he is negligent in this age, he will have to bear the consequences for the rest of his life. The age of youth is a great blessing for every person from Allah Ta’ala. That is why he will be specially asked about it on the Day of Resurrection.
It is narrated from Hazrat Ibn Masoud that the Messenger of God said: “On the Day of Resurrection, a person’s feet will not be able to move from their place until he is asked about five things.” Age lost in what works? Where spent the energy of youth? Where did the wealth come from? And where spent? To what extent did you follow the knowledge you received? (Tirmidhi Chapter Safat Al-Qiyamah).
In this blessed hadith, four questions are related to youth. An age question will be asked. This includes youth. The relationship of earning money also starts from this age. Acquiring knowledge is also related to this age. The age of youth is to develop skills and improve them. At this age, young people decide different goals of science. This is the age in which the youth can quench their thirst for knowledge well.
Regarding this period, Allama Iqbal has said, “Shabbab jiska ho bey daag zarab bekaari”. That in their young stages of life, the young Companions performed great feats. This is the age in which Hazrat Osama bin Zayd led and took responsibility. This is the age in which Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed received the title of Saifullah from the Prophethood. During his youth, Hazrat Ali, Hazrat Musab bin Umair, Hazrat Ammar bin Yasir, and four servants of Allah, including Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Ibn Zubair and Ibn Amr Ibn Al-Aas made a covenant with the Messenger of Allah. In the same age, Ibn Taymiyyah, Shah Waliullah, Muhaddith Dehlavi, and Imam Ghazali entered the depths of modern science. Salahuddin Ayyubi, Tariq bin Ziyad and Muhammad bin Qasim enlightened Islamic history with their achievements.
At the same age, Hasan al-Banna Shaheed made the land of Egypt, where the indelible imprints of the Pharaoh still remain like Bahr Talatum, abode for Dawat-i-Allah. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad took up the field of journalism at a young age and Syed Maududi, at the age of 23, cleared all the misunderstandings of not only non-Muslims but also Muslims were victims of by writing a book like Al-Jihad-e-Islam. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) has advised to consider this age as a booty.
Because great feats can be done at this age. On the authority of Hazrat Umar bin Maimon RA, he said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) advised a person and said: Treasure five things before five things: youth before old age, health before sickness, happiness before poverty. , leisure before busyness, life before death. (Tirmidhi).
In modern times, when young people are asked what is the purpose of life, they have no answer. In relation to the purpose of life, among the educated youth, not only believe but also follow the outdated and deceptive slogans like Eat, Drink and be Happy, that is, enjoy yourself well because the world is not the same. The purpose of Islam is to have a clear attitude towards life. There are mentions about the purpose and goal of life in the Qur’an and Hadith.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said: “The wise man is the one who takes account of his soul and acts for the life after death.” (Tirmidhi).
Youth today are far from divine revelation and the biggest problem among the youth of the Ummah is that they are ignorant and distanced from the divine teachings. The youth generally consider the Holy Quran as a formal and religious book. Their concept regarding this book is that even if a relationship is established with it, it should be limited to recitation as much as possible. They believe that this book does not have the ability and capacity to face the challenges of the present time. The fact is that the Holy Quran is a book of revolution.
It is not only capable of meeting the challenges of today but also provides solutions to all problems. Where the Qur’an makes man travel the horizons, it also enlightens us about the nature and reality of self. While giving guidance on worship, it also prescribes guidelines for political matters. While it gives instructions on moral teachings, it also provides solid foundations for economic systems. While it teaches the distinction between halal and haram, it also develops the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Youth cannot achieve real success without this book revolution. Therefore, this book should be considered as the only source of salvation.
Another thing is the Careerism in youth in today’s age, the purpose of education is only to get a profession, placement and money and capital. Every young person runs after these three things. Today, in the era of science, technology and knowledge explosion is on the other hand, the competition and the tune of getting ahead of each other has created such an environment that every young person does not even bother to look left and right and back.
He is indifferent to other people living in the society, he is also indifferent to his next door neighbor because he follows this self-imposed principle that I have nothing to do with anyone else but himself. He is always eager to put bows on the moon but is unaware of his purpose. He has remarkable credentials but lacks the spirit of support and sympathy for others. He has an abundance of knowledge, but is deprived of knowledge and lives like a donkey on whose back a load of dogs is loaded, but the poor donkey does not know what kind of donkey is on his back.
Islam does not forbid to improve career and future. Islam emphasizes on building a career in an orderly and well-mannered manner, but what Islam forbids is to live life by turning away from other people. Blind careerism has isolated our youth from the society.
This is explicitly prohibited by the Holy Qur’an. Allah has quoted the words of Hazrat Luqman in this regard that he said while admonishing his son: (Luqman 31:18). And don’t turn your back and talk to the people. Sa’ar is actually a disease known in Arabia in camels. Just like this is the behavior of career oriented youngsters. So this careerism should be avoided.
Today, the youth of the nation is facing many problems and confusions. On the one hand, there is an imbalanced /ailing education system and on the other hand, it is suffering from economic problems. On the one hand, if there are problems of not getting married on time, on the other hand, the problems of unemployment have caused problems. In the same way, in addition to the problems created by poor education, and arrogant western thought and civilization, there is also a pile of problems and confusions created by new ideas, from which this important section of the Ummah is divided. It should be noted that the youth section is also shy from facing problems. Because they are not getting the required guidance in this regard so that they can easily deal with these problems.
In this regard, it is the responsibility of parents, scholars and intellectuals is to play a mentoring role so that the youth can play an effective role in building and reforming the nation and society in the future. The training method of the Messenger of Allah should be brought forward.
The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) used to train and assign responsibilities to the youth keeping in mind their tendency and nature.
The mannerism of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) is very magnificent and unique. He used to pay a lot of attention to the character building of youth and not only solved their external problems but also solved their psychological problems. One day, a young man from Quraish came to the presence of the Messenger of God and said without fear and hesitation: O Messenger of God! Allow me to commit adultery۔
The Companions of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) were shocked at the senseless audacity of this young man and wanted to punish him severely, but the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) took a completely unique approach. He called this young man near and said: Do you like this for your mother? The young man said: May my life be sacrificed for you, I can never like this for my mother. Then he asked such questions about his sister, paternal aunt and aunt. Later asked him, do you like it for them. He used to say this every time: May my life be sacrificed for you, by God! I cannot like this at all. Then he called this young man close to him and prayed to Allah for him, after which he was never inclined to this senseless act (Musnad Ahmad).
This incident gives us a good idea of how the psychological problems of the youth need to be explained and solved with love.
Today the obscenity, nudity, and vulgar media have engulfed every home and family. Innumerable magazines, journals and newspapers are promoting promiscuity. There are countless promiscuous websites on the Internet that are easily accessible to every young person. From the home to the college and from the college to the market there is an immoral environment. Such a society and atmosphere arouses the sexual desires of the youth. Immorality is an epidemic that is showing its effects with great speed due to which fear, stress, mental and psychological problems are increasing day by day among the youth today.
Evils, problems, obscenity and moral vices are eating the youth like termites. It will be a renewal work of time to define the youth with peace of heart, purification of mind, modesty, purity and good morals. According to Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, the renewal work of the time is to restore the fundamentals of Islam and its systems and facts and the trust of the Prophet Mohammad in the young and educated class of the Ummah, which has been lost from the hands of this class. . The greatest worship today is to cure the intellectual anxiety and psychological confusion in which today’s educated youth is badly gripped and to make his rationality and scholarly mind fully satisfied with Islam.
It is also the responsibility of parents to arrange the marriage of their children at the appropriate time because it is very important for their children’s honor, chastity and purity.
The current education system is based on the ideas and theories of the British thinker Lord Macaulay. In today’s age, narrow-mindedness, localism, materialism, moral depravity and exploitation of women, increasing crimes among the youth, as well as the increase in the graph of suicide, all these are the signs of the poor education system. These defects in the education system prove that there is an urgent need to give it the right direction so that it can meet the real needs of both the individual and the society.
The development of every individual and nation depends on a meaningful and value-based education system, but if it is said that the better future of the nation or nation depends on the education system, then it will not be wrong. A famous educationist was asked what he would like to say about the future of the nation. His answer was: (Show me your education system then only i can tell what its future will be)
Unlike the prevailing education system, the Islamic education system is based on divine instructions which is free from any deficiency or defect. It contains comprehensive instructions for the construction and refinement of the individual. It illuminates the individual’s personality. The greatest virtue of this system of education is that it provides answers to the basic and important questions of life, for example, who am I? am What is my life purpose? Who created me? Why did he send me to the world? And what does he want to do? What are the relations between the creator and the creature?
It is very important for us to be familiar with our culture, history and knowledge heritage. A nation that neglects its history and intellectual heritage is erased from the entity page like a wrong letter or deleted. Being ignorant of its history, no nation can move towards a better future and development.
At this time, the situation of the Muslim Ummah is that this important capital is completely ignorant of its history. The youth of the nation have no knowledge of Islamic conquests. There is no familiarity with the achievements of the Caliphs. They are far from the lives of the veteran companions of the Prophet.
They don’t know anything about the famous personalities like Imam Ghazali, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Taymiyyah. They have no knowledge of what services Syed Qutb, Hasan Al-Banna and Syed Maududi have rendered. Connecting this section of the nation with the capital knowledge and history of Islam is the most important call of the time.
Through globalization, the West has established free trade markets throughout the world, resulting in the spawning of secularism and atheism. Globalization is a trend whereby the West is promoting a free economy and trade market in every corner of the world. In this world of glamour, the people of the West are also rapidly setting the effects of their civilization.
The four things that the West is engaged in spreading widely through globalization are: civilization, technology, economy, democracy, and in addition, capitalists and MNCs (Multi National Companies)
And the only class that all these institutions have captured the most is the youth class.
In nutshell the Muslim youth should know that Islam is a universal system of life, it is made by the creator of the universe for man. Allah introduces himself in the Holy Qur’an as the Lord of the Worlds and his Messenger as the Merciful, and the Holy Qur’an is a guide for people. In addition, Islamic civilization is a civilization in which the attributes of substitution are present at the highest level.
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