MUSLIM YOUTH-GANG LEADERS OR WORLD LEADERS ?

“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

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