JEDDAH — When you think of Jeddah what is the first thing that springs to your mind? Is it the Red Sea with its majestic waves, the interesting mix of cultures that our coastal city is home to, the countless cafés, or the many shopping centers? It could be any of the above when you are in a surreal optimistic state of mind, but once you sit behind the wheel of your car and are violently jolted back into reality, you wake up to what Jeddah is most famous for: reckless driving. Jeddah is notorious for the bad condition of its roads and for the appalling driving behavior of motorists so that just being on the road can raise your blood pressure up several notches. We commonly throw the blame on the municipality or the government or the traffic police. It is true that the implementation of laws is disturbingly lax and there needs to be strict fining of motorists who run a red light, double-park, or use the mobile phone while driving. Rather than bitterly complain and wait for improvements, citizens and residents can initiate changes and raise awareness among the youth and society in general on safe and smart driving. This is exactly what Zaher Ibrahim has decided to do: Revolutionize the Saudi motorist's mentality, spread driver awareness, and start a creative campaign that binds driving carefully to our most dearly held beliefs and values as Muslims. His innovative idea is that when driving, one can actually revive the Sunnah (tradition) of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Islamic teachings. It may be difficult at first to envision how one can follow the Sunnah when driving, but Ibrahim makes it crystal clear and his project won him the first place in “Kun Muhammadiyan” (Be a follower of Muhammad) competition organized by Dallah Academy of Volunteer Work and Effat University aimed at promoting the real-life application of the Sunnah of the Prophet in society. The competition which was announced one month ago garnered much positive feedback from the community and drew a large number of participants, as more than 115 projects were submitted. Results were announced last Wednesday. Ibrahim's wife, Eman Janbi, is a strong supporter of the project and is much delighted over her husband's achievement. However, she commented that with success comes a greater responsibility toward the community and much work remains. “The worst thing about Jeddah is bad driving behavior. If we are able to change that, to educate the youth on safe driving, how many lives would we save? How much money could be spared that is spent annually on damages and healthcare costs as a direct result of traffic accidents? I believe that as a collective society, we are a religious society who respects the words of our Prophet. So why not leverage that love of our Prophet and use it to instill good, Muslim driving habits?” Ibrahim told Saudi Gazette the morning after he was honored for his “Kun Muhammadiyan” initiative. The Prophet had criticized aggressively forcing one's riding animal to continuously gallop at a fast pace and had warned that such a rider will not gain much in distance covered and his animal will perish. “When kept in mind, the same concept should be applied to driving your car. You will not reach your destination faster by putting the pedal to the metal. Speeding will not get you there; speeding could cost you your life or the lives of others,” said Ibrahim. “The Prophet also said: ‘There shall be no infliction of harm on oneself or others'. By consciously remembering these words of the Prophet, no mother would ride the car without putting on her safety belt and reminding her children to fasten their safety belts as well. Drivers would not speed so as not to inflict harm on themselves or others; none would haphazardly park their car and block the road just to buy sandwiches from a busy restaurant. If children were sincerely taught this hadith, they would think twice before rolling down the car window to throw garbage on the street,” added Ibrahim. The statistics speak loud enough and it is about time to take action. In the last 20 years, 86,000 people in the Kingdom died in road accidents. In Saudi Arabia, a country with a relatively small population, someone dies from a traffic accident every 40 minutes. Losses from motor accidents amount to SR13 billion a year in damages to public properties and hospital expenses to treat injuries caused by traffic accidents. Much of the rage on the road can also be avoided by listening to the Prophet's repeated advice on controlling one's anger and temper. Honking your horn, cursing, rashly changing lanes, and competing to get ahead of other motorists will only serve to exacerbate your anger and worsen the traffic problems. Driving as a Muslim and driving in accordance with the Sunnah is a new campaign that Ibrahim is launching in Jeddah. He will be holding awareness workshops to the youth. He is also planning to communicate and team up with the imams of neighborhood mosques so they too can become partners in warning the youth of the fatal habit of ignoring traffic safety laws to reach a larger audience. To make this campaign informative yet attractive to the youth, he intends to develop a series of creative YouTube videos starring popular Saudi names. After holding the awareness workshop, Ibrahim will offer stickers for sale with the campaign's logo to be placed on the steering wheel and the rear bumper of cars. The message on the sticker will remind both the driver himself and those around him to drive in a safe and ethical way. The sticker will not be given until the motorist takes an oath to follow the Sunnah while driving. As a motivational incentive, Ibrahim will try to get gas station owners involved in his campaign; he suggests reducing the cost on filling up on gasoline by SR1 for any driver who has this awareness sticker on his vehicle. Tackling the problem of careless driving using such a diverse and ingenious array of methods may prove to be successful in saving lives. Help kick-start this campaign by being a Muhammadiyan driver yourself and telling your brother, father, uncle and son to be one.
