By Haikal Adlan
adlan_haikal@yahoo.com
As teenagers, there are many problems and issues that are brought up or
challenges, we as Muslims have to face. I think the main problem for Muslim
teenagers is the strength to continue with their faith. I will talk about the
biggest challenges of being a Muslim in a non –Muslim countries, according to
what I experienced after two years in Australia.
Firstly, Mosque can be very limited or not even there at all. Even though
there is a mosque, it would probably be far away from your house so you will
not have a courage to go. It is true that if you have a Muslim friend, you will
have more courage to go to the mosque but the only problem is, it would be hard
for teenagers to have a friend with same belief/religion. Problems can also appear
when it is the month of Ramadhan, when
we Muslims do fasting for a month. Unlike in a Muslim country, schools will
not change their normal lessons and activities. From what I experienced, it
does not feel that good when you can see other people eating and drinking in of
your eyes at the time of recess or lunch. Some Muslim teenagers cannot stand it
anymore and would just drink or eat at school. Even I find it difficult to do
fasting in a place where other people eat and drink whenever they want. Also, for
Muslims that live in areas that do not have a mosque also cannot celebrate the
Eid Al Fitr or Eid Al Adha.
Secondly, most foods such as KFC and McDonalds are not halal. It is quite
hard to find halal foods. Some shops might say that their foods are halal, but
it actually is not. Looking for halal food restaurants with the halal
certificate in it is a hard thing to do. Some people think that by just saying
‘Bismillah’ before eating the food, therefore it can be classified as halal
foods. Furthermore, friends from another religion or background might affect
us. When you go somewhere with your friends to eat in a restaurant that is not
halal, and you are not eating anything while your friends eat, first, you do not
feel good if not eating with them. Second, your friends may tease you because
of your super obedience to the religion.
The temptation to consume the non halal foods are just too great, as the halal
foods are not that available.
Lastly, teens’ life in school is a problem. In Western countries, we find
it really hard to find a Muslim School and sometimes there is not even any. Therefore,
Muslim teens must go to a normal school. These schools are not the same as the
normal schools in Muslim countries. They are different especially in the way
people socialize with each other. Unlike us Muslims, these people swear or used
the worst words whenever they like without some teachers care about it.
Bullying also happens a lot, which makes us Muslims one of their targets. Moreoever
there are also (what they call) racist people, whom do not like people with
different colour of skins or from Africa and Asia. Those racist people will
ignore us Muslims, tease us, or do something bad to us. We muslim teens
actually suffers more than our parents think.
In addition, the non Muslims wear clothes whatever they want to look like.
What I mean is, they have no aurat. They
wear shorts that look like an underwear (because of how short they are). Also,
non Muslim people does their expression of love (such as hugging, kissing, etc)
in public. Muslim teens are not allowed to do those stuff or even look at those
things. Well, we Muslim teens cannot just avoid them all because they are all
everywhere! And because teens have a weak faith in Allah, we might just do not
care about the Islam rules anymore and do such things.
Muslim teens have many kinds of problems they should face. What I just said above are what I think, the three biggest challenges that muslim teens face today. I believe it is quite hard to beat those problems. Well, adults might say it is easy, but they cannot feel what we muslim teens are facing today. Their youth life was different than the teens’ life these days. We should just have faith in Allah (SWT), keep active and strongly engage in Mosque/Islamic Community, choose a kind of friends (friendship environment) that would understand you and lastly, keep doing what Allah (SWT) tells you to do, and to not do what Allah (SWT) forbids.
Indeed, those who have believed
and done righteous deeds, their Lord will guide them because of their faith.
Beneath them rivers will flow in the gardens of pleasure. – Yunus 10:9
And whoever believes in Allah,
He will guide his heart. And Allah is knowing of all things. – At Taghabun 64:11
Darwin, 10 March 2013
