Today, the world is commemorating International Youth Day under the theme “Youth Engagement for Global Action.”
Malawi Muslim Website celebrated the day by focusing on what Malawi Muslim youths are contributing to the society.
A Muslim youth, Joseph KB Kadzakumanja who is the Managing Director of KB Accounting Limited told Malawi Muslim Website that Muslim youths are contributing a lot to the society.
“Muslim youths are contributing a lot to the society. That is evidenced by presence of Muslim Youths in various sectors of the economy. You will find out that we have a number of Muslim youths striving as lawyers, engineers, accountants, IT experts, business persons and entrepreneurs just to mention a few sectors,”
“Building an economy requires active individuals in different sectors and Muslims are playing that role. About 20-30 years ago, Muslim youths were not that much active in other sectors due to other barriers (islamophobia for instance) which is not the case right now, as the degree is not that big. For instance in Malawi, you will find out that in any fight for goodness, Muslim youths are there in the forefront,” he says.
Kadzakumanja says the world is a home for the youths and they make up large part of the population.
“If the world is going bad we are to be blamed not the elders. We need to strong enough to take into our hands what the elders are destroying. We are to be champions of change and not followers. The elders are supposed to be guiders and the youngers to be followers,” he told Malawi Muslim Website.
Kadzakumanja says the novel coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the youth as it has done to the rest of the people.
“Some of the youths have lost jobs, business gone down and education perished. You may understand that those who are said to have been impregnated during this period are youths and those impregnating are youths as well. Such category cannot impact positively to the global society. But this was ideal time for the youth to sit down and plan ahead. This is good time to acquire Islamic knowledge, this is the best time to acquire entrepreneurial skills,” he says.
He advices Muslim youths to be exemplary.
“We need to understand that we are creations of Allah before we became Muslims and we should appreciate co-existence if we are to impact positively. We will then be part of those performing silent dawah and contribute to the global society. We should avoid, and avoid and avoid talking about Islamic Principles where we don’t have knowledge and acquire Islamic knowledge and understand their dealings,”
“In Islam, every event before we come up with a solution we Consult the Quran, then Sunnah, then fatwas/rulling of Islamic dcholars. Islam is complete and does not need our talking but our understanding of the principles. The Muslim youths need to present good image of our deen, emulate good examples of the youth during the time of the prophet and other good youths of our time and should contribute to development of our communities,” Kadzakumanja told Malawi Muslim Website.
Abdullah Panjwani of Muslim Youth United (MYU) says the day is significant to the youths.
“The International Youth Day represents a fantastic opportunity for us to express ourselves in ways that can restore much-needed positivity, hope, and optimism for the development of the world that we are all a significant part of,” he says.
Panjwani says youths have the power to change the world for the better.
“We definitely do have the powers to change the world. However, the world can not just be changed by our opinions, but rather it can, and most certainly will be changed through our actions that support our opinions,”
“Unfortunately, we tend to focus a bit too much on finding faults in people and complaining about what’s wrong with the world in general, instead of finding out whether a change is actually needed from an Islamic perspective in the matters we consider to be worrisome, if so, finding out how to make the changes in the most Halaal and wisest ways possible, and then carrying out those steps passionately and steadfastly,” Panjwani told Malawi Muslim Website.
He says Muslim youths must improve themselves holistically, as well as to improve people’s perceptions of them.
“Two key qualities that us Muslim youth need to try our best to work on more are those of wisdom and integrity. Wisdom could simply be defined as: ‘Realising that not everything we think about needs to be said and done. Putting ourselves in the shoes of other parties that could be affected by our speech and actions before deciding whether to implement them or not is a great tip to attain wisdom. A concise meaning of integrity could be: ‘Being strong-principled and self-disciplined in all aspects of life that are important to us,”
“An almost surefire way of earning integrity is by always telling the truth regarding any question that comes our way, whether the questions are posed by others or even by ourselves. No matter how educated, talented, rich, or cool we think we are, at the end of the day, our wisdom and integrity is what will only and truly be the most significant representation of our lives, character, and the legacy we leave behind,” Abdullah Panjwani told Malawi Muslim Website.
