This is a question which has been lingering in the minds of many "Islamically-aware" youth in the Muslim community for a very long time. They may be the main volunteers in their masjid, be active in their MSA, but cannot contemplate at why non-religious Muslim youth do not start practicing Islam after they tell them that their pants being too tight will cause them to go to hell :-/.
My intention with this post is to shed some light as to the proper and most effective way of guiding (in the directional sense; it's only Allah who guides) Muslim youth who have strayed from the community, back to the masjid. To start:
a. Give Da'wah with Wisdom
In Surah Nahl it says, "Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction." At the same time, Aa'isha (R) the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "If the first revelation was to tell the Arabs to stop drinking, they would have never stopped drinking." The hadith went on to mention the act of fornication in that context as well. The whole point is that we cannot expect results in a day; rather, we need to be patient and persistent in the youth work we are involved in.
Anytime we call the youth towards Islam, we need to understand the circumstances surrounding them and what they are going through. You simply can't tell a sixteen-year-old Muslim youth to not listen to Jay-Z if he is not praying salah.
b. Define the three types of Muslim Youth
This is a categorization which I adopted after listening to a lecture from Br. Nouman Ali Khan. He said that generally the Muslim youth in the west fall into three categories:
1. Religious Youth
They're your MSA going, weekend seminar attending, shaykh so-and-so rocks, etc type of guys (You know who you are). They're keen on gaining knowledge, want to go study overseas, and attend college/high school at the same time. They're active in da'wah and are recognized in their communities. They teach sunday school and conduct the weekly halaqas and truly care about their communities. InshaAllah the will be the leaders of the Muslim youth
2. Mildly-Religious Youth (The Most Important Category.. read VERY carefully)
THESE are the youth the religious crew need to focus on!
Who are they? They come to the masjid for Jumu'ah, come to the Friday night youth group, Islamic events, etc...but check this out, they still listen to music, could find some better friends to hang out with, and may even let a few curse words fly here and there. They have a relationship with the religious youth and with the third category (who will be talking about next), the non-religious youth. The religious Muslim youth need to understand that THESE are the guys who they need to work with and build a rock-solid relationship with! They are the most effective route towards getting across to the non-religious Muslim youth.
Be a brother, not a scholar!
(If you find me a word which rhymes with sister and is relevant to "scholar," then I'll put it in too :D)
Instead of being du'aat, ameers, ameerahs, MSA presidents, and coordinators, learn to be good friends to the middle-men youth. Take them out to eat randomly and buy them a slice of pizza or something. Take them to the mall if they need a ride....you get the point!! Simply, be really chill with them. That's the first thing before anything. As John Maxwell said, "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."
Secondly, do not focus on too many lecture/knowledge type events for them. The weekly halaqa should be their main Islamic source of self-development. These halaqas need to be lots of fun and attention catching. Make sure there are moments in which you have the guys on the edge of their feet, at times be laughing with them, and at times be really emotional with them. This will stir their emotions to make them think about their true purpose. And I am 110% against presenting educational material in halaqas in which the middle-men youth are present. Sorry, but Usool al-Fiqh won't work here; save it for a knowledge based halaqa.
Thirdly, have lots of halal activities available for them. The middle-men youth have interests and hobbies...as a religious youth, you need to find out what they are!! For example, the youth I work with are into basketball, skiing, fencing, bowling, and the like. Last month, we went bowling. This month, we're going to be playing basketball after Fajr every Sunday, football before the halaqa on Fridays, etc. Basketball tournaments were a big turn on for our community's youth.....then again, as one of the aspiring leaders of the youth, you would know what activities your community's youth are into.
Another thing which is important is to be up to date with sports, movies, and music which is popular amongst the youth. I'm not saying go out of your way to watch or not watch Alice in Wonderland or Repo Men, or listen to the latest song by T-pain or Kesha, but atleast do research and find out who's song is on the top radio charts, which movie is currently a hit in the theaters, and who won the NBA All-Star game, the Superbowl, etc. If you're not up to date with pop-culture and live in a cave, then it is time to get up to date and feel the sunlight :)
3. Non-Religious Youth
These youth don't come to the masjid except on Fridays when their parents bring them. They also are not involved with the masjid and may not pray, read quran, etc. They have girlfriends/boyfriends, do drugs/alcohol, and also do not hang out with a healthy group of friends. The mildy religious crew is the only group to have a grip on these youth. They are the ones who can bring the non-religous youth towards the masjid and/or activities planned by the religious youth. Of course the religious youth can have an effect on the non-religious youth directly, but it is the mildy-religious youth who can have a greater chance at convincing the non-religious youth through indirect means to come to the masjid.
In conclusion, even after putting in much effort to get the youth to come to the masjid, we need to understand that guidance is in the hand of Allah. We can only do so much as to ask Allah to put in us the ability to direct the youth towards Islam. Please do keep in mind this is a process which takes months and years and not hours and days to implement in the community. But inshaAllah, if we are steadfast, the fruits of this work will be seen in the future!
Leave a comment to let me know what I could add, change, remove, etc!
Jazakam Allahu Khayr!
12 comments:
Be a sister, not a tongue twister! lol.
the so called middle-men follow the middle path... aka the sunnah path. Yes, they are the most important ones, as you stated.
brother does not rhyme with scholar...
Very nice..Ma'shallah.
Salaam, stumbled onto this article via AM Forums, veryyy well written Masha Allah.
some things to take as premise... when making dawah to non-Muslims we know hearts are in the hand of Allah. your job is to deliver the message albeit as you explained in a cool (calm/calculated), fair, meaningful fashion. Noone goes up to a non-Muslim, yells out Allahu Akbar (simultaneously as a statement of fac, as ibadah and out of joy), and expects them to be like, "Oh! Tawheeeeed!"
Which brings me to my next point. I imagine that that is actually possible. If one is sincere enough you never know of the barakah Allah subhana wa ta'ala might put in your efforts. And you cannot expect to have that manner of sincerity in a deed or exchange when you are not loyal, truthful at all other times. "Loyalty is the foundation to sincerity."
Also check yourself before and as you do a thing. renew your intention. remind yourself of the greatness of Allah azza wa jal and that it is for none other than He that you're trying to help another. It is TOO easy to lose touch with your sincerity when dealing with difficult people or those who will contend with you when you're just trying to help. Your sincerity will have gone down from doing this for a greater cause to just doing it in and of itself. don't allow your intentions and sincerity to get mixed up. the results can push others away from you, anyone that reminds them of you, the deen, the community. it is vital we have consistency in character. so watch how you react. even restraining yourself from reacting angrily or confused or hurt can lead to a bad feeling and not wanting to have anything to do with you really.
and lastly is as br. nihal said. people are probably not going to change in the very moment they hear a reminder to good the default and PREFERENCE is that they change over time (this way it is beaten into their system and jahil is slowly squeezed out as well, their default behavior is not just "things good" but "things better"). so don't be distraught in the face of stagnation. consider again the majesty and limitless Mercy of Allah and have hope in Him. hold onto this, clip it onto your efforts, and carry on.
Wow.. this is really interesting.
Also, Alice in Wonderland was great! thanks for the ride!
I like your post, but I don't understand why you’re talking down the "middle" path. It seems to me that in your definition of a Muslim, that if he or she listens to music (I’m guessing you actually mean rap and R+B), curse regularly (very few do that...) and have a subjectively defined group of friends, then they’re not doing things ‘correctly’. I find that disingenuous. I think you need to tread carefully and clarify as to why the "moderately" religious are the ones in need of the most help (which I think they are not, as I am one of them).
Also, I think that you and others who are trying to build effective Muslim communities need to recognize that some of the more practical Islamic events are not effective at engaging the youth like me. At my local Majid (ICM) I have found the very few weekly Halaqas that I have attended to be dry and lacking the characteristics you outlined in your posts. However, at the yearly MIST competition in the DC area, the majority of participants learn through seminars that are inherently interesting and engaging. I think more Jummah Khutbahs and Halaqas need to be this way in order for a community to grow and prosper.
Asalamu-alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh!
JazakAllah khair this was soo needed!!
@PakistaniMD
Well, it's just a generalization to get to point. No intention to talk anyone down :).
Great article!!
Btw, Where are you from? The reason I ask is because you seem to be able to deal with culture and religion so well..
Can you talk about dealing with Culture and religion and being able to balance that?
for the sisters, you could add something like "be a sister, not a preacher/teacher"
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