Hosai Mojaddidi – Have We Turned Our Backs On Our Muslim Youth
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AI: Transcript ©
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