Can I Still Be a Muslim despite My Old Age and Weakness?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
Can I still be a Muslim despite my old age and inability to perform some of the requirements of the Religion?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Entering Islam
Nothing can stop one from entering Islam. Accepting Islam is before all a matter of belief. If you believe in the basic tenets of the creed of Islam you are a Muslim. You should profess your faith and embrace Islam fully.
Many people have accepted Islam in the ladder portions of their lives. Age should never prevent one from a relationship with God Most High.
Acts of Worship in Islam
Regarding the prayer, fasting, and learning Arabic understand that God Most High has not sanctioned these worships to be a burden or a hardship.
God Most High says, “…and He has not put upon you in the Religion any undue hardship.” [Qur’an; 22:78]
For this reason Islam gives dispensations to those who have difficulty performing these worships. For example:
Prayer:
If one is not able to pray standing, bowing, and/or prostrating on the ground one can pray sitting and bow and prostrate by way of gestures.
If one is not even able to pray sitting they can pray laying down on their back or side.
Fasting:
If one is unable to fast and would experience undue hardship if they were to try they can pay an expiatory charity in place of fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Learning Arabic:
It is not obligatory on any Muslim to learn the Arabic language in its entirety.
What is obligatory is that they strive to learn to properly recite some portions of the Qur’an (such as the opening chapter (al-Fatiha) and one small chapter for example: Chapter 108 – which is only 3 small verses) and some small supplications.
The Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The one who has perfected (recitation of) the Qur’an is with the Noble Messenger Angels and the one who recites the Qur’an, fumbles about with its words, and it is difficult on them, they have two rewards.” [Muslim, Ahmad]
Advice
If you find your heart inclining to Islam and believing in its creed follow your heart and accept Islam. This will benefit you in this life and in the next.
Thereafter commit some short hours per week to increase knowledge and understanding of Islam. Consider Seekersguidance.org classes. You will find classes of various topics and various levels.
See the below links for more benefit:
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
