The Muslim youth today have many problems, which is not surprising considering the state of the Muslim Ummah in general. But we would like to point out three problems that stand out. First is the manner in which the youth are presented Islam from an early age, which itself results in many of the problems we see. Unfortunately, for many Muslim youth, Islam is either not considered as a part of their upbringing or is presented in a very superficial way. Sometimes, Islam is mixed with local culture and superstition; for example, the woman's dress and separation are presented as ''Arab traditions'' or ''Eastern tradition'' rather than as Hukm Sharii that Allah (swt) revealed to us. Sometimes, Islam is just presented as a collection of rituals and a few morals and values, and the unfortunate fate of those youth is that the society and its machinery assume the task of culturing those Muslims with its outlook on life and its system of thoughts and concepts. What results from this upbringing is a split personality that refers to Islam in some aspects of life but refers to Western culture in most other aspects of life. All of this has the effect of producing a personality that is confused and unaware of its identity, and given the strong and overwhelming influence of this society, most Muslim youth who are raised in this superficial manner will resolve this identity crisis by opting for a completely Westernized personality. Therefore, it is extremely important for us as Muslims to build a strong foundation from the start whereby Islam is viewed as not just a collection of rituals or cultural baggage or a few morals and values that we sprinkle on ourselves to ''better'' ourselves, but rather as a complete system of life with its own outlook, culture, and system of thoughts. And those of us who are parents should seriously consider the IMMERSION strategy, whereby we ''immerse'' our children with Islam 24 hours a day to the best of our ability, as opposed to just giving them a dose of Islam in school.

Another problem that we witness, and this is something that we noticed in the ''activists'' among the youth, is that Muslim youth look to Islamic activism more as a stage in their development and not as part of their obligation as Muslims. In this society, we are told that when we are young, we are more ''idealistic'' and energetic, which leads us to become more revolutionary. Later, we ''grow up'' and ''mature'' and accept reality for what it is and develop a more pragmatic, compromising approach to things. Similarly, we have witnessed many Muslims start out in their youth full of energy, and they rush with a gung-ho mentality of ''Islam or nothing, etc.'' Then, they ''mature'' and become compromising pragmatists. When asked about this, they will say that ''we were young, full of energy, and unaware; now we have grown up and have come to understand and accept reality.'' This is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS trend because it effectively will kill the momentum of the Muslim Ummah. For this reason, the Muslim youth must be raised with the mentality that when we carry the Daw'ah and work for Islam, we do so not because we are ''young'' but because this is an Order from Allah, and we have to continue to work for Islam, whether we are young or old. Similarly, it must be clear that activism is not an objective by itself; we do not engage in activism simply for the sake of staying active or finding something to do. Rather, our activism is a means of carrying out certain responsibilities that Allah (swt) has ordered us to fulfill as Muslims. Perhaps how we carry out this responsibility will differ as we age, but we should never accept to relinquish our obligations or put our responsibility on the shelf under the pretense that we have ''matured'' or ''grown up.'' Such a mentality is not a sign or maturity; rather, it a sign of immaturity, one that has accepted for itself to forsake its responsibilities and tread the path of compromise.

Another thing we notice amongst the youth is the blind obedience to a specific personality. This is an extremely dangerous mentality as it could potentially kill creativity in the ummah. The youth should be told that, as Muslims we don't revolve around a specific group or a personality. Rather we revolve around a specific viewpoint.

Age is not an issue, and it should never be a factor in determining level of maturity. Most of the Sahabah were youth in their teens, and in spite of this, they were able to command armies, conquer lands, present Islam to other nations and act as ambassadors and emissaries on behalf of the Prophet (saaws) for the Islamic State. Abu Bakr, who was considered one of the ''elders'' among the Sahabah, was in his mid-twenties. On the other hand, Shaytan is probably older than all of us put together, and he has more ''experience'' and knowledge than any of us could imagine, but he made the most childish decision anybody could think of when he decided to disobey Allah. And Shaytan does not need hours of discussion to prove the existence of Allah; he was speaking directly to Allah (swt) and was in the company of angels.