AGE OF 40
Sent By: Prof. Nasir Ahmed
Sent By: Prof. Nasir AhmedAge of 40
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي ; وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي ; وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي ; يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي
إِنَّ
اللَّهَ عِنْدَهُ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ وَيُنَزِّلُ الْغَيْثَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا
فِي الأَرْحَامِ وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ مَاذَا تَكْسِبُ غَداً وَمَا
تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ بِأَيِّ أَرْضٍ تَمُوتُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
“Verily
Allah, with Him (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the
rain, and know that which is in the wombs. No person knows what he will
earn tomorrow, and no person knows in what land he will die. Verily,
Allah is All-Knower, All-Aware.”
(Aayah No. 34, Surah Luqman, Chapter No. 31, Holy Qur’an).
The time
and place of death of every human is appointed, no one knows about it
except Allah. No one knows how many years he (she) is going to live.
Lifespan of this Ummah
The average age of this Ummah is sixty to seventy; have a look at following narration:
Abu Hurairah (RA) narrated that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said, “The lifespan of my Ummah is from sixty to seventy (years).”
(Hadith No. 2331, Chapters on Zuhd, Jami’ At-Tirmidhi, Vol. 4).
According to following hadith, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) lived up to 63 years of age:
Narrated Aishah (RA): Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) died when he was sixty-three years of age.
(Hadith No. 4466, Book of Al-Maghazi, Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 5).
Some narrations tell us that Abu Bakr (RA), Umar (RA) and Ali (RA) all died at the age of sixty to seventy.
The
average lifespan is told to be 60-70, but some die at an age much
younger than that, while some remain alive up to many years more than
that. It is all up to Allah, only He knows how much lifespan He has
appointed for whom.
Significance of reaching 40 years of age
40 years
of age is a very important milestone in the life of a man (woman).
Keeping in mind the average lifespan of sixty-seventy years, one who
reaches 40 years of age completes about two-thirds of his (her) average
lifespan; thereby meaning that he (she) enters into the last third of
his (her) life.
Apart from
achieving this percentage of lifespan, a man becomes strong (both
mentally and physically), he reaches to a stage of maturity, and is able
to understand and tackle the highs and lows of all spheres of the life
in a reasonable and wise manner. We know that Allah started sending the
revelations to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) when he reached 40.
Allah has emphasized this stage of human life very clearly in Qur’an. Please go through following verse of Holy Qur’an:
وَوَصَّيْنَا
الإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ إِحْسَاناً حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهاً
وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهاً وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلاثُونَ شَهْراً حَتَّى
إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ وَبَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً قَالَ رَبِّ
أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ قَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ
أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ
أَعْمَلَ صَالِحاً تَرْضَاهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي إِنِّي
تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنْ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
“And
We have enjoined on man to be dutiful & kind to his parents. His
mother bears him with hardship. And she brings him forth with hardship,
and the bearing of him and the weaning of him is thirty months, till
when he attains full strength and reaches forty years, he says: My
Lord! Grant me the power and ability that I may be grateful for Your
Favour which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I
may do righteous good deeds, such as please You, and make my off-spring
good. Truly, I have turned to You in repentance, and truly, I am one of
the Muslims.”
(Aayah No. 15, Surah Al-Ahqaf, Chapter No. 46, Holy Qur’an).
The verse
above confirms that a man attains full strength at the age of 40.
Moreover, this glorious verse tells about some of the responsibilities
of a man when he reaches the age of forty.
The most important thing to be done when one reaches the age of forty is
that he/she should make a re-assessment of his own personality, thank
Allah for His favours and pray for parents & off-springs. The
repentance to Allah should be renewed. One should recite the
supplication mentioned in the verse above and abandon all his (her)
wrong acts (if any) from that point onwards.
Thus,
one should ask Allah to forgive all his/her previous sins and a renewed
effort should be made by every individual to ensure that he/she leads
his/her remaining life as per Qur’an and Sunnah.
This is a
great responsibility for each of us. In fact, it is like a last
opportunity for everyone to get his sins forgiven and start anew towards
the ultimate goal of entering the Paradise. Do not be shocked when I
say it is like a last opportunity. The verse that follows the above
mentioned verse explains this statement:
أُوْلَئِكَ
الَّذِينَ نَتَقَبَّلُ عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا وَنَتَجاوَزُ عَنْ
سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ وَعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا
يُوعَدُونَ
“They
are those from whom We shall accept the best of their deeds and
overlook their evil deeds. (They shall be) among the dwellers of
Paradise – a promise of truth, which they have been promised.”
(Aayah No. 16, Surah Al-Ahqaf, Chapter No. 46, Holy Qur’an).
It is very
clear from this verse that whoever is good with his/her parents, and
whoever after reaching the age of 40 supplicates to Allah (as mentioned
in Aayah No. 15 earlier), renews his repentance and make efforts to ensure that he leads a righteous life (as per Qur’an and Sunnah), then such
are the only people from whom Allah accepts their repentance. Allah
forgives the sins of such people and takes in to account only the good
deeds of such people. And above all, Allah promises Paradise for such people.
Now
give a thought to how important this milestone is. And at the same time
those who have already crossed this age should ask themselves: did they
act accordingly?
We should
be thankful to Allah that he has given us an opportunity of forgiveness
at this stage of our lives. Whoever ignores this and keeps himself busy
in his usual wrong-doings then there is a chance that it might get too
late for such a person, and he may reach a stage in his life where Allah
will no longer accept his repentance. Inspiration should be drawn from
following narration:
Narrated
Abu Hurairah (RA): The Prophet (PBUH) said, “Allah will not accept the
excuse of any person whose instant of death is delayed till he is sixty
years of age.”
(Hadith No. 6419, Book of Ar-Riqaq, Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 8).
Concluding remarks
Sadly, we
all are living in false hopes; busy trying to fulfill our worldly
ambitions. While doing so, we ignore our primary duties ordained by
Allah. We forget that all these worldly plans at the cost of our duties
as a Muslim (ordained by Allah) shall come to an abrupt end when death
strikes. This is beautifully explained in following hadith as well:
Narrated
Anas bin Malik (RA): The Prophet (PBUH) drew a few lines and said,
“This is (man’s) hope, and this is the instant of his death, and while
he is in this state (of hope), the nearer line (death) comes to him.”
(Hadith No. 6418, Book of Ar-Riqaq, Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 8).
Then we
shall move to a never ending world, the Hereafter, with our actions of
this world to decide our fate: Heaven or Hell! May Allah keep all of us
away from Hell!
But for
that we need to act. So, whoever has reached the age of 40 should get
his (her) act together and utilize this opportunity given by Allah.
Those who shall be reaching that stage in days to come (Insha’Allah), be
prepared.
And Allah knows best.
May Allah forgive me if I am wrong and guide us to the right path…Ameen.
سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُون َ ; وَسَلامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ ; وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
