While reading Reviving the Spirit of the Youth published by Dār as-Sunnah Publishers, I wanted to quickly share some points I've learned from it since it was an interesting read and I figured that this knowledge would be imperative upon the youth (which even includes me, I am also a very young youth as of the time I am writing this!):
Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) has provided the youth with great energy and enthusiasm. They help to spread and populate Islām with more effort than what the elders could possibly put in. Even though elders may have greater intellect and know-how, they are often held back from activites due to their exacerbating health and lack of energy. The youth are able to do much more than what the elders have the ability to do at all. With this, we come to the conclusion that the youth have great importance.
A few notable youth are ʿAbdullāh ibn Abbas, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, ʿAbdullāh ibn 'Amr ibn 'Aas, Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal, Zayd ibn Thābit (رضي الله عنهم) and many others. They assisted in preserving beneficial knowledge and spreading it for the nation. This inheritance of the Prophet (ﷺ) was then passed on with more and more children being born upon Islām.
Starting below, I will be going over 3 qualities that a Muslim youth should espouse:
During one's youth, they are nutured from a very tender age to be dutiful to their parents and older relatives. When their parents reach elderly age, they should be treated generously and with honour. When a youth reaches adulthood, they should reflect upon the days in which their parents were diligent in taking care of them and strived to nuture them upon that which is correct.
Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) says in His book:
With the last sentence being the focal point of the ayāt:
Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) informs us here that we shouldn't underestimate the efforts of our parents. They have put immense care into us and thus without them we would be nothing. We should honur them, respect and show immense dignity to them.
It is crucial upon the youth to not spend an excessive amount of time indulging in activites like play and amusement. They should spend most of their time in acts of obedience and worship to Allāh, since that's what we've been created for.
Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) says in the Qurʾān regarding the one who indulges in ḥarām entertainment:
Another crucial quality of a youth (and even the elderly) is that he tries to the best of his ability to discipline himself. Know that the discipline of yourself is achieved through lenience, and moving from one state to another. This should not be done aggressively but rather in a lenient way. He should strengthen this by accompanying himself with studying the Qurʾān and pondering on it, taking benefit from knowledge gatherings and passing it onto others, reading the biographies of the wise Muslims, and thinking about paradise and the hellfire.
Some of the Salaf would have desire for a sweet treat, and thus they would promise themselves to eat it. They disciplined themselves by way of this: if they prayed the night prayer, they would reward themselves by allowing themselves to eat it. Otherwise, they would abstain from consuming it.
Sufyān al-Thawrī used to eat whatever he had desired, then when he woke up in the morning he would say:
Additionally, a neighbor of Mālik ibn Dīnār said:
"One night I heard him saying to himself, 'That's how you should be!' The next morning I told him, 'There was no one home with you, so who did you say that to?' He said, 'Myself asked me for some bread, it insisted so I restrained it from eating for three days, then I found a dry piece of bread, when I was about to eat it I said, 'I will get soft bread' so it [his self] said, 'I am contented with this.' So I said, 'That's how you should be!''"
With this, know that if the self knows that you are serious, it will also be serious and striving. If it knows that you are slothful, it will take over and become your master.
ʾIn shāʾ Allāh, I hope you've benefitted from the descriptions of these 3 qualities and try your best to implement them into your daily life. It is imperative upon the youth and everyone else to have diligence in himself, with others, and what he does on a daily basis.
May Allāh bless you, and shukran.
Sources :
1. Qurʾān 17:23-24
2. Qurʾān 31:6