Alina Choudry reports on a charismatic Imam calling on young people to choose Islam over ‘gang culture’.
At the age of 22, Muhammed Asim Hussain has become a household name among Muslims in the UK. His ability to connect with young people has earned him a large following. He is the youngest person ever to serve as an Imam (Muslim equivalent to a Priest) in Britain. In December, I listened in to him preach on the theme of ‘social illnesses in the world today.’
Imam Asim began with short verses from Quran, before sending blessings and salutations to the Prophet. Everyone was encouraged to join in with these.
He then went on to talk about the blessing of sending salutations to the Prophet, and he addressed the problem of young people not knowing the meaning of religion anymore.
‘If only our younger brothers and sisters knew what it meant and how important it is to send salutations and blessings upon the Prophet, then we wouldn’t find ourselves in such difficulties today,’ he said.
In today’s society ‘respect’ is everything, Imam Asim explained, and in order to get ‘respect’ young Muslims are ‘going against the way of Islam’. He continued: ‘The me, myself and I mentality that so many of us have, was first endorsed by the devil himself. The devil was cursed into Hell because he considered himself better than Adam. He thought about himself and disobeyed God. This mentality is a way of leading us away from Islam and giving in to our desires.’
The Imam warned that Muslims do not have many friends in the world, so we have no option but to stand by each other. ‘Look at the state of Palestine. Who’s helping them? The Muslims are friends of one another. But the sad thing is we have this gang culture everywhere we go. Do we want to be Muslims or gangsters?’
Shouts of ‘Subhan Allah’ (praise be to God) were heard from the congregation as Imam Asim passionately proclaimed the greatness of God. ‘You follow the bad crowd and He will send someone to teach you good,’ he insisted.
Young people today are looking for guidance and who better as a role model than the Prophet himself. ‘When we see something, we want it – that’s human nature. So why do you defy your own nature by not wanting to follow Mohammed? Because he is the best.’
Imam Asim told a few stories about his own life and how he could have lived like a gangster. But nothing compares to the way of the Prophet. ‘You feel good in your Armani and Gucci clothing, but I feel like a million pounds whenever I wear the Sunnah (example) of the Prophet.’ He concluded with a searching question: ‘We live in fantasy, follow movies, gangsters, we do everything for ourselves. When did we do something for Allah?’