He is Optimistic, not Despondent with Age

He is Optimistic, not Despondent with Age

Man is born helpless and powerless, and in the end, he departs this world in the same state. Along the way, he is granted and tested with seeming strengths and abilities; yet as the years pass, these prove to be no more than fleeting illusions. Ultimately, he calls upon his Creator —the Everlasting Source of all power— for aid. Thus, aging, often called “the great humbler”, stands as a constant reminder of his complete dependence on God.

The spiritual man, though similarly disposed on the love of life and longevity, recognises the transitory nature of this temporary realm. For him, ageing is the realisation of that reality and an ever nearing towards his Creator. He recognises that this world is the preparatory plane, a cultivating ground and a trial for a certain and enduring hereafter.

The denier, instead, is incapable of coming to terms with death. For him, the thought of old-age is overwhelming and he contrives all sorts of escapes from it, from outright denial to industries centred on its futile removal or simply its deferral. And yet, before he knows it, he finds himself facing that inevitability.

Growing old is a worrying prospect and 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, as the Qur’ān says:

“And some of you are left to reach the most feeble stage of life so that they may know nothing after having known much. Indeed, Allāh is All-Knowing, Most Capable.”²⁰⁹

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, the late 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.“ 210

Encapsulating man’s desire to fight against the inevitable, to resist the decay of the mind and body as he grows older.

Every man carries 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 suggested 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 man’s ‘most certain’ cataclysm and to undeniably affirm his inevitable mortality.

“Wherever you may be, death will overcome you, even if you were in fortified towers.”²¹¹

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 attempt of many to forget about the ‘dying of the light’, killed him at the young age of 39, tragically expediting the very outcome he feared.

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…” 212

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 explain that it likely exempts those who committed the Qur’ān to their lives through memory and action, for those will be spared from seeing the worst outcomes of senility.

After all, the Qur’ān is the direct word of the Almighty, 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.

Among the least examined yet most plainly observable marvels is the sustained clarity of mind and strength of body that many people of the Qur’ān retain even in the final chapters of their lives. They are those embraced by the divine exception:

“Except for those who believe and do right actions: they will have a wage which never fails.”²¹³

The spiritual man served the purpose of his existence by protecting the perpetual word of his Creator. There is nothing decrepit about his age, as the Qur’ān protects him during his final hurdles of life and during his final pangs. His progressive age is nothing but a nearing of a meeting with his ultimate Love and Creator, for which he longs, after a long life of preparation.