A campaign in some of our newspapers is calling for the closure of summer centers and a number of dawa and preaching activities under the pretext of fighting extremism. It is beginning to remind me of the McCarthy era in the United States against “Communist” intellectuals, where people were considered guilty until proven innocent and the innocent incarcerated for crimes committed by others.
The Kingdom has the highest birth rate in the world, and the young make up 65 percent of the Kingdom’s population. The question that continues to puzzle me is where the millions of youth are to go, and how they are to spend their long leisure time during summer? Do they have to travel abroad where vice and immorality, drugs and foreign intelligence agencies eager to recruit young people lie in wait for them? Do they have to go to recreation centers and cafes, which cannot accommodate more than five percent of them? These places lack proper guidance and controls and the youth smoke shishas and watch satellite television there. Or are they to spend their time in guesthouses, where advocates of violence get their training? It is in there that the terrorists have been found.
Yet despite the reputation these guesthouses have earned because of the extremists, they continue to represent an outlet where millions can find decent entertainment. No one should demand their closure, though perhaps they should be subjected to some organization and supervision.
Where else can young people go? With their friends, without their parents knowing where their children go or what they do away from home? Are parents to leave the door wide open for our youth to be influenced by strangers? Who can stop a group of youngsters from meeting at the home of one or another and getting up to all kinds of things?
Are we to close all these Islamic call and guidance centers just because a few have deviated from the right path? Are we going to see a similar media campaign calling for the closure of schools and universities just because this or that person studied there, or the closure of mosques because this or that person prayed there once?
Instead of closing a single summer camp or preaching center, we should open ten or fifteen new ones for every one in existence and work to ensure that they offer their activities and programs all year round, not just during the summer months.
Summer camps, for both boys and girls, should feature sport, reading and discussion sessions, vocational training and any other activity that encourages people to get to know each other better, to promote dialogue and spread awareness of Islam. The centers must have clearly defined goals and must be governed by a clear set of rules. Those now calling for their closure should instead suggest the kind of guidelines they wish to see governing their activities and nominate suitable people to run these centers.
