A closer look at our Muslim youth today
(1st of 2 parts)
AFEW years back, we conducted a focus group discussion (FGD) with a group of college Muslim students from different cities in Mindanao to talk about the essence of Islam and the challenges of our Ummah (community) today. More than a hundred Muslim youth participated in the discussions. They came from various Muslim ethnolinguistic groups in Mindanao.
In our discussions, all of our participants agreed that Islam refers to mercy, compassion, and peace. They also said that those values are recited by every practicing Muslim in their prayer at least five times a day.
After discussing the essence of Islam, we asked them about their views on Abu Sayyaf, ISIS/ISIL, and having Islam as a political ideology. To my surprise, most of the Muslim youth coming from different prestigious universities in Mindanao view these groups that I mentioned as real Mujahideen (the plural form of mujahid, which refers for one engaged in Jihad).
Based from that experience, I realised that sometimes it is normal to meet a non-Muslim to have a different view about Islam and the concept of Jihad, but to hear a fellow Muslim’s view that is contradictory to the very essence of Islam, made me realised that most of us, Muslims, are ignorant of our own religion. This realisation is based on the fact that all Muslims agree that Islam is about mercy, compassion, and peace. Then how come some of us view ASG and terror groups like them as Mujahideens?
Confronted with such negative perceptions about Islam, I had at least three options to react. I can complain and scream about it and just let it be, accept the bitter truth about our Muslim youth today. Or, I can decide to teach them about Islam, but to bear in mind that in their opinion, they are sufficiently educated and well-informed about their own religion. The problem with this option was that given the contradictions about their view of the essence of Islam and their political ideology of Islam, we might end up arguing endlessly.
I was left with my third relevant option. I need to engage them further in the study and thought not just to better understand the Islamic religion and traditions but also to try to understand how and why so many non-Muslims and even Muslims to have such a political view about Islam and a negative impression about the concept of Jihad.
In that experience, I realised that before trying to educate others about Islam I must first reflect upon the sources and reasons for the recurring misunderstandings and misinformation about Islam, Jihad, and the Muslims. This I believe is a good starting point of engaging our youth.
For most of our youth today, if you ask them what went wrong with the Islamic faith? They will not understand you. They will think that you are an enemy of Islam. However, we need to encourage them to have a critical mind and to realise that Islam nowadays are viewed by some Muslims and non Muslims as a religion that inspires intolerance and violence. They can see this on social media, news, and even on the teachings of some of their local Muslim religious leaders. (To be continued tomorrow)