From My Heart to World: Building on Leadership Strengths of Muslim Youth to Better the World

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Dr. Ercan

In a recent workshop I led with Muslim youth, I asked what are the biggest problems of humanity. The young leaders answered with these five answers: poverty/hunger, selfishness/ego, racism, ignorance, and global warming. With these problems shattering our dreams and hopes, we have to draw some strength from our identities and values as Muslims to help solve these important problems for the entire humanity. Helping solve the problems of humanity is a lofty goal but can be implemented in multiple specific fields: Academic Studies, Workplace, Social Relations, Self-Improvement and Career Development contexts. But what are the strengths in our identities as Muslim youth that may us with this vision? How do we nurture these in our hearts and gift to the world?

Based on the traits of Muslim identities found in its theory and philosophy and implemented in practice over 1000 years, the following strengths can be observed in Muslim youth:

  1. The sense of responsibility for well-being of all humanity,
  2. Positive outlook, positive attitude, positive action,
  3. The idea of brotherhood and sisterhood in humanity,
  4. Reflection and self-critique: The ability to stand alone - grounding and leading,
  5. Challenge loving, hardship seeking action,
  6. Freedom of mind, heart, and soul from all chains,
  7. Sense of giving vs being entitled and touchy.

In explaining these, I will also give examples from some classic and current figures, whose work I recommend us to follow.

1. The Sense of Responsibility for Well-Being of All Humanity

In order to provoke our sense of responsibility, we need to give a piece of our heart to others. This means finding something in each person to love. This also means finding like-minded people who believe in the common peace and prosperity for all people.

Case Study

“Every human life has infinite worth.” Ami Dar (CEO, Idealist)

Ami Dar is a Jewish leader who promoted ideals and peace at the hardest periods of interfaith and interracial conflict. He is currently working on creative projects bringing people of all faith and background together for the good of humanity. Please follow him at X @AmiDar. The inclusive language he uses is one to take a model for articulating how we can both think and speak about the issues we feel responsible for.

Which specific current causes can be a focus for us to practice our sense of responsibility for humanity? Labor exploitation of children around the world, anti-colonial movements, poverty alleviation, education of children, health as a right, black rights movements, and human rights violations are pressing issues for us.

Which organizations can we join? Here are some of my recommendations: International Rescue Community, Amnesty International, Save the Children, Doctors without Borders and Innocence Project. All of these organizations are highly reputable and provide universal services to all people from all backgrounds. Again, the language they use is quite adoptable and their collective work is aligned with our Muslim values.

2. The Framework of Positive Change: Positive Outlook (HOPE), Positive Attitude (CAN DO), Positive Action (DONE)

“Add ease, not burden; spread joy, not woe; bring about peace, not conflict.” Prophet Muhammad (SAV)

In the example of the Prophet’s life, he exudes hope, is willing to dream of better days for humanity, and is a go-getter, implementing and accomplishing his projects.

Connected to the first trait of responsibility and the Prophet's tradition of positive change, Muslim youth have a long tradition of positive outlook, hope and joy in daily lives. This is supported by a positive attitude that propels positive action. HOPE in this framework refers to the belief that better days are awaiting humanity and we can be a part of change. CAN DO refers to our positive attitude as shown to others, our trained ability, our sense of self-efficacy, our growing and practiced skills, and our increased knowledge to enable us to move to action. DONE in this framework refers to the actual movement, action, and behavior we demonstrate to enable change. With the rise of global communication, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and the creator economy, and changing educational systems, we have so many opportunities for making positive action a global practice.

3. Brotherhood and Sisterhood in Humanity

“There should be a chair for everyone in your heart” Fethullah Gulen

Making positive change stays as a performative act if we do not work on our internal feelings and thoughts about humanity. We can demonstrate this Muslim trait when we fight our own biases and negative attitudes towards certain communities of people. One scholar even states it can be a sin to badmouth even an animal. We often hear people boxing others depending on identity politics. It means categorizing a person according to a negative stereotype socially constructed, such as “so and so’s nation does ….”. In Prophet Muhammad’s practice, he always focused on the temporal, local, and individual characteristics a person brings to the table, and not where they belonged racially or ethnically. Another pitfall many fall into is to give up on people, friendship, comradery when a person fails to be perfect and demonstrates mistakes. This creates divisions, reflections, isolation and loneliness.

Opening up our hearts to a brotherhood and sisterhood in humanity requires intentional and internal critical thinking, and asking questions like: “if I know someone’s identity as …., would I still love them and be open with them as I am if I thought they actually had …. Identity” (let’s fill in the blanks with race, religion, neurodiversity, ethnicity, nationality, region in a country, city where they were born, gender, sexual orientation, social status, economic status, physical appearance, color of skin, clothing, the neighborhood they live in). Asking ourselves how we can be friends with most if not all categories of people and what we may learn from them is a good step. From there upon diagnosing our own psychological and sociological illnesses of racism, sexism, biases, misogyny, and other problems, we can begin on treating them and opening our hearts to them. This also helps us fight identity politics in the workplace - siding or going against someone because of their identities.

4. Learning, Reflection and Self-Critique

There is an ancient treasure of real “humanity and servanthood” given to us from the time of Hz. Adam this day. Our biggest role in this world is to better our generation in order to carry it to the next generation with the understanding that the next generation must be better than us, not a watered down version of our practices, reflection and learning. As connected to the third trait, this requires us to carry a non judgmental attitude towards others, and do the opposite with ourselves: scrutinize and audit our own actions.

In order to work on our growth, three main areas stand out:

  1. Strong Body: We must focus on diet, nutrition, and exercise or physical activity to become fit and healthy.
  2. Strong Heart: We must have a consistent devoted habit building for small, daily sessions of engaging with Quran (both recitation and study of the meaning and application), Kulubuddaria, a treasured devotional book of Muslim Saints, Cevsen, the protection and purification through Allah’s names, and Celcelutiye, the protection and raising up the soul’s strength.
  3. Strong Mind: Given that visuals, scenes, information, and sounds leave a permanent mark in one’s memory and can never be cleaned up or eliminated (just like toxic chemicals and heavy metals in our livers and blood stream), we would do well to judge every input we are allowing into our brain to serve one of the two purposes. It should either support ahiret success, by building up our strength in mind, heart, soul and body so we can glorify Allah better, or support dünya success by allowing us to build knowledge, expertise, professional success and wealth, which in return is tied to ahiret success and would service its purposes. If any activity, information, visual, sound and input is not supporting one of these purposes, it must be denied entry into our system and not take up our very limited resources and attention as we move towards both goals. After all, when you think of the meaning of the two words, traction is making a speedy move towards an end point, and distraction is a stumbling block causing us to be stopped on our tracks when we are moving at a great pace. Distractions may be very costly and may block our success, we need to eliminate more each day.

Finally, in order to achieve all three, we need to have specifically defined goals for our 30 year plan, our 10 year plan, our 5 year plan, our yearly plan, a quarterly version, a monthly plan, a weekly plan and a daily plan to ensure macro plans are actually implemented in micro scale.

5. Freedom of mind, heart, and soul from all chains

“The western market economy and its consumer orientation have produced (and are producing at an accelerating rate) a class of educated people whose intellectual formation is directed to satisfying market needs.” Edward W. Said, Orientalism

In order to move towards dünya and ahiret success, we need to clarify if we have alternative and impure motives even behind the most pure looking action, whether we feel like certain pressures, weights, and chains are put on us by external and internal distractions and whether we feel resistance to positive change and explore why.

In analyzing today’s barriers in meeting our goals, we can list a few very prominent road blocks, chains and external pressures influencing our lives now and oppressing our heart, soul and mind to be poor, weak, and incompetent.

  1. Trend following: This is the sense we get when we feel fear or missing out on something that others are doing. Using same brands, clothing, items, and apps because others are doing it.
  2. Shame and social pressure: This is a motivator for negative action as we attribute a high power to individuals and society as if they can determine our acceptance or rejection and assess our value.
  3. Addiction: Most of the time addiction to substance, luxury, habits like shopping, certain music gives away our need for stability, habits and rituals in life that can be used to form positive habits and addictions.
  4. Rank, status, and money: In the capitalist societies we lived in from the beginning of human creation, it became a very powerful, almost religion-like conviction to attribute more value to people with ranks, status, and money. In thinking about the previous pieces, we can easily recognize how a person with more perceived power or status can be given automatic credit and trust over others.
  5. Self-chaining: This is all of our limiting beliefs and behaviors about our perceived value, determined impact that we think is low without considering the human potential and God’s ultimate power that makes miracles happen.

To achieve ultimate freedom from this kind of slavery, we can work on practicing the following principles:

  1. We will not accept any value given by external forces about what is right and what is wrong except what Allah set as halal and haram. Our norms are not real norms as we are often weak, and misguided as human societies.
  2. Demonstrate all of the traits listed above for Him and His being pleased with us, and not for people pleasing purposes.
  3. As for our actions, doing what he loves us to do. The prayer: “My God, please wake me up in your beloved hour, and enable me to achieve the actions you will be most pleased with.” by Prophet Muhammad sets the stage for us to plan for the very next day.

6. The Ability to Stand Alone - Grounding and Leading

“And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners.” Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States

With the above trait of achieving freedom, comes with the responsibility of enacting this new found sense of freedom. This means:

  1. Attitude: Taking on the challenge to resist the very Darwinism notion “the strongest wins and survives”, and its social version of “only the strongest is valuable and right”. Developing dissent and dissenting voices occurs with knowledge, evidence, and compassion for all humanity, and an open democratic society to accept dissent.
  2. Knowledge: Searching for the alternative story behind what is communicated by powers, politicians and media.
  3. Action: Displaying peaceful acts of resistance when we see the weak are oppressed, and the strong are obeyed. Standing up against the strong, and lifting up the weak. Looking for the quiet voice in the room and amplifying it. Searching for those who are marginalized and oppressed and moving them to the table.

“Courage is a decision you make to act in a way that works through your own fear for the greater good as opposed to pure self-interest. Courage means putting at risk your immediate self-interest for what you believe is right.” Derrick Bell, Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth

7. Challenge Loving, Hardship Seeking Action

Over time, without constant learning, reflection and self-critique, we begin to stall in our growth. Seeking pleasure, comfort and focusing on satisfying our external five senses brings apathy, fatigue, and resulting inability to take action. Another Muslim trait gifted to us is looking at challenge and hardship as a positive and addicting force.

Think of it this way: When we exercise, it hurts, then the soreness becomes an addiction. Similarly, Allah places pleasure, appetite, motivation, attraction and excitement in the actual act of painful Hizmet episodes- and during anticipation and doing of the work, and not in the state of reward or inaction. This when the motivation and energy hormone dopamine is most released before we actually reach a goal. In other words, hardship actually correlates pleasure when action is present. The following resource may help us to find more examples: https://fgulen.com/tr/eserleri/bahar-nesidesi/canli-kalmanin-yollari

8. Sense of Giving vs Being Entitled for Receiving

A pitfall that blocks our way to growth is the sense of entitlement for receiving attention, time, and service from others. This manifests itself when we become upset because we were not invited to events, not offered a great seat, not complimented, not offered to give the keynote, not being invited to friendship activities. When we feel resentful, excluded, and have a sense of deserving better, deserving to consume, to have great things in our lives, we are experiencing this pitfall.

The solution to this negative cycle is to perceive ourselves as the servant leader. A servant leader creates ideas and events, and does not expect these to come to them. A servant leader thinks of making the invitation, not being invited, a servant leader would put themselves to say: “I am at the center, and I own this work, I belong in my act of doing”. Finally, better resources and better opportunities should be for everyone, not just us. This propels us to work for the causes mentioned in other traits.

How Do We Begin?

I realize these are lofty goals. However, we can begin working on them in the very next hour! A great way to start anything is to glorify Allah and seek his power. Hz. Musa provides an amazing example of how to seek help in the most challenging encounter with the Pharaoh.

20/Tâhâ Surah - 25-29: “My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance] and ease for me my task and untie the knot from my tongue that they may understand my speech.

How does this prayer offer guidance for positive change? By guiding us for Positive outlook (HOPE), positive attitude (CAN DO), and positive action (DONE)

  • Emotional: First we need a stance of determination and persistence knowing that this will be so hard - Oh Allah, please relieve my heart of anxiety, expand my breath, my heart, my being, my patience, strengthen my stance and endurance - I need this emotional strength.
  • Cognitive: Oh Allah, ease my task for me, then make my work seem easy to me. It is so hard, and only you can make it easy and make it seem easy. Increase the traction, make me flow into it.
  • Communicative: Oh Allah, relieve anxiety and worry from my mouth and my word. Make loose this knot from my mouth, relieve all barriers for communicating from my heart to the world, so that they receive it well, they understand the message in the correct way.

So, Young Friend, Let’s Go!