The Prophetic Approach to Dealing with Youth and their Issues An Analytical Study

Abstract

Purpose: The research aims to determine the method that the Prophet PBUH envisaged using in his dealings with young people and the secret of his success in reconciling the impulsive and enthusiastic nature of this population with the need for them to be given good direction, education, guidance and community benefit. Furthermore, it seeks to examine the feasibility of using such an approach today during the Islamic call and in using this approach in advocacy practice. The root of any authentic Islamic discourse is a correct prophetic model, which constitutes a major basis in the search for the ideal method for addressing youth issues, including helping them become well established and employed in the service of religion and the nation.

Methodology: This research relied on an inductive approach to trace the hadiths and actions of the Prophet and his advocacy practices to identify a general approach to advocacy. It also used an the analytical approach to address the division of the content of the Prophet’s advocacy to help formulate an accurate and comprehensive conception of the Prophet’s work.

Findings: the results of this research indicate that it is important to converse with young people to discover their talents and use them to reconcile youths’ enthusiasm and drive with their capabilities, helping them become well established. The research also focused on finding an equation for achieving a balance among the aspects of a young person’s personality and reconciling the source of his or her energy with the areas such energy can be applied. Through the research, it became clear to us that this requires accurately describing the reality youths face and a deep understanding of their needs and problems while actively seeking solutions to them.

Originality: In our study, we did not find any previous research that dealt with this topic independently through study and analysis, with the exception of some short articles published on the Internet, each of which dealt with only a portion of the topic. Thus, we tried to take note of the various aspects of the problem and trace its history through the Sunnah books.