Hosai Mojaddidi – Have We Turned Our Backs On Our Muslim Youth

This is from a sister named Susie Ismail. He also works with teens

so please pay attention. Last weekend I spoke at a youth

conference on the topic of gender interaction. When the talk

finished I asked the room of over 100 teens aged 13 to 18 years old.

If they had any questions, I was met with complete silence,

thinking that hesitation and embarrassment may be the culprit.

I shared my cell number with the teens and asked them to text me

any questions they had on the topics we covered, expecting maybe

four to five questions from a few brave souls. I was shocked to see

my phone light up with question after question after question that

continued late into the night long after the session was over. In the

end, I received over 100 text messages from 79 Different teens.

Some of the numbers were cloaked in anonymity, and couched in doubt

of whether or not parents might find out the questions ranged from

is marijuana and vaping really haram to Why do my parents hate me

so much? To How do I stop people from bullying me and beating me up

in school? To comments such as I'm not sure I believe in God anymore.

Or I'm really depressed and sometimes I don't think life is

worth living, to heartbreaking words of how do I recover from

something really bad that I've never told anyone about? Buried

amidst the questions about sexuality LGBTQIA plus secret

boyfriends and body image, their lives a palpable undercurrent of

fear, sadness, loneliness, and a type of desperate reaching out

what broke my heart was after staying up late and responding to

each and every text. So many of those teens sent back a surprised

message of I didn't think you would really answer or wow, I

didn't expect a response. Have we turned our backs on our youth that

they no longer ask because they expect to be dismissed or ignored?

Have we led them to believe that they will not be heard, validated

or responded to? So many of these questions and comments that came

through my phone that night, were stitched with threads of helpless

desperation, a cry that shook the depths of my consciousness as a

mother, a speaker and educator, a counselor and a community member?

We are so quick to blame our youth for not talking to us. But are we

accessible enough to them in the way that they need to speak and

express themselves? Do we simply expect them to mold to our method

of communication and the guidelines we provide? Last

weekend I learned more from the teens that attended that session,

and from the text that came in than they could ever learn from

me. I pray that Allah subhanaw taala guides us all as parents,

teachers, mentors, friends and community leaders, to be better to

do better to open up the channels of communication with our

children, to listen to hear and to love. May Allah Subhana Allah

forgive us for our feelings and raising our children with a sense

of security and safety, safety, to face their fears with us by their

side. May God make us better than we were and better than we are in

protecting our youth and being there for them when they need us

the most. And when we need them the most to learn to understand to

grow and to heal together before it is too late. We cannot lose

another heart, another mind or another soul. I mean it was my

aim. Everybody's