Nuh

In the name of Allah the All-Merciful, the Ever- Merciful. Prayers and blessings of Allah be upon the most noble Prophet Muhammad (SAWS[1]).

Welcome again. Last time was an introduction, so this time is the first episode in the third stage of Life Makers. The episode of today will start with a problem. Actually it’s not a problem, but everybody sees it as thus. In our program, we’ll transform this problem into something of value; something that we can work with.

Today, we’ll talk about the problem of unemployment; the first step on our way to revival, the first thing that we have to seek a solution for. The key to this problem is the same key to revival. Let us first talk about the problem.

It is every family’s problem; a problem for our families, relatives, neighbors and youth, a problem for parents who have a child. The dream of their life was to see him; a doctor, or an engineer, or a pharmacist. They would ask him what he wanted to be when he got older. He would reply; a doctor, an engineer, etc. The dream kept growing with the parents and the family. “Our child will be someone important. He will be a success in his life,” they would say. The dream grew with the child who became a youth. The girl also grew up. They dreamt, “After 16 years of education, I’ll have a distinguished job, a great deal of money, I’ll marry someone I love, have a home and I’ll settle down. I’ll have a great life. I’ll prove my abilities. I’ll be a big success.” Unfortunately, they graduate and wake up from their dream with a great shock. No jobs; unemployment.

Unemployment is the biggest problem facing the Arab world nowadays; one of the reasons why we can’t have a revival. It is also the very same key that we’ll use to induce revival. At this very moment, there are 16 million unemployed in the Arab world. This number is even multiplying because we are not solving the problem. Thousands are graduating every year. Thousands are going to schools every year. This is how everybody sees unemployment, but as Life Makers, we see that unemployment could indeed be the key! Can you imagine? How is that? Because these very same 16 million who are watching us right now are indeed the virgin treasure that has never been discovered before. They are like a well of crude oil that has still not been discovered. These are the ones we’ll be calling on. We’re calling the parents who fear for their children from this fate. You are the ones who will make this revival. You are the treasure. Why? Had these youth been all working, we couldn’t have asked them to come and work on this revival with us. They would’ve told us, “How much are you going to pay?” Our reply would be, “We have nothing to pay you; we’re doing this for Allah.” Then, their reply would be, “Sorry, we have a regular job and we’re getting paid for what we do. If you want us with you, you’re going to have to pay us more.”

However, they are jobless. The students can foresee this horrible disaster called ‘unemployment.’ It has nothing to do with social status. You might come from a high social class and still be jobless. The problem is now related to the reality we’re living in. Still, I’m saying that we can make use of all this. These youth are ambitious and they might be after both Thawab (reward) and revival. The unemployment disaster might turn out to be the best benefit for the revival we are undertaking. Who knows?

Do you remember when I said that the desperate person sees a difficulty in every opportunity, but Life Makers see an opportunity in every difficulty? We see an opportunity in every difficult situation, so there’s an opportunity here. I’m not approaching this episode from the dark desperate reality we’re living in. I’m approaching it from the fact that we do have a chance. Students and youth can see this problem. They’re willing to give up their lives for this revival. I’m calling them to give us a hand in what we’re doing. I’m sure they’ll give us a great deal since they don’t have much hope in other alternatives. I wanted to start with these notions, because this program is full of hope. We’re not spreading despair by talking about frustration or likewise.

After I spoke about the well of crude oil that we’ll use, let us now see the size of our problem. No doctor can prescribe a medicine before diagnosing the illness. This episode is for analyzing the problem. Remember when I told you how we’ve been working. We took your dreams, the 700,000 dreams. We went to experts in unemployment, agriculture and industry. We asked the help of professors and businessmen. We told them about your dreams and asked them to study those dreams. We had to take the opinion of scholarly experts. We’re not just broadcasting an overzealous program, but a scientific one. We asked for their expert opinion and they gave us their own view about how to solve the problem of unemployment. They spent two months working on it. We had professors from all over the Arab world. They finally came out with a solution based on their own views.

We didn’t even settle for that. We took their opinions and we held a seminar where all the legislative parties responsible for labor and work forces participated from all over the Arab world; labor, economy and industry. We showed them both views; the youth’s and the experts’. Then we asked them for their own view, so they approved all the suggestions that were made by the experts. I’m coming to you now with a solution. I’m not saying that it’s easy, no it isn’t. It’s not even new. It was posted before. Let us now proceed with analyzing the extent of unemployment.

Let us first see the definition of ‘unemployment.’ What is ‘unemployment?’

It is when a person who has the ability and desire to work and is searching for a job but is unable to find one. He’s sending his CV around. He’s very serious. He’s not lazy. He’s really successful but everybody is tagging him with; triviality, negative attitude, weakness, etc. He’s talented, but he can’t work. He’s serious, and she is serious too. She wants to do something. She wants to produce. She doesn’t want to sit around doing nothing. We could put it like this: being able, serious, searching and not finding. This is the definition.

Bear with me now. The numbers are not good at all. The highest unemployment rate is found in the Arab world. It is the highest in the whole world. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reported that the average percentage of unemployment rate in 2003 was 6.2% across the world. It was double in the Arab world at 12.2%. Look at this diagram.

Muslims, and religious people, where are you when it comes to all this? I’m talking religion here. I’m talking about the bulk of Ahadith of the Prophet (SAWS) urging us to work. Thousands of Ahadith speak about ‘working.’ Allah says what can be translated as, “…the ones who have believed and done deeds of righteousness” (TMQ, 2:25)[2] (1). ‘Deeds’ do not just mean praying and fasting. They also mean; producing, reclaiming, adding, and innovating.

Do you believe that; 6.2% for the whole world and 12.2% for the Arab world? Look again at the diagram. This gap is a gap of revival, culture, misunderstanding Islam. Many things are causing this wide gap. This was in 2003. This was also for all the people in general.

The UN reports that unemployment among the world’s youth, during 2003 only, was 12%. It has reached 26.5% in the Arab world; for the whole world it is 12% and for us, Muslims and Arabs it is 26.5%. Do you realize the meaning behind these statistics? It means that there are 265 unemployed among every 1,000 youth. This was in 2003. What about today? Youth, fathers, mothers, I’m not evading the problem. It’s a really big problem. Still, it can be our only way out as we’ll see today. These youth are our real energy. They are our ‘crude petroleum well.’ In every 1,000 able persons, 265 are unemployed. This was the UN’s report for 2003.

In January 2005, the President of the Arab Economic Forum declared in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that the unemployment rate in the Arab World reached 15% after being 12.2% in 2003. Among the youth it reached 30%, so there are 300 unemployed among every 1,000 youths. Can you see what I’m talking about? I’m ringing an emergency bell, be on your guard. Still, I’m sure we’re going to make it. Why? You’ll know as we go on.

The president of the economic forum says that if the situation is to continue like this, by 2013, we’ll have 80 million unemployed people. This was all said in an international conference. Hence, we’ll need 80 million jobs. I want you to solve this problem now. Tell me what the future for these youth will be like? The ones that are watching us right now.

That way, we are not approaching a revival. We’re rather on the verge of, or even approaching, a disaster. There is no doubt about that. Still, we want a revival. A revival won’t be possible without youth. These youth can get lost, the way they are right now. Please be careful. Revivals have never been achieved other than by youth. Have any of you heard about a revival achieved without youth? If we have 80 million unemployed youth, how can we ever have a revival? Our episode today is whether we will be or won’t be in the project of revival. That is why this topic is for the first episode. Again I’m saying: without youth, no revival can be achieved.

Look at politics. The Algerian revolution and the one million martyrs, who did it? They were the youth. The Egyptian revolution on the 23^rd of July 1953, who conducted it? The youth. The Palestinian issue, who revived it? The youth.

In the world of economy, who established the multi-national companies that are controlling the world’s economy? They were established by youth. Steve Jobes invented Apple Macintosh in his garage, despite the fact that he was unemployed. Bill Gates established Microsoft in his twenties; nobody helped him at the time. He worked until he achieved great success. All multinationals were started by youth. The French revolution was sparked by youth.

In the history of the Prophets, the youth played a part everywhere. Ibrahim (AS) (Abraham) and his followers were all youth. We went through that part in Ramadan when we were discussing the stories of the Prophets. Musa (AS) (Moses) and his followers were youth. Allah says what can be translated as, “So, in no way did (anyone) believe M‍usa, except (some) offspring of his people.” (TMQ, 10:83). It means that only the youth believed him. Isa (AS) (Jesus) and his disciples were all youth. They were all young. Youth are the backbone of life. No revival can be achieved without them. Even Prophet Muhammad’s companions were all youth. They sacrificed everything to achieve the revival they sought.

Just remember the day of emigration, which was the real beginning of the Islamic revival. Look at the roles performed by the youth. Who slept in his bed and was ready to sacrifice his life when the disbelievers wanted to kill him? Ali Ibn-Abu-Taleb (RA) was twenty when he had to sleep in Prophet Muhammad’s bed during the night of the emigration. Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) trusted Asmaa’ Bint-Abu-Bakr (RA) to keep his and her father’s place as a secret during their emigration to Madinah. They tried to beat the Prophet’s secret place out of her, but she did not utter a word. She was very young. al-Ansar (people of Madinah), who hosted the rest of emigrants, al-Muhajireen, were all youths. Mosaab Ibn-Omayr (RA), the first Muslim ambassador, was at his early thirties when he educated people in Madinah about Islam. All those who helped during the Hijrah (emigration) were from the youth. Even Abdullah Ibn-Orayyket, Prophet Muhammad’s guide throughout his emigration, was young and professional in desert roads; he was not even a Muslim, yet the Prophet (SAWS) trusted him although he was young and a disbeliever. Still, this person participated in the revival of Islam. They were all young.

Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) was focusing on the youth. He used to say, “When Allah sent me, the youth believed in me, while the elderly did not.”[3] (2). Can you now realize the value of the youth?

On the day of the compensatory Umrah (minor pilgrimage), Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) entered Makkah, accompanied by the youth while the disbelievers were still in Makkah. Quraish feared that those young Muslims would influence their own youth. Quraish started spreading a rumor that Muhammad’s companions are weak and sick; that they suffer from skin diseases on their shoulders. Consequently, Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) told them to uncover their right arms and run during their first three circles around the Ka’ba. Just as we do in our rituals. He asked them to do that to show how young and fit they were. He also asked them to walk briskly. They all looked healthy. Can you imagine more than 3,000 circumambulating the Ka’ba, so filled with health and vitality! Some of Quraish’s young men embraced Islam after they saw that scene; Khaled Ibnul-Walid was one of them.

Our youth are lost with unemployment. We have to solve this problem. Let us see how the youth look like nowadays. Stay with us, we’ll get back to you again.

Thanks be to Allah, Lord of al-Alameen. Can you see the size of it? This problem can be the key; just the same way you see it now as a disaster. We’ll see how at the end.

The youth are our real treasure. We want to protect them. They are the hope for our revival, because no revival has been achieved without youth, so we have to preserve this treasure. Do you know what is happening to this treasure? Shall I tell you, or do you already know? Bewilderment, pain and depression befell the whole society. It can cause a range of psychological disorders, drug addiction to escape the painful reality and wide-spread crime and violence. Youths will be more detached from their homeland and they will feel hatred for the whole of society. Consequently, this may lead to the spreading of violence and terrorism. They are broken and they hate the whole of society.

It can take another form. Lack of money can lead to delayed marriages, which in turn leads to Orfi marriage (unregistered marriage), or fornication; thus leading to immorality and loss of ethical values in the society. Not to mention how parents feel about their sons or daughters. They have to watch them unemployed after all they have suffered to afford their education. There is also what we call, hidden unemployment. The youth might accept any job even if they’re doing nothing just to get paid. By the way, hidden unemployment exists much more that the usual unemployment. What’s even worse is the youth take jobs they don’t like because they can’t find any other. Their talents, their skills and their vitality all get lost in a job they hate, because they have no other alternative. Society invests billions educating the youth, caring for them healthily and socially, but all is lost for nothing.

Weakness of religiousness is also a result. One thousand religious lectures or preachers won’t help in halting such a problem. You’ll talk to them about what Allah (SWT) says and about what the Prophet (SAWS) said, while they’re suffering. You keep talking and talking and they keep falling and falling. Do you know now why the Prophet (SAWS) used to say, “O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the affliction of disbelief and poverty.”[4] (3). I’ve always wondered why he chose ‘disbelief’ with ‘poverty.’ Unemployment brings poverty and poverty brings disbelief. It doesn’t have to be ‘disbelief’ in the sense that we know of, may Allah (SWT) forbid. It can be in the form of dissatisfaction with Allah, hating people, loosing our values, the spread of fornication.

This is all about religion. I say to the youth who like to perform da’wa (missionary activity): ending unemployment is a kind of da’wa. I’m saying this because I sit with the youth a great deal. I see how they react when they loose a job. It transforms them from an outstanding personality to the exact opposite. Talking about religion will never touch their heart anymore. I’m asking those who love their religion to help us. This is exactly like calling to Allah. Please help us solve this problem. Can you realize now where this is taking us to?

Do you now understand the saying of the Prophet (SAWS), “O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the affliction of disbelief and poverty.” Abdullah Ibnul-Zubayier (RA) once said, “Unemployment is the most evil thing in the world; it’s where Satan settles.” They asked him, “How can you say that?” He replied, “Expect anything from the unemployed; fornication, sin, disobedience and not being dutiful.”

The 16 million unemployed youth will increase to 80 million. I want you to see. The next movie is a commentary where we spoke with some youth. They tell of their problem with unemployment. You’ll hear it in their words and see it in their eyes. Let us watch it together.

I want to tell you a story that was published in the newspapers. It is a story of 42 young men who couldn’t find any work. They craved for jobs. They collected all the money they had saved and they even borrowed some more. They were very simple Egyptian youth. They gave the money to a man who convinced them that he could transport them to Greece and get them jobs. They had no passports, visas or travel documents so he told them that they’ll sail on a rubber boat to avoid the radar. They had no other choice. They gave him all the money they had. After four days at sea he asked them to jump into the water, because they were near the Greek shores. They swam and reached the coast, only to find themselves in al-Agamy city – an Egyptian coastal city. The man fooled them and he took their money. You are laughing! Can you imagine their feelings then: frustration and money loss? What will they become after that? One of them said, “I wish I had drowned in the see.”

In this episode I’m reminding you. We need to revive souls. Allah says what can be translated as, “whoever gives life to it, (i.e., a self) then it will be as if he had given life to mankind altogether.”(TMQ, 5:32).

If you give life to anyone, you’ll be giving life to the whole of mankind, so what about a living-dead? Think about it. I’m instilling in you the fact that we have to work together to achieve revival. We will do it. There’s a solution in our hands. I just want to move you to work and I’ll tell you what it is at the end. Believe me there’s a way out, but I just want you to move. Youth, fathers and mother, we need you all to help us. Make this your motto, “whoever gives life to it, (i.e. a self) then it will be as if he had given life to mankind altogether.” Give life to someone who’s dying and see the amount of Thawab that you’ll get for it. Imagine meeting Allah (SWT) on the Day of Judgment saying, “I’ve given life to ten.” Not just the ten, but their whole families. You made them smile again. The Prophet (SAWS) says, “He who fills any Muslim’s home with joy, shall have no other reward but paradise.” Can you imagine giving life to all these dead souls? I’m saying this to people of all kinds; officials, businessmen, those who perform Hajj annually and Umrah three or four times a year. He who would donate a car to carry the dead would be better off donating a workshop or a small-scale project to give life for the living. You can even do both if you have the ability. May Allah (SWT) have mercy on our dead, but we’re talking about giving life to the living-dead souls. I’m talking about the hope for our revival, the youth whom the Prophet (SAWS) was so proud of. We need those youth. Who would like to have a role in this? Who wants to participate in this project to which I gave the title, “whoever gives life to it, (i.e. a self) then it will be as if he had given life to mankind altogether?” The solution is in having a project to give life to the living youth. I have this project. It’s not a magical or unprecedented one. We’ll talk about it now.

First we need to know why the unemployment rate is so high in our countries. Why is it so little in the whole world and so incredibly high in our countries? Take care; unemployment is diminishing in Europe, whereas it’s multiplying in our region. There are four reasons behind that. Let us analyze our problem:

I’ll tell you a story that happened to an Egyptian neighbor of mine living in London. A Western ten year old boy knocked on his door one night. My friend opened the door and found nothing but a small kid. He had flowers that he wanted to sell. My friend asked him, “Why are you selling flowers?” He replied, “Our teacher asked us to earn some money from anything we could do, and hence we would receive extra grades.”

I really want to cry. This is all about religion believe me. You are the grandsons of Khaled, Bilal, Saladin and the rich Sahabi (companion) Abdul-Rahman Ibn-Aouf. He was a very rich and skilled tradesman. They used to say that he would find gold beneath any stone on his way. Grandsons of Othman Ibn-Affan (RA), he equipped a whole army with his money. Grandsons of Abu-Bakr (RA), he donated all his wealth twice, yet regained every penny back because he was a skilled tradesman.

My friend replied, “I don’t want any flowers.” The boy said, “Alright, I can run along the street, back and forth, in a very short period of time. You can just ask me to make it in any record that you want and then monitor me with a stopwatch.” My friend said, “No, I won’t benefit from that at all.” The boy then said, “Can I wash your car?” My friend felt sorry for the child and offered him the money for free, but the boy refused. He said, “I can’t take money I didn’t work for. What am I going to say to my friends about this money or how I got it?” It also means that he can’t lie.

Our youth get to be 22 years old and they don’t know how to earn a living. He never learned how to do it. His mother and father never taught him. That is why when we come to education, we’ll have a project suggested by the experts of education and tackling this issue.

2. Another reason: we do not have any huge national projects. Projects like the High Dam in Egypt, for instance, or like the Suez Canal, or like Jabal Ali in Dubai. If we have a huge project, we’ll have many job opportunities. Education will also be directed to give benefit for such a project. The whole world will be teeming with work. Youth will be working. We do not have huge projects because we do not have a revival dream. Look at Dubai and Doha. They have the lowest unemployment rate, because they have huge national projects.

I will ask you a question, what is more logical? The logical thing is that unemployment is supposed to be higher in the developed countries, not in the developing nations, because the citizens of the developed nation have already built up their country. The streets and houses are built, and the factories are working. Therefore, after everything is done, logically they won’t find any available jobs, while a developing nation is supposed to be working 24 hours a day.

Why do we get the contrary? It is due to the fact that in developed nations, after building themselves, they take the jobs of our countries. They started to think about our needs. They saw that we always need things for worshipping; therefore they started manufacturing these needs for us. That is exactly what happened; they thought that we like worshipping. Fine, you worship and we produce, our boys will work while yours will not find any. Sometimes, they do this wittily, while in other times they do it by force. They say that one of the reasons behind the war in Iraq is the re-urbanization of Iraq. The American youth need work; therefore they are going to work in rebuilding Iraq, while the Iraqi youth stay unemployed.

At the end, we will get 80 million unemployed people and we will not be doing anything about it. Our youth are graduating every year from universities, after 16 years of education, to stay at home. Every year, millions of graduates, are sent directly home. After spending a great deal of money on education and private lessons, all are sent home. Here comes the solution; what is it? Why don’t we produce our needs? You will reply that the issue of production is a huge matter, alright, just wait and see. I will come to this point.

4. We import everything; they are working instead of us, while our young generation has nothing to do.

4. The forth reason: We as Arabs do not want to organize things together. We could produce together and work together. The rate of commercial exchange between the Arab nations does not exceed 8%.

These are the reasons for unemployment. What is left? The solution. Is there a solution? Yes there is. Let us go directly into the solution without indulging ourselves in its details for now, that matter will be discussed in the next episode. After surveying the size of the problem, its consequences and reasons, we must know that what I am saying is based on scientific research that I brought from specialists. I told you now about the size of the problem, its consequences and the four reasons using numbers and figures. What is left is the solution. Stay with us, we’ll be back with you gain.

There are so many opinions about this issue; an opinion suggests that we have a huge population, so let us eliminate the demographic increase. This is not correct because having a large population can be a burden or a merit; it all depends on how it is utilized. The population of China exceeds a billion, and it has the smallest rate of unemployment, because they have succeeded in achieving a revival that provides work for the people. The leader of China replied with a remarkable maxim when he was asked about how he intends to feed a billion mouths. He said, “Why not ask how we intend to make use of two billion hands?”

It is also a mistake to presume that limiting population growth will eliminate the problem. Let us assume that this option is a reasonable one. It would provide a solution that will only start working 30 years from now. What are we going to do until then? We will have 80 million unemployed people in ten years. Thus, this means that we do not have a solution for thirty years, because the people have already been born.

Others say let us hide the correct figures, and let people live away from it. It is also incorrect to read in the newspapers that the cost of every new job is the investment of $10,000. I will now tell you about a very strange story; it is the story of Dr. Hassan Ragab, who was an Egyptian ambassador. Dr. Ragab provided 12,000 to 15,000 jobs; the cost of each job was only 30 pounds. The tools of the job were a brush and a set of colors. He brought some graduates from the Faculty of Fine Arts to draw and write on papyrus paper for the tourists to buy.

Dr. Ragab speaks: “The idea of the project came to my brother when he was Egypt’s Ambassador to China, where he started to read about papyrus for more than two years. He started searching for it in 1965 and 1966, and he found out that it had completely vanished from Egypt. He went to the zoo, and took a couple of stems from them and tried to plant them by the Nile bank, but they did not flourish and afterwards they died. Then he traveled to Sudan and Uganda and brought papyrus from there, and started to grow it at home in a big bowl. My mother and my aunt were painters, so they took the leaves and started to draw pharaonic sketches on it. He started to think about the commercial benefit of such a project, and brought many people to work and they were taught how to draw. From 1967 until 1974, he could not sell any of these drawings, we went to museums and tried to sell them some, but they refused the idea. However, today 100,000 to 150,000 workers are working in this field in Egypt. This project was not expensive. Today it is worth a great deal, because 10% to 20% of the tourists’ purchases from Egypt are devoted to papyrus. It is an easy project, simple and successful; any one of us can think about similar ideas and benefit a great deal from it.”

A very simple idea brought jobs to 15,000 young men. Why don’t we see how others solved this problem? How was it solved in the West? By the way, unemployment is a global problem. The difference is only in the rates and the figures, so how was this problem solved in the foreign countries?

We went to experts from China, Japan and Italy. We studied the problem with them and we took some live shots there. What did they do? What they did was very simple. They gave more care to small projects, like the project you’ve just seen now. Why don’t we get three or four of the youth and ask them if they are willing to start a small project? One small project can offer 20 to 30 job opportunities, so imagine that just five can give job opportunities for 20 or 30. This is how they see it in countries like; China, Japan and Italy. If 1,000 of the youth start small projects, this should offer about 20,000 job opportunities, or 30,000 or even 40,000. A small project would never require more than 40 or 50 persons maximum. It requires only a small capital. What will we produce then? Nothing complicated; nothing that requires sophisticated technology or administration. Examples; eyeglasses, shoes, clothes, furniture, households, tableware, glassware, toys, worship requirements. Why don’t we concentrate on these small projects? No high tech. is required, just motivated youth. Even if they lack experience, let us open consulting offices to teach him. Even if they lack training, let us open training centers that would train them. I’m approaching the solution now. We’ll give them consultation and training. We’ll ask the media to induce these ideas in the minds of the youth. To let them all place their attention on small projects instead of waiting for jobs. It’s not even important that you wait until graduation; you can start while you’re still in high-school. Get together with your colleagues, you’ll grow together and learn together instead of producing nothing during these 10 years. Even if you have no money, we can make funds and ask banks to give us loans. We can teach the parents to save money for such small projects instead of saving money for other small things.

Such small projects were implemented in these countries, and the surprise was that unemployment dropped by half. In Japan, small projects consumed about 84% of the Japanese industrial workforce, and contributed to 52% of the total value of the Japanese industrial production. In Italy, there are 2,300,000 small, private projects. Families are involved in small projects, like knitting. They knit these pullovers that we buy in our countries. Can you imagine how close such a family is? They produce pullovers and sell them to the shops. They learn how to market them. This is where the consulting offices can help.

Could you believe that the United States also had the same problem? In the United States, small and medium-size industries have provided more than 15 million job opportunities. The very same plan implemented in China, Japan and Italy! Can you imagine that small projects take advantage of 70% of the American labor force? A study regarding the European Union member countries in 1998, asserts that small and medium projects provide around 70% of the work opportunity in the countries of the Union. They are all young, just like you here; boys and girls. They search for consulting offices on the internet and they ask for all the advice they need.

What happened to our countries? They also thought the same way, so what I’m telling you is not unprecedented. I’m just gathering the youth for an effective role. This is what I’m doing now. Let us do it with our Life Makers. The same ideas were implemented in our countries. It was done by the Social Fund for Development in Egypt. It was done by the Unemployment Security Fund in Algeria, but it was a failure. They started small projects with youth, and they made huge efforts in funding and training them. Unfortunately, these efforts have not had the desired success. Today, I’ve come asking you to see the results of working in small projects, in numbers. You will see a diagram that will show you the unemployment rates. Can you see how they are classified all over the world? Look at our counties. Then look at the countries that worked in small projects. Look at the figures for South-East Asia! Big projects are very little. Can you see the major industrial countries on the diagram? To tell you the truth, many efforts were exerted in our countries. Our governments did great efforts, yet the small projects were not a success in our countries.

We’re approaching the end of our episode now and I’m asking you, what is the solution then? We need new participants full of vitality, determination and understanding to give us a hand. We all need to work in small projects. We have to. We will make consulting offices. We will see how we can fund such projects. How we can give experience to the youth. We have already prepared all this, and we’ll see it in details during the next episode. Before anything, the youth must first decide that they’ll participate. We’ll work it out and our intention will be as Allah says, which can be translated as, “whoever gives life to it, (i.e., a self) then it will be as if he had given life to mankind altogether” (TMQ: 5:32).

Each one of us has to think about a small project. If he can’t think, we’ll help him. This is the only way out for the 80 million jobless youth. Consequently, we’ll be working using our own hands instead of watching others do the work for us. The Western countries approached our markets from four directions; clothes, toys, furniture and worship requirements. These four things do not require high technology. They don’t even require a big capital. If only two or three youth put their hands together, they’ll do it. I wish the parents would understand this and help us by instilling it in their children! If only they can ask their children to start taking this approach while still at high schools! They have to teach this to their children.

I want to tell you that this could be the only available solution after all the studies of the experts. This is the only way out. All we need for now is that the youth declare their willingness to give us a hand. This is exactly like the project of ‘Guardians of the Future.’ Remember when we said that the United Nation stated that governments alone cannot solve the problem of drug addiction, since it all depends on supply and demand? The governments can help in stopping the supply, but as long as there’s a demand, the problem will persist. They can only confiscate 30% of the total input. That’s why they stressed the importance of public efforts. That was why we made ‘Guardians of the Future’ in order to increase the awareness of the youth. Today, we’re doing the same thing. Governments alone can’t solve this problem. We’ll have consulting offices on the internet to train the youth. We’ll ask the youth to take the initiative even before graduation. We’ll ask them not to wait for easy jobs or even multi-nationals. I hope you don’t think that multi-nationals are the only way out. No, they aren’t. You have to make a project for your country. You have to add something.

In brief, what I’m saying now is the utmost of Islam. I’ll give you an example now that I want you to memorize. This example is about solving the problem of unemployment.

When the Prophet (SAWS) emigrated to Madinah, emigrants from Makkah started moving to Madinah more and more often in large numbers. They were very poor and were left without work. The Prophet (SAWS) built them a high place to serve as a shelter beside the mosque, and this place was called the Ahlul-Suffah (people of al-Suffah)[5] (4). These people were poor and without shelter, and they were increasing in number everyday, because new emigrants from Makkah were coming. That is why the unemployment rate was getting high and the problem was getting bigger, but the Prophet (SAWS) could not solve the problem alone. The problem needed the efforts from all the companions. We are doing the same here; we are imitating our Prophet (SAWS). Seventy young companions rose and made a kind of charitable society amongst them and they were called al-Qur’aa (the Readers). Do you know who they were? They did not like the condition of Ahlul-Suffah, and agreed to help the Prophet (SAWS) together when Allah revealed the ayah that can be translated as, “whoever gives life to it, (i.e., a self) then it will be as if he had given life to mankind altogether” (TMQ, 5:32). I want to address all of you who love their religion, Islam. I am not here to talk about life, I am talking about Islam, and this is the essence of Islam. Behold the doings of the companions. Seventy young companions were called the Readers, do you know them? I will tell you about their story.

Do you remember when a convoy from Yemen came to our Prophet (SAWS) asking for some people to go with them to Yemen to teach them about Islam? The Prophet (SAWS) sent them these 70 companions, who were all killed savagely. They all died as martyrs. I have narrated this story before in the program of ‘Meet the Beloved Ones.’ I told you about their leader Heram Ibn-Malhan when he stood in front of Yemen’s king who wanted to kill them so the king pointed to one of his guards who had a spear in his hand. The guard hurled the spear into Heram’s back and it came out of his stomach, and then Heram shouted out loud and said, “I won, in the name of the Ka’ba’s Lord.” Do you remember that saying? The one who said so was the leader of the Readers. These 70 companions made a kind of charitable society to help al-Suffah people.

The young Readers started to work during the day with al-Suffah people in small projects like farming and digging wells to cultivate the land, and in making swords or gathering wood. They searched for all the small professions needed by the people of Madinah, and worked along with one of the al-Suffah people and they shared the money. At night, they used to memorize, recite and teach the Qur’an, which is why they were called the Readers. They used to work all day to eliminate unemployment using small projects, and study all night. Tell me who, of the Islamic scholars, understands the religion in such a way? This is how your religion tells you to think and act, this is Islam, and these are the men that made Islam. Al-Suffah people used to go to them and learn and then find themselves a job and a home. Allah says what can be translated as, “whoever gives life to it, (i.e., a self) then it will be as if he had given life to mankind altogether” (TMQ, 5:32). They helped so many people and they continued doing so until the unemployment of Ahlul-Suffah ended in the seventh year (Hijri). Consequently unemployment was abolished in Madinah. The 70 readers helped all the al-Suffah people. Therefore, Allah (SWT) wanted to honor them, so He chose that the Readers be martyrs; to go to heaven. They did not spend all night praying, they did not understand religion in that way. They were working to solve their society’s problems of unemployment.

Why did the Prophet (SAWS) choose them? They were the Prophet’s choice, the Prophet (SAWS) chose them because Yemen is an industrial country that had a great civilization, and they were successful in life and in religion. He sent them these 70 companions. Oh, I recall saying these things before, but I am saying it now in a new way for Life Makers. The Prophet (SAWS) chose them because they were successful in life and in religion. They did not name themselves so, the people of Madinah called them the Readers because they used to read Qur’an and they were successful in life and in religion, which is why Allah (SWT) chose them to be martyrs. Allah (SWT) wanted to give them life in heaven, just like they gave others life on earth, so He honored them by making them martyrs. They were very dear to the Prophet (SAWS), who wept for their death, because they were so young, and he kept asking Allah (SWT) to avenge their death for a whole month. See how precious they were to the Prophet (SAWS)? They were precious because they were young and productive. They understood Islam the right way, they understood that Islam is not only about worshipping and learning Qur’an, it is also about education and mending the society.

We will all work in small projects because it is our solution, and it is not a magical one. It is based on the experience of everyone, but it was not implemented in the right way; a new associate was awaited to come; someone who has determination and zeal.

A final question: what do I want from you until next week? We are going to tell everyone to watch the next episode. We are going to think about new ideas for small projects. We are going to think about the names of specialists and experts that we know; we are going to search for them among our relatives and neighbors. We are going to search for university professors, ministers, scientists, specialists and Arab scholars living abroad. Send me your ideas and suggestions for small projects through the phone, or email, or our website. Mail them to our address here in Lebanon or fax it. If you have a story about a small project like the one we have just seen, tell us about it. Until next week, we are all going to work on this idea with all our strength, and we will produce ideas for next week. The project ‘Guardians of the Future’ was just a dream. Now, it is a concrete present that the United Nations is helping us with. You will remember my words later on. I am positive that Allah (SWT) is with us.

[1] Sala-llahu Alahi Wa Salam = All Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon him.

[2] TMQ = Translation of the Meaning of the Qur’an. This translation is for the realized meaning, so far, of the stated (Surah: Ayah) of the Qur’an. Reading the translated meaning of the Qur’an can never replace reading it in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed.

[3] Hadith not found.

[4] Authentic Hadith.

[5] Poor Immigrants who used to live in a covered section of the Prophet's Mosque.

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Episode 34: Unemployment