The Age of the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad SAW is Considered Short, Why?

Dream - Some people consider the age of Prophet Muhammad saw to be similar to the age of most people in the world today, which is not too short or too long. The age of Prophet Muhammad saw himself is around 62 to 63 years old.

He even once mentioned the age of his Ummah, which is between 60 and 70 years old, through a hadith narrated by At-Tirmidhi:

"From Abu Hurairah RA. He said, the Messenger of Allah SAW said, 'The age of my Ummah (generally ranges) between 60 and 70 years. Rarely do they exceed that number.'" (HR At-Tirmidhi).

From the above hadith, it is known that the age of the majority of his Ummah is between 60 and 70 years old. Compared to the average life expectancy of Indonesians today, which is 71.4 years, this shows that the age of the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad saw is considered short.

To find out more about the explanation regarding the age of the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad saw, here is a summary compiled by Dream from various sources.

The Longer Life Expectancy of People in the Past

According to the Ministry of Health, life expectancy will increase as welfare improves. However, looking at the life expectancy of people in the past, they had longer lives, even reaching hundreds of years. Nevertheless, even in this era, you can still find elderly people who are over a hundred years old, although their numbers are relatively small.

Furthermore, if we look back at Prophet Adam (AS), who was the first Prophet, his age reached 1,000 years. Not only that, he also had a larger physical form compared to subsequent humans. The height of the early Ummah was 100 hasta with a width of 10 hasta.

As time passed, the life expectancy of individuals gradually decreased. This also had an impact on the Earth, which became the habitat of humans. If humans lived as long as those in the past, reaching hundreds or even thousands of years, one can imagine the condition of the Earth being overcrowded with the presence of humans.

The Age of Most of the Companions

Quoted from islam.nu.or.id, the longest lifespan among the companions was Anas bin Malik (RA), who passed away at the age of 103. Then there was Asma bint Abu Bakr (RA), who passed away at the age of 100 without losing any of her teeth or her memory. There was also Hasan bin Thabit, who passed away at the age of 120, and Salman Al-Farisi, who passed away at the age of 250. Some even say that Salman (RA) passed away at the age of 300. However, the first opinion is more authentic than the second opinion.

In a hadith, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) mentioned that the age of his Ummah is between 60 and 70 years. This age can be understood as the average age of humans from his time until the end of time. However, in reality, there are people whose age does not reach 60 years and there are those who exceed 70 years.

The meaning of this hadith is that the age range of humans in the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is commendable and proportional. Many of his Ummah passed away within that age range. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself passed away within that range, as did Abu Bakr (RA), Umar bin Khattab, scholars, and saints.

Abundant Mercy for the Ummah in the End Times

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once said:

"We are the last among the first."

Meaning: "We are the last Ummah of the early (to enter Paradise)."

People in the end times will receive abundant mercy from Allah SWT in the form of multiplied rewards for their good deeds despite their limited lifespan. This is explained in a hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim:

"From Ibn Abbas RA, from the Messenger of Allah (SAW) regarding what Allah has narrated, he said, 'Allah writes good and evil. He then explained that whoever intends to do good but has not done it yet, Allah records it as a complete good deed. But if he intends to do good and then does it, Allah records it as ten good deeds, multiplied up to 700 or more. However, if he intends to do evil but has not done it yet, Allah records it as a complete good deed. But if he intends to do evil and then does it, Allah records it as a single evil deed.'" (HR Bukhari and Muslim).

According to some scholars of the Shafi'i school, if a person reaches the age of 60 and has not performed the Hajj pilgrimage due to negligence, even though they are capable, it is considered a sin if they pass away without performing the Hajj.