Your Loss of Humanity – What Next?

We all hear about freedom and democracy. These are things that we have been taught to want and need. The idea that people are free is both correct and incorrect at the same time. Read on!

If you think that we as human beings are completely free, then that is wrong. Because as long as we affect each other and have the capacity to harm each other and reap the consequences, then we are not free. However, if you think that we are free to choose within our limited framework as human beings, then that is correct. Mankind is free to choose right or wrong, truth or falsehood. This freedom of choice is a gift from the Creator. It is when man makes the good and right choices that his life is blessed and humanity remains intact. However, whenever man acts against divine guidance and against the conscience Allah implanted in each of us, he loses his humanity and then behaves worse than an animal. So where are we now and what should we do?

So the proper use of freedom is to use your ability, your potential, your environment, and so on, in such a way that you do not harm yourself or others, and that you actually think, speak, and act in a way that develops your family and society. And what is democracy? This is when the people of a society (country) elect their leadership. Now if the people are pious and just, they will naturally elect a pious and just ruler. However, if the people are oppressive, racist, and evil, they will vote for the ruler who best suits them. So democracy only works for the good of society when society is good.

And here you are, a young Muslim in the midst of calls for “absolute freedom” on one hand, and heavy-duty policies that strip minorities of their rights and access to opportunity on the other hand. Policies that strip you of your humanity, for example, banning hijab. What should you do?

The young people of today have largely become chattels of a system that neglects their rights and their humanity. In many countries, Muslim youth do not have the same opportunities as others, and gaining access to society’s opportunities is difficult. At the same time, the community of the youth largely fails to comprehend their predicament. So how can the young people be expected to reach their potential as individuals and contribute to their society as autonomous individuals when their very existence is either largely considered to be unimportant or simply overlooked?

Democracy cannot be applied without restoring the rights of the youth as individuals to humanity, and therefore providing the youth with the environment to be resourceful, independent, and full of initiative. Which young person doesn’t want to be successful? Which young person doesn’t want to do something meaningful in his or her life? What is missing are the opportunity for young people to do that and a society that accepts and respects their identity, rather than a society that demands integration, which wipes out their identity that is their lifeline.

The young people have the potential and ability to participate in society and represent a voice that calls for the development of life in that society, in that country that is their home. Not only do they have the potential to do all that, but they also have the right to do it. The more society pushes the youth to the fringes of life and keeps them on a certain level of minimal education, the less the youth will be able to contribute and the less of a positive impact they will have on their country.

So when a democratic country votes people into power who keep young people on the fringes of participation and contribution, then perhaps the solution is not in the government that made those policies but with the general population who voted them into power.

Allah the Almighty says, [Verily, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change their state themselves] (Ar-Ra`d 13:11).

So He will change our state (including leadership) when we (the individuals of the society) change what is within ourselves (our thinking, attitudes, obedience, and so on).

Every member of a country has the right and the duty to develop the land beneath his or her feet; a right to contribute to the development of that place; a right to make it more beautiful, safer, and more developed. Ideally, the whole country would moan the loss of an upright solid citizen regardless of his or her country of origin, race, or religion. Hasn’t the world grown up to stop judging people by the way they dress and how they look? Can’t we start giving people the chance and opportunity to develop themselves so they can develop their family, community, and country?

Young people all over the world suffer from similar problems that just manifest themselves in different ways according to the place they are in. But it is a worldwide phenomenon that young people are being called upon to be “free” (whatever that means) along with the extension of that, which is to blend into one’s society, which usually means having boyfriends and girlfriends, indulging in alcohol and drugs, and rejecting family ties. So in order for young people to feel accepted and considered “humane” they have to follow the dictates of their society. And if they choose to follow their own way, then they are considered to be the “other”—the rejected, the suspected, the one on the fringes.

But the question is this: How much of our humanity do we lose when we sacrifice our identity, our beliefs, and ourselves to submit to calls from a society that willingly elects politicians who will marginalize the Other?

• Why Should I?

• Who Can Afford To Lose Sanity?

• No one likes to be used!

• Seeing Things Straight

• Who will Inherit the Muslim Community?

** Anthea Davis has worked for many years with the youth in the United Kingdom and can be contacted at youth_campaign@iolteam.com.