Old Age: Allah’s Greatest Opportunity For The Best Trade

One of Allah’s greatest favours is not merely to live long, but to live long enough to prepare well for the everlasting life.

Every wrinkle, every grey hair, every slower step, every painful joint and every medical appointment quietly whisper and echo the same message that; the journey is drawing nearer to its final destination.

Allah (SWT) says in Qur’an 30:54: “It is Allah Who created you in weakness, then after weakness gave you strength, then after strength brought weakness and grey hair. He creates what He wills, and He is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.”

At this stage of life, we begin to discover what true wealth really means. It is no longer counted by the number of houses we own, or the parcel of land we have, or the size of our accounts, or the titles before our names.

Rather, true wealth becomes the ability to stand without assistance, to walk without fear, to sleep without pain, to remember clearly, to breathe comfortably, and to eat with ease. These are blessings money or status can never guarantee.

The spiritual take from these beautiful teachings of old age is that, as we grow older, Allah, The Most High, in His infinite wisdom, gradually curtailed our worldly ‘needs’ so that our ‘wants’ should be cautioned. This is a time when accumulating more, serves little purpose in our ‘needs’. Instead, what we have accumulated over decades should gradually become provisions for our hereafter.

Therefore, our wants and accumulation should now reduce even more. Contentment should replace excessive accumulation, and gratitude should overcome greed at this stage of our journey.

This is the time to truly ask ourselves:

What am I still holding onto that could become my provision in the Hereafter? How many clothes have not been worn for years? How many pairs of shoes remain untouched?

How many household items, books, furniture and possessions occupy our homes while others struggle without them?

Perhaps one of the greatest opportunities hidden in old age is this: to convert worldly possessions into everlasting rewards. Old age is one of Allah’s greatest opportunities for trade whose profits neither diminishes nor expires.

The Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said: “The son of Adam says, ‘My wealth, my wealth.’ Yet of his wealth, nothing truly belongs to him except what he ate and consumed, what he wore and wore out, or what he gave in charity and thus sent ahead.”

Consequently, I urge you to open your wardrobes, to review your shoe racks, to look through your garages, to search your shelves and let what has become unnecessary for you become a source of comfort for someone else, and a treasure with Allah (SWT) waiting for you in the Hereafter.

For one of life’s greatest ironies is that, whatever we refuse to spend for Allah, The Provider, while we are alive may eventually be distributed by our heirs after we are gone, while we receive no reward for what we once clung to.

May Allah make our old age the best period of our lives, fill our hearts with contentment, bless us with sincere generosity, make our charity a light in our graves, and grant us the honour of meeting Him with hearts that are pure and deeds that are accepted.