REFLECTIONS AND SELF INTROSPRECTION ON THE SPIRITUAL BENEFITS OF LIFE BEYOND 60 YEARS.
I really don’t know what people of my age have to do with the quest for material wealth beyond what we need for survival for the very very short period that remains for us in this world.
We were given the privilege to do whatever we liked; the good, the not so good, the bad and the ugly. Its true that for the past two thirds of our lives, most of us lived our lives recklessly and without due regard to the limits set by Allaah.
For a large number of us we spent most of our lives in transgression than obedient to the commands of Allaah. We pursued material wealth, lust and power at all costs and by all means necessary and in most cases without regard to the boundaries of Halal and Haram.
All we craved for was to get what we wanted. Some of us got it and some didn’t. Now we have all aged together and at the same time and it’s certain that we will depart this world in succession, even if not in any order of seniority or status in life.
We have now arrived at the twilight of our lives and most of us can’t live even by half in terms of age, what we lived in the past.
And even if we do, we will only be living as liabilities to our offsprings, friends and relatives who may have a little compassion left in them to cater for us at that terminal age
The truth is at sixty and above, whether we admit it or not and whether we want to hear it or not, we know that we have completed our sojourn on earth. We are living life on bonus and on borrowed time, which is very very short and indeed even shorter than we can claim or expect
If we are Muslims we know the truth of this from the Ahadith of the Holy Prophet Muhammad SAW, which our faith does not allow us to contradict, that the normal life expectancy is between sixty and seventy years, which we have attained.
What this means is that if, we live beyond that as we are doing now, it’s a bonus and a rare privilege
Allaah Has decided to give us this long life as an opportunity to make amends for the atrocities, sins and transgressions we committed in our past lives.
It is a rare opportunity to repent and turn a new leaf in our lives by concentrating and focusing on acts of ebaadat that will earn for us eternal reward and repentance to erase our sins of the past.
Knowing that we are already on our way out of the world, will not amount to an abuse of privilege on our part to be so engrossed in the pursuit of material wealth, power and lust at this last and irreversible part of our lives?
And we know that you hardly amass stupendous wealth without falling into the trap of transgression or acquire power without trampling on the rights of others or allow ourselves to be controlled by the lust of the flesh without committing the grievous sin.
All these were the traps we fell into in the past two thirds of our lives and for which we are trying to amend and atone at this last one third we still have to live
We should know that whatever we are struggling for now outside our health and necessary means of survival, is not for our personal benefits even if we get them.
We will not enjoy money because all the things that people look for money for, don’t mean much to us at this age
If it’s power, even if we get it now, it’s others that will exercise on our behalf and if it’s lust , we have passed the age of desires for that.
I therefore believe that we should divide this last lap of our lives into three parts. Use one part to do the necessary things we have to do to survive while we are still alive, do good things for humanity to benefit from, maintain the ties of kinship, be engaged in mentoring the young ones, be peace maker and good role model.
Then the remaining two thirds of our lives should be dedicated to the worship of Allaah to earn more rewards and repentance seeking the expiation of our sins, before our final exit from the world, which is nearer than we can think about.
That is the kind of life I am striving to achieve as I gradually wind down and commence my inevitable descent from the surface to the bowels of the earth.
I am trying my best to remain focused on this lane of the journey, because we don’t have the luxury of time or even space to go back to the dark days of indiscretion and disobedience to Allaah.
I also hope that this piece will inspire my fellow seniors and others to reflect on the meaning of life at old age.
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