Al-Madinah

Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia and the head of the Senior Scholars Commission and Ifta Council, recently called on the Kingdom’s top officials to facilitate enrolling young Saudi men into military colleges and said that there was a need to change some of the requirements and conditions for performing military service. This would allow more young men to join the army and allow these colleges to benefit from new cadre. The Grand Mufti’s statement was reported by Sabq.com, an electronic news website.

The Grand Mufti’s call comes at a time when our country is facing many challenges and threats from terrorists from both within the Kingdom and abroad. The situation is precarious and needs urgent action. We need to increase the number of young men joining the military; this is regardless of whether they are graduates of military colleges or institutes that specialize in different military fields.

Military service in Egypt is compulsory. We could make military service voluntary in the beginning to encourage and stimulate young men. We should offer young men who have done military service incentives, like giving them priority when they apply for admission into military colleges or universities or when they apply for jobs. Those who serve in the military voluntarily should be given extra points that would encourage them further.

There is no doubt that intensive military courses will make our young men physically strong and equip them with mental skills to serve the Kingdom when the situation arises. Such courses will make them more disciplined and serious about life and bolster their determination and ability to shoulder responsibilities. Moreover, military service will protect our young men from being influenced by deviant and extremist ideas and from engaging in unethical practices.

We could take advantage of the long school vacations and offer such courses to young men to help them spend their time constructively instead of wasting their time in cafés and on the streets.