What in Holidays

All people, particularly youth and students, interestingly receive the summer vacation and holidays after the long days of study, homework and examinations. Vacation and holidays is, therefore, is more interesting for youth than with any other people, which requires us to adequately prepare them so that they better invest vacation and holidays time in useful things. Like any other issue, investment of vacation and holidays depends on the educational, intellectual and mental standard of youth. For example, a young man of good standard of understanding, education, recognition and responsibility feeling properly invests all his time, including study days, vacations and holidays time, the month of Ramadan and the period of pilgrimage. So, we usually find him busy doing useful things. In contrast, a bad young man who is lacking good education does not properly invest his time, even he has nothing to do all day long, because he has no specific objectives he seeks to achieve. This is common problem resulting from that our youth often loose their objectives, or at best have insignificant, short-time objectives.

However, it is common that many young men plan for certain objectives, even limited-run ones, that they endeavor to reach and achieve. Whenever a young man has proper objectives and in the meantime has proper thought, he benefits of his time, even he is in ill physical condition. I once visited a young man who was handicapped as a result of an accident, and found him very busy reciting in the Holy Koran, reading books, studying useful things, meeting good people, while rarely receiving guests and visitors beyond certain timings. He so makes a good investment of his time. I also visited some other young men in prisons who properly invest their time. Meanwhile, I frequently see others who have plenty of money, health, safety, freedom spend their time in vain. Why? Because they were not properly educated and have no goals to achieve.

How do people think of holidays and vacations? People generally focus on certain things consistent with their situations as above explained. Unfortunately, many people plan to spend their vacations or holidays in places of vice, either in near countries they may reach by their cars or in remote countries the may only be reached by planes. There, many youth easily become subject to corruption and vices, including prostitution, alcoholism and drugs, and consequently become susceptible to fatal diseases that we have not heard before. I recall that a young man once told me that in some of these countries, there are some places where certain material is put in the air conditions sets so that when it is inhaled by anyone he soon becomes drug addicted and after  he had absolutely been reluctant to take drug, he become so addicted that he look for drugs at any time and at any price and under any condition.

A young man who lives abroad told me about many stories about what happened to youth there, and the prevailing environment there affect not only the youth but even the old men. As an example, he told me about a very old men who was over 60 year’s old who used to travel there only to be free to drink spirits and go to abhors. That old man once drunk six bottles of wines on one day, and drunk more on the next day, and drunk much more in the third days, as he drunk ten bottles on that day. Immediately after the tenth bottle he felt sick and got into a water closet to vomit, and there he fell dead. After a long time, he was found dead and his head into the closet basin.

If this may happen to a grown up man, what about young men who often go there for tourism, and  there fall victim to such catastrophic problems. Moreover, they may sometimes fall in the hands of foreign intelligence agents who plan and use all means to subjugate youth to become spies, agents or at least informers in the service of foreign intelligence agencies and organizations. What facilitate doing so is that many young men become there in bad need to money after being jobless there for long time, particularly if they become addicted to alcohols or drugs. As a result to be exploited by such agencies and organizations, they become destructive to his religion, country, family and himself.

Therefore, the responsibility for all of this fall on us all, individuals, institutions, organizations, authorities and governments. We all must endeavor to eliminate this aspects that destruct our youth.

However, this does not mean that all young men who travel abroad do that for such ill intentions and purposes. In fact, there many young men traveling abroad for other right purposes, but what I have just said is about a segment of youth who wrongfully think of, and accordingly spend, their vacations and holidays, which to such bad results I have given only some examples of.

Another youth segment, while not thinking of their vacations and holidays in such way, they focus on another aspect, namely sport.  They spend their time in practicing various sports, such as athletics, bodybuilding, swimming, football, basketball, etc, and pursue all events, programs and schedules related to such sports. However, they often exaggerate in this connection to the extent they may ignore other important areas of their life.

Perhaps someone may say that they build and strengthen their bodies by doing so. But in my opinion, it is not enough to only strengthen the body. It is not sufficient to have strong and beautiful men. We do not need human calves or elephants, nor do we need human peacocks. We do not need mule bodies and bird thoughts. We do need strong body but with strong brain and mind. We need strong faith and wide knowledge and high cultural and scientific standards. If a the youth attend to all these aspects and in the meantime equally attend to their bodies, this would certainly be desirable, while exclusively focusing on their body is absolutely undesirable.

Unfortunately, even the very purpose of building and strengthening the body is not ensured by such extensive interest and attention given by the youth to the sport aspects. 99% of them are merely football fans, whose their legs are impaired out of long sitting to football matches, and their eyes are tired out of long watching footballers, either in the playgrounds or in front of  screens. They do not play, they simply are watchers who support someone and oppose others.. shouting and screaming for this one or the other.. become joyful for a goal and sad for anoher.

All what we witness of extensive efforts and very large amount of money are only invested for the benefit of a limited number of people who actually play. I am not against the football or any sport as such, but I am certainly against focusing on a single aspect, namely the sport, and worse of all, focusing on a single part of such aspect, namely the football. It would be more acceptable if such interest and attention are coupled with Islamic values, ethics and morals and are reasonably given to an aspect or other. And this already happens in many cases. In fact , in many clubs there are good people who exert considerable effort towards the reform in the activities of their club, including hosting religious events and scholars and activating the Islamic aspects in all the activities of the club. But it remains the others, who are the majority, do the same.