Part One
Praise be to Allah! Praise be to Allah! Glory be to Him in His perfection. He is
incomparable to any would-be analogous entity or peer! His awesome splendour is such that
it resists visual perception and eschews full cognition. Greatness is His encompassing
garment and grandeur is His uncontested attire. Whoever contests Him, will definitely be the
loser and the uncared for. I praise Allah (May He be extolled) and thank him for His
bounteous favours and prolific blessings.
I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah with no associate, a testimony of
truthfulness and certitude which will salvage its utterer (from hellfire) on the day when all
hidden intentions will be exposed. I also bear witness that our Master and Prophet
Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger of Allah. He is endowed with divine
commendation, paradisiacal basin (hawdh) attended by dwellers of Paradise, and the
intercessor on whom is conferred the favour of interceding to expiate believers’ minor and
major sins. May Allah send His Salat (Graces, Honours and Mercy), Peace and Blessing
upon him, his virtuous family, his remarkably pious, wise and astute Companions, the tabi’in
(the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon
him] after his death), and upon all those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of
Judgement. May Allah’s invoked Salat and Peace be so profuse that it will serve as extra
provisions for the Resurrection Day!
Now then,
I enjoin you ‒O people‒ as well as myself to observe taqwa (fear of disobeying
Allah). Adhere to taqwa –may Allah have mercy on you− for taqwa vis-à-vis Allah is glory
without having to pay allegiance to any ancestral lineage, knowledge without strenuous
effort, wealth without financial earnings, and companionship outside social bonds.
O servant of Allah! The blessing of one’s lifetime depends on the performance of
good deeds; remorse is the precursor of repentance; whimsical caprice is the plague of poised
mind; the hardest affliction is when enemies gloat over one’s grief; excessive blame breeds
rancour; cordial relations are half of reason; backbiting is the weapon of the impotent, and
whoever shows intent to reform his folks and other people should first start with himself:
...But Sufficient is your Lord as a Guide and Helper... [Al-Furqān: 31]
O Muslims!
Life cannot be enjoyed without appreciating its sublime value, and its sublime value
can never be perceived until the servant of Allah (Glory Be to Him) experiences the
supremacy of the Creator and then contemplates the rationale behind creation as well as the
fruit of continual activity and work. Only then could he be spared chaotic thinking leading to
the loss of any sense of prioritising, distraction of the mind occasioned by accumulated
worries, creeping anxiety, and pathological perplexity and bafflement.
The attempt to grasp the significance of life is part of the natural predisposition Allah
Almighty has created in humans. He (May He be extolled) equipped His creatures with
certain capacities, kinds of knowledge, and talents. Then, He inspired them to follow either
way: guidance or misguidance. He ordained that each creature be smoothly orientated
without coercion to the destination it was created for:
Allâh is He Who created you in (a state of) weakness, then gave
you strength after weakness, then after strength gave (you)
weakness and grey hair. He creates what He wills. And it is He Who
is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful (i.e. Able to do all things). [Al-
Rūm: 54]
Human life consists of cycles and the human being’s lifespan is similar to orbital
stations. Man keeps going into successive orbits periodically. He experiences each stage in
such a cyclical motion, performing tasks, learning lessons from its unpredictable
circumstances, and inferring conclusions from its constant fluctuations. In fact, each stage of
his life cycle corresponds to a set of compatible actions. Unless he manages to draw
maximum benefit from it, he will miss it and fail to recover what he negligently spoiled. This
is why the hadith insists: “Profit from five (stages of your life) before five: your youth
before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty,
your free time before your being busy, and your life before your death.” In another hadith,
“Any human being’s feet will remain motionless on the Resurrection Day until he is asked
about four things: His lifetime: how he spent it; his money: how he earned it and what he
spent it on; his youth: how he passed it, and his knowledge: what he did with it.”
For the poised mind, one’s lifespan stretches over a continuum ranging from birth to
death, comprising the intercalary stages of infanthood, youth, adulthood, and old age; all of
which involve learning, knowledge, action, worship, and production. It is worth noticing in
this regard the perfect wisdom of divine creation and Allah’s mysterious signs; for feeble
physiological complexion is coupled with the power of reason, enervation and general
decline in vitality is paired with insightfulness, and becoming a grey-haired old person is
coterminous with the manifestations of wisdom. Thus, the individual is constantly productive
and accountable as long as he is endowed with sound health and reason. All these meanings
are synoptically phrased in Allah’s following verse (Glory Be to Him):
And say (O Muhammad SAW) "Do deeds! Allâh will see your deeds,
and (so will) His Messenger and the believers. And you will be
brought back to the All-Knower of the unseen and the seen. Then
He will inform you of what you used to do." [Al-Tawbah: 105]
This is really the precept of human lifespan in Islam, and this is the Muslims’
perspective of life.
O Muslim community!
This being said, it is to be pointed out that man in contemporary life is governed in all
his professional activities by a set of regulations and systems which stipulate that most
professions and positions are restricted by a given age limit and contingent upon a number of
requirements including skill and expertise, in addition to the notion of a starting and terminal
point of any career. All such regulations are imposed by modern life requirements and are
based on a well-founded rationale, since they contribute to the ongoing societal dynamism,
the estimated increase of labour force, and the pursuit of equal opportunity for competitors on
the labour market.
This system seems to be plausible and realistic as it shows a certain correlation with
the very stages of human life. As the proverb goes: “If benefits had been permanently
appropriated by your predecessors, they wouldn’t have reached you!” In fact, your Muslim
brother (fellow-citizen) is waiting for his own opportunity after you took yours, just like you
were queuing up for your own opportunity. Thus, today’s civil servant is only tomorrow’s
retiree and today’s retiree is yesterday’s civil servant. Such are life cycles in their alternation,
fluctuation, transformation, and moral lessons:
Did We not give you lives long enough, so that whosoever would
receive admonition, - could receive it? [Fāṭir: 37]
The circumstances being so, our dear civil servants and honourable workers whose
service has been terminated in due time (i.e. retirement) should not be imprisoned in the
memories of their past life and their expired professional service. Nor does it stand to reason
to lay the blame on others, that is, their families, employers, society, and regimes, etc. It is
perhaps curious to know that the end-of-service date is normally known in advance. So,
where is the element of surprise and why should they feel insecure on reaching it?
Indeed, it stands to reason that one should not show over-attachment to a given stage
of one’s life; on the contrary, one has to remain optimistic because the future will definitely
be better –Allah willing. In addition, wise people are expected to know that happiness does
not reside in their salary. Nor does it exclusively lie in their financial income or in getting any
specific job. Ranking after Allah’s favour of successful orientation, guidance, and devout
worship, happiness literally resides in work as such –bearing in mind that work is an endless
process.
Work is the dynamic principle shaping one’s lifetime. It is the axis of social
relationships. In addition, it reveals the value and the real status of a human being. According
to this definition, work is permanent; that is to say, it never ends. It accompanies any
individual during his lifetime as long as he is still alive and physically fit. Thus, the civil
servant/worker may have quitted his job but has not quitted work. Besides, civil service
extends over a finite period of time regulated by statutes whereas work, necessity, and
competence continue as long as the individual in question is alive and endowed with the
aptitude for performing other human activities.
It is actually wise to perceive retirement as a gate through which the retiree looks at
the vast spheres of life previously veiled by our jobs or our daily preoccupations. Retirement
represents a gate with unlimited access to a new working environment with open-ended
horizons. In reality, we do have control over our time until the very last instant of our lives.
Judicious people are aware that innovation, serious work, and enthusiasm have nothing to do
with age, since nothing but incapacity and laziness which can prevent man from being
engaged in hard work.
Retirement is then a shift, an experience, and a transformation rather than inertia and
renunciation. It is instead an opportunity to release our latent energy as well as our
introverted aspirations either inhibited or blurred by professional commitments. In this
regard, some enthusiasts have an eloquent interpretation of the Arabic expression used when
referring to retirees in our administrative system: they say “someone’s professional bond1 is
terminated.” On retirement, the retiree is then released from commitment or bondage, as it
1 In Arabic, the expression “ لا”ن ط وُ يِ قیدُه mف eans “end of service” or “terminated registration/enrolment
in a professional or academic program”; but the term “ قید ” also means “chain, fetters, bondage…” The
Sheikh is exploiting here this total homonymy: end of service as end of being fettered by professional
duties.
were, to become free in larger spheres of life and fields of human activity where he is not
bound by the regulations of a statuary system. Terminating the professional commitment is
similar to turning a page or folding one’s bedcover in order to make oneself ready for further
productivity, contribution, and work, since service as such is not terminated and hard work
coupled with enthusiasm represents an inexhaustible asset.
A maxim stated by experienced retirees says that each fruitless beginning has a dull
ending. In fact, one’s life and vitality is not totally dependent on getting a civil service
position or a part-time job, for life is replete with endless opportunities in diverse fields
requiring a large array of skills, but this only applies to earnest job-seekers. This is not
strange because after such a long career, individuals are likely to become a genuine mine of
experience and an inexhaustible source of expertise.
O dear ones! This is confirmed by the encompassing concept of worship in Islam.
Allah, the Lord of Glory, said:
And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty
(i.e. death). [Al-Ḥijr: 99]
In our religion, work is one of the most significant forms of worship for those whose
intent is virtuous and whose deeds are commendable. Work is a means of earning one’s
living, gaining one’s autonomy, seeking chastity, and receiving reward. It is therefore a
manifestation of good deeds par excellence:
Whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, while he
(or she) is a true believer (of Islâmic Monotheism) verily, to him We
will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and
lawful provision), and We shall pay them certainly a reward in
proportion to the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise in the
Hereafter). [Al-Naḥl: 97]
In the hadith narrated by Al-Hākim Ibn Jabir –may Allah be pleased with him− the
Messenger of Allah (May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him) is reported to have said:
“Shall I inform you about the best people amongst you? His Companions replied, “Do tell
us, O Messenger of Allah.” He continued, “The best amongst you are those who live the
longest and perform the best deeds.” The version reported by Imam Ahmed and Al-Tirmithi
and narrated by Abdullah Ibn Busr reads as follows: ‘The Messenger of Allah (May Allah’s
Salat and Peace be upon him) said, “The best of mankind is he who lives long and performs
good deeds.”
Life in Islam is continuous toil and strife. It is spiritual resistance and struggle
(against all that is evil), sacrifice and giving. This is embodied in the sirah (biography) of
Prophet Muhammad [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him] and in the life style of his
Companions –May Allah Almighty be pleased with them– and of those who followed them in
righteousness.
One may wonder ‒may Allah grant you success‒ whether you have ever stopped to
give a moment of reflection about those selections of supplications reiterated by Muslims
daily. Invoking his/her Lord, a Muslim would say: “O Allah! Make my ending the most
benevolent part of my life, and make the last of my deeds the most righteous of them!” Such
supplicating Muslim would also say: “O Allah! Grant me a good ending in all of my affairs,”
and “Make better my Dunya (life in this world) which is the source of my living, and make life
for me an increase of all that is good!”
All of these are supplications seeking the best of the best, the most beneficial and the
most wholesome.
After all, didn’t our Prophet Muhammad [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him]
himself say: “If the Final Hour comes while you have a palm seedling in your hands and
there is a possiblity to plant it before the Hour comes, you should do so."
Ibn Massaoud –May Allah be pleased with him– said: “I loathe a man sitting idle
having nothing to do, neither for his Herein nor for his Hereafter.”
Therefore, O servants of Allah!
Try not to live in the past, for this is a habit not warranted by religion, reason, one’s
discretion or common sense. Rather, a man must seek to lead a new life and explore new
opportunities. Therefore, you are called upon to nurture within you that sense of effectiveness
and determination. Also, bear in mind that if you turn sad, then rest assured that nobody shall
share your sadness with you. However, if you smile, life as a whole shall smile at you along
with everybody else.
Brothers and sisters in faith!
It could be a blessing from Allah Almighty that we currently live in an age of
technology where one can dispense with much of the manual and physical work we once
used to do and where technology and automation have reached near and far in an
inexhaustible spring of opportunities.
Now then, O servants of Allah!
There must be no place for idleness in a Muslim’s life for he feels for his ummah
(nation), shares with it its concerns, rejoices at its glee, grieves at its tragedies, lives on its
hopes, and feels its pain. In the meantime, a Muslim is ever in pursuit of knowledge, work
and worship. He is ever on the move undertaking family visits, communication, charity
activities, community services, bridging gaps, promoting virtue and preventing vice, advising
and guiding others, and sacrificing his own prerogatives (in the cause of Allah Almighty).
You have obligations vis-à-vis your Lord and your own self and family. Therefore,
you are called upon to see to it that each and every obligation is carried out in full. If such is
the case, one may wonder then if there is at all room for retirement! Is it sensible for a
Muslim to stay idle?!
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan:
[Say (O Muhammad ): "Verily, my Salat (prayer), my sacrifice, my
living, and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind,
jinns and all that exists). 163. "He has no partner. And of this I
have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims." [Al
An’ām: 162-163]
May Allah Almighty benefit me and you with the Great Qur'ān and the Guidance of
Muhammad [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him]. I say this and ask Allah to forgive
my sins, yours, and those of all the Muslims, so ask Him for forgiveness, for He is Most
Forgiving, Most Merciful!
Part Two
Praise be to Allah! Praise be to Allah, the exclusively Lofty and Great. I praise Him
(May He be extolled), thank Him, and ask Him more of His bounty and blessings. I bear
witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah with no associate to Him in His
names, attributes, Lordship and Divinity. I also bear witness that our Master and Prophet,
Muhammad, is Allah’s servant and Messenger; the one who was sent to be clement with the
believers and merciful towards his ummah. May Allah’s Salat (Graces, Honours, Mercy),
Peace and Blessing be upon him, his family, wives, and ancestors, the tabi’in
(contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon
him] after death) and those who followed them in righteousness and followed in his
footsteps!
Now then, O fellow Muslims!
It is indeed the right of those honourable souls whose services have formally been
terminated (because of age) to feel reassured after they have sacrificed their physical efforts,
time and mental capacities and have spent their lives raising a family, running an
establishment and serving a nation. They have helped illuminate their community paths of
righteousness and caused to flow fountains of goodness. Such benefits must neither stop nor
come to a halt on the threshold of retirement.
It is by no means an act of loyalty to turn one’s back on those who have devoted their
youth and hard work in the service of their ummah towards the twilight of their lives when
they are officially called upon to retire. Indeed, those are entitled to some appreciation,
acknowledgement and special consideration from the part of the community as to further
prospects and possibilities where they can still make valid contributions. This is not to show
ungratefulness and apathy towards them, but it is rather a gesture of good will and
acknowledgement of their merits and capabilities.
By reminding us of our obligation towards our parents and of the time when they
were at the peak of their giving and hard work, the Holy Qur’ān is perhaps making reference
to the overall obligation of extending loyalty to every working hand and of paying homage to
every act of benevolence that has been invested in this regard:
[and say: "My Lord! Bestow on them Your Mercy as they did bring
me up when I was small."] [Al-Isrā’: 24]
Such special and dear class of individuals is indeed entitled to recognition and
honouring in return for the hard work invested in the service of the other.
Fear Allah ‒may Allah have mercy on you– and bear in mind that the community is
never willing to do without the contributions of those individuals, their competencies and
expertise. The issue is, therefore, no more than a move to reinforce legality within the labour
institution by bringing to an end the services of a worker after reaching a certain age.
However, the need for these people’s services, expertise, and capabilities persists and
continues to manifest itself over the years. The fact that many countries and institutions tend
to make recourse to experts beyond retirement age at home and abroad is but clear evidence
as to the validity of such a claim.
With respect to the issue of retirement, the rationalistic Sunnah law was the first to
pass legislation granting allowances to those unable to work, the covenanters and “the people
of the Dhimma”2
Ask Allah to send His Salat (Graces, Honours and Mercy) and Peace upon, the Given
Mercy and the Offered Blessing, your Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, for Allah
commanded you to do so in the Book of Allah, and Allah has spoken the truth:
Allâh sends His Salât (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the
Prophet (Muhammad وسلم صلى لله علیھ ), and also His angels (ask Allâh
to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salât[1] on
(ask Allâh to bless) him (Muhammad صلى علیھ وسلم لله ), and (you
should) greet (salute) him with the Islâmic way of greeting
(salutation i.e. As-Salâmu ‘Alaikum). [Al-Aḥzāb: 56]
O Allah! Send Your Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) and Peace upon Your
servant and Messenger, our beloved Al-Mustafa (the Chosen) Prophet Muhammad [May
Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him], his kind virtuous family and his wives, the mothers of
the believers! O Allah! Be pleased with the four Caliphs, Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali,
all of Companions, and those who righteously follow them till the Day of Judgement. O
Allah! Be also pleased with us all, along with them, by Your Pardon and Generosity, O You,
the Most Generous and Bounteous of all!
O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and
Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims and fail polytheism and polytheists
(who associate partners with You)! O Allah! Render unsuccessful the despots and atheists
and all the enemies of faith and religion!
2 It is a historical term referring to non-Muslim citizens of an Islamic state. Dhimma allows rights of residence
in return for jizyah ‒tax collected from non-Muslims (dhimmis). Dhimmis had their rights fully protected in their
communities, but as citizens in the Islamic state, had certain restrictions. They were excused from specific duties
assigned to Muslims, but were otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract and obligation.
O Allah! Grant us security in our homelands! O Allah! Grant us security in our
homelands! Make good our leaders and those responsible for our affairs, and make our
leadership from among those who are fearful of Allah, who guard taqwa (fear of Allah), and
follow the path that leads to your acceptance. O You, Lord of al-'ālamîn (the worlds)!
O Allah! Grant our leader who is responsible for our affairs a success of Your own!
Grant glory to him through his trust in You and obedience to You! Raise Your word high
through him! Make him an asset for Islam and Muslims! Impart on him health and well-being
and extend his life in Your obedience! Guide him, his deputies, his brothers and his aides to
do what You love and please, and lead them to righteousness and piety!
O Allah! Help Muslim leaders to abide by Your Book and follow the Sunnah of Your
Prophet, Mohammad [May Allah’s Salat and Peace be upon him]! Make them a blessing on
Your faithful, and unite them on the grounds of righteousness and truth! O Lord of the
Worlds!
O Allah! Set right the conditions of Muslims, O Allah! Set right the conditions of
Muslims, stop their bloodshed, give leadership to the best among them, unite their word on
the Truth, the right guidance, and the Sunnah! Grant them victory over Your enemy and
theirs!
O Allah! Whoever intends to do any evil against us, our religion, our homeland, our
Ummah, our security, our leaders, our ulamā (religious scholars), the righteous and
benevolent among us, or our unity and accord, O Allah, make him preoccupied with himself!
Let his plotting boomerang, and make his destruction in his planning, O You, the Lord of the
Worlds!
O Allah! Make for this Ummah a matter (an affair) of rationality (guidance) whereby
the pious are honoured and the sinful are guided, and where virtue is promoted and vice is
prevented! Verily, You are the Omniscient!
O Allah! Grant victory to our brothers and sisters! O Allah! Grant victory to our
brothers and sisters in Syria! O Allah! Grant victory to our brothers and sisters in Syria,
Burma and Central Africa! O Allah! Bring an end to their suffering! Grant them speedy relief
and draw them closer at heart! O Allah! Grant them an aid, a fighting power and a triumph of
Your own! O Allah! We beseech You to grant them great victory, relief, mercy and
perseverance!
O Allah! Defeat the tyrants and oppressors in Syria and those who sympathize and
side with them! O Allah! Disperse their gathering, scatter their crowds, and tear them apart!
O Allah! Make their plotting boomerang!
O Allah! Destroy the usurpers among the Jews, for You are certainly able to do so! O
Allah! Inflict Your wrath which is so inevitably destined to strike the people who are
Mujrimûn (criminals, polytheists or sinners)! O Allah! We pray You to drive them off to their
own detriment and we seek refuge in You from their evils!
O Allah! Make better our religion which is our bond, and make better our Dunya (life
in this world) which is the source of our living, and make better our Hereafter to which we
are returning, and make life for us an increase of all that is good, and death a relief from
every evil. O Allah! Grant us a good ending in all of our affairs and save us from the
humiliation of the worldly life and the punishment of the Hereafter!
O Allah! Make our ending the most benevolent part of our lives, the last of our deeds
the most righteous of them, and the best of our days the day we meet you!
Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and
bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers.
[Al-A'rāf: 23] … Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good
and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the
torment of the Fire! [Al-Baqarah: 201]
Glorified be Your Lord, the Lord of Honour and Power! You are free from what they
attribute unto You! May peace be upon all the messengers! And all praise be to Allah, the
Lord of the Worlds!
