The Role Of Youth In The Era Of Globalization

By Ilman Nafian
Student; Islamic Economy Institute of Bengkalis (STIE SYARIAH)

Muslim civilization is currently in decline. That is because many great events and the history of Islam have been forgotten. Among the younger generation of Muslims who are considered as the successors of leadership, many of them have abandoned the values ​​of Islam.

They do not feel the responsibility and instead, it is a burden for them, so they are not able to bring Islam and its Shariah principles forward to compete in the various fields of science for example.

It is this indifference that gives the Muslim youths a backward role that gets them to be more interested in hedonist beliefs. The Muslim youth seems to be at crossroads where it is difficult for them to decide which direction they want to take. The influence of Westernization and the liberal doctrine has inevitably poisoned the soul, morals and ethics of the Muslim youths.

The history of Islamic success has sparked a brilliant era. More than half of the earth’s land was once conquered by Islam and were under Islamic rule. In Europe, Islam once ruled in three major cities namely Cordoba, Spain, Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey and Vienna, Austria.

The story behind the conquest of Constantinople, a city with the strongest defences at the time, is one that amazes the world. This is when the Ottoman Turkish Empire was ruled by a young man named Sultan Mehmed II or better known as Muhammad Al Fatih who was only 25 years old.

In addition to Muhammad al-Fatih, there were also other young men who played a role in various fields in the development of Islam. At the time Andalusia reached its peak of success, a young man named Abdurrahman An Nashir, aged 21 years old, was able to resolve various disputes and create a resurgence of science and technology.

In the earlier stages of Islam, Usamah bin Zaid was 18 and he was able to become a warlord with the great companions of the Prophet such as Abu Bakr and Umar rallying behind him in the face of the strongest enemy forces at that time.

Al Arqam bin Abil Arqam was 16 years old and he was willing to take risks by turning his house into the headquarters for the missions of the Prophet Sallallaahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam for 13 years.

Similarly, Zaid bin Tsabit was only 13 years old when he was appointed as the author of the revelation. A smart and intelligent teenager who in 17 nights was able to master the Syriac language and became the translator of Rasulullah Sallallaahu ’Alayhi Wasallam.

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Behind the success of these Muslim youths is the role of educators and leaders who provided them with good learning opportunities, knowledge and good morals.

These youth were not always considered as mere followers because they were individuals who were motivated and took a proactive part in the development of the Muslim civilization.

As for the youth of today, they need to be given a chance to show that they are capable of holding great responsibilities, answering challenges with knowledge.

The role of leaders and educators is to pave the way and give full trust to them so that the youth will have high self-confidence to innovate and to participate in the further development of the Muslim civilization.

The youngsters are like newly grown buds, the stem and roots are still fragile. The strength of these shoots depends on how strong the tree is. The success of the young generation of Muslims in addition to equipping themselves with knowledge and praiseworthy morals should be given opportunities to carry out responsibilities in accordance with their respective fields.

Among the opportunities provided by the potential and strength of the youth’s identity, the Muslim youth will be able to face the challenges in the era of globalization.