"Why Youth are missing from the masjid"

This Saturday I was at Youth-MCMC working session. Basically, to establish a bond with the community mosque. There were different concerns/questions. The MCMC shura kept asking "Why Youth are missing from the masjid".

The forum was very open - credit goes to Dr. Safi Faizullah who gave the youth every opportunity to speak and mashAllah he listened to what they had to say and what they envision at MCMC. The focus was to identify and formulate programs to be implemented by MCMC to cater to a larger student population.

The following speakers spoke at the program:

1. Dr. Safi Faizullah
2. Imam Rauf
3. Chaplain NYU- Br. Khalid Latif
4. Young Muslim- Br. Adib Contractor
5. Young Muslim- Sr. Nida Hasan
6. Rutgers Chaplain Office Faraz Khan
7. Rutgers (ISRU)- Br. Yahia Tokal
8. Amir Memon (UPenn)
9. Farys Chowdhary
10. M. Essaghir Br. Zeejah Ali

I think it was a very productive meeting to generate ideas. It would be ideal to see MCMC implement these ideas presented by the youth and therefore, become a student hub - only time will tell. Since I am new to MCMC community, I do not know the history of students' involvement at MCMC. But I do wish them the best of luck.

There are only a few mosques with a successful program for youth in NJ - most are not willing to spend a penny or listen to their "children". Yet most shura members can't get tired of saying "youth are our future". Sure, in American culture they say 'put your money where your mouth is' :)

Anyways, I would like the college students to chime in about the situation. Why Youth are missing from MCMC? Please feel free to chime in.