Paradise in Our Homes - II

Episode 10

Drugs (3)

 In the Name of Allah[1], the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.  Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)[2].

 Welcome!  It is true that the program is called “Paradise in Our Homes,” yet we keep on discussing our problems one episode after the other.  We hope we would be able to bring paradise back to our homes, even if each episode saves just one single family.  

We have commenced to discuss drugs and the youth.  I am actually appalled by the numbers and statistics.  You have heard of the story of Yasser and his friends who used drugs in the desert.  Other young people have threatened or stolen from their parents to get money for drugs. 

We have 20 million addicts in the Arab countries.  It maybe an exaggeration, yet international organizations confirm that this number is even less than the actual figures.  Unfortunately, there are no published statistics in our countries.  This number includes only the addicts, not even the people who just use drugs.  I wonder how many young men and women die out of drug overdose.  The numbers in the Gulf countries have soared, to the extent that in certain universities of some Gulf countries the percentage of addicts is 15%; in another Arab country 19% of High School girls are addicts.  Drug-use has extended to girls as well as boys.

Serious news was published in the Guardian English newspaper, that by 2008 the Arab world will be swept with massive amounts of drugs because Afghanistan has doubled the production of drugs.  Due to shifting the focus onto the war, the war on drugs went lax in Afghanistan, and drugs have reached the Arab countries through many war outlets, including Iraq. Drug prices will decrease and drugs will be available even to the poor.  The numbers of addicts on the streets will increase. 

Our nation has nothing left except its youth.  If we lose them, there will be no renaissance; there will be only deterioration.  These addicts may attack you at home, or a member of your families at home may become an addict.  You may reply that drugs are everywhere, including the Western World.  However, the difference is that in the West there is awareness so that people would start their treatment and rehabilitation programs.  For example, in England, the state administers that every week, 1000 people are admitted for treatment.  In the West, they even have centers for treatment that are free of charge; and one is treated humanely in these centers as well.  We should not say that we do not have resources for such centers.  A lot of money goes into countering the crimes of these addicts, so why not put this budget into treating them?

In the coming few episodes, we need to start a new campaign to encourage treatment programs.  There has to be some change by our people.

In today’s episode, I want to begin with a different approach.  Similar to the episodes about ‘orfi (unregistered) marriage; I will narrate a situation and ask for your opinion.  We will discuss two situations today and ask you to send us and help find a way to deal with them.  Then, we can even send the newspapers and tell them what the people proposed.  Afterwards and in the next episode, we will announce the campaign and the solutions. 

The first situation is about a young man who becomes an addict and the way in which the friends should deal with the issue.  If through a mutual friend you became good friends with a kind and peaceful person and then discovered that this person was a drug addict.  So, you tell your mutual friend about it, and you are told that all their close friends have tried with that person several times in order to convince the person to start their treatment, but to no avail.  In this situation, what would you do?  I am sure that every single one of you has encountered a similar situation.

You have four choices: (1) You consider this person a rotten friend and immediately give up on him/her, because other closer friends have tried to help but failed; (2) You refuse to leave the person, because the Prophet (SAWS) maintains that Allah (SWT) will be in support of a person as long as they are in support of their brothers/sisters in Islam, so you try to convince the friend to commence the treatment; (3) You meet with the person’s family and close friends and agree to devise a plan to convince this person to start the treatment; (4) You limit your contact with the person, checking on him/her intermittently, so you maintain a balance between protecting yourself and not abandoning the friend.  

Please let us see a show of hand about your choices.  No one picked the first choice: of immediately abandoning this bad friend.  Eight people chose the second choice; eighteen people the third choice; five people the last choice.  Since no one took the first choice, I would like to show you a 10-second commercial ad made in the West about a girl that is drowning and asking for help, yet her friend watches her drown, turns around and leaves, and the message is, “Do Something!”   I am glad that no one here needs this kind of awareness.

What about the second alternative, why did you make that choice?  You may jeopardize yourself since you too may be pulled towards addiction.  A person says that we should continue our help where other friends left; another says that we should decide to stay or leave depending on the character and effect of this friend on us; a third says that we should find out about and solve the source or cause for this addiction.

What about the third alternative?  A person says it is a serious issue that needs the collaboration of a network of friends and family.  Amr Khaled objects to this alternative as unrealistic, as it is difficult to achieve in our societies.  Another person thinks that the affection and support of family is very important in rescuing this person.  Amr Khaled comments that the campaign to commence treatment for the youth is in fact going to be a collaboration of five organizations as well as a 1000 of Arab young people trained by the U.N. as part of a project called “protectors of the future.” 

What about the fourth alternative? A person says that it would be healthier for her to stay away, since she may be affected.  Another person says this addict needs to first have the will to change him/herself.  Amr Khaled answers that addiction is a malady, how can this person help him/herself since their brain chemicals have changed.  Another person suggests that you have to devise a plan to have this person ask for treatment/help with their own will.

We will stop with the discussion here. What would be the ideal solution and what would you do?  Let’s open a discussion on the website.

The second situation (and most of these situations are real).  What if as a young woman, you are engaged to a successful practicing Muslim.  You are both in love.   Both families have agreed to proceed with the marriage next year.  However, in the past couple of months, you have noticed major changes about him.  He is still very sweet with you, so when you confronted him he admitted that he was a drug addict and is in desperate need of your help, otherwise he will be totally lost into addiction.  This question is for the ladies, what would you do?  I know of at least ten similar cases. 

There are four choices: (1) stand by his side and hide the matter from your parents to avoid breaking the engagement, since this is your destiny and you have to bear it; (2) you stand by him and hide it from your parents, similar to the first choice, but give him a six month chance to start the treatment program, and break up with him if he does not; (3) you stand by him, but inform your parents out of respect and in order to postpone the marriage, maintaining the same six-month period to commence treatment; (4) you inform your parents out of respect and you leave the decision to them since it is a complicated issue that needs their experience.

What about your choices? No one took the first choice; five people took the second choice; sixteen the third choice; and six the fourth choice.

We cannot open the discussion in this episode.  Please send us your choices for both situations on  www.amrkhaled.net or call on our telephone numbers, or even send us a written message choosing just one solution.  We will open the discussion on the website. There will also an email for private consultations; with access to only myself or a specialist.

Finally, I would like to announce a campaign launched by five partners: the U.N., Dubai’s police, WHO, MENTOR for treatment of addiction, and Right Start organization.  On the website, you will find the posters and information for the campaign, as well as advice for parents, for friends, and new ideas for implementation and distribution.  You will also find a list of a 1000 trained young people that you can ask for help and support.  The campaign will last for five weeks, with the objective of having 5000 addicts commence their treatment programs in the Arab world.  This means a 1000 each week and this will be difficult since in the past five years, the number of people admitted for treatment did not reach five thousand.  There will also be treatment centers free of charge in order to help the addicts who do not have the means.

I ask you to please commence and join us on the websites, in order to try to bring happiness and paradise back in our homes.  We need a million posters and a million brochures to be distributed in schools and universities.  Let us try to save our youth!

[1]  The word Allah is the Arabic term for God. Although the use of the word "Allah" is most often associated with Islam, it is not used exclusively by Muslims; Arab Christians and Arabic-speaking Jews also use it to refer to the One God. The Arabic word expresses the unique characteristics of the One God more precisely than the English term. Whereas the word "Allah" has no plural form in Arabic, the English form does. Allah is the God worshipped by all Prophets, from Adam to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

[2] SAWA= Salla Allah alayhe Wa Salam [All Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon him]