Deliverance from Senility

The fear of aging is rooted in the irreversible loss of cognitive and physical abilities when one is, as the Qur’ān says, “left to reach the feeblest stage of life” and begins to “know nothing after having known much”. Old age overtly proclaims the nearing of man’s departure that he spent much of his life trying to subdue…

As man journey’s through life, time seems to pass by quicker than he ever imagined. Before he knows it, he find himself facing the inevitability of old age. Growing old is a worrying prospect. Many would rather part than reach an age of senility in which one becomes a burden on others after a long life of strength and independence.

The fear of aging is rooted in the irreversible loss of cognitive and physical abilities when one is, as the Qur’ān says, “left to reach the feeblest stage of life”[1] and begins to “know nothing after having known much”[2]. Old age overtly proclaims the nearing of man’s departure that he spent much of his life trying to subdue. Capturing this feared human experience, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote, “Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.“[3] Such encapsulates the human desire to fight against the inevitable, to resist the decay of our minds and bodies as we grow older.

We carry the inherent love of life and immortality. Humanity dedicates hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide on cutting-edge research that seeks to manage the symptoms of old age. In some cases, postulators of ‘transhumanism’ or the ‘beyond human’ philosophy have postulated that it is only a matter of time before we ‘cure death’ through techniques such as chemical preservation or genetic editing. And yet, death comes again and again to reassert itself as the ‘most certain’ cataclysm and to undeniably affirm our inevitable mortality.

Believers, though similarly disposed on a love of life, recognise the transitory nature of this temporary realm. They recognise that this world is the preparator plane, a cultivating ground and a trial for an certain and enduring hereafter. The denier, instead, is incapable of coming to terms with death. For him, the thought of old-age is overwhelming. Dylan Thomas’ acute sense of resignation towards the fleeting nature of life, drove him, like many others, towards heavy drink. This escapism through intoxication, representing the futile attempt of many to forget about the ‘dying of the light’, killed him at the young age of 39.

Encapsulating the progress of creation succinctly, Allāh, the Everlasting tells us:

“We created man in the finest mould. Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low…”[4]

Referring in part to those whose age and frailty fails to humble them and are thus sent to the “lowest of the low”, either to hell, to debauchery and sin in the interim on that downward journey, or in general, to that decrepit old age. Interestingly, many exegetes have held the latter view. But to accept this view would mean that an exemption to such a universal phenomenon becomes rather strange. They say that it exempts those who committed the Qur’ān to their memory, for those will be spared from seeing the worst outcomes of senility.

After all, the Qur’ān is the direct word of Allāh, the Provider of Life. Such a reality so powerful and overwhelming that it can dispel those spiritual contaminants that would have otherwise accelerated one’s deterioration. Maybe one of the least studied, yet most observable marvels is the exceptional cognition that many people of Qur’ān continue to exhibit in the very last phases of their lives. They are the ones covered by the exception:

“Except for those who believe and do right actions: they will have a wage which never fails.”[5]

They served the purpose of their existence by protecting the perpetual word of the Creator. There is nothing decrepit about their age, as the Qur’ān protects them during their final hurdles of life and in that to come.

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References:

[1] Al-Qur’ān 16-70

[2] Ibid

[3] “Do not go gentle into that good night” – Poem by Dylan Thomas (died Nov. 1953)

[4] Al-Qur’ān 95-4-5

[5] Al-Qur’ān 95:6