EMANA Youth

Assalamu Aleikum!

Welcome to EMANA Youth Portal! This section includes articles on various youth-related subjects. This being a youth section, we have tried to include articles that address hot, pressing issues that our youth face in the modern world and particularly in the western hemisphere. Undoubtedly, sex ranks top among the subjects that parents hate to discuss with their children. It is however something that our youth will struggle with and parents must deal with and is therefore included here.

It is Allah's will and our destiny to live in an age where we are witnessing (helplessly) the erosion of the most sacred of all institutions: Marriage. We live in a world where teen age pregnancy, homosexuality, gangs, and pre-marital sex among other things have become quite common. And alas! For the first time in the recorded history of man, homosexual marriages have been legalized in some places.

Most shockingly of all, its advocates have started to succeed and are poised to demand more and more. This is totally unprecedented and profoundly shocking because at no time in the history of civilizations (except briefly during the Roman Empire) has anyone dared to propose such an affront to the sacred institution of marriage. Recently, voters in California voted against same-sex marriages but I am sure, they will try again and again. Needless to say, this presents enormous challenges for Muslim parents who can no longer afford to avoid such issues. Muslim youth are not immune to bad influences. We should take nothing for granted. And just telling our children that premarital sex or homosexuality is haram is often not enough. Prevention is the key and sooner or later, we must muster the courage to talk frankly to our kids, to listen to their questions and to respond calmly to their doubts.

These series of articles were chosen because they address these hot issues frankly and with wisdom. We do not necessarily agree with them in everything they say but the articles will sure make all of us stop and think. InshaAllah, we are hoping that our youth will take it from here and make this their own little corner contributing articles and exchanging views with one another. Wasalm -

Establish Islam in yourselves
by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

Praise be to Allaah.

What is required of every Muslim is to practise the religion of Allaah as much as he is able to. The imaamah (Islamic political leadership) has been prescribed for the purpose of establishing the religion of Allaah. No one should think that the fact that there is no imaam at any given time in any given country means that we can be negligent and introverted and not practise or establish any aspect of the religion.

Among the people of misguidance during this age and at other times there are those who say that we do not need to establish any of the symbols of Islam until a khaleefah has been appointed over the Muslims and the Islamic state has been established. This is one of the worst kinds of misguidance, and believing this leads to abandoning Jumu’ah prayers, prayer in jamaa’ah, Hajj, jihaad, collecting zakaah, prayer for rain (istisqaa’), Eid prayers, appointing imaams for mosques, calling the adhaan and other things, which amounts to cancelling the rulings of Islam. What do the people who say this have to say about the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):

"So keep your duty to Allaah and fear Him as much as you can" [al-Taghaabun 64:16]

What do they have to say about the hadeeth, "Whatever I command you to do, do as much of it as you can."

It is obligatory to take care of all matters of religion, starting with the most important, then the next most important, so we should study the religion of Allaah, the most important aspect of which is knowledge of the teaching of Tawheed, then establishing the symbols and rituals of Islam and the other duties. No doubt occupying oneself with these things is the most important thing, and each person should do everything that he is able to do. There cannot be an Islamic state without proper understanding of the religion and achieving eemaan (faith) and Tawheed, and ridding ourselves of shirk, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

"Allaah has promised those among you who believe and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the land, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practise their religion which He has chosen for them (i.e. Islam). And He will surely, give them in exchange a safe security after their fear (provided) they (believers) worship Me and do not associate anything (in worship) with Me." [al-Noor 24:55]

The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stayed in Makkah for thirteen years, calling people to Allaah and teaching Tawheed and ‘Aqeedah, reciting the Revelation to them, debating to the kuffaar with in the best manner, bearing their persecution with patience, as well as praying and establishing the acts of worship which had been prescribed at that time. He did not forgo teaching the religion, although the Islamic state had not been established in Makkah at that time. Moreover, how can an Islamic state be established without an ideological foundation and a society of Muslims who been educated in the religion and have learned it thoroughly? He spoke the truth who said: Establish the Islamic state in yourselves, and it will be established for you in your land. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad.

source: a2youth.com

7 Habits of Highly Successful Muslim Youth

by Altaf Husain

You cannot escape it. The discussion about habits is all around you: Mom and Dad are constantly telling you to break your bad habits; your teachers are telling you to develop good habits; your friends are pressuring you to adopt their habits; and the television and media are influencing you to explore new and supposedly cool habits. "You will never be successful," the constant refrain goes, "unless you drop your bad habits and develop some good habits." In the end, it's all up to you. You have to decide what your habits are going to be. Have you given this matter some thought?

If you are alive and breathing, you should constantly be engaged in an inner struggle to develop habits which draw you closer to Allah Most High. Success in this world is directly related to the strength of your relationship with Allah. The farther one is from Allah and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the less likely one is to achieve success in this world and, for sure, even less likely to achieve success in the hereafter. Is it not time for us to reflect upon Islamic teachings to discern the necessary habits of highly successful Muslim youth?

Here are at least seven habits indispensable for highly successful Muslim youth, derived entirely from the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Be Truthful

Being truthful is not always easy, especially when we make a mistake. We fret over whether or not to disclose exactly what happened. We sweat, we are afraid, we feel nervous and anxious. We are often afraid that if we tell the truth about what we have done or said, we will be in trouble with our parents or friends. What we forget is that whether we tell the truth or not, Allah Most High knows exactly what took place, even those things that were never manifest or visible to people around us. Despite how burdensome telling the truth might seem, all of us are aware of the feeling of relief we experience when we tell the truth, even if the consequence of telling the truth is punishment. Casting the telling of truth and the fate of the truthful in terms of profit and loss, Allah Most High tells us in the Qur'an

[This is a day on which the truthful will profit from their truth: theirs are gardens, with rivers flowing beneath — their eternal Home: Allah well-pleased with them, and they with Allah. That is the great salvation, (the fulfillment of all desires).] (Al-Ma'idah 5:119)

So much is to be gained from being truthful as opposed to escaping punishment or blame because of not being truthful. Not being truthful, in fact, leads us down a slippery slope, guaranteeing that with one lie, more lies must be told. Being truthful is not an option for Muslims, but rather an obligation, because our goal in being truthful is Paradise. The beloved of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), said, as narrated by `Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him),

Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to al-fujur [wickedness, evil-doing], and al-fujur leads to the (Hell) Fire, and a man may keep on telling lies till he is witten before Allah, a liar." (Sahih Bukhari, Book #73, Hadith #116)

Ultimate success is therefore achieved by living one's entire life — the youthful years, the adult years, and the elderly years — being truthful.

Be Trustworthy

Who do you rely on? Of course, Allah. He is indeed the Most Trustworthy. But among humans, who do you rely on? Who can you trust to come through for you all the time? Do people rely on you? Are you considered trustworthy?Moving ahead in life, achieving ultimate success, requires that people consider you trustworthy and reliable. Being trustworthy should not be an arbitrary activity but rather a habit so that you can be relied upon in all instances, big or small, convenient or inconvenient, easy or difficult.

In colloquial terms, we often hear "I've got your back," implying, in the most literal sense, that people cannot see what is behind them so they need to rely on their friends to cover that angle, just in case a threat occurs from the back. Just imagine what it would be like if a friend were climbing a tree and was heading out onto a very thin branch to get a kite that got stuck there. She asks you if you "have her back." In this instance, she is relying on you entirely to hold on to her in case the branch breaks. There is no room for joking around or for being distracted: your friend is trusting you with her life.

When we say Allah is the Most Trustworthy, we are coming to terms with the fact that Allah Most High will never let us down, will never leave our side. He, Most High, says about someone who willingly accepts Islam,

[Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah Heareth and Knoweth all things.] (Al-Baqarah 2:256)

Indeed, the prophets of Allah were all trustworthy people and Allah attested to the trustworthiness of those who were doubted by their communities. Prophet Hud, appealing to his community, declared to them,

[I but fulfill towards you the duties of my Lord's mission: I am to you a sincere and trustworthy adviser.] (Al-A`raf 7:68)

Practice daily developing the habit of being trustworthy. Accept responsibility and then fulfill it. When others trust you, do not betray their trust.

You can read in the beautiful biography of our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) how people used to entrust him with their valuables, knowing that upon their return they would find their valuables safe and unharmed. His personal and business practices were commendable to the degree that he was known for it in his community, even before he became aware that he was the Prophet of Allah, literally one who is most truthful and trustworthy.

Have Self-Restraint and Be God-Conscious

Perhaps the most difficult challenge while navigating adolescence is to restrain oneself from falling victim to one's desires — especially one's lower desires.

Our success in life depends to a great extent on how well we are able to restrain ourselves and to be moderate in what is permissible, as well as how capable we are of distancing ourselves from what is impermissible.

Why is self-restraint so critical? Satan's goal is to make you a slave of your desires to the extent that you eat until you are actually uncomfortable; that you consume without restraint beverages made of caffeine, sugar, and artificial flavors; that you find yourself longing for sleep more than prayer; and that you yearn to satisfy your sexual desires. Developing self-restraint as a habit entails making self-restraint your second nature — something which is done almost without thought, without too much effort. We are reminded by Allah Most High,

[And no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint, — none but persons of the greatest good fortune.] (Fussilat 41:5)

In seeking to be highly successful Muslim youth, that is, youth deserving of the greatest fortune, it is imperative that you develop self-restraint.

An interesting parallel is that, throughout his Qur'an translation, the late Abdullah Yusuf Ali translates taqwa as self-restraint. While taqwa is most commonly translated as "God-consciousness," one realizes without much effort that the height of self-restraint is full and complete understanding that one is indeed conscious of one's duty to one's Lord. How awesome will it be if you can look back at your life and say to yourself, all praise is due to Allah that I did not succumb to my lower desires and instead exercised self-restraint consistently!

Be Thorough

Look around your room. How many unfinished projects do you have? When you work on homework, are you likely to rush through the assignment just so you can be done with it or are you more likely to take your time, to check your work, and most importantly, to be thorough?
v Often teachers will grade a report based on how well and to what extent the student covered the topic at hand. Being thorough is not a habit that is developed overnight. The opposite of being thorough is being incomplete, being rushed, and working in haste without any regard for accuracy or quality. The most perfect is Allah Most High, Who perfected creation, Who perfected our religion, and Who guided His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to be the most perfect among humans in behavior and in character.

We read in the Muwatta of Imam Malik "Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'I was sent to perfect good character'" (Book #47, Hadith #47.1.8).

To be thorough stems from a desire to be perfect to the extent that this is humanly possible. Seeking perfection in our actions and speech from an early age helps us to develop a keen eye, not only for thoroughness in our own life, but also for thoroughness in the lives of those around us. Being thorough in prayer, for example, teaches us to be patient and to concentrate upon the words we are reciting and the different positions of the prayer.

Be Focused

One thousand ideas go through your head the moment you stand up for prayer. Is that you? Really? What do you make of those ideas? Do you process them? What about when you are sitting in class? Do you find your mind wandering, daydreaming, and unable to focus on the lecture at hand? Are you likely to use any excuse whatsoever to leave what you are doing?

Developing the habit of being focused ensures that you are awake, alert, and totally motivated to work on and complete the task at hand, whatever it may be. Being distracted early on in childhood by video games, fast-paced imagery, and constantly changing scenes on television shows contributes to an inability to concentrate, to focus. Among the best ways to develop focus is to practice praying with deep concentration to the extent that you are almost unaware of your surroundings. Allah Most High tells us in the Qur'an that the believers are

[those who humble themselves in their prayers] (Al-Mu'minun 23:2)

The humility referred to here results from total focus and concentration on the fact that one is in the presence of Allah, standing before Him, Most High. Do your best to develop focus, no matter what activity you are engaged in — whether in prayer, in academics, in athletics, or some other pastime.

Be Punctual

Stop saying over and over again that you are late because of "Muslim standard time," or the "standard time" of your particular ethnicity. The last thing we should attribute to Islam is the notion that its teachings somehow make us late, slow, slugging, and anything but punctual. What a sad state of affairs, indeed, that we attribute our own weaknesses to our religion or ethnicity!

Highly successful individuals, be they Muslim or not, understand and appreciate the value of not only their time but the time of everyone else with whom they interact. Keeping people waiting for hours on end is neither something to be proud of nor a habit that has a place in the mindset of a person who tries to be successful.

One of the central pillars of Islam is prayer, and Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) have given us clear reminders that we are to establish prayers at their due times.

When `Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) asked "which deed is the dearest to Allah?" the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times" (Sahih Bukhari, Book #10, Hadith #505).

If indeed your day is to be considered successful, you must have prayed all the obligatory prayers at their established times and as many voluntary prayers as possible. If your day is planned around the times of prayer, you should not pray exactly at the time when you are to pray but then come late to all other appointments. Being punctual is a habit which, when perfected, demonstrates to others the tremendous value that Islam places on time — not only ours but that of everyone else with whom we interact.

Be Consistent

Apart from all the habits listed above, perhaps the one that is sure to help you become a highly successful Muslim youth is that of being consistent. One cannot be truthful one day and a liar the next; one cannot be trustworthy in one instance and totally unreliable in the next; and so on for each of the other habits. A Muslim understands from an early age that it is easier to do something once or whenever we feel like it but much harder to do something regularly and consistently.

Indeed, the Mother of the Believers `A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates that "the most beloved action to Allah's Apostle was that which is done continuously and regularly" (Sahih Bukhari, Book #76, Hadith #469).

Regular and consist actions show that a person has thought about it, has intended to do it, has planned to do it, and therefore does it.

We urge you to be as consistent as possible, especially in those areas of your life which need constant improvement, such as your prayers, your fasting, your manners, your studying habits, etc. Do not say, I am going to pray all day every day, or fast voluntarily all of the days of every month, or study all night every night, because such actions cannot be humanly sustained over a long period of time. Say on the other hand, I am going to be sure to read at least one part of the Qur'an every day, or I will strive to help my parents with at least one household chore every day, or I will try to study at least one new item every week so that I can be ahead of the lesson plan.

Conclusion

Finally, Muslims aspire to develop all of these habits because, in doing so, we draw nearer to Allah Most High. If you are intent on being a highly successful Muslim youth, then you owe it to yourself to reflect upon your own life and see how many of these habits are already a part of who you are and how many you need to further develop or acquire.

We end with a reminder that developing these habits will help you to emulate the life of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). His message and his life are summarized well in a narration of `Abdullah ibn `Abbas:

Abu Sufyan told me that Heraclius said to him, "When I enquired of you what he (Muhammad) ordered you, you replied that he ordered you to establish the prayer, to speak the truth, to be chaste, to keep promises, and to pay back trusts." Then Heraclius added, "These are really the qualities of a prophet." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book #48, Hadith #846)

Strive to develop the seven habits listed above and many others from the Islamic teachings so that you will be among the highly successful Muslim youth.

source: http://www.islamonline.net/

Choosing a Career:
source:soundvision.com

The transition from high school to college is arguably one of the most exciting times in the life of a student. A time of new beginnings, of intense emotions and perennial memories. It is also a time that demands big changes, careful planning, and important and often difficult decisions. Prime among these decisions is choosing a career path. Though many high school seniors believe they know what studies they want to pursue, surveys indicate that a college student will change major an average of three times. In this article we succinctly describe some guidelines that can be helpful in the process of making career decisions.

1. Know yourself.

Take the time to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, to identify the subjects and activities you enjoy and the ones you dislike, to determine your goals and expectations. Think about the kind of work you would like to perform, the working conditions and earning level you seek, and the implications on your overall lifestyle. Discuss these issues, as well as your plans and concerns, with your parents, teachers, counselors and friends. Then, using resources like those discussed below, find out which career paths would most likely draw on your strengths, be of your liking, and meet your expectations.

2. Talk to the experts.

Career counselors, available in many high schools and most colleges, are professionals trained to guide you in the process of making career decisions. They will administer specialized questionnaires and tests to help you identify and evaluate your interests, your strengths and weaknesses, and your goals.

A valuable source of information about a specific career are people working in that field. Try to meet and talk to some of them. Inquire about the nature of their work, the working conditions, the training required, the job market outlook, and what they like and dislike about their work. Then compare their answers with your expectations.

3. Know the job market.

The availability of good job opportunities has traditionally been, and will continue to be, one of the very important elements in career decision making. The more dynamic and global character of today's economy makes it somewhat harder to accurately anticipate long-term changes in the job market. Nevertheless, there are valuable studies on employment trends that can be an important resource in assessing future demand for specific careers.

4. Consult various information sources.

In addition to educational institutions and government agencies, other sources of career information and reference material include public libraries, professional societies, companies and business firms. Much of this information, and more, is also available at your fingertips through the Internet. It is always a good practice to consult more than one source before reaching an opinion.

5. Let the student decide.

All too often well intentioned parents try to choose a career and a college for their son or daughter without much regard for the students' preferences and skills. This approach can put significant strain on family relationships and can be for the student a source of frustration for years to come. People that enjoy and use their strengths in what they do usually have more successful and fulfilling careers.

6. Keep an Islamic perspective.

Last, but certainly not least, keep always an Islamic perspective on things. More important than the successes and failures we encounter in life is the way in which we react to them. We should be thankful to Allah and humble in our achievements, and we should be thankful and patient in our defeats. Face every challenge and perform every task to the best of your abilities, and at the same time pray for Allah's help, guidance and forgiveness. Indeed, the amount of taqwa we accumulate in our hearts is a more trustworthy measure of our success in life.

CANDID TALK
by Farhad Khan

How do the attitudes of Muslim youth toward sex differ from those of other Americans? How does Islam equip them to deal with the pressures of a promiscuous society, where nearly all their peers are sexually active?

If you are a parent, put aside for a short time your preconceptions of how you think your children feel about their sexual identity and responsibilities. If you are a teenager or college student, much of what will be said here will reflect the experiences of you and your friends because it reflects the reality of the situations that face us all.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect society. There will always be those who indulge in social taboos. The reality is that casual, premarital sex happens, and to ignore it will only make the problem worse.

This reality becomes:

What do American Muslim youth think about sex? Youth should be taught that it's okay to feel uncomfortable about sex. It's your body's way of telling you that it's not right for you at that time. If Islam is really important to you and you really believe that it prescribes what is best for you in the long run, no amount of pressure should be applied in the society where American Muslim youth are raised since the media blitz on sexuality adds to the already present anxiety and distorts people's views on what is considered right and wrong behavior.

In Islam, sex is more than just a means of procreation. It has a very specific role within the context of marriage, a concept that differs from some religions in that it is integral to the process of pleasing one's partner and creating a loving, nurturing relationship. As children get older and more able to mentally handle the subject, sex should be taught to be the beautiful able to convince you. Sex, in most cases, is an act that is between two people observed by God, and if one of those three is not comfortable with it, then something is wrong. The reality is that it happens, for non-Muslims and Muslims alike, and not talking about it or discussing it and its consequences can only make the problem worse thing that it is, within the context of marriage, so that once they grow up, they will be able to appreciate it for its inherent beauty and purpose. WHAT ARE THE PRESSURES YOUTH FACE TODAY? The topic of sexuality provokes strong emotions in people, and because of this reaction, we see sexual images and actions everywhere. Fear, mystery, curiosity, desire-all of these very powerful emotions can be easily manipulated by-and into sexual behavior. "A lot of underage people drink because its frowned upon by authority figures and the same goes for sexual activity," said one teenage Muslim boy. "Basically, a lot of people become curious about sex because of a combination of their peers telling them that they are weird if they don't and their parents telling them they will go to hell if they do." Sexuality is such a complex subject that to dismiss or trivialize it is to suppress a natural urge which demands attention, either through discussion or-as is often the case- release.

"My parents go so far as to tell me what I'm feeling is unnatural, and that I'm being wrong just thinking about the opposite sex in that way," one person said. "I mean, I don't plan to act out on what I'm feeling, but I have to at least talk about it-but not to my parents, I guess." Many young people complain that their parents set unrealistic expectations regarding sexual pressure or anxiety, and they also feel abandoned by parents who simply tell them to "just say no." This leaves them with no choice but to consult less reliable sources of information, such as their equally confused peers. ISLAM GIVES THE TOOLS TO JUDGE A healthy background of Islamic ideals can counteract the pressures people face about sex. Nearly all the people interviewed for this article cited Islamic belief as being essential in removing much of the anxiety which plagues American youth. "Islam puts sex into perspective," one youth said. "Unlike some other religions, it's treated as a normal, natural activity that, given a proper context, can bring pleasure and happiness. It isn't necessarily considered 'dirty'-just something worth waiting for."

Most youth agree that education is important. "A lot of our curiosity about sex and sexuality could be satisfied with frank and open discusion" said one. Another said that it is "the mystique surrounding sex in a Muslim family that sparks curiosity. The lure becomes stronger the less your parents discuss it." One parent added that discussing the benefits of sex, like better physical and emotional health, rather than instilling an unnatural fear, is very important. "After all, nobody would bungee jump if it weren't dangerous." THE RISKS OF SEPARATION Most Muslim youth, like other Americans, can unfortunately find themselves increasingly susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, partly because of the failure in following Islamic teachings and unsafe practices but also because Muslim youth who find themselves in situations of temptation are overwhelmed. "For youth who are sheltered by their parents from any significant contact with the opposite sex, a chance encounter can result in a total loss of moral judgment," said one person. "Imagine kids who are never given the opportunity to even talk with members of the opposite sex being put in a classroom with attractive people who may show an interest in them. They just can't handle it."

Many otherwise well-meaning parents socially cripple their children by denying them the opportunity to interact with other girls and boys in an open, Islamically supervised forum. The result is that members of the opposite sex are seen as objects of fear and curiosity rather than as people -and are treated as such. "Our parents spent all of our formative years making blanket statements about the"evils of sex," explained a 22-year old college student. "And once we get married, we're expected to conveniently forget these feelings. Many people of my age find that hard to deal with, and I think that leads to a lot of dysfunctional marriages." THOSE WHO FALL There are many more Muslim children than our community would like to admit who are sexually active, some unapologetically. Most, if not all, are discreet in their actions, knowing that the ensuing conflicts would be tremendous. They seem content with living dual lives, one for the mosque and one for themselves. Few, if any, reconcile their behavior with Islam, and most readily accept and believe that what they are doing is considered a major sin in Islam, seeking instead to avoid thinking or talking about the consequences. "It's amazing, really," said one observer. "People who otherwise fast and avoid alcohol will readily jump into someone's bed and not even think about it the following day. These people have moral blinders on when it comes to sex."

Most people involved treat it as a personal weakness or a failure in character, thereby avoiding responsibility for their actions. "I can't help it," said one youth. "Of the typical sex-drugs-rock and roll sampler of temptations that are available to me, the only one I can't resist is sex. Everything else is relatively easy, but that one isn't." GOD WILL BE MORE MERCIFUL THAN MY PARENTS For those rare occasions where a Muslim girl finds herself pregnant with an unwanted baby, the option exercised is almost always abortion, usually without consent or knowledge of the parents. The dilemma of choosing abortion in cases such as these can be devastating to those who, already racked with guilt over the consequences of their first major sin, find themselves forced to commit a second major one. "You're placed in a situation where you fear your parents more than you fear God Himself," said one young woman who found herself in this situation. "Knowingly choosing abortion was the most difficult thing I ever had to do, but at the time I was convinced that God would be more merciful than my parents." WHAT ADVICE DO MUSLIM YOUTH HAVE FOR THEIR PEERS? Muslim parents have little idea how knowledgeable, as well as how wise, their children are when it comes to dealing with sexual pressure. When asked to give advice to their peers, much of what they said reflected an understanding based on a great deal of personal experience and observation. "If Islam is really important to you, and you really believe that it prescribes what is best for you in the long run, then no amount of pressure should convince you," said one college-aged woman. "In a situation like that, you should take five minutes to cool down and collect your thoughts. You'll probably change your mind."

Another person explained, "Sex is an act between two people observed by God, and it should be performed in marriage with the blessing of God." Others showed a change of heart after living a sexually active lifestyle for a period of time. "I really didn't feel much moral obligation when I was younger," said one. "But now that my views and principles have changed. I think that I'm as pure inside as anyone else. I've completely distanced myself from my past life and attitude, and made a commitment to myself and God to be a more responsible person. If you do try something that you regret later, you shouldn't feel that you are a bad person. You should learn from it and move on. If you don't learn from it, then that's where you'll be making the mistake." THE PROGNOSIS The largest gulf of understanding still remains between the parent and the youth, especially in the area of sexuality. Sex is a natural part of life, and when questions arise, they can be discussed in a mature way without actually condoning certain behavior. Fear seems to do little in the way of preventing or curtailing certain behavior (in most cases, it can actually push kids over the edge), but in families where there is open discussion of these topics, there appears to be a stronger and more principled stand.

As in most child-parent relationships, communication is the key. In households where children obey Islam and its rules simply out of fear of the parent, the overwhelming majority either leave their Islam at home when they go out or find their thin veneer of protection easily cracked by temptation. "Your parents can't be with you forever-sooner or later you will be faced with your own decisions, and your parents won't be around to tell you what to do " one person said. The most stable youths governed their actions through God-consciousness which came through learning and education not parental pressure-and walked through the proverbial fire unharmed.

The topic occurred to me when I heard some discussions about the "equality" of man and woman in Islam and when some rejected the principle of accepting man as the head of the family. In most of these discussions many Western concepts were referred to as scientifically irrefutable, many Quranic verses were arbitrarily interpreted and many Traditions(Prophet's sayings) were ignored and described as unauthoritative. I could easily discern the motives behind such arguments and how most of them were the result of the Western social problematic structure, added to the non-Islamic ideology which prevails over the judgment of individuals in such societies.

souce:themodernreligion.com

Muslim College Life: Dating, Drinking and Deen???
by Huma Ahmad

Freedom. Young people live for the day when they can move out of the house and go to college and finally be free. Freedom from their parents, from restrictions on their lifestyle, from everyone telling them what to do.

This is why in college you find a whole generation that does what they want. Life's short they say, let's enjoy ourselves while we can.

So it goes for Muslims. In college you find the most amazing things, Muslims who don't pray, Muslims who date , go out to parties and drink.

Why is this happening?

For one, when students go off to university they finally realize that what they beleived in was blind. Religion becomes like a fairytale, when they got old enough, they knew better than to believe in it.

Most have little knowledge about Islam and have maybe memorized the right rituals to get by. Why beleive something on faith, they ask. After all we cannot see heaven or hell. How do we know Islam is right anyway?

Islamic culture to them means marrying someone they never knew. It means arranged marriages and never hanging out or having fun.

For girls Islamic culture has even less to offer. It would mean double standards or having to serve a husband the rest of her life.

The western alternative to this looks alot more attractive.

In western culture "love and romance" are supposedly everywhere. Everyone is out looking for love freely. Meeting someone, going out, seeking pleasure sounds alot better.

But what about the downside? For love at first sight, you need to have the right image, the right hair, the right clothes.

Girls have to aspire to be like the latest supermodels, they have to hold back age. Who's going out with who, what are my friends thinking, what will happen if I don't get the right girl or guy, what is my girlfriend or boyfriend thinking, all become important.

Frustration, desperation, and unhappiness become the norm.

Imagine all the heartache youth would save if they followed the Islamic alternative.

In true Islam, unlike culture, there is no gameplaying. If two people wish to be involved they are both straight with one another.
v Unlike what goes on today amongst some Muslims, they both meet each other and make a contract to marry. Women are treated with respect, there is no sexual bombardment like there is in western society. Sex in western culture is also often seen as a vice or a sin of the flesh. But even in religious Islam, sex is seen as natural. As long as it is in the right circumstances, when the two are committed to one another in marriage.

Drinking in college is also the norm unfortunately. If you don't drink or party you're seen as weird. Drinking is cool and a way for people to socialize, meet and have fun. The one who doesn't is less of a person and 'misses out'. Drinking and all the harms that come with it is cut off at the root in Islam. So many problems are avoided, accidents, pregnancy, violence and even rape for example.

In college and in the world, success in life is not seen in terms of religion. It is seen as what other people think, one's careers, how much money they make. If you are religious you must have failed at life. But why do we have this seperation? and this blindness in religion?

The Quran tells us again and again not to have blind faith, not to folllow the religion of our forefathers.

Yet, we as Muslims have stopped thinking. We may think about what our friends or other people will say, but we avoid thinking about the real issues.

We spend so much time on the opposite sex, thinking about careers, money etc, but we forget to think about death and how much of this we will really be able to take with us?

"Every soul shall have a taste of death and only on the Day of Judgement shall you be paid your full recompense...for the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception"

(Quran 3:185)

Shouldn't we take the time to comtemplate what will happen to us after we hit the grave? After all, what is the point of life if we are not accountable for our actions? If there is no creator, what is the point of being honest or good.

If we really look at our life we see that everything is indefinate, getting a job, even living until tomorrow. In fact we could die anytime, this is a definate, the _only_ dead certain thing in our life.

Most of us believe we can make up for our actions later or we can be religious later.
v We are gambling.

The chances of our dying today are little, but the stakes are high. Allah reminds us of the importance of this,
v "O you who beleive, obey Allah as he should be obeyed, and die not except in a state of Islam"

(Quran3:102)

Each of us needs to decide.

On the Day of Judgement it will be us alone who will be asked about our actions.

"Verily We have revealed the Book to thee in truth, for (instructing) mankind. He, then that receives guidance beinfits his own soul: but he that strays injurs his own soul..."

(Quran 39:41)

This is the true definition of freedom. To learn about Islam and the world openly. To contemplate about life and death. And after learning the truth, obeying the word of God.

"Those on whom knowledge has been bestowed may learn that the (Quran) is the truth from your Lord, and that they beleive therein, and their hearts may be made humbly (open)to it..."

(Quran 22:54)

Once students have this rock-solid intellectual beleif in Islam, the corruptness and falseness of the people around them is clear. The beauty and wisdom of the islamic way, the best alternative is clear. What other's do is of less importance. If others think they were weird to pray or weird to be honest, they would still pray and still be honest because they know their deen.

Our Quran's are left on the top shelves, gathering dust. Sometimes the most it is read is when someone dies. How is this to help, when the guidance comes too late. The Quran is for the living. The path to understanding and following Islam comes from learning first.

How many of us are Muslim, yet have never read the Quran in our native language?

How many of us are Muslim, yet have yet to open a book on hadith or sunnah?

How many of us defend Islam to non-Muslims, but do not follow it ourselves?

May Allah forgive and lead us and all those lost to the straight path.

InshaAllah.

Ameen.

based on a talk by Abdul Wajid "Born to be Brown", UK

HOMOSEXUALITY. A COST TO SOCIETY OR HARMLESS ?
source:http://www.rationalreality.com/

Of all topics most popular in today's media, issues concerning homosexuals and homosexuality in general top the list. Homosexuality is generally defined as a sexual relationship between partners of the same sex. Debate concerning its causes and consequences has been going on almost in every period in human history. However, never before in human history has it been granted such wide scale acceptance in western society as it has now. The question that I seek to answer in this paper is whether such wide scale acceptance should in fact be granted to homosexual behavior? Is such behavior rational, scientifically functional or is it actually detrimental to the high level of civilization that we've achieved?

I)THE SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE:
Scientifically speaking , sex is a means to an end. The end being the propagation of the human race. This end can never be fulfilled by sex between males (in the case of gays) or between females (in the case of lesbians). Therefore, the general conclusion is that homosexuality is irrational and illogical.

If we consider the construction of the bodies of the male and female, what is noticed at once is that the construction of a body of a male (the penis and the anus- i.e no vagina) does not accommodate having sex with another male. Nor does the construction of a body of a female (no penis, a vagina) accommodate sex with another female. What is obvious to common sense is that the construction and location of specific sexual organs in the bodies of a male and a female accommodate sex between a male and a female and not among members of the same sex.

Therefore, the conclusion once again is that homosexuality is an unnatural and an irrational behavior.

The case with birth control is different to the "cause & effect" argument above[this point was brought up in my meeting in class with the SMSU (Southwest Missouri State) Gay & Lesbian Alliance]. Birth control is simply the further delaying or prevention of a naturally occurring delaying process. The egg (ovum), which when fertilized develops into a zygote, which then eventually develops into the fetus, is released in the female's body in a specific period of time and pregnancy is caused only if a sperm fuses with the egg in that specific time period. If the egg is not fertilized during that period, then the cycle in humans ends in menstruation (Encyclopedia Britannica, vol 26, Macropaedia 701-703)

II)THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:

It was clearly recognized by experts who were objective and unprejudiced, that psychologically speaking homosexuality is an abnormal behavior. However large scale lobbying by homosexuals and certain psychologists brought in biases into this scientific field of inquiry and hence the truth got masked and the results are stated below:

"Before 1973 the DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] listed homosexuality as a sexual disorder. Protests by gay activist groups and many psychotherapists eventually led to its elimination from the manual as a sexual disorder per se, but the DSM did retain a category called "ego dystotic homosexuality- the feeling of extreme distress over one's homosexual preference". DSM III R has dropped even this category, and the issue of homosexuality is no longer mentioned (Comer 480)."

"Until the early 1970's the U.S psychiatric establishment classified homosexuality as a mental illness, but that designation was dropped amid increased political activity and efforts by homosexuals to be seen as individuals exercising different sexual preferences rather than aberrant personalities (Encyclopedia Britannica, vol 6, 31)."

Homosexuality is proven to be a learned behavior according to experiments with clinical cases of intersexuality. At puberty, the individuals in question were "generally attracted to the sex opposite to their sex of rearing [even if it be opposite to their genetic sex of males, having X & Y chromosomes and females both X chromosomes] This suggests that sexual orientation is primarily established in post natal experiences (Encyclopedia Britannica, vol 27, 247)

There has however been great debate concerning the nature versus nurture question concerning homosexuality:

i)Brain Difference: The most recent one seems to indicate a certain difference in certain parts of the brains of homosexual people. What has however not been resolved is whether such difference in the brains was the cause or the effect of homosexual behavior. Further many people in the sample studied had Aids and Aids in its later stages affects the brain. Therefore no strong conclusions can scientifically be drawn from such a study.

ii)Hormonal Differences: when hormones are artificially altered in female animal's bodies [introducing excess androgen prenatally] it makes them behave more like males even showing mating preference for members of the same sex. (Britannica, vol 27 ,248-249). The same source however, also narrates that changing the hormone level postnatally does not mean that sexual preference for partners will change. The only thing that will change will be the arousal level.

Therefore, based on the above, I believe I can justifiably conclude that abnormal sexual preference even when it becomes "normal" to a particular individual due to abnormal circumstances like the above, can be controlled. If every male took his sexual desires towards every attractive female to their conclusion, you can well imagine the galloping rate of rapes in this or any other society. Just because certain individuals experience sexual desires towards members of the same sex, because something went wrong somewhere, does not at all mean that they should engage in homosexual behavior or that their behavior be accepted without question or search for a solution.

iii) The Gay Gene: Even though many "political" efforts have been made by gays to attribute sexual orientation to the infamous "gay gene," nothing conclusive has been found. The study that is cited has fallen our of favor due to the biased nature of the sample and its taking into account only gay men and not lesbians.

1)From psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover, M.D.:

"Like all complex behavioral and mental states, homosexuality is...neither exclusively biological nor exclusively psychological, but results from an as-yet-difficult-to-quantitate mixture of genetic factors, intrauterine influences...postnatal environment (such as parent, sibling and cultural behavior), and a complex series of repeatedly reinforced choices occurring at critical phases of development."

--J. Satinover, M.D., Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth (1996). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. 2) William Byne, a psychiatrist with a doctorate in biology, and Bruce Parsons (1993) carefully analyzed all the major biological studies of homosexuality. They found none that definitively supported a biological theory of causation. --W. Byne and B. Parsons, "Human Sexual Orientation: The Biologic Theories Reappraised." Archives of General Psychiatry 50, no.3.)

3)Psychiatrists Friedman and Downey state that "a biopsychosocial model" best fits our knowledge of causation, with various combinations of temperament and environmental events leading to homosexuality. They say:

"Despite recent neurobiological findings suggesting homosexuality is genetically-biologically determined, credible evidence is lacking for a biological model of homosexuality." --R. Friedman, M.D. and J. Downey, M.D., Journal of Neuropsychiatry, vol. 5, No. 2, Spring l993.

4)From sociologist Steven Goldberg, Ph.D.:

"Virtually all of the evidence argues against there being a determinative physiological causal factor and I know of no researcher who believes that such a determinative factor exists...such factors play a predisposing, not a determinative role...I know of no one in the field who argues that homosexuality can be explained without reference to environmental factors."

I would like to add as a conclusion. If we take the arrow of implication backwards, some people have a predisposition to alcohol, that doesn't mean that they should abuse alcohol and that no therapy is effective.

5)An article on genes and behavior in Science magazine says:

"...the interaction of genes and environment is much more complicated than the simple "violence genes" and intelligence genes" touted in the popular press. Indeed, renewed appreciation of environmental factors is one of the chief effects of the increased belief in genetics' effects on behavior. The same data that show the effects of genes also point to the enormous influence of non-genetic factors."

--C. Mann, "Genes and behavior," Science 264:1687 (1994), pp. 1686-1689.

For more information on the "gene" factor this site (from which the above 5 quotes are taken )is helpful: http://www.narth.com/docs/bornway.html

)THE RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE:

There is absolutely no doubt that Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the three most widely embraced religions in America condemn homosexual behavior in the strongest terms:

According to the Old Testament & the Koran, the people of Lot were destroyed because they engaged in homosexual behavior and were unrepenting and un accepting of God's admonishment (Holy Bible, Genesis chapter 13, 14, 18, 19; Koran 7:80-84; 4:16 etc)

In the book of Romans, in the Bible [New Testament], Paul states:

"Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:22-27)."

The above verse also condemns those who worship God in the image of a man i.e those who believe in the concept of a "God- incarnate".

IV) SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES:

i)Aids: Among the groups that have directly and indirectly contributed to the wide scale spread of Aids to even innocent patients like children are homosexuals and their practice of anal sex.

"There are specific behaviors that place people at a high risk for AIDS. The first is anal sex which can cause rectal bleeding and thereby allow easy transmission of HIV. This practice is therefore extremely dangerous and, of course, the greater the number of sexual partners, the greater the risk. Anal sex is commonly practiced by Gay males in some cases with many sexual partners.

For this reason about two thirds of persons with Aids are homosexual or bi-sexual males (Macionis 545:1987)."

The above statistic of two thirds shows the trend in the spread of AIDS a few years after it was recognized as a threat (1987). Even today according the the General Social Survey of the University of Chicago (Smith 1998) gay men are at the highest risk of contracting AIDS.

Aids results in many national cost problems too:

"....The cost of treating Aids already exceeds $150,000 per person and may rise further as new therapies develop....Added to the direct medical costs are the tens of billions of dollars in lost earnings and productivity...There is little doubt that Aids is a medical and social problem of monumental proportions (Macionis 545)."

GENERAL CONCLUSION:

According to common sense, science, logic, psychology and religion - i.e all those aspects of present society, that have contributed to its civilization, homosexuality is irrational, illogical, abnormal and an immoral behavior. Those who practice is should not be personally condemned but their behavior should and solutions to their ills be found, and the free practice of homosexual behavior be stopped, so that our society prospers. If clear and concrete evidence were indeed found in the other direction, I would gladly change my above conclusions. Therefore let our end be towards the truth!

"..What is left after the truth except error? How then are you turned away."(Koran10:32)

WORKS CITED

Comer, Ronald J. Abnormal Psychology. New York, W.H Freeman & Co, 1992

Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Iowa, World Bible Publishers Inc, 1971.

"Homosexuality", Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol 6 (Micropaedia). 15th ed, 1990

Koran. Translation, Picthall, M. Marmaduke, Lahore, Taj co 1981.

Macionis, John J. Sociology. New Jersey, Prentice Hall International, 1987.

"Reproduction & Reproductive Systems", Encyclopaedia Britannica,vol 26 (Macropaedia), 15th ed. 1990.

"Sex & Sexuality", Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol 27 (Macropaedia). 15th ed, 1990.

Smith, Tom. 1998. General Social Survey, Topic 25. University of Chicago.

Tips for Teens on Drugs, alcohol, and your friends

How Can I Tell If a Friend or a Loved One Has a Problem With Alcohol, Marijuana, or Other Illicit Drugs?

Sometimes it is tough to tell. Most people won't walk up to someone they're close to and ask for help. In fact, they will probably do everything possible to deny or hide the problem. But, there are certain warning signs that may indicate that a family member or friend is using drugs and drinking alcohol.

If your friend or loved one has one or more of the following signs, he or she may have a problem with drugs or alcohol:

getting high on drugs. drinking, getting drunk on a regular basis

lying about things, or the drugs or alcohol they are using

avoiding you and others in order to get high, drinking or drunk

giving up activities they used to do such as sports, homework, or hanging out with friends who don't use drugs or drink

having to use more marijuana or other illicit drugs to get the same effects

constantly talking about using drugs or drinking

believing that in order to have fun they need to drink or use marijuana or other drugs

pressuring others to use drugs or drink

getting into trouble with the law

taking risks, including sexual risks and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs

feeling run-down, hopeless, depressed, or even suicidal

suspension from school for an alcohol- or drug-related incident

missing work or poor work performance because of drinking or drug use

Many of the signs, such as sudden changes in mood, difficulty in getting along with others, poor job or school performance, irritability, and depression, might be explained by other causes.

Unless you observe drug use or drinking, it can be hard to determine the cause of these problems. Your first step is to contact a qualified Muslim counselor, Imam or alcohol and drug professional in your area who can give you further advice.

How Can I Tell if I Have a Problem with Drugs or Alcohol?

Drug and alcohol problems can affect every one of us regardless of age, sex, race, marital status, place of residence, income level, or lifestyle.

You may have a problem with drugs or alcohol, if:

You can't predict whether or not you will use drugs or get drunk.

You believe that in order to have fun you need to drink and/or use drugs.

You turn to alcohol and/or drugs after a confrontation or argument, or to relieve uncomfortable feelings.

You drink more or use more drugs to get the same effect that you got with smaller amounts.

You drink and/or use drugs alone.

You remember how last night began, but not how it ended, so you're worried you may have a problem.

You have trouble at work or in school because of your drinking or drug use.

You make promises to yourself or others that you'll stop getting drunk or using drugs.

You feel alone, scared, miserable, and depressed.

If you have experienced any of the above problems, take heart, help is available.

How Can I Get Help?

You can get help for yourself or for a friend or loved one from a Muslim counselor, Imam, friend or family member. For additional help, you can check out national, State, and local organizations, treatment centers, referral centers, and hotlines throughout the country.

There are various kinds of treatment services and centers. For example, some may involve outpatient counseling, while others may be 3- to 5-week-long inpatient programs.

While you or your friend or loved one may be hesitant to seek help, know that treatment programs offer organized and structured services with individual, group, and family therapy for people with alcohol and drug abuse problems.

Research shows that when appropriate treatment is given, and when clients follow their prescribed program, treatment can work. By reducing alcohol and/or drug abuse, treatment reduces costs to society in terms of medical care, law enforcement, and crime. More importantly, treatment can help keep you and your loved ones together.

Remember, some people may go through treatment a number of times before they are in full recovery. Do not give up hope.

HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS...
About Marijuana

Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the United States and tends to be the first illegal drug teens use.

The physical effects of marijuana use, particularly on developing adolescents, can be acute. Short-term effects of using marijuana:

sleepiness

difficulty keeping track of time, impaired or reduced short-term memory

reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination, such as driving a car

increased heart rate

potential cardiac dangers for those with preexisting heart disease

bloodshot eyes

dry mouth and throat

decreased social inhibitions

paranoia, hallucinations

Long-term effects of using marijuana:

enhanced cancer risk

decrease in testosterone levels for men; also lower sperm counts and difficulty having children

increase in testosterone levels for women; also increased risk of infertility

diminished or extinguished sexual pleasure

psychological dependence requiring more of the drug to get the same effect

Marijuana blocks the messages going to your brain and alters your perceptions and emotions, vision, hearing, and coordination.

A recent study of 1,023 trauma patients admitted to a shock trauma unit found that one-third had marijuana in their blood.

HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS...
About Cigarette Smoking

Although many people smoke because they believe cigarettes calm their nerves, smoking releases epinephrine, a hormone which creates physiological stress in the smoker, rather than relaxation.

The use of tobacco is addictive. Most users develop tolerance for nicotine and need greater amounts to produce a desired effect.

Smokers become physically and psychologically dependent and will suffer withdrawal symptoms including: changes in body temperature, heart rate, digestion, muscle tone, and appetite.

Psychological symptoms include: irritability, anxiety, sleep disturbances, nervousness, headaches, fatigue, nausea, and cravings for tobacco that can last days, weeks, months, years, or an entire lifetime.

Risks associated with smoking cigarettes:

diminished or extinguished sense of smell and taste

frequent colds

smoker's cough

gastric ulcers

chronic bronchitis

increase in heart rate and blood pressure

premature and more abundant face wrinkles

emphysema

heart disease

stroke

cancer of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, lungs, pancreas, cervix, uterus, and bladder

Cigarette smoking is perhaps the most devastating preventable cause of disease and premature death.

Smoking is particularly dangerous for teens because their bodies are still developing and changing and the 4,000 chemicals (including 200 known poisons) in cigarette smoke can adversely affect this process.

Cigarettes are highly addictive. One-third of young people who are just "experimenting" end up being addicted by the time they are 20.

HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS...
About Alcohol

Alcohol abuse is a pattern of drinking that results in health consequences, social, problems, or both.

However, alcohol dependence, or alcoholism, refers to a disease that is characterized by abnormal alcohol-seeking behavior that leads to impaired control over drinking.

Short-term effects of alcohol use include:

distorted vision, hearing, and coordination

altered perceptions and emotions

impaired judgment

bad breath; hangovers

Long-term effects of heavy alcohol use include:

loss of appetite

vitamin deficiencies

stomach ailments

skin problems

sexual impotence

liver damage

heart and central nervous system damage

memory loss

How Do I Know If I, or Someone Close, Has a Drinking Problem?

Here are some quick clues:

Inability to control drinking--it seems that regardless of what you decide beforehand, you frequently wind up drunk

Using alcohol to escape problems

A change in personality--turning from Dr. Jekyl to Mr. Hyde

A high tolerance level-being able to consume much more alcohol than everyone else

Blackouts--sometimes not remembering what happened while drinking

Problems at work or in school as a result of drinking

Concern shown by family and friends about drinking

If you have a drinking problem, or if you suspect you have a drinking problem, there are many others out there like you, and there is help available. Talk to school a parent or a trusted Muslim counselor, Imam or friend.

HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS...
About Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a stimulant drug chemically related to amphetamine but with stronger effects on the central nervous system. Street names for the drug include "speed," "meth," and "crank."

Methamphetamine is used in pill form, or in powdered form by snorting or injecting. Crystallized methamphetamine known as "ice," "crystal," or "glass," is a smokable and more powerful form of the drug.

The effects of methamphetamine use include:

increased heart rate and blood pressure

increased wakefulness; insomnia

increased physical activity

decreased appetite

respiratory problems

extreme anorexia

hyperthermia, convulsions, and cardiovascular problems, which can lead to death

euphoria

irritability, confusion, tremors

anxiety, paranoia, or violent behavior

can cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, producing strokes

Methamphetamine users who inject the drug and share needles are at risk for acquiring HIV/AIDS.

Methamphetamine is an increasingly popular drug at raves (all night dancing parties), and as part of a number of drugs used by college-aged students.

Marijuana and alcohol are commonly listed as additional drugs of abuse among methamphetamine treatment admissions.

Most of the methamphetamine-related deaths (92%) reported in 1994 involved methamphetamine in combination with at least one other drug, most often alcohol (30%), heroin (23%), or cocaine (21%). Researchers continue to study the long-term effects of methamphetamine use.

HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS...
About Cocaine and Crack Cocaine

Cocaine is a white powder that comes from the leaves of the South American coca plant. Cocaine is either "snorted" through the nasal passages or injected intravenously.

Cocaine belongs to a class of drugs known as stimulants, which tend to give a temporary illusion of limitless power and energy that leave the user feeling depressed, edgy, and craving more.

Crack is a smokable form of cocaine that has been chemically altered.

Cocaine and crack are highly addictive. This addiction can erode physical and mental health and can become so strong that these drugs dominate all aspects of an addict's life.

Physical risks associated with using cocaine and crack:

increases in blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature

heart attacks, strokes, and respiratory failure

hepatitis or AIDS through shared needles

brain seizures

reduction of the body's ability to resist and combat infection

Psychological risks:

violent, erratic, or paranoid behavior

hallucinations and "coke bugs"--a sensation of imaginary insects crawling over the skin

confusion, anxiety and depression, loss of interest in food or sex

"cocaine psychosis"--losing touch with reality, loss of interest in friends, family, sports, hobbies, and other activities

Some users spend hundred or thousands of dollars on cocaine and crack each week and will do anything to support their habit.

Many turn to drug selling, prostitution, or other crimes.

Cocaine and crack use has been a contributing factor in a number of drownings, car crashes, falls, burns, and suicides.

Cocaine and crack addicts often become unable to function sexually.

Even first time users may experience seizures or heart attacks, which can be fatal.

HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS...
About Hallucinogens

Hallucinogenic drugs are substances that distort the perception of objective reality.

The most well-known hallucinogens include phencyclidine, otherwise known as PCP, angel dust, or loveboat; lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD or acid; mescaline and peyote; and psilocybin, or "magic" mushrooms.

Under the influence of hallucinogens, the senses of direction, distance, and time become disoriented.

These drugs can produce unpredictable, erratic, and violent behavior in users that sometimes leads to serious injuries and death. The effect of hallucinogens can last for 12 hours.

LSD produces tolerance, so that users who take the drug repeatedly must take higher and higher doses in order to achieve the same state of intoxication.

This is extremely dangerous, given the unpredictability of the drug, and can result in increased risk of convulsions, coma, heart and lung failure, and even death.

Physical risks associated with using hallucinogens:

increased heart rate and blood pressure

sleeplessness and tremors

lack of muscular coordination

sparse, mangled, and incoherent speech

decreased awareness of touch and pain that can result in self-inflicted injuries convulsions

coma; heart and lung failure

Psychological risks associated with using hallucinogens:

a sense of distance and estrangement

depression, anxiety, and paranoia

violent behavior

confusion, suspicion, and loss of control

flashbacks

behavior similar to schizophrenic psychosis

catatonic syndrome whereby the user becomes mute, lethargic, disoriented, and makes meaningless repetitive movements

Everyone reacts differently to hallucinogens--there's no way to predict if you can avoid a "bad trip."

HERE ARE THE STRAIGHT FACTS...
About Inhalants

Inhalants refer to substances that are sniffed or huffed to give the user an immediate head rush or high.

They include a diverse group of chemicals that are found in consumer products such as aerosols and cleaning solvents. Inhalant use can cause a number of physical and emotional problems, and even one-time use can result in death.

Using inhalants even one time can put you at risk for:

sudden death

suffocation

visual hallucinations and severe mood swings

numbness and tingling of the hands and feet

Prolonged use can result in:

headache, muscle weakness, abdominal pain

decrease or loss of sense of smell

nausea and nosebleeds

hepatitis

violent behaviors

irregular heartbeat

liver, lung, and kidney impairment

irreversible brain damage

nervous system damage

dangerous chemical imbalances in the body

involuntary passing of urine and feces

Short-term effects of inhalants include:

heart palpitations

breathing difficulty

dizziness

headaches

Remember, using inhalants, even one time, can kill you. According to medical experts, death can occur in at least five ways:

1. asphyxia--solvent gases can significantly limit available oxygen in the air, causing breathing to stop;

2. suffocation--typically seen with inhalant users who use bags;

3. choking on vomit;

4. careless behaviors in potentially dangerous settings; and

5. sudden sniffing death syndrome, presumably from cardiac arrest.

Messages for Teenagers

* Know the law. All of the above-mentioned and many other substances are forbidden by Islam. They are also illegal in the United States. Apart from the fact that you are accountable to Allah for what you do and could very well be punished in this life and the next for using drugs and alcohol, you could also face legal penalties according to United States law: depending on where you are caught, you could face high fines and jail time.

* Be aware of the risks. Drinking or using drugs increases the risk of injury. Car crashes, falls, burns, drowning, and suicide are all linked to drug use.

* Keep your edge. Drug use can ruin your looks, make you depressed, and contribute to slipping grades.

* Play it safe. One incident of drug use could make you do something that you will regret for a lifetime.

* Do the smart thing. Using drugs puts your health, education, family ties, and social life at risk.

* Get with the program. Doing drugs isn't "in".

* Think twice about what you're advertising when you buy and wear T-shirts, hats, pins, or jewelry with a pot leaf, joint, blunt, beer can, or other drug paraphernalia on them. Do you want to promote something that can cause cancer? make you forget things? or make it difficult to drive a car?

* Face your problems. Using drugs won't help you escape your problems, it will only create more.

* Be a real friend. If you know someone with a drug problem, be part of the solution. Urge your friend to get help.

* Remember, you DON'T NEED drugs or alcohol. If you think "everybody's doing it," you're wrong! Over 86% of 12-17 year-olds have never tried marijuana; over 98% have never used cocaine; only about half a percent of them have ever used crack. Doing drugs won't make you happy or popular or help you to learn the skills you need as you grow up. In fact, doing drugs can cause you to fail at all of these things.

source: soundvision.com

Sex Education
By Shahid Athar, M.D.

Sex in the mind of some parents is a dirty word. They are uncomfortable in discussing it with their teenagers just as their own parents never discussed it with them. They leave it up to the Sunday school to teach Islam and up to the television and the secular school system to teach sex education.

Thanks to the "birds and the bees" who taught mankind that sex is natural and a gift from God. No one can deny the power of sex and the built-in desires. A powerful genie, if not brought into submission to the Will of God, is certainly capable of causing tremendous destruction of the lofty Islamic morals which Islam builds for its believers.

Muslim parents and teenagers are getting mixed messages about their roles. They are tom between what seems to be an Islamic perspective and what is actually being taught by the secular media and the education system. Children develop right and wrong concepts not from the books but from what they see on the television and what they see around them. For some of today's youngsters, it may not be enough to be told that they should not engage in sex because Islam forbids it. They also need to be advised of the hazards of early sex, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy and sex education in the dimension of marriage and sex after marriage, in addition to the biology of development and hormonal changes at puberty. Their frank questions about sex should not be avoided but need honest answers from the Islamic perspective.

In this book I have attempted to address all these issues. I have begun each chapter with a quotation from like-minded American sex educators to emphasize that this concern is common to both Muslims and non- Muslims. I pray for the soul of my mentor, the late Dr. Mahmoud Abu Saud, who played a "grandfather's role" for my own children and many, many Muslim youth. I thank the editors of Minaret and the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association for allowing me to use the informative articles of Farhad Khan and Dr. Hamad, respectively. I also thank Dr. Ahmed El-Kadi and Dr. Iman El-Kadi for their permission to use the late Dr. Abu Saud's article, "Sex Roles in Muslim Families in the USA." Above all, I thank Muslim youth, including my own children, for asking me most intelligent and sometimes difficult questions. I also thank Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar for reviewing the manuscript and KAZI Publications for publishing it. May God accept the efforts of those who strive in His cause.

Sex Education
By Hassan Hathout

Some time ago I was on an Islamic tour in Canada. My hosts took me to the Islamic center in one city. They proudly told me that the building had been a Christian church until bought by the Muslim community and transformed into a mosque/Islamic center. The architecture of the church revealed the history of the building. It was quite an emotional experience to hear the adhan and observe the Islamic prayers in this place. Then my hosts took me to another city. Their faces gleamed joyfully as they introduced me to a second surprise in one day: the mosque had also been a church and then bought by Muslims. Barely containing their jubilance, they asked me, "Describe your feelings, doctor." I answered, "I feel very scared!" It was a shocking response to them until I explained that the pertinent question to ask should be, "What made the Christians sell their churches to Muslims?" A generation of observing Christians was followed by another generation who could care less for religion or the church. The inevitable thought to follow was whether the same could not happen to Muslims. Unless the coming generation grows up to be active, genuine Muslims, the chain will be broken and God forbid our current masjids and centers might be on the market for sale in a decade or two.

The challenge facing Muslim parents, centers and mosques is obviously tremendous, given the sad state of licentiousness and moral disintegration pervading Western society. At the top of the list comes the sexual revolution with its vagaries that are too obvious to describe. Not only do our young people have the natural sexual instinct as their bodies beam with hormones, but they are also subjected to a tidal wave of neo-morality providing stimulation, inflammation, promotion, commercialization, easy access, rationalization and brain-washing into new social norms that conflict with Islam and with all divine religions.

How do we prepare our children to confront this temptation and be victorious over it? How do we train soldiers for battle? How do we vaccinate our children to acquire immunity against that to which they will inevitably be exposed?

Many Muslim families and indeed Muslim leaders and preachers have no real answer. Some think that children will remain children and others believe that because we are observant Muslims then our children will naturally follow in our steps. To bury our heads in the sand is no good and is a betrayal of our Islamic obligations to our children.

Dr. Shahid Athar is one of the small band of Muslims whose conscience made it incumbent on them to stand up and try to neutralize this gaping deficit. In my knowledge of him, I found a man who is keen on serving Islam with his mind and soul, rather than with rhetoric and sioganism so abundant in our ranks. He is among the few whose vision is more focused on tomorrow rather than the fleeting hustle and bustle of today. Unless the real issues are addressed, the future will be bleak. In this book, Dr. Athar establishes the diagnosis and prescribes the treatment. I hope it will be read with an open mind by the Muslim youth and especially by their parents, teachers and preachers. It is indeed my privilege to write this foreword. May God bless my brother Shahid.

THE WORLD OF TEENS TODAY: A PERIL FOR PARENTS
By Yahiya Emerick

My grandmother grew up during the Great Depression. I remember as a youth being told stories about how they fixed everything that broke because there was no possibility of buying anything new. Her father sold fruit out of cart in Flint, Michigan and her mother did odd jobs when she could find them. Life was hard and thrift meant everything. Five cents bought a loaf of bread, yet five cents was often hard to come by.

My own son has been fascinated by the differences in prices from the ‘old days’ and modern times. The funny thing is, his idea of the ‘old days’ was when I was young. Yes, in the 80s we could buy an entire candy bar for a quarter, and twenty dollars was really a lot of money. Ouch! That makes me feel a bit on the, shall I say, elderly side.

I’ve often wondered about people who live through momentous shifts in culture and technology. People who were born just one hundred years ago did not see airplanes in the sky, nor cars on the road nor computers – let alone ‘smart phones’ and all that. The funny thing is that before the Industrial Revolution, peoples’ lives were pretty much a carbon copy of the lives of their ancestors for the previous five hundred years. Change came in long intervals – very gradually. People could ‘catch up’ and cultures could adapt in a more organic and paced way.

Life is not like that any longer. Wars - terrible wars caused a hyper-change in the pace of technology. World War I saw a huge advance in mechanization, and World War II brought all sorts of advances in electronics, engines and the like. As a historian, I can reveal to you what all historians know – technology and war go hand-in-hand. In peacetime, nations prepare for war by trying to outdo the weapons of their neighbors. There’s a little art, literature and culture along the way, then war breaks out because the generals want to try out all their new gadgets. (Do you remember how in both wars in Iraq all kinds of new and strange weapons were tried out in actual combat?)

The Cold War, that contest between the Soviets and the West, gave rise to more technological advances in a very short time. Today, we are reaping the benefits of those many inventions in our lull of peacetime (you know, art, literature, culture). But because of increasing globalization, change is coming not once every generation, or even every few centuries, but every few years now.

It seems like only yesterday that cell phones were just invented. Now the phones are smaller and contain super computers. We went from radios to boom boxes to Walkmans to Ipod nanos in less than fifteen years. Everything is on-line, on the web, interconnected, digital and fast, fast, fast.

I’ve been thinking about these developments a lot lately. I am from that last generation that grew up pre-cell phone, pre-internet and pre-connected. Just thinking back on how life was back in the 70s and 80s: you could be ‘out-of-the-loop’ for days at a time. If you weren’t at home, no one knew where you were. We used to write letters and order things through the mail. You didn’t have a computer in your house. Hi-tech gaming systems consisted of ‘Pong’ or the Atari 2600. My first computer came when I was fourteen, and it was a Commodore Vic 20. (Today’s calculators are more powerful.)

Students learned in schools without calculators. There were no Powerpoint presentations. You didn’t look up info on the Web. We used Encyclopedias, the library and actually had to research things. Teachers didn’t do ‘Differentiation,’ or ‘Project-based learning.’ Down time was spent watching cheap TV shows or collecting coins or some such. There was no cable TV. You actually went out and played sports with your friends and talked about things. There were still real forests near your town and a sense of continuity to life that is hard to explain to a ‘plugged-in’ teen who cannot stop texting, and who even sleeps with his or her phone under a pillow lest they miss a text.

I started teaching in 1992, which was also pre-internet, cell-phone and the like, and I have been teaching ever since. I’ve taught in the Mid-West and East Coast, in private and public schools, and I have been a witness to the changing dynamics and features of life for teenagers across many ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Now let me describe the current state of life for teenagers in this new millennium.

Life for a teenager today is governed by a simple code: everything exists to bring me pleasure; no one has the right to make me wait for anything; I have to know ‘what’s going on’ at every moment; if it makes me feel good, no one has the right to deny me; my friends are my life and adults exist only to provide for my whims; everything that is not easy is a waste of time.

While some of those things might apply to teenagers in any time period, the majority of them do not. In times past, there was no such thing as a ‘teenage’ period of time where the youth go through some unique personal ‘Hell’ on their road to self-realization and actualization. In times past, and historical records bear this out, the teenage years were a time when kids worked hard for their parents in the expectation that one day they would be like them. “Dad is a farmer. I can’t wait to get my own land and family!” Look back at any time before 1950 and there was no ‘teenage youth culture’ of any kind.

The process that gave rise to Rock and Roll (the 1950s) then shifted to the years of cultural rebellion (the 1960s), and then the wasted generation (of the 1970s) was fueled by war (World War II, the Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam). The increasing conservatism (of the 1980s in reaction to previous excesses) gave rise to an abject Me-centered materialism (of the 1990s) that has left us where we are today.

Teenagers today have been raised on the plentiful bounty of society and do not know what poverty is. They do not need to work hard for anything. They need never feel any discomfort, hunger or boredom. Flashy video colors and music are a natural part of a large part of their day. Peer-pressure dictates what they wear and how they present themselves in an ever-more regimented way. In the past, the punks or nerds or jocks had more latitude in their personal style.

Today, kids who identify as Goths all look the same (black clothes, piercings and hair dye and gel). The gangsta’ rap crew all wear the same long shirts, pants falling down, audacious sneakers, ‘bling’ jewelry and baseball caps turned sideways. (Flashing gang signs, swaggering, ghetto slang and attitude are a must.) The jocks all dress like sports stars and the official uniforms for girls across all these subcultures – well, let’s just say feminism seems to have backfired or at the very least lost its way.

Across the board, nearly all teenagers now are addicted to the following things: Ipods, their internet-enabled phones, hanging out in big mobs of others like them, the ‘right’ fashion look, the internet, ‘hooking up’ and, yes, drugs and alcohol. Movies, popular culture and advertisers all play into this in a big way. (Do you know how many kids from Muslim families I’ve met who subscribe to many of these habits or interests?)

What do our modern youth do in schools? What are they learning now and how do they learn it? Just twenty years ago, people still used books, listened to class lectures, did homework, learned the standard curriculum and sat in their seats generally respectfully, (save for a few urban areas that have always been more difficult). Now, due to the shift in cultural attitudes among the youth, a shift that says that youth can achieve everything merely by being young and wanting it (an attitude reinforced by the themes of the TV shows marketed to them), an increasing number of young people view education as ‘boring,’ a waste of time and too much hard work. And they are not averse to expressing their disdain for traditional education and structure in the classroom!

You might have heard some disturbing things over the last few years such as how cheating has become endemic in schools across the board, how students are increasingly disrespectful to their teachers and how education is falling through the floor all across the country. It’s all true. While a few ‘good’ schools remain, for the most part, all are declining at one speed or another.

What has society done? They’ve blamed the teachers and started witch hunts against them. “If my child is not learning, it’s the teacher’s fault!” Never mind that the kid never reads any books - ever, because the Ipod, internet and phone are more exciting, never mind that the kid stays up ‘til 3 in the morning texting, never mind that the kid is given every material blessing without having to work hard for it, and never mind that the kid has learned they can be rude to adults and get away with it. It’s the teacher’s fault!

Well, to combat this problem in education, the powers-that-be have developed a whole load of new ‘learning strategies’ to try and get the kids to learn. As each of these new programs fails, a new one is developed. Basically, these days the controllers of educational policy have largely given up, though they would never, ever admit it, and to hide their inability to overcome the resistance of the Ipod generation to traditional learning, they’ve just dumbed down the curriculums (and the state tests) in ways that would utterly shock you, especially those of you with dreams of your child becoming a doctor or other professional. (That’s why private schools and charter schools are such big business these days – as a refuge for those few parents who know the game is up.)

The big buzzwords in high schools these days are: “Project-based learning” (which is students working in groups to create infantile yet colorful poster boards with big pictures and text snippets copied from the internet. Basically, it’s pretend learning – busy work to justify getting a grade for ‘work.’)

“Collaboration” (which is basically putting smart kids and slow kids together so the slow kids can piggy-back on the work of the smart kids and get credit for doing next to nothing. The smart kids resent this and do even less work.)

“Self-Esteem” (which is dropping most standard classroom content in favor of students exploring their feelings: “Suzy, it doesn’t matter if you got the correct answer or not, how does doing math make you feel?” I am not exaggerating here.)

“Differentiation” (which is basically grouping smart and slow kids in a single classroom, along with a few non-English speakers and emotionally-disturbed kids, in the hopes that the smart kids will set a good example, but this really results in the teacher teaching to the dumbest level of the class because if they do anything more challenging, the majority of the class shuts down and throws books at each other. Again, I am not exaggerating in this!)

And finally, “Diversity” (which means basically pushing the agendas of every special interest group on the liberal radar.)”

I kid you not! In nearly all urban schools these concepts are the order of the day. Talk to public school teachers and ask them about these things. Scour the web for info about the failings of classroom educational policies today.

In my first year of teaching in a public school, my “differentiated” ninth grade classroom consisted of three really smart kids, about fifteen really, really slow kids who were, on average, about four grade levels behind, a seventeen-year-old ex-con – yes, I am not joking, a few retarded kids and some emotionally disturbed gang members. Would you want your kid in such a class? Me neither, but the philosophy that governs education in America today is creating classrooms with these kinds of dynamics all over the country, and it’s seeping into suburban schools, as well. Reading and reflection are rapidly going the way of the dinosaur. Look into this stuff – if you dare!

So where does this degradation in education leave us Muslims? How will this nihilistic and self-centered youth culture play out in the lives of teenagers from Muslim families? How do you teach Islam to the Ipod generation? This is a serious issue, given that Islam can be very text-heavy. (Have you seen how many words there are in a Qur’an! What about all those hadith books, tafseers, books on ‘aqeedah, etc?)

Muslim youth are not insulated from all the facets of teen culture that are out there. Heck, most Muslim kids I’ve seen in my time fall all over themselves to ape the fashions and values of the non-Muslim world. That’s probably because many of their parents are doing likewise! Ahhh, the BMW, country club membership, fancy clothes, extravagant parties and ‘bling’ of our adults in the community. (Have you ever been to a typical Indo-Pak wedding?)

But I digress. What about passing on Islam to young people who are increasingly averse to reading, contemplation, self-discipline, etc? Alhumdulillah, there still is a segment of Muslim youth who are dedicated to Islam, and you seen them in the masjids, in the weekend schools and in the MSAs on their campuses. I’m more concerned about the other 90% of the youth who slip through the cracks. How can we help them to remain Muslim – and believers – in this very odd time? How can we insulate them or show them that the Islamic way of life is better than the latest fashion trend or download?

Basically it comes down to four main areas: 1) parental dedication; 2) relevant alternatives that can still make them feel ‘cool’; 3) streamlined learning materials; and 4) opportunities for peer reinforcement.

Parental dedication is two-fold. Parents need to reconnect with the best in Islam and live it; at the same time, they need to become more aware of their responsibilities in keeping their children away from the negative effects of the vapid youth culture of today. Don’t buy your kid an Ipod or the latest edition of “Guitar Hero.” Don’t flaunt your wealth around your kids. Don’t let them surf the net alone. Don’t get them a cell phone with internet service. Don’t give them a TV in their room and curtail the amount of time they spend on it – and the computer. Keep books and magazines (with some of them being from Muslims) around the house, but monitor them and keep the bad stuff away. I could go on and on but you get the point. They’ll hate you for a while, but they’ll appreciate your limits and rules later in life.

Relevant alternatives mean allowing them to express some individuality. Let them have choices in clothing, for example, just insist on Islamic values in what is covered, no tightness, etc. Enroll them in enrichment activities of their choice. Tolerate and make available the nasheeds, and forbid them from listening to most music beyond this. Music brainwashes the kids and tells them what to think and how to act – especially if they hear the songs 24/7 like kids do today. Music is the dhikr of youth culture today. Put a lid on it, and for Allah’s sake, if you get them an Ipod, make sure only nasheeds and Qur’an are on it.

Streamlined learning materials are what I am most concerned about. It’s all nice and good to tell your fourteen-year-old to read ‘Islamic’ books, but what are you going to do – plop a Muhammad Asad translation or Sahih Bukhari in their lap and say, “Here, read this”? Most of our books are boring, with tiny type and written for another time period. The single most successful group in getting their material appropriately tailor-made for the young has been the Christians.

Go into a bookstore and see all the Bibles for kids, teens, tweens, etc. See all the colorful self-help books, movies, posters, etc. It certainly makes learning easier for kids, and Muslims are trying to do this here and there also, but we have a long way to go! I, myself, have completed a Qur’an translation for native English speakers, (very teen-friendly) but am having a hard time getting it into print! Our organizations move so slowly! I’m now working on a ‘Qur’an for Kids’ for middle school and other people such as the Islamic Writers Alliance are doing some exciting things too, but we need support from the community!

Lastly, opportunities for peer reinforcement means that you need to get your kids around other Muslims as much as possible, especially in Islamically-themed environments. Take them to the Masjid for salah. Put them in Islamic schools. Go to community dinners. Go to the Muslim celebrations in the amusement parks. Go to the Islamic Games. Organize youth conferences and sports meets – all the time! Send them to Muslim summer camps. Make them join MSAs. Take them to conventions – just do it. You get the point. If you don’t do these things, they will never develop the feeling of community. We are a minority in this part of the world, after all.

In this article, I’ve traced a meandering path through major cultural changes, factors that influence youth today, the changing face of schools and finally how we can preserve our youth from falling out of Islam. This is a really big discussion, and it requires the attention of all our organizations moreso than any other topic, and I mean that.

You can spend all your time and energy working to benefit the people of country X, Y or Z, but if there is no next generation of Muslims after you, it will benefit no one, including you. When will we really dedicate our very existence to the phrase, “All you who believe, save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stone!”

Part of the solution is in being a parent, and not a ‘buddy’ to your kid. You have to protect them and shelter them from the worst of the horrible youth culture that’s out there. How will you benefit if your child comes home one day and wants to emulate the latest music star or rap artist? What good will it do for you and them if you let them develop an attitude of ‘me first’ and ‘education is uncool’? If you leave them to the ocean of today’s youth culture, the only losers will be you and your children. Are there any winners after that?

Yahiya Emerick is author of several books on Islam, including “What Islam is all about.”
Source: The Message International
Special Family Issue
August-September 2009