Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother Burhan, Assalam O`Alaikum

May Allah reward you and give you more energies for doing this great work.

I am kind of confused about one aspect of death. As we know that the average age of a person is different in different countries. In developing countries this average age is less compared to the developed countries with better medical facilities. For e.g. the average age in Pakistan is much less than the avergae age in Japan. Does that mean that by improving the medical facilities, better health care, clean environment etc. we can add more years to the age of an individual and since these facilities are not available in third world countries so peole die earlier. Which is in contradiction to our basic belief that the date of death and age for an individual is already determined and no one can change it.

Regards,

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Answer:

Age limit in developed countries

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 32 Surah Sajda verse 11: Say: "The Angel of Death put in charge of you, will (duly) take your souls (at the time Decreed): then shall ye be brought back to your Lord."

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imran verse 156: O ye who believe! Be not like the unbelievers who say of their brethren when they are travelling through the earth or engaged in fighting: "If they had stayed with us they would not have died or been slain." This that Allah may make it a cause of sighs and regrets in their hearts. It is Allah that gives life and death, and Allah sees well all that ye do.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 62 Surah Jumuaa verse 8: Say " The Death from which ye flee will truly overtake you: then will ye be sent back to the Knower of things secret and open: and He will tell you (the truth of) the things that ye did!"

Beloved and dear Brother in Islam, it is indeed an absolute fact that it is Allah Subhanah Alone Who has Decreed the appointed time of each and every thing in His creation. When one’s appointment of death approaches, none can avert or delay it even for one split of a second; for the Decree of Allah Subhanah will be established in full.

The same All-Knowing Lord Who has Decreed and Knows the appointed time of each death, is also the same Lord Who has Decreed and Knows the conditions of each nation and its habitants. Regardless of whether one dies in a developed nation where the life expectancy is high, or one dies in a under-developed nation where the life expectancy is low…it is Allah Subhanah Alone Who has Determined and Knows the conditions of everything in creation. Everything, absolutely everything, the nations, their conditions, their developments, their population, their births and their deaths, etc. are all determined by none except the Lord of the Worlds Alone!

Your Statement: Which is in contradiction to our basic belief that the date of death and age for an individual is already determined and no one can change it.

There is absolutely no contradiction in our absolute belief that Allah Subhanah is He Who controls life and death, for it is also our belief that everything that happens in this Universe happens according to the determined Plan and Will and Decree of the All-Knowing, All-Wise Lord. He has already Decreed and Determined when and which nations will be developed, when and which nations will be involved in which wars, when and which diseases will envelop which nations, and whose death will be at what time, etc. Everything, absolutely everything, is already Determined and Decreed by the All-Knowing, All-Wise Lord and none can change His Decree!

To believe that development and technological advances can increase one’s life; then the people with means and access to the best technology should and would try to avert their appointment of death that Allah Subhanah has determined for them!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 78: "Wherever ye are death will find you out (at its appointed time!), even if ye are in towers built up strong and high!"

All Power and All Strength belong to Allah Alone, and He Alone Knows and Determines everything that takes place in existence. Such is the Majesty and Power of the Almighty Lord of the Worlds.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan