In many countries community service is viewed as a duty which every member of the community feels obliged to fulfill. The culture of voluntary work is instilled in every citizen since childhood. Everywhere you go you find people of every age and social class willing to do voluntary work.
People in those countries have the desire and willingness to join voluntary work at the right time. In schools, for example, students are taken to public places or institutions and asked to do some cleaning or gardening, cater for the sick and the old and join other activities. This kind of activity is included in the student record. By the time they graduate from high school or college and enter practical life these youth would have not only learned to do community work but would have developed a desire to help others.
Courts order offenders involved in misdemeanors to do communal service for a certain number of hours instead of sending them to jail.
Voluntary work has thus developed into a pattern of life. People do not need to spend a long time deciding whether to respond to a request to join this kind of work. Even highly commercialized businesses have benefited from this trend and succeeded in turning the homeless and criminals into heroes, changing their life forever.
We Muslims should have been the first to lead the way in this direction, if not out of human concern then at least in pursuance of the teachings of our religion. Islam orders its followers to stand together and help the needy and teaches them how to behave toward others, whether humans, animals, plants or other creatures.
For us, the desire to do voluntary work is not that strong because people feel if they were not obliged to do something then it is up to them to decide, and this usually takes time even regardless of whether action is urgently needed.
I think our legal system should consider introducing community service and open the way for courts to order offenders involved in minor crimes to do this kind of service instead of sentencing them to prison. This would be beneficial to both society and the individuals involved.
