Cairo, May 5 (IslamOnline.net)- A Muslim preacher known for his advocacy of youth issues has launched a nation-wide campaign for reducing unemployment rates.

The preacher, Amr Khaled, warned in an interview with an Egyptian paper Wednesday, May 3, that unemployment provides a fertile ground for moral deviation and extremism among youths in Arab countries.

According to reliable international reports, the (open) unemployment rate in Arab countries was estimated at more than 30 percent in the mid-Nineties.They indicate that the total jobless reached 16 million recently.

Khaled, mostly received by Arab leaders, said the issue would have a priority status on his agenda, showing confidence that solutions are not far-fetched.

“According to international statistics, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) create eight percent of jobs in developed countries, while all Arab countries have only 800,000 small enetrprises,” Khaled told Al-Dustour newpspaper.

Khaled, who is a London-based moderate preacher with a base of support mostly among youths, said the help of governments, businessmen and institutions is needed for his brainchild. He is a former accountant.

The famous Egyptian preacher said unemployment is a time bomb that could lead to many other crises, citing the series of blasts that hit Cairo in April as the first on the list.

At least three foreign tourists were killed and a number of others wounded when three people in their twenties carried out twin attacks in the Egyptian capital last week.

Some of the attackers were jobless, and all hailed from poor downtrodden families.

Khaled cited prayers by Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) for Allah to save Muslims from pocverty and atheism, which the preacher holds as a clear evidence that “poverty leads to atheism and later total collapse”.

Khaled runs a survey within his program “Life Makers”, broadcast on the Arab satellite religious channel Iqraa, on unemployment. He hopes the findings would benefit governments and businessmen to help resolve the crisis.

“The survey would also allow me to begin local and international contacts for establishing non-profit organizations that would sponsor and finance small projects,” he said on his Web site.

The Muslim preacher said the positive response to the recommendations by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom he met in April, set an upbeat mood for his plans to address unemployment.

With 80,000 Arabs expected to be jobless by 2020, Khaled said the picture remains bleak.

Drug addiction, crime, violence, absence of patriotism and social hatred, are some of the main ailments the society could suffer under these record jobless rates, he warned.

In April, more than 100,000 Yemenis, mostly youths, listened attentively to lectures and sermons delivered by Khaled after he was given a red-carpet welcome in the Arab country.