Simply an opinion and my personal opinion at that. I strongly believe that people run away from the thought of aging for various reasons, but the most significant of them all is the acknowledgement of death. Maybe it is the concept of venturing into the unknown, maybe it is the idea that ‘I am not living righteous now, but one day I will’, ahh where ever the fear of death derives from we will all face it. It could be during our sleep tonight, it could be tomorrow evening, death doesn’t discriminate at all, nor does it procrastinate in it’s appointments.

It is a reality we all have to come to realize, we hear about death, but do we truly understand it? Do we understand that when we die, khalaas, finito, there is no more repentance? Do we understand that all the play and amusement of this worldly-life is finished and we have our seat belts strapped in travelling even closer to meet our Creator? Do we comprehend the fact that once we die, we are one step closer to being resurrected on the Day of Judgement only to answer for our actions to the Lord of Existence?

Sometimes it takes a wake up call in order to realize the reality death is, sometimes it takes a near death experience, but how would we recognize if we experienced our last wake up call?

Allah says in the Qur’an: “يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ”
“O you who believe! Fear Allah (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allah.”

May Allah grant us understanding and guide us all to what pleases Him, اللهم آمين