Notes from the Adab Al-Mufrad Class of our Shaykh, Abu Naasir Ibrahim AbdurRauf, Session 184, held on Sunday, Rabi Al Thanni 26, 1444/November 20, 2022

Elderliness, in and of itself, is a virtue, a favour from Allah. In Islam, Seniority in Age or Rank bestows certain rights. Simply because a person is older than you, even by a day, the person must be respected.

Age is a great favour of Allah. Among the best of people are those who are aged and are still upon good deeds. They started their lives from youth with good deeds and grew into old age while still performing good deeds. Their age has pushed them forward in goodness, experience, knowledge, and righteousness. These are people of eminence who must be respected.

In contrast, among the most evil people are those who grew into old age while performing evil deeds. They wasted Allah's favour of Age and accumulated evil deeds.

Part of the manners with the elderly (even by a single day) is for them to be always placed at the front. He should be allowed to take the lead, to choose things first, to walk in front, be given the right of way, and other means of being put in front.

The younger ones too have their rights. They must be shown mercy. They are prone to errors and mistakes because they lack the knowledge and experience of the elders. They think they know more than they actually know. The depth of their thinking is shallow. The elder ones should therefore be compassionate with these young ones.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa salam) said the one who does not show compassion to the young ones, and does not recognize the rights of the older ones is not upon the lines of conduct of the Muslims.

Everyone is in the middle and has people younger and people older. Show compassion to those younger than you and give due respect to those older than you. This is especially important in our modern times of social media. Everyone is in a mutual contest for intellectual superiority. Understand this in terms of age as well as in terms of status and rank in the society and in the work place.

Some people think that being disrespectful is part of being dedicated to the Sunnah. This is far from the Truth. The Companions paid close attention to seniority. Everyone should know their place and remain in their place otherwise there will be disturbance in the society. When we abandon an Islamic trait, the society becomes upturned. It is a major trait of the Muslims to be merciful to the younger ones and respectful to the older ones.

If a man wants to discipline his wife for some of her actions that he has continuously warned against by ignoring her, it should not go beyond 3 or 4 days. The issues should be resolved quickly so that enmity does not set in.

If someone is older in Rank and his subordinate is older in Age, both of them should be mutually respectful to each other. But those in authority must always be obeyed as long as it does not involve disobedience to Allah. This can be applied to scenarios where you have a younger CEO with older executives, a younger Imam with older committee members, and a younger husband with an older wife.

Hadiths Discussed: Hadith 353

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