Old

Would one of you like to have a garden of palm trees and grapevines underneath which rivers flow in which he has from every fruit? But he is afflicted with old age and has weak [i.e., immature] offspring, and it is hit by a whirlwind containing fire and is burned. Thus does Allāh make clear to you [His] verses that you might give thought.

He said, "My Lord, how will I have a boy when I have reached old age and my wife is barren?" He [the angel] said, "Such is Allāh; He does what He wills."

She said, "Woe to me!¹ Shall I give birth while I am an old woman and this, my husband, is an old man? Indeed, this is an amazing thing!"

They said, "O ʿAzeez,¹ indeed he has a father [who is] an old man, so take one of us in place of him. Indeed, we see you as a doer of good."

Praise to Allāh, who has granted to me in old age Ishmael and Isaac. Indeed, my Lord is the Hearer of supplication.

He said, "Have you given me good tidings although old age has come upon me? Then of what [wonder] do you inform?"

And Allāh created you; then He will take you in death. And among you is he who is reversed to the most decrepit [old] age so that he will not know, after [having had] knowledge, a thing. Indeed, Allāh is Knowing and Competent.

And your Lord has decreed that you worship not except Him, and to parents, good treatment. Whether one or both of them reach old age [while] with you, say not to them [so much as], "uff,"¹ and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word.

[This is] a mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zechariah

When he called to his Lord a private call [i.e., supplication].

He said, "My Lord, indeed my bones have weakened, and my head has filled¹ with white, and never have I been in my supplication to You, my Lord, unhappy [i.e., disappointed].

He said, "My Lord, how will I have a boy when my wife has been barren and I have reached extreme old age?"

O people, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection, then [consider that] indeed, We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed¹ - that We may show you.² And We settle in the wombs whom We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, and then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. And among you is he who is taken in [early] death, and among you is he who is returned to the most decrepit [old] age so that he knows, after [once having] knowledge, nothing. And you see the earth barren, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind.

And when he came to the water [i.e., well] of Madyan, he found there a crowd of people watering [their flocks], and he found aside from them two women holding back [their flocks]. He said, "What is your circumstance?" They said, "We do not water until the shepherds dispatch [their flocks]; and our father is an old man."

Allāh is the one who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then made after strength weakness and white hair. He creates what He wills, and He is the Knowing, the Competent.

And he to whom We grant long life We reverse in creation;¹ so will they not understand?

[So mention] when We saved him and his family, all,

Except an old woman [i.e., his wife] among those who remained [with the evildoers].

It is He who created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot; then He brings you out as a child; then [He develops you] that you reach your [time of] maturity, then [further] that you become elders. And among you is he who is taken in death before [that], so that you reach a specified term;¹ and perhaps you will use reason.

And his wife approached with a cry [of alarm] and struck her face and said, "[I am] a barren old woman!"