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It is no wonder that people say the youth are the pulsating heart of our days. They are supposed to be the merciful touch that helps remove wretchedness from the society around them by being active members in their respective communities through helping the needy and nursing the wounded.
Our care, as young Muslims, should primarily be directed to the elderly. They are the ones who cordially enriched our history, and added to our collective experience. In turn, they deserve our care and tender feelings. Our parents; mums, dads, and grandparents should receive our utmost care. Islam orders us all to be kind and dutiful to parents whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. We are ordered to obey them as long as such obedience doesn’t entail disobeying Allah.
Thus, when we young Muslims start our positive approach towards the elderly, when we realize that one day we will be in a position of need, when our hearts become lenient to help, when our conscience is motivated to move forward and stretch our hands to a lonely old man/woman in a public place, when we snatch away the sadness from a pale face, only then will we feel a real sense of sharing that this page is all about!
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Once I had the chance to talk to a very old lady in a garden affiliated to Christ Church at Oxford, and I realized that she was from Birmingham and was visiting Oxford. She was sitting alone on a garden bench holding her sandwich which suddenly fell from her hands because she was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. I hurried to help her, and she was very surprised at my behavior. The situation passed quickly, and the surprising mood I noticed on the woman’s face made me certain to what extent our elderly are neglected in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives that are full of activity to the extent that they are astonished to see us stretching our hands to help!
We should educate each other about how to respect and repay the gratitude of our seniors. We should allow rahmah and feelings of real solidarity to overwhelm the horizon we are living in. We should replace our seemingly rude and uneven conduct towards the elderly with real sharing and a real sense of respect. We need a natural respect and real motivation. Each of us should examine our feelings and intentions and be determined to show kindness to such and such old person, not because he is a relative of mine or because he is asking for help, but because one day I might be in the exact position he/she is in, and one day I might taste the bitterness of loneliness and ingratitude.
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Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) made helping others a human and social duty upon every Muslim, saying, “There is a (compulsory) sadaqah (charity) to be given for every joint of the human body (as a sign of gratitude to Allah) everyday the sun rises: To judge justly between two persons is regarded as sadaqah; and to help a man concerning his riding animal, by helping him to mount it or by lifting his luggage onto it, is also regarded as sadaqah; and (saying) a good word is also sadaqah; and every step taken on one's way to offer the compulsory Prayer (in the mosque) is also sadaqah; and to remove a harmful thing from the way is also sadaqah.” (Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
He is also reported to have said, “He is not one of us the one who doesn’t know the rights of the old-aged and show mercy towards the young.”
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