Al Wasillah (In The Footsteps Of The Prophet PBUH)

Your Youth Before Your Old Age

"Oh Abu Dharr! Take advantage of five things before five things seize you; Your youth before Your old age, your health before your sickness, Your wealth before your poverty, your spare time before your being busy and your life before you death."

We make observations through different phases of life, observations of ourselves and those around us. We make mistakes, and watch others make mistakes, and majority of the time take a lesson from them. Sometimes we don't, and kick ourselves for not learning from the mistakes.

One of the beauties of Islam is that we are given a secure way of life, and the best understanding, which gives us the highest strength and motive. Islam prevents us from making grave mistakes, pre warning us of what we may fall into, gives us stepping stones and gives us aims, goals and aspirations. Islam – even till this day throws me back, with its beauty and wisdom. One of ways in which we trust in Allah (Tawwakul), is that we follow His commands and the advice of the Prophet (saw), whether we are in a compromising situation or not, whether we are in good health or not, whether we think the outcome will not be what we desire – we all should aim to act on Allah's commands – regardless, which then in turn will give us prolonged success. It gives us security, in judging from what's right and wrong, as we make judgements based on the understanding Allah has given us, if we follow Allah's commands – we know we can never go wrong or be in regret that we made the wrong decision.

For myself, it truly was a favour or a gift bestowed upon me, and all Muslims;

This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion." [Al-Maida 5:3]

This Hadith summarises the phases which we may go through throughout life, Youth, Parenthood, Middle age, Old age. If we sit back and think, throughout these phases, we gain and lose. This Hadith, advises us, to take advantage of what is of its highest during these phases, all aimed at... Worship to Allah.

It is known, that the one who spends his youth in servitude to Allah, will be rewarded highly, and also be amongst the 7 to be in Allah's shade on the day where there will be no shade. The hadiths compliment each other

"Oh Abu Dharr! Take advantage of five things before five things seize you; Your youth before Your old age, your health before your sickness, Your wealth before your poverty, your spare time before your being busy and your life before you death."

The first word, ightanam comes from same root that signifies sheep - ghanam. Sheep, in Arabic, means ghanam, and ightanam is from the same root that also signifies sheep. What exactly is the meaning of ightanam? Ightanam is used to indicate any good that can be obtained without much effort. Just like sheep, they can easily be caught if they go astray. This is why the war booty that is found on the battlefield after the army has fled is called ghaneemah. It is easy to take, just like the sheep. You can grasp it without much effort. Ghaneemah, ightanam, and ghanam are all from the same root.

So it is as if the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam is pointing out that these five matters are very easy to obtain. They are easy to prey on and catch, and very simple to benefit from. That is because they are treasures that everyone possesses but few people appreciate.

What are these five things?

#1: Take Advantage of Your Youth Before Your Old Age

The Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam started off and said shabbab or shab, a youth or young person. The Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said, "Take advantage of your youth before your haram." And the word haram means old age, maybe even senility. It is an age in which the person does not have the power or mental faculties that he had while he was a youth.

Youthfulness is a time when a person is the most energetic, when he lays out the foundations for his future, and when he plans his life. So the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said to take advantage of this time before the time comes when you do not have that enthusiasm, when you do not have that zeal, or that outlook. The enthusiasm and energy that you have been blessed with will never again be given to you after this age. Therefore, the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said to seize the moment and take advantage of it. A person should exercise this energy for the sake of Allah by procuring knowledge of Allah, obtaining halal sustenance, and worshipping Allah through acts that he might not be able to do later on in life.

Youth here does not mean the western concept of youth that youthfulness finishes when someone is eighteen or nineteen years old. In the Islamic Shari'ah, a man's life has been divided into a number of sectors or stages. Shabbab or shab, according to the strongest opinion, means before reaching the age of forty. This is because forty is the prime of life, when mental and physical capabilities have reached a peak, and after that they start to go down.

The Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam said: "Seven are the people that will be sheltered on the Day of Judgment, the day in which there is no shade except the shade of Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala."

One of the seven people, the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned was a youth who grew up in the worship of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala. Remember, the youth is up to forty. So this young person, whether he is twenty or thirty or right before reaching the age of forty, he has grown up and has been raised or has raised himself busy in the worship of Allah subhaanahu wa ta 'aala.  

I watch my sister in law run around the house after her two children all day, feeding them, watching out for them in case they run out of the house and stand in the middle of the road wating to be confronted by a car. I watch my mum, who is majority of the time ill, and sometimes difficult for her just to even sit in peace, without being in pain. I knew another middle aged woman, who was also usually ill, and who hasn't fully embraced the deen even till today.

I put myself in these situations, and wondered how would I try to fit in my time to Allah, and how much time can I devote to Allah in these situations.

If we reach the age of 40 without having invested in the akhira, without making use of our time we had, made use of our health, and we come to the realisation of Allah where we are at the brink of our health, constrained with time due to responsiblities, and look back at the money we had which could have been spent in better ways, how will our states of minds be?

It is usually within our youth, we have less responsibility, we are at the peak of our healths, we have vast amounts of time which we can let easily slip away.

We can all aim to make our steps, our eating, our sleep a way of worship – If we aim to keep ourselves in good health, in order that we can prolong our lives and worship to Allah, If we make use of our free time, because as many mothers will know, raising children, especially within the first years are very time consuming, therefore before parenthood, we should use the time we have. The great benefit in this is, is if we use our time and efforts in Allah's way, Allah places Barakah in it. If we store our good deeds, we can sit in some peace of mind in our later ages, when if we are in bad health, and tied up with other responsibilities, and not have great regret, that we spent the majority of our lives in other than the worship of Allah.