The representative of the Supreme Religious authority Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbalai called for "Paying more attention to youth," and reviewed at the same time, the dangers and challenges facing the younger generation.
Al-Karbalai said during the Friday prayer sermon held in the holy shrine of Imam al-Hussein "pbuh" on April 26, 2019, that "The youth generation represents the source of strength, activity, creativity, vitality and generosity to the nation as well as being the base for performing the essential tasks and functions in life," pointing out that Islam and civilized societies have cared in building and raising the young generation in every field of life, in addition to giving great attention to immunize and protect them from deviation, corruption and misguidance".
"What shows us the amount of interest paid by Islam toward the youth and their goodness, is that many hadiths have considered the good young man as one of the seven virtuous who will be included to Allah's mercy in an equal position to the fair ruler," he added.
The representative of the Supreme Religious authority explained that "The biggest dangers facing the youth today, is the cultural, moral and intellectual invasion in every field of life such as faith, behavior, morals and values, as well as in other areas such as aspirations, traditions, directions, and identity," stressing on the necessity for youth to be aware and knowledgeable about different cultures, principles and righteous interests."
"The danger lies in the openness of the youth to all cultures and knowledge through the technological advancement of today's world, which put him in a great flood of cultures, customs, ethics, values and aspirations pumped in their mind at every minute of their life," he noted, warning that "The youth could be subjected temptation or deception by some cultures through many attractive tools that will lead them to adopt many of these harmful cultures."
Al-Karbalai also warned of the seriousness of the youth's feelings of frustration, loss, despair and anxiety, noting that this class of people had exhausted their selves and their family until they reached a stage of knowledge that gave them professional abilities and an amount of energy and creativity, so they trying to empty their fruits of knowledge and employing their energies in a useful field instead of putting them in harmful things that do not do them any good.
He pointed out that "Poverty and deprivation are of the dangers facing the young generation," explaining that "The young individual in this period is witnessing the peak of their instincts, and desires to satisfy their physical and emotional needs, and that when they cannot find satisfaction in legitimate ways, the will be forced to satisfying those needs with forbidden and deviated ways, especially if they were accompanied by bad friends."
The representative of the Supreme Religious Authority emphasized on the seriousness of underrating the youth and underestimating their status, as this deed will lead to the killing of the ambition of the young generation and depriving the community of its potential, energies and creativity, calling at the end of sermon on cultural and educational institutions, schools, universities and the media, to take a good care about the youth because they are the futuristic hope and the center of strength, activity and creativity of society.
