NOWADAYS we seem to be obsessed with all things new.

We are continually being encouraged by advertisers to buy ‘newer and more improved’ products.

New ‘must have’ gadgets are always being thrust at us.

Children get into new fads. Even the politicians have taken the word ‘new’ to attract votes.

The message seems to be that ‘If it’s old, it’s of little use and must be discarded’.

My father, as a first generation Pakistani immigrant, had had a frugal existence in his early years as a migrant.

He could never afford to buy very much that was new. Furniture, cookers, televisions, cars were all bought old or second-hand.

If he ever saw us attempting to throw away something that still had some life in it, he would ask ‘Why are you throwing that away?’ If we answered ‘Because it’s old’, he would say: “So when I am old, will you throw me away too?”

Muslims, as most other people, are taught to respect their elders and those of old age.

When someone becomes old, they are not seen as being of little use but are considered to be valuable.

After all, they have lived a life, dealt with its ups and downs and experienced different kinds of people. They have wisdom, and it doesn’t matter that ‘the times they are a changin’, human nature remains unchanged.

My mother may not have known how to use a computer but she knew how to resolve a family conflict.

Today we seem to discard our elderly to ‘old people’s homes’, visiting them now and again but not involving them much in our lives.

God says in the Noble Qur’an: “Your Lord has decreed, that you worship none but Him, and (that you show) kindness to parents. If one of them or both of them attains old age with you, say not ‘Uff’ to them, or repulse them, but speak to them graciously. And lower to them the wing of submission through mercy, and say: My Lord! Have mercy on them both as they did care for me when I was young.”

All Merciful Lord, grant us the ability to respect and care for our parents in their old age, as they cared for us when we were young. Ameen.

Iftikhar Awan – Altrincham Muslim Association