[Islam-Online- Teens]

One of the most important things to the Muslim youth is having a Masjid. I am a part of the Muslim youth and hearing the date, December 31, 2000 scares me. No, not December 31, 1999, the last day of the millennium when everything was supposedly going to go wrong, but December 31, 2000. That is the day that the lease on the ADAMS Center, our Masjid, is going to end and the place will be turned over to others. Where will that leave us? It is absolutely imperative that we build a new Masjid. If we don't build a new Masjid, then where will we have youth group, Saturday and Sunday schools? There will be no place for us to have Qur'an class, Islamic Studies, youth group meetings, or after-Fajr tafseer classes on the weekends. If we don't have the Masjid then where we can get together with our brothers and sisters in Islam?

Being a Muslim youth, most of us in public schools, we have to put up with the worst kinds of stuff we will ever have to face. Everyday we are forced to walk amongst people who are doing drugs, smoking, or using the worst language that can possibly come out of one's mouth. Every corner you turn there is one picture or another of something we shouldn't see. And then there's all the rest I don't even want to describe!

What most of the youth end up doing when they come home is fall in front of the TV set or log on to the Internet hoping to find something good but it's all just as bad, if not worse. Too many are beginning to say "Oh, it's okay to see this or watch that or listen to this because it's now an everyday thing in our lives!" The point I'm trying to get at is that it's not an everyday thing in our Masjids, Alhumdulillah! Our Masjids give us the opportunity to do, see, and hear better things. It is our place to run away to, to get away from all the horrible things we have to face everyday. It is our "safe haven" in this world with no morals. When we are at the Masjid we can feel safe, not only from the violence and outside world, but from the corruption that we are forced to put up with in this society each and every day.

Some may think of the Masjid as their last priority. To us, the youth, we need to make the Masjid our first priority, because really there isn't much without the Masjid. It makes us who we are by helping us to build our ties of brotherhood and sisterhood in Islam. Our Masjid is our place to worship, to learn, and to come together with our Muslim families to work together for the sake of Allah (swt).

Teens