Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Divine Perspective on Rights Right n. 43: Right of the Older One حق الكبير وَأمّا حَقُّ الكبيرِ فَإنَّ حَقَّهُ تَوقِيرُ سِنِّهِ وَإجْلالِ إسْلامِهِ إذَا كَانَ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْفَضلِ فِي الإسْلامِ بتَقْدِيمِهِ فِيهِ وتَرْكِ مُقَابَلَتِهِ عِنْدَ الْخِصَامِ ولا تَسْبقْهُ إلَى طَرِيقٍ، ولا تَؤُمَّهُ فِي طرِيقٍ ولا تَسْتَجْهِلْهُ. وَإنْ جَهِلَ عَلَيْكَ تحَمَّلْتَ وَأَكْرَمتَهُ بحَقِّ إسْلامِهِ مَعَ سِنِّهِ فَإنّمَا حَقُّ السِّنِّ بقَدْرِ الإسْلامِ.
ولا قُوَّةَ إلا باللهِ. And the right of him who is older than you is that you should respect him because of his age, and honor his submission to God since he has precedence (over you) in Islam. You should refrain from confronting him in disputes and should not surpass him or walk ahead of him, and you should not consider him to be foolish. If he behaves foolishly with you, you should put up with it and honor him because of the right of his Islam and his age.
This is because the right of age is in the same measure as (the right of) Islam. And there is no power but in God. Regarding old age we read in the Qur’an: قَالَ رَبِّ أَنَّىَ يَكُونُ لِي غُلاَمٌ وَقَدْ بَلَغَنِيَ الْكِبَرُ “He said: O my Lord!
How shall I have a son seeing I am very old …” [The Holy Qur’an, Al-i-Imran 3:40] In addition, in another verse the Qur’an refers to being the biggest: فَجَعَلَهُمْ جُذَاذًا إِلَّا كَبِيرًا لَّهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ يَرْجِعُونَ “So he broke them to pieces, (all) but the biggest of them, that they might turn (and address themselves) to it.” [The Holy Qur’an, al-Anbiyaa 21:58] In another verse, we see the Qur’an referring to leader: إِنَّهُ لَكَبِيرُكُمُ الَّذِي عَلَّمَكُمُ السِّحْر “Surely this must be your leader who has taught you magic” [The Holy Qur’an, Taha 20:71] In short, Imam Sajjad states that elders should be respected due to their greatness, age and being Muslim.
He has admonished us against any form of harsh treatment with the elders. Next, we will review how the Qur’an looks at this issue. Weakness in Childhood and Old Age Our life always begins with weakness in childhood, and ends with weakness in old age. Children grow up to be strong and make progress, and attain power. Each day they move closer to their peak of youth and gain more strength.
On the other hand, old people deteriorate everyday, and get weaker everyday they approach the termination of their life.