"Proclaim openly all that you have been bidden [to say], and leave alone all those who continue to associate partners with God.” [15:94]

The idea of being active in the community is thought to be very primitive by some as if it’s something done by those teenagers who have nothing to do in school; or that being ‘active’ means you can’t be ‘cool’. Others believe in order for a person to be involved in the community, he or she has to be super-knowledgeable about Islam. The balanced approach to looking at activism is the way the Prophet Muhammad (S) did. He spent most of his life struggling. Through his activism began a change, which soon changed the whole Arabian Peninsula. It was his courage, his determination, his peaceful and loving nature, and above all his trust in Allah that brought him success. 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 (R), 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 (SWT)? This is the first step to activism, getting our intentions straight, and if they aren’t, we should start all over; forget what we have done, and start clean.

"Man shall have nothing except for what he strives for" [53:39]

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 reality of the issue is that your MSA will not just start up on its own, and nor will it do it the right way by it self. There has to be a vision, a goal that it wants to achieve, and more importantly there has to be a mature leader. The leaders must have the correct intentions and objectives. What is this vision, you might ask? 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. The real question is how to achieve our goals. How do we act upon it? Will everything happen automatically, after the correct intention? NO! We must now create an action plan of our personal life in accordance with our intention. Think of things that fit into this broad guideline, it doesn’t necessarily have to be Islamic as such, but something that is fun and Halal. Come up with a checklist, something that includes daily and periodic activities.

If we really put our brains to this, we should get something as follows:

Now lets focus on the last part of the list, the involvement in the community. We probably have heard a lot about the other things, so lets just stick to the topic.

Activism, as said earlier, should be exercised the way the Prophet Muhammad (S) did. He dedicated his life to it, until his very end, and it was due to his activism and Allah’s Mercy that he accomplished what he did. For many people activism is considered to be just doing the work, which may mean just helping out at the mosque in your community. It may also mean establishing a Muslim club or organization even if there is absolutely no need for one, since there might be already a couple in that area!

However, such youth often lack the true purpose behind all this work. True activism involves the hard part: being social. That means getting out in the public, meeting new people, even those that you may not like very much, and befriending them. To make them feel that they can depend on you when they need help, and ask you for advice. You shouldn’t be “just another boring religious dude” in their eyes, instead a guiding light! Activism is not about building an empty structure or organization at school with 10 exec members.

Activism 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. For most of us the last scenario suits the most.

We probably know many of our friends who hang out in a bad crowd, or perhaps do the wrong things as well; it is our duty as true Muslims, with that right intention, is to help these brothers and sisters. We must be that guiding light, helping them out of that ditch that they have been stuck in for so long. All this requires creativity; the conventional Friday Khutbahs after school or the monthly talks by an outside speaker are not enough. We have to adopt new methods to attract the common teenagers.

Some ideas for such activities:

Therefore give warning. Your duty is only to warn them: you are not their keeper. (88: 21-22).

In short before we plan anything for any Muslim activity we should think to our selves of these two points:

The Prophet (pbuh) once said that my Ummah is like a body, when one part of it hurts the whole body feels the pain/sleeplessness. He also said that those who are not concerned with the affairs of other are not from us (i.e. Muslims). So dear brothers and sisters if we think that the troubles and misguidance of “that looser there” has nothing to do with us, think again.

May Allah (SWT) always keep us under his light, and guide us to the straight path and give us young Muslims 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.