“You are the best of the nation raised up for mankind because you enjoin what
is right and forbid the wrong.” [TMQ Ale-Imran: 110]

Allah tells us in this verse of the Qur’an that we are the best
nation raised up from mankind. When many people look
to the reality of the Muslims today and in particular the
reality of the Muslim youth in the West, they think to themselves,
‘how can these people be the best people raised from mankind?’When
they see the Muslim youth involved in gang culture and drug culture,
they can’t see the difference between them and the non-Muslim youth
in society.
We need to look to how the Muslim youth in the past used to be
leaders, not followers of the Kuffar as some of the youth have become
today and understand how the Muslim youth have the potential to be
the leaders of mankind again.
Some of the Muslim youth today have lost touch with their roots.
They have lost touch with Islam and the Islamic history. Unfortunately
they know more about Western personalities, and take them as role
models to follow, than they know about the greatest people in history,
the Sahabah of the Messenger of Allah and our other great
predecessors.
Various groupings or ‘crowds’ exist amongst the youth today. There
are those who emulate hip-hop stars and are ‘wanna be gangsters’, walking around with pride, using foul language, thinking its cool to
take drugs and be involved in crime. Others are into the clubbing
scene and act like wild animals as if they are not going to be accounted
for what they do. Boyfriend-girlfriend relationships have become the
norm where it is seen as odd if one is not ‘going out’ with the
opposite sex or at least attempting to. Time wasting has become the
favourite pursuit where music, computer games, movies and ‘chilling’
have become the normal pastimes. Rebelliousness to parents has
reached new levels, where children are almost strangers to their own
parents and feel more comfortable with their friends than with their
own flesh and blood.
The Muslim youth living in Western societies learn how to think
and act in a way alien to Islam as they are continuously bombarded
with Western culture via the television, school and society at large.
Many of the youth glorify gangsters, pop stars, actors, sports
personalities and even fictional characters. If we were to give two lists
of people to some of the Muslim youth today and ask them what
they know about the people mentioned in the list, think about what
the response would be:
List 1: Dr. Dre, Tupac, Eminem, Snoop Doggy Dog, Notorious
B.I.G, Puff Daddy, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, David Beckham,
and Kylie Minogue.
List 2: Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, ‘Abdullah ibn Masoud, Mus’ab ibn
‘Umayr, Zubair ibn al-Awwam, Khalid ibn Walid, Asma bint Abu
Bakr, Zaid ibn Thabit, ‘Usamah ibn Zaid, Muhammad al-Fatih and
Tariq ibn Ziyad.
Unfortunately many of the youth would know much about the
people mentioned in the first list and very little about those in the
second list. Some would even look up to the people in first, even
though they are Kuffar who follow the ways of the Shaytan and
promote indecency.
The Muslim youth need to look up to the right people and must
have the right role models. The youth should be acquainted with the Muslims of the past who used to be the leaders of humanity.
There are many examples from young Muslims of the past to look
to. In fact most of the early converts to Islam were young - most of
them were under 30 years of age.

‘ALI IBN ABU TALIB

One of the earliest converts to Islam was ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib . He
converted to Islam of his own accord when he was only eight years of
age.When people think of eight year olds today they imagine children
who spend their time thinking about WWE wrestling, Pokemon,
computer games or the latest movie. Contrast this to the example of
‘Ali .
‘Ali embraced Islam even though his father, Abu Talib remained
a non-Muslim. When he was asked, “Aren’t you going to ask the
permission of your father to embrace Islam”, he answered confidently,
“Allah didn’t ask the permission of my father when he created me, so
why do I need my father’s permission to worship him?”
He stuck at the side of the Messenger of Allah in the early days
of the da’wah in Makkah, even when the numbers of Muslims were
few and the society was hostile. He was a man of courage, even at a
young age. In one incident there was a gathering of about forty leaders
of the Quraish - these were the most notable people in the society,
similar to the most prominent politicians and celebrities of today. In
this gathering the Messenger of Allah invited them to Islam, but
they rejected his message. In this gathering ‘Ali stood up and looked
at all of them in the face and said, “I believe in him and I stand behind
him”.
Imam Ali went on to become one of the greatest of the Sahabah,
he was known as the one of the most knowledgeable. He also became
the fourth Khaleefah of the Muslims who ruled the people with Islam
and carried Islam to the world.
‘ABDULLAH IBN MASOUD
Those ‘Wanna be Gangsers’ who drive around in lowered cars
blasting out satanic music who think that they are ‘hard men’ should
look to the example of ‘Abdullah ibn Masoud to see true bravery.
‘Abdullah embraced Islam when he was only 14 years of age. He
used to roam the mountain trails of Makkah far away from people,
tending the flocks of a Quraishi leader, Uqbah ibn Mu’ayt. He was
also known by the kunya (nickname) of Ibn Umm ‘Abd.
The companions of the Messenger of Allah were together one
day in Makkah. They were still few in number and oppressed. They
said, “The Quraish have not yet heard the Qur’an being recited openly
and loudly. Who is the man who could recite it for them?’
“I shall recite it to them,” volunteered ‘Abdullah ibn Masoud. “We
are afraid for you,” they said. “We only want someone who has a clan
who would protect him from their evil.”
“Let me,” ‘Abdullah ibn Masoud insisted, “Allah shall protect me and
keep me away from their evil.” He then went out to the mosque until
he reached Maqam Ibrahim (a few meters from the Ka’ba). It was
dawn and the Quraish were sitting around the Ka’ba. ‘Abdullah
stopped at the Maqam and began to recite,
“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Ar-Rahman (The Most
Merciful). He has taught the Qur’an. He has created man and taught him the clear
speech. The sun and the moon run on their fixed courses calculated with measured
out stages for each...” [TMQ Al-Rahman: 1-5]
He went on reciting. The Quraish looked at him intently and some
of them said, “What is Ibn Umm Abd saying? Damn him! He is
reciting some of what Muhammad brought!” They went up to him and began beating his face as he continued
reciting.When he went back to his companions the blood was flowing
from his face. “This is what we feared for you,” they said. “By Allah,”
replied ‘Abdullah, “the enemies of Allah are not more comfortable
than I at this moment. If you wish I shall go out tomorrow and do the
same.” “You have done enough,” they said. “You have made them
hear what they dislike.”
‘Abdullah ibn Masoud went on to become one of the best in reciting
the Qur’an of whom the Messenger of Allah said,
“Whoever wants to read the Qur’an as fresh as when it was
revealed, then let him read according to the recitation of Ibn
Umm Abd.”
He also became one of the most knowledgeable in the Qur’an and
strove to gain the knowledge of Islam.

ZAID IBN THABIT
Those youth who waste their time gaining useless information like
that related to the lives of pop stars and engaging in shallow activities
such as watching TV like zombies should take lessons from the life of
Zaid ibn Thabit .
In the second year of the Hijrah, Madinah, the city of the
Messenger of Allah , was buzzing with activity as the Muslims were
preparing for the long march southwards to Badr for Jihad.
The whole atmosphere in the society was based on Islam, not like
today where the whole atmosphere is dominated by organised
distractions like football, where the majority of discussion in the media
and society surrounds a game where twenty-two people kick a leather
ball around a pitch. Today the atmosphere in the non-Muslim and
Muslim world is generated around shallow activities. Pop concerts,
Olympics, football tournaments and the like are promoted in the
media to the extent that people come to know every detail and strategy as if they were studying a war.
In the past under the Islamic rule, under the Khilafah, the
atmosphere was dominated by Islam, the major events of the society
were not who is playing who in the next match, rather it was Jihad,
which land are we going to bring under the authority of Islam next?
The noble Messenger of Allah made a final inspection of the
first army to be mobilized under his leadership to wage Jihad against
those who had tormented the Muslims for many years and who were
still bent on putting an end to his mission.
A youth, not yet thirteen, walked up to the ranks. He was confident
and alert. He held a sword that was as long or possibly slightly longer
than his own height. He went up to the Messenger of Allah and
said, “I dedicate myself to you, Messenger of Allah. Permit me to be
with you and to fight the enemies of Allah under your banner.”
The noble Messenger of Allah looked at him with admiration
and patted his shoulder with loving tenderness. He commended him
for his courage but refused to enlist him because he was still too
young. The youth, Zaid ibn Thabit , turned and walked away,
dejected and sad.
Zaid ibn Thabit knowing that he was too young to join the armed
forces still wanted to aid the Messenger of Allah and be close to
him, so he turned his mind to gaining knowledge and memorising
the Qur’an.
The Messenger of Allah then set him a task that required
intelligence, skill and persistence. “Zaid, learn the writing of the Jews
for me.” instructed the Messenger of Allah . “At your command,
Messenger of Allah,” replied Zaid who set about learning Hebrew
with enthusiasm. He became quite proficient in the language and
wrote it for the Messenger of Allah when he wanted to
communicate with the Jews. Zaid also read and translated from
Hebrew when the Jews wrote to the Messenger of Allah . The
Messenger of Allah instructed him to learn Syriac also and this he
did. Zaid thus came to perform the important function of an interpreter for the Messenger of Allah in his dealings with non-
Arabic speaking peoples. Zaid’s enthusiasm and skill were obvious.
When the Messenger of Allah felt confident of his faithfulness
in the discharge of duties and the care, precision and understanding
with which he carried out tasks, he entrusted Zaid with the weighty
responsibility of recording the divine revelation and he became a
scribe of the Messenger of Allah who used to write the verses of
the Qur’an when they were revealed.

OTHER EXAMPLES

There are many other examples from the Sahabah of youth, men
and women, who were leaders for Islam. Mus’ab ibn ‘Umayr was
only 24 years old and was sent by the Messenger of Allah to
Madinah to spread Islam, ‘A’isha the wife of the Messenger of
Allah , Asma bint Abu Bakr – the daughter of Abu Bakr Siddiq ,
al-Zubayr ibn Awwam who was only 12 when he embraced Islam,
Sa’d ibn Abi-Waqqas who was 17, ‘Usamah ibn Zaid who was only 17
when he led the senior Sahabah like Abu Bakr and ‘Umar as the
Amir of an army of Jihad, and Ja’far ibn Abi Talib who at the age of
20 was able to stand in the court of king Negus of Abyssinia and
eloquently represent and defend the Muslims.
However we should realise that the great personalities from amongst
the youth continued even after the time of the Sahabah.
Imam Shafi’i, one of the greatest scholars of this Ummah,
memorised the Qur’an when he was 7, and was a mujtahid, a scholar,
with the ability to derive solutions from the Qur’an and the Sunnah at
the age of 14. Today it is difficult for people to imagine going to a 14
year old to ask him about Islamic law. Tariq ibn Ziyad conqueror of
Spain and Muhammad al-Fateh, the conqueror of Constantinople
(modern day Istanbul) were young men.
There are many other examples of Muslim youth who stood up for
Islam and achieved great things for the sake of Allah . The
important thing to bear in mind is that in the past under the rule of
Islam this was the norm for the youth.

FROM THE BOOK : MUSLIM YOUTH- FOLLOWERS OR LEADERS
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL BOOK.
{ U ALL R WELLCOME 2 MY BLOG MOZADDED1924,HERE U WILL FOUND IMPORTANT N INTERESTING ARICLES N ALSO ABLE 2 FREE DOWNLOAD ISLAMIC BOOKS,PREENTATIONS,SCREENSAVER ETC. JAJAKALLAH KHAYR }