Your first gray hairs can be really, really stressful. They're a wake up call. And that's why many of the ulama, they say when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Awalam nu'mirkum ma yatadhakroo feehi man tadhakkar? Waja'akumun natheer?
Haven't we given you a long enough life to figure it all out? And the natheer, the warner came to you? They say that gray hair is actually the warner that Allah is talking about. It's a sign that you're getting closer to your return to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
which is why the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, a'adharallahu ila amri in akhara ajalahu hatta balagha sitteena sana. Allah will forgive a person up until they reach the age of 60, meaning the proof has been established against them at that point.
So that's one element of this. The other element is what caused that gray hair to sprout other than old age. Gray can be induced, of course, by stress. And Allah says about the day of judgment, yawman yaj'alul wuldaana shiba
that it would be so severe that would turn a newborn's hair gray. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he was known to not have much gray hair, but he had this sudden onset. And when he was asked why, he said, shayabatni hood wa akhawatuha
It was all from Surah Hud and its sister surahs, the surahs that are like it. So what's the takeaway in this regard? Anything that was used for Allah, anything that aged for Allah,
anything that was induced for Allah is actually a great sign of honor. You look at the person who has endured a wound in the cause of Allah or someone who put their joints through stress from the amount of worship
or service that they did, or someone who has a mark of prostration on their forehead. And the list goes on and on and on and on. But the point is that the marks of the righteous in this world
will certainly be streaks of reward in the hereafter.
One of the people the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said Allah would not even look at or speak to on the day of judgment is Shaykh Hunzani, an old man who committed adultery. Because with all those years and with diminished desire,
he still went ahead and disobeyed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But on the other hand, you have those people who lived long lives of worshiping Allah and they're special. And by the way, we should be honoring them as well. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said
ليس منا من يرحم صغيرنا ويعرف شرف كبيرنا He is not one of us who does not have mercy on our youth, nor knows the honor of our elders. And so subhanAllah, the youth require mercy, not harshness.
The elders, on the other hand, require honor, not mockery. And that's how you start to build a prophetic and balanced community. So how does Allah honor that age on the day of judgment? The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said
من شاب شيبة في سبيل الله كانت له نورا يوم القيامة Whoever grows a gray hair in Islam, it will be a light for that person on the day of judgment. And the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam also said that practically
do not pluck your gray hairs for that reason. You can dye them if you want to in ways that are permissible, of course. And you can cut your hair, but don't pluck them entirely as they will shine on the day of judgment for you. So as Imam Hassan al-Basri rahimahullah said
أفضل الناس ثوابا يوم القيامة المؤمن المعمر He said rahimahullah ta'ala, the most rewarded people on the day of judgment are believers who led long lives of righteousness. Now, in the broader sense, it's not just about gray hairs.
The gray hairs merely speak to this trend of marks of righteousness that are shining on the day of judgment. So for the shaheed, for example, the martyr, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said ما من مجروح يجرح في سبيل الله والله أعلم بمن يجرح في سبيله
No one is wounded in the cause of Allah. And Allah knows who is sincerely wounded for his cause. إلا جاء يوم القيامة وجرحه كهيئته يوم جرحه واللون لون دمن والريح ريح مسك
He will come on the day of judgment and his wounds will be looking just like the day that he was wounded. And the color of that blood will be the color of blood. But the difference is that the blood will have the smell of musk.
And no one is feeling sorry for that person on that day because they are beaming with light in all of the places that they were wounded for the sake of Allah. So I think about Hamza radiAllahu ta'ala anhu with his chest
beaming on the day of judgment or Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu who said every part of my body has been marked for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at this point in my life. And then you connect that to this other group of people.
You see Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and this large group of people coming forward and they have these long, elegant necks. And the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said المؤذنون أطول الناس أعناق يوم القيامة
That the callers to prayer will have the longest necks of the people on the day of judgment. Now, Imam al-Nawwi rahim Allah, he explains that the Arabs refer to nobility and people of leadership as people of long necks.
So these people are the forerunners. Now, some of the scholars, they say that the mu'adhin is connected to the masjid because there is a person that is so regular in the masjid that the people yield to them for their decision making.
And so there is also a position in this life that's denoted by that position in the hereafter. And then there's something that connects to the tongue here because this tongue is shouting out what? Shouting out the dhikr of Allah, the remembrance of Allah.
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri radiAllahu anhu, he said that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam taught that even if you're alone in the mountains, call the adhan. For verily, the sound of the mu'adhin's voice is not heard by a jinn,
by a human being or any creation, except that it will testify for him on the day of judgment. So what's the takeaway from this? If I'm not old, I'm not a mu'adhin, and I'm not a warrior.
One of the questions that you're going to be asked on the day of judgment is an jismihi fee maa ablaa. It's one of the first things you're asked about. What consumed your body? So any wrinkle, any gray hair, any one of those stretch marks
for the mothers out there who literally were in jihad with their pregnancy, any dark circle under your eyes due to the sleeplessness from qiyam or from concern that you had for this ummah. All of that is going to be light on the day of judgment.
So long as it was for the sake of Allah, so long as it was sincere fee sabeel Allah. And the practical side for the community is just like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to honor those marks on the day of judgment.
We see those marks in our community as badges of honor amongst us.
