Old Age: Consoling Hopes

I have no son upon whom to concentrate all my care and concern. Rather, through that powerful, innate mystery of compassion within me, I feel compassion for thousands of Muslim children and share in their sufferings, and even in the sufferings of innocent animals.

Nor do I have a home of my own upon which to centre my thoughts. Instead, through my devotion to Islam, I feel concern for this country as though it were my own home, and indeed for the entire Islamic world. I suffer with my Muslim brothers throughout that world and grieve over the separations they endure.

Against all this sorrow arising from old age and the calamities of separation, the light of īmānFaith; belief in the six articles of faith: Allah, His angels, His revealed scriptures, His prophets, the Hereafter, and divine decree (qadar). has been entirely sufficient for me.

It has bestowed upon me an unbreakable hope, an inextinguishable light, and an inexhaustible consolation.

Thus, īmānFaith; belief in the six articles of faith: Allah, His angels, His revealed scriptures, His prophets, the Hereafter, and divine decree (qadar). is certainly sufficient for you as well against the darkness, heedlessness, sorrow, and suffering that accompany old age.

The darkest old age, utterly bereft of light and consolation, and the most painful and terrifying separation, belong in truth to those who have fallen into misguidance and dissipation.

To taste the īmānFaith; belief in the six articles of faith: Allah, His angels, His revealed scriptures, His prophets, the Hereafter, and divine decree (qadar). that bestows such hope, light, and consolation, and to experience its fruits, one must consciously embrace a life of servitude to Allah, befitting old age and in accordance with Islam.

This cannot be attained by seeking to imitate the young or by plunging into their intoxicating heedlessness in an attempt to forget one's advancing years.

Reflect upon the following saying, which conveys the meaning of a hadithA report of the sayings, actions, or approvals of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh).:

خَيْرُ شَبَابِكُمْ مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِكُهُولِكُمْ وَشَرُّ كُهُولِكُمْ مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِشَبَابِكُمْThe best of your young people are those who resemble your elders, and the worst of your elders are those who resemble your young people.

That is:

“The best of your young people are those who resemble your elders in thoughtfulness and restraint from dissipation; and the worst of your elders are those who resemble the young in dissipation and heedlessness.”

O my elderly brothers and sisters!

It is stated in a hadithA report of the sayings, actions, or approvals of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). that when a believer of sixty or seventy years raises his hands in supplication to Allah, it is not befitting of Divine mercy to send those hands back empty.

Since Divine mercy honours you in this way, show your reverence for that mercy through your worship.