Bringing Back Young Muslim Teens |
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Full of Hopes
Senior Member Female Joined: 06 August 2009 Status: Offline Points: 855 |
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Posted: 14 March 2010 at 10:08am |
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Edited by Full of Hopes - 14 March 2010 at 10:11am |
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And whoever seeks a religion other than Isl�m, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers(3:85)
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UmmFatima
Groupie Female Joined: 28 February 2010 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 81 |
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Amen!
I like the "life vision" idea - it's good for all of us. I think the problem often goes deeper than the teens - many families are practicing only as part of their cultural ties. It's how Pakistanis/Indians/Arabs/etc get together and socialize - at the masjid. Then the kids want to be Americans, they want to be accepted. So they avoid their culture - and Islam. I think parents need to do a better job of explaining Islam as different from their culture, as a universal religion. If children were raised fearing Allah they wouldn't brush Him off for anything. |
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�Our Lord! Grant us comfort in our spouses and descendants, and make us leaders of the God-fearing.� -Al-Furqan 74
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Ukhti S.
Newbie Female Joined: 25 April 2010 Status: Offline Points: 24 |
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Bismillahi Ar Rahmani Ar Rahim - In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu! I hope you all are doing great! May Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'alaa) grant you all with the best of health and strengthen your emaan, Ameen! I would like to first of all thank the member 'Full of Hopes' for posting this very important topic. As everyone knows and as the article brings up, today's problem is that many young ones are becoming westernized and leave their religion and culture behind. This is something I am daily facing here in Europe, both girls and boys are living and doing what western teenagers are doing. Something very important when rising up a child is to teach it how to be brave, to have courage. That is very important. A few days ago, I had a discussion with my father about raising children in an Islamic way, and both he and I stated that courage and braveness is something very important to the child to have as a personality. When you are brave and have the courage, you don�t let others to affect you, but it is You who are the one who should affect them.
To be a strong Muslim, one must be a strong person; the key to being a strong person is knowing who you are at your very core, being able to identify your own characteristics and values which will remain unchanged no matter what situation you're put in. As also the author stated, one must be a strong person in order to be a strong Muslim and to know who you are at your very core and to know your values, which should remain unchanged wherever you are. That�s very important. To build such base in a child then as a parent, you don�t have to be concerned about your child. Then it will be easy to teach your child about Islam.
A solid Islamic upbringing from infanthood goes a long way in building this kind of strong character, and as always is the first thing that parents must be aware of. However, for those who perhaps were not as Islamically practicing during their children�s early childhood, and now wish to change their parenting styles and their children for the better, then there are other ways that they can encourage their children to develop and strengthen their individual characters. It is now that we combine the teens' desire for attention with the goal of helping them find themselves. Either at home or in a youth group/workshop environment, our youth need to be invited away from all the clamoring, glamorous outside influences and given the space and time to focus on themselves, on who they are. One of the most important things is that the child should have a strong base already from its early childhood, because it can be quite a lot difficult later on to change your child when he/she has grown. As the author says, there are other ways, but it is still harder and takes a lot more time. The author has also given a very good advice, to send your child to a youth group, but my advice to the parents is to send their children to an Islamic youth group, to make them befriended with other young Muslims. There are youth groups at the local Masjid. It is also important to be with your children at home daily. Talk to them and give them time and attention, that way you get a close relationship with your children.
We have to help our youth know themselves. Once they know themselves, once they're confident in themselves and have an idea of their own potential, of what they want to do with that potential, then they will be more solidly grounded and have a better foundation upon which to build their futures. The author has given a very good point here; confidence! Confidence is also very important for the child to have. Once they have self-confidence that they believe in their selves, they can achieve many points in life and learn to make decisions by their own. When someone lacks in self-confidence they start becoming hesitant and fearful, they feel they can�t achieve things in life. In my opinion, many parents tend to be very strict to their children by frequently telling them; �do this and don�t do that�. The parents should give their children some free will, but of course before they cross the limit you should tell them make them aware of what they are doing is wrong.
...all we have to do is give them the time and attention that they crave, and that they need so that they may become the kind of glorious personalities they have the potential to be. Every individual is unique in its own way; to feel secure and be proud of itself that he/she is different from others is just great! If a person is weak, then you can�t expect him to be courageous and don�t get affected by its surrounding i.e. friends, mass media etc. What the author also states about giving children time and attention is very true! Because that is what we, as children, need from our parents! A very good advice I would like to share is to gather the family once in a week to have some kind of �family time�, to talk and discuss about Islam. I think if both parents attend is the best! All will then learn from each other! A reason of why most teenagers are being westernized is that they feel that they won�t fit in the society if they don�t do as they do. As the author of the article also says, they need to be strong! Its important that they are the ones who affect the surrounding and not vice versa! |
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CrossYourToes
Starter Joined: 19 January 2011 Status: Offline Points: 5 |
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Hmm...well I do agree that Muslim teens are quite bewildered and lost in a society where Islam is seen as ugly and unappealing, and Western practices and actions are considered golden and "cool".
At such an age however, the basics of Islam should be taught to the youth and be perfectly cemented in their brains. By basics, the five fundamentals should be taught, starting with prayer as a necessity. It is sad to hear that many Muslim teens and adults ignore prayer, the punishment for which is intense.
After those basics, the beautiful elements of Islam should be taught. Kindness, love, sincerety, peacefulness, honesty...all should be taught. Muslim youth should, in fact, be the best mannered and act as an example for all youth. Adults should not repeatedly say "what you can't do" and "this is haram"; such pressure may lead to rebellion, and hatred towards Islam. Instead, they should be informed of what they can do (what is permissible), and why they can't do forbidden things .
I pray that our youth will be successful, intelligent, and well-mannered, and famous for such qualities.
Take care <3
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