Last week on one of the satellite channels there was a phone interview with one of the popular religious presenters who has become a fad on his own. The man was talking about his trips to various Arab countries and the pressure he faces in some countries where he is banned from making public speeches. He mentioned that he is going to England for a month to do some work on his Ph.D. and then resume his tour. At that exact point, one of the people I was watching the show with said with some sarcasm, “Good for you; you don’t have to study as hard as the rest of us! Talk about a month to work on a Ph.D. thesis!”
That comment struck a chord; the man who was on TV has become a role model for a lot of young people. They listen to his lectures and watch his TV programs with enthusiasm. And yet when it comes to giving an example to people on how to work hard and finish whatever you have to finish, he does a poor job. Nonetheless, this man is a star among all the teens who want a good dose of religion in the latest fashionable dress.
Turn on any TV channel and you will always find someone discussing religion, both well-known and not so-well-known scholars and even amateurs. They all have one thing in common; they only deal with one side of religion — one’s personal relation to God. Yet none of them takes time to talk about the value of work, how this society needs people who work hard and are willing to dedicate time and energy to improving life. Nobody tells a Muslim what his duties are to his community. That very shortcoming seems to be one reason for many of the problems we have in our society. People don’t seem to think that this country needs the efforts of every member if we are to progress and improve.
The fact that God created human beings to build the earth and make it a better place to live escapes all those people who think that all they have to do to be religious is to pray and give alms to the poor. Yet our religion wants us to be better people, to be able to stand up to other countries, to be prosperous and effective.
What about charity? People think that by giving money to the poor and providing money to build mosques that they are fulfilling their religious duties. That is all fine and good, but what about giving money to help the community in one’s own area? Should we have to complain all the time that the government has to fix the roads, take care of rainwater flooding the streets, improve hospitals and deal with all our problems. We always complain, but then some people could help with these things without waiting for the government to act. They have the money and capability to lend a hand and make other people’s lives better. We never hear of rich men in Jeddah building housing projects for the poor. Housing projects are always built for the rich and well-to-do. Do they need them? What about building recreation centers for teenagers? What about cultural centers with good libraries and sports facilities? Would that not fill a void in our young people’s time and make them more able to deal with extremists who might otherwise attract them? If this is not a religious duty, I don’t know what is.
Carrying out such projects would also function as a way of offering jobs to those frustrated young people who graduate and cannot find jobs. We’ve heard a lot about how terrorists were set against this society; a solution might be to contribute to make the youth in this country well-taken care of intellectually and socially. This might solve the equation and spare us all the problems that comes from frustrated individuals who feel that society does not care about their problems.
Arab News Opinion 27 May 2003
