The Companions honored elderly Muslims

This is one of the many luminous examples of how the Companions used to treat elderly people and take care of them. This shows the differ- ence between the Muslim community and other communities.

The suffering of aged people in non-Muslim communities and the ex- tent of their neglect and isolation is no secret. Various reports mention that the rights of elders are, that they suffer poverty and negligence, and that many of them live without a steady income, and in some cases, with- out any income whatsoever.

The number of elderly people in the world will exceed the number of children under the age of five 5 within ten years, placing greater demands on a shrinking number of young caregivers and taxing social insurance programs, according to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The number of people older than 65 will double to 14 percent from 7 percent of the world’s population in the next 30 years, rising to 1.4 billion by 2040, said the report, “An Aging World: 2008,” commissioned by the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

The most rapid rise in the elderly population is taking place in devel- oping countries, where the increase in the number of people 65 and older is more than double the rate in developed nations. In the year 2007, 313 million, or 62 percent, of the world’s elderly lived in developing coun- tries, a number that is projected to rise to more than 1 billion, 76 percent of the world’s 65andover population, the report said.

An older report titled “The State of Elders in the World 2002” that cov- ered 32 countries stated that senior citizens are deprived from medical care and education, and that governments and decision makers ignore them, and so they feel isolated from their communities. One of the re- spondents in the report said: “When you reach the age of sixty, it is as if you are not human.”

Some hard-hearted people are of the view that communities must get rid of the elders in the community because they are unproductive ele- ments in the community.

What adds to the complication is that the numbers of aged people in the world is continuously increasing.

Statistics about the aging population  

• Population statistics indicate that the twentieth century witnessed a   

   large increase in the numbers of elderly people worldwide.

• In the year 1980, their numbers reached 376 million people globally.

• The numbers jumped to 427 million people by the year 1990, with a

  percentage of 8.8% of the world’s population.

• Likewise, by the year 2000 the numbers increased to reach 590 mil-

  lion people.

• It is expected that the number will increase to 1171 million people

  by the year 2020 and that 25% of the world’s population would be

  comprised of elderly people.1

European communities are witnessing a decrease in the rate of births while the lifespan of the elderly is increasing, which is why these commu- nities are becoming aged communities, where the number of old people is high and the youth are less in number.

When people see how undutiful children are with their parents and how negligent the community is towards elders, they would say to them- selves: “Why should we give birth to more children, if this is the treatment we would get from our children? A dog is more loyal to us than them and more beneficial, and thus having a dog is better than having children who would turn out to be undutiful.”

Thus, we see communities attach great importance to their pets such that they love and take care of them in an astonishing way and one can even find hospitals and hotels exclusively for dogs.

 On the contrary, elders in the Muslim communities (except in rare cas- es) get the due honor and respect they are entitled to according to the distinct teachings Islam calls towards and enjoins upon people. They are treated with respect and dutifulness. When an aged person is hospitalized for any reason, you see his children take turns in staying with, serving, and visiting them. In fact, they would hardly leave the place and prefer to stay around them.