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Activism At School

Executive summary about Muslim Teenagers by Malaeka Ghayyur

We, as young Muslims at school, have heard many things about Islam: “Its all about peace…all about love…all about believing in Allah.” Simple as well. The balanced approach to looking at activism is the way the Prophet Muhammad did. He spent most of his life struggling. Through his activism began a change, which soon changed the whole Arabian Peninsula. Not the success that we think of in terms of money or glory, rather the success of the next life, the eternal life and the reality.

As Umar, the Prophet’s beloved companion once said, “A man’s actions are judged by his intention, if his intention for migration is to marry, then that’s what he will earn, and if his migration is to please Allah, then that is what he shell reap.” If we closely examine these words, it should strike us; are our intentions right? For example, do we pray in the perfect manner to impress others around us, or to truly connect with Allah? Now you might sit there thinking, what’s the point of talking about our intentions and inner feelings? Wasn’t this supposed to be about activism at school? The leaders must have the correct intentions and objectives. Well it’s basically it is defined by our intentions.

 

 

We have already established our intention; it is to strive for Allah’s sake, and to please Him. We must now create an action plan of our personal life in accordance with our intention.

1.      Reading Quran daily

2.      Praying all 5 daily prayers on time

3.      Getting more active in the Muslim community, school, and the Masjid.  

 

For many people activism is considered to be just doing the work, which may mean just helping out at the mosque in your community. True activism involves the hard part: being social. Activism is not about building an empty structure or organization at school with 10 exec members, may include fund raising for the needy and unfortunate in the community, helping the seniors with shoveling their driveway, and getting the teenagers at your school involved in Islamic activities.

 

Some ideas for such activities:

1.      Have fun sporting events to increase brotherhood, after which there would a short Islamic      reminder

2.      Organize a weekly Islamic Video session, in which you show Islamic movies, such as “The     Message”, and others.

 

7 Tips for Muslim Teenagers

Islam was never meant to be an individualistic faith, reserved for the "chosen few". Muslims have a duty to spread the Deen, and practicing Muslim teenagers, whether beginners, activists or leaders have a crucial role to play. Tips to bring your friends closer to Allah:

1.      Use the Quran and Seerah as Dawa guides

Read and understand those chapters of the Quran which talk about how the Prophets presented the message of Islam to their people.  

2.      Smile
Did you know the Prophet was big on smiling? If we want to approach others with Islam, we have to make ourselves approachable. Smiling is key to this. 

3.      Show them Islam is relevant today, right here, right now

Young people may think Islam is too "old fashioned" and not in tune with the modern age. Encourage friends to ask Allah's help during tests, exams, and in dealing with problems at home with parents and siblings.  

 

4.      Get them involved in volunteer work with you

If you are already involved in the community, get your friend to help out.

 

5.      Emphasize praying five times a day before any other aspect of Islam

A person's main connection with Allah, on a daily basis, is through the prayer five times a day. Don't emphasize any other aspect of Islam until your friend starts making a real effort to pray five times a day. Emphasize the direct connection one has with Allah in prayer. If your friend begins to pray, that is the first step to other aspects of Islam like giving up swearing, treating parents with respect or dressing Islamically.

 

6.      Help instill confidence in adults

Adults, like Bart Simpson's dad Homer, are considered bumbling idiots in the eyes of "teen culture". Your job as a young Muslim is to help turn the tables on this false and unIslamic belief.

 

7.      Support them even when they become more practicing

Remember, just because a person starts practicing Islam more regularly, this does not mean everything will be okay from this point onwards. There may be times when your friend may have doubts about his or her newfound practice of Islam.

However the most important thing to remember is that we keep checking our intention, and observe if the initiative is following the guidelines. The answer should be to only please Allah SWT.

May Allah always keep us under his light, and guide us to the straight path and give us the ability to work for His cause. May He grant us the patience to bear with all the different people and the wisdom to be true leaders of Islam. 

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