From the youth of today to the leaders of tomorrow. Ahmed al-Jaffery gives some guidelines on nurturing young people so they develop strong character.

It is almost certainly true to say that if the present consists of adults and young people, the future will be exclusive to the youth and their children and none of today’s adults. The Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health (1981) put forward the notion that ‘Children are one third of our population and all of our future’.  John W. Whitehead, an attorney specialising in constitutional law and human rights is famously quoted as saying that ‘Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see’. This means that any nation and indeed all humanity will have to invest in today’s youth as they will be the people of tomorrow. And by all I mean the youth themselves as well.

What this means is that what happens in the future is at least in part dependent upon what we do with our youth today. Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist, can is quoted as saying: ‘The solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on large measure upon how our children grow up today’.

Given the increasing political, social, economic and environmental difficulties that nations are having to go through, what we really need is not just masses bearing our names and, if we’re lucky, our beliefs, but actually leaders who can contribute to a brighter tomorrow. Maria Montessori, an Italian Catholic, doctor, educator, and humanitarian best known for her philosophy and the Montessori Method of educating children from birth to adolescence, once said: ‘If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men’. Mahatma Gandhi simply and elegantly communicates his vision of the starting point of the long-awaited tranquillity humans desperately anticipate: ‘If we are to attain real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a war against war, we will have to begin with the children’.

Going from being young and led to being adult and leader is not as straightforward and passive a process as growing up, aging and ultimately facing our demise. It should rather be an active and calculated process. It should not be left to chance and random life events. This fact has been well known to mankind ever since humans populated this planet. What often adults and young people don’t fully appreciate is the importance of adults and youngsters working together in order to increase the effectiveness of producing the future leaders. Why start from scratch when you can build on the knowledge and experience of others. Some nations seem to have a poorer understanding of this concept than others. Leaders don’t just come into being, they have to be prepared.

Central to this joint venture is a better mutual understanding between adults and young people. Each has their own roles and responsibilities, as well as ideas, concerns and expectations. They need to realise where they naturally ought to be different. Imam Ali (as) says:

“Do not limit your children to your upbringing as they have been created for a time different to yours.” Imam Ali (as)

Unless and until adults and young people begin to know one another and learn to communicate with each other they will not be able to start building the necessary bridges to effectively transform the youth of today into the leaders of tomorrow. If we study all the projects that set out to bring adults and youngsters closer to each other but which failed to achieve this aim, we will realise that neither adults have a good insight into youngsters nor do youngsters have a good insight into adults even though both may feel they know and understand each other rather well.

Adults and young people need to know that isolation and hostility towards one another will only serve the futile   function of wasting valuable opportunities. When we talk about making future leaders by turning our youth into capable and responsible adults, we are not talking about a one-way process that is forced upon youngsters. But it must be acknowledged that working with young people may be challenging, but it will be rewarding. Frank A. Clark, a  famous writer, says: ‘If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere’.

Adults and young people also need to realise that a solid belief system is central to successful growth and development and absolutely necessary for leadership, especially when nations go through difficult times. A flawed belief system will only result in uncertainty and doubt. What an unsound belief system results in will be confusion and lack of clarity and ultimately submissiveness to other, usually corrupt ideologies that are unfortunately easier to obtain.

Young people cannot be made to endorse certain thoughts, ideologies and religions. Sound reasoning must take place in a friendly and non-threatening environment. Leaders must be allowed to believe. Leaders cannot be forced to believe. What young people understand and take onboard is long-lasting and will form the basis for their actions. What is  accepted by force soon vanishes. Leaders need a clear vision and this can only be what logic dictates. They will need plenty of help and guidance to make the right choices.

Young people should be encouraged to question their belief in order to strengthen their belief system. They should not be made to inherit our religious and cultural beliefs like they do our genes. Adults should not fear this process. Rather, they should see it as an opportunity for themselves as well. Frank A. Clark says: ‘There’s nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child’. Youngsters should be allowed to  develop their belief system. Again, they will need plenty of help and guidance to make the right choices. They mustn’t be left alone, of course.

Whenever logic is not in itself sufficient to illuminate the pathway to success, young people will, of course, need to submit to the will of the almighty Allah (swt) and derive guidance from the Quran and the holy traditions even if they don’t see the reasoning behind the guidance. This total   submission, however, will only be perceived by youngsters as being logical when their belief system is constructed logically. This shifts the emphasis towards understanding the fundamentals of belief and building a solid belief system.

Also of great importance are the morals and values and their impact on societies. Dietrich Bonheoffer, a German priest and theologian who was a prominent opponent of Nazism, says: ‘The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children’. Needless to say, adults need to lead by example.

Let us also not forget the immense role that worship plays in building great people and hence great leaders. Prophet Mohammed (saw), the leader of leaders and the teacher of teachers, identified himself as being a worshiper like no other. He points out the supremacy of young people’s worship compared to that of the elders:

“The superiority of a young worshiper who worshiped in his youth over the elder worshiper who worshiped after advancing  in age is like that of the superiority of the messengers over the rest of mankind.” Prophet Muhammed (saw)

To this we must turn our attention, with the help of the almighty Allah (swt), whenever the opportunity arises, to empower the youth with the tools necessary towards constructing a firm backbone for a well-designed and solid belief system that will dispel all confusion and confer freedom and openness towards other belief systems with the power of distinguishing right from wrong.

Allah (swt) willing, the youth will be able to pick up books like Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and read them without fear of confusion. They will also have a better understanding of the dynamics, ethics & morals of world politics. Such   belief system will assist young people in their quest to finding the truth.

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Summary of key points

  • The leaders of tomorrow are today’s youth
  • Leaders must be made. They don’t just happen.
  • Young people cannot be turned into leaders unless they are themselves willing.
  • There is a big gap between adults & young people and this is constantly increasing.
  • Isolating young people from adults wastes great opportunities.
  • People, especially young ones, need to have  a framework for viewing others and understanding the world.
  • We need to focus on the fundamentals of faith as a starting point to gaining a solid  belief system.
  • We need to encourage & support young people to pursue careers in fields such as journalism, media, finance, politics and economics where they can be influential.
  • To achieve these aims we have to work together.