By: Abdur-Rasheed Adeoye

ALL accolades belong to Allah, the Lord of incomparable Majesty. May He continue to shower His eternal blessings on Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) and all seekers of truth till the trumpet is blown, Amin. 

A period in the life of man that seems to have diverse perceptions on its range is the period of youth. It has been said to be; the period between childhood and adulthood, the period just before maturity, period between the ages of 15 and 25 years, period of adolescent and teenage years or the period between maturity maturity and when one has his first child. Some other people even believed that this period cannot be defined.

Perhaps, we should x-ray the features of the youth so we can conceptualize our own definition of a youth. Youthful age is the period in life when you are at the peak of your strength; you can engage in many strenuous activities yet have very little rest. It is generally advisable that you should always engage in productive activities as you have the strength now. This period widens the horizons of every man, as you are always eager to learn new things. Youths are enthusiastic to acquire new information and they equally want to practice them without reservations. If you think you are in this category, you need to ask yourself to what extent do you engage your brain in acquiring beneficial knowledge before you get old.

Must youths be free?
Freedom is another hormone running through the blood of a youth. Youth don’t want to follow much rules but want to bring about your own principles. It’s common to hear them say “I don’t like this”, I detest this to my marrow, this nauseates me…” This shows that the burning zeal in youths do not want to be restricted and by extension exuberance comes in and alas, the word “youthful exuberance”. This as well makes youths to be aggressive at times and so tend not be objective in giving judgement. Be cautious of your disposition as a youth, many are humble and very diligent in handling things. The need to be independent makes youths to aspire for a mean of livelihood even if born with a silver spoon. You want to be financially independent and have full control over your income and expenditure. Are you careful of how you acquire them and eschew all forms of indecent means of wealth gathering?

This is also the period of relationship when you know the essence of having a friend or a partner in life. You want to have fun with your friends and hang out with loved ones and at the end you get married. Be the right person and the right person shall also come by.

From the above we should be able to picture who a youth is with all these marvelous features. Looking through history, we shall see men and women of young minds who explore their youthful age diligently. History will never forget Aisha who has the knowledge of half of the religion of Islam even before 18 years as said by the Prophet [SAW] himself. Muadh bn ‘Afra – 13 years and Muadh bn Amr – 14 years were outstanding at the first expenditure of Islam using their strength to the maximum. The freedom of Musab bn Umay got him as a young boy to be the first envoy of Islam, Jafar bn Abi Talib was a great youth leader in speech who used his eloquence to defend Islam even in the presence of a King and Amr Al-As. Abdullah bn Abbas was an ocean of knowledge on his own, he was just 13 when the Prophet (S.A.W) died. The zeal in Zayd bn Thabit won’t let him rest even at 13, he wanted to be in the Muslim army, he later became one of the scribes of the Prophet [SAW] and a Chief Judge in Medina. These are just few among the numerous youths of Islam who maximised their youthful age.

I want to use this medium to commemorate with all the youths in the world as we mark the International Youth Day and as well encourage them all to emulate the lives of earlier youths mentioned above and those not mentioned due to scarcity of space and time. This year’s theme is the Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production. Picture yourself in 2030 and look at what you want to achieve in eradicating poverty while sustaining consumption and production locally and internationally. Remember the saying of the great mentor of all youths [SAW] when he said, take advantage of five matters before five other matters: your youth before you become old; your health before you fall sick; your richness before you become poor; your free time before you become busy and your life before your Death. Decide what you want to be and where you want to be as well as the impact you want to make by 2030; then work towards it and pray hard about it.

In the quest of exploring your youthful age, learn how to read Qur’an fluently with tajweed and some basics of Arabic language. You are afforded the opportunity to learn all these at Daarul Hikmah c/o of FCE(T) Mosque on Thursdays, Fridays (7:30pm – 9:30pm) and Saturdays (7:00am-9:00am). For enquiries contact, 08157558462, 07032817408, 08099786263. Registration has started and class commences this week Thursday 18th of August in sha Allah.

University of Lagos POST UTME screening exercise has commenced, though there won’t be any examination but there are criteria that will be used to admit students, please follow this link to know more about it and call for any assistance: https://goo.gl/EZ6K76

See you poverty free in 2030 In Sha Allah!

IMAM Abdur-Rasheed Adeoye
Amir, MSSN UNILAG ‘15
08099786263

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