Learning a Lesson from Death

Unlike what many people think, old age isn’t at all something undesirable in itself. In fact, it presents many opportunities for people to take heed.

We come into this world for a very limited period of time. And, as soon as we are born here our countdown begins! Till the age of around 35 years, our graph moves upwards. Then, it starts to decline. We pass through middle-age and then old-age and, finally, meet with death. In the course of this period, we face all sorts of difficulties. As we age, we begin to lose many things, including our youth and physical health. When death strikes, we lose all our material possessions and even our own physical existence.

The experience of death is the most serious experience for any person. With death, whatever material things we may have accumulated in the pre-death phase of our life will be snatched away from us. Ahead of us is the post-death stage of our life, which stretches into eternity. In this second stage of our existence, only that will prove useful to us which we had sent before us in the form of good deeds. This truth is expressed in these words in the Quran (59:18):

“Believers! Fear God, and let every soul look to what it lays up for the future. Fear God: God is aware of what you do.”

Old age is something from which we should take lessons, not something to complain about.