Age 40: The Quran’s Age of Responsibility

Salaamun alaykum, dear readers!

Who does God count as disbelievers, according to the Quran? Is it simply someone who is not a Muslim?

No, the correct answer is that not all Jews, Christians, Hindus, polytheists, or atheists will be held accountable for being disbelievers according to the Quran. There are two primary factors listed in the Quran that will influence the fate of non-Muslims.

• The first factor is whether or not the non-Muslim person died before reaching the Quran’s minimum age of accountability, which is age 40.

• The second factor is: for any bad deed that any person commits (including the bad deed of being non-Muslim), the Quran sets a personal capacity rule to determine whether it was reasonably outside a person’s capacity to avoid committing that bad deed. If God determines that it was outside someone’s capacity to avoid doing it, that person will not be held accountable for doing it.

The Age of 40

Let’s first start with the age of accountability, the first factor. The Quran says in verse 46:15 that the human being is not expected to declare that he is Muslim, nor is the human being expected to ask God to help him do righteous deeds, nor is he expected to repent to God for the bad things he did, until he reaches the age of 40.

• Age 40 is thus established as the deadline for becoming Muslim and to start doing good deeds in this verse.

• Those two things (being Muslim and doing good deeds) are the bare minimum criteria required for going to Heaven (verses 2:62 and 5:69).

• So if no person is held accountable for these two things before age 40, that means anyone who dies before age 40 will ultimately be going to Heaven.

Rashad Khalifa himself, God’s Messenger of the Covenant, said in Appendix 32 of his Quran translation and in one of the Quranic study audios that the fact that everyone who dies before age 40 goes to Heaven is not his personal opinion, but it is a piece of information which God told him to deliver.

• [46:15] And We have instructed the human being to be good to his parents. His mother carried him laboriously, and delivered hlm laboriously, and his carriage and weaning is thirty months. Until when he reached his strength, and reached forty years, he said, “My Lord, enable me that I appreciate Your goodwill which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and that I do righteous deeds which You approve. And cause righteousness among my offspring for me. Indeed, I have repented to you, and indeed, I am among the Muslims.”

It is noted that when the Quran uses the words “until when (hatta idha) x happens, y happens” it always means “it isn’t until x happens that y happens” or “y doesn’t happen until x happens”. That’s the Quran’s phraseology in the 25 total occurrences of “until when x happens, y happens”.

One example is verse 27:84, where it said that “until when” (hatta idha) a group of people arrived on Judgement Day, God asked them about their denial. It logically means that God did not question them about their denial until they arrived for judgement on Judgement Day.

• [27:84] Until when (hatta idha) they have arrived, He will say, “Have you denied My revelations though you did not have proper knowledge thereof? Or what exactly were you doing?”

Another example is verse 23:99, where it said that until when death came to one of the disbelievers, he requested to God to give him a second chance. Of course, this means: the disbeliever did not beg for a second chance until death came to him.

• [23:99-100] Until when (hatta idha) death came to one of them, he said, “My Lord, send me back so that I may do good deeds regarding what I have neglected.”…

So when we re-examine verse 46:15, we find the same words “hatta idha” (until when). We should remember that whenever we see “until when x happens, y happens” it means “y does not happen until x happens”.

• Replace “x” with reaching the age of 40, and “y” with being Muslim, doing good deeds, and repenting to God.

• Thus, we realize verse 46:15 is telling us that the human being is not expected to declare himself a Muslim, nor ask God to enable him to do righteous deeds, nor repent to God, until he reaches age 40.

The first 40 years of one’s life is a trial-and-error period, or a grace period, until the real accountability starts happening. 40 years may seem like a long grace period, but there are plenty of bad people who need this time to become more mature and reform themselves.

There are also plenty of non-Muslims who need 40 years to have a change of heart and become Muslim.

Plenty of Muslims also need 40 years to learn how to become actual, sincere Muslims who are serious about worshipping and pleasing God, increasing their gratitude, doing voluntary good works, avoiding bad deeds and corruption, and being just and fair in all aspects of their life.

Additionally, a major benefit of this act of mercy is that before age 40, nothing is mandatory on a person, and the person has no reason to fear punishment before turning 40 years old. Anything they do that is otherwise mandatory on someone over 40 will likely be counted in their record as a voluntary good deed.

In fact, any voluntary deed that a person does before age 40 may have a far greater reward than if they do it after age 40. Why is that?

Let’s say that someone becomes a very sincere and serious Muslim by age 18. He or she knows that there will be no punishment or accountability for anything wrong that they do because they are not yet 40. But they still are generous and give charity, they avoid bad deeds, they help other people when they can, they promote peace and justice, condemn injustice, fast during Ramadan, observe regular Salat for God, restrain their temper, etc. They do this whether someone is watching or in private. They even feel guilty if they do something bad and repent.

• They know they won’t be punished, but they still do it because they love and respect God more than anything and want to please Him, and they hate to displease God.

• Therefore, in my opinion, such devotion could be rewarded far more enormously than if someone only starts to take their obligations as a Muslim seriously after age 40 mostly because they do not want to be punished, rather than a sincere love for God.

Personal Capacity Rule

It also happens to be the case that passing the age of 40 and being non-Muslim alone isn’t enough to be accountable for disbelieving either, according to the Quran. God does not assign anyone except what is in that person’s capacity.

• [23:62] But We do not assign any self except its capacity; with Us is a book that talks with the truth, and they will not be wronged.

• [2:286] God does not assign any self except its capacity. For it is what it earned, and against it is what it earned…

One may call this the personal capacity rule. One example of a person being exempted from being non-Muslim is if that person was never exposed to any signs or evidence that Islam is the truth.

Let’s say that someone claims that God requires fasting in the month of July, yet he does not show any evidence for that claim. Is it within your capacity to believe that what he says is true and fast every July? No, because believing what other people say without evidence is forbidden in the Quran (verse 17:36, 10:36, etc.).

Likewise, it is not with a non-Muslim’s capacity to change their faith and become Muslim if they were never exposed to any evidence that Islam is , for the truth.

And what if they were exposed to some evidence by others, but do not have the mental capacity to understand the evidence? Perhaps there are intellectual deficiences caused by genetics or upbringing, or a combinaton of both. Obviously, for such non-Muslims, God would not hold them accountable for being non-Muslims.

But someone may say, “What about someone who never really tried to find evidence of Islam in the first place?“

• Usually, people do not start looking for evidence to change their current belief until they somehow come across a compelling event which causes them to do so. I was content with being a Sunni and saw zero reason to change, so I never tried to do so. That was until I, by complete chance, came across a website that demostrated how the Quran forbade following Hadith. If not for this compelling event, I might still be a Sunni today.

• So if a person who has not even tried to look for evidence of Islam never came across any compelling event which would reasonably cause them to look for evidence for Islam, then accepting Islam would likely not be within that person’s capacity.

• But if a person did come across any compelling event, but deliberately chose to ignore it, then they will be held accountable for not being Muslim.

Also, societal conditioning can be a significant barrier to finding Islam. Let us think deeper about the impact of societal conditioning on one’s personal capacity to do this on a deeper level.

What do you think about vegetables? If most of your friends and family expressed a dislike for vegetables growing up, then it is very likely that you’re going to have a hard time escaping the social conditioning of disliking vegetables even if you happen to hear about their benefits from some health-conscious people “preaching” about it, or if you have an internet connection and can easily Google it.

Or the reverse, if you tell someone to stop eating vegetables and do the “carnivore diet” (eating only animal foods, no fruits and veggies) when she has been eating fruits and vegetables for her whole life, for example, you have to give her a good reason for why she should stop eating vegetables, or else she will just continue to eat them.

Similarly, some cultures are perfectly comfortable eating insects as a protein source, yet our social conditioning causes us in the West to have revulsion at the thought of eating them.

Societal conditioning is very hard to escape, and that is true regarding religion.

So there are four factors potentially involved in assessing personal capacity:

1. Whether one was ever exposed to evidence of Islam,
2. Whether they had the mental capacity to comprehend any evidence they may have been exposed to,
3. Whether one has ever come across any compelling event to prompt a change in their current beliefs and search for evidence for Islam,
4. And whether one has the mental capacity to escape their societal conditioning and find Islam.

For each of these four factors, God is the best to judge.

Conclusion

There are two primary factors that influence the fate of a non-Muslim: whether he or she died before the age 40, and if they lived past age 40 but did not meet the personal capacity threshold to be held accountable for being non-Muslim based on their personal circumstances and intellectual capabilities.

God alone knows each individual the best, so He is the only one qualified to decide whether one has met the personal capacity threshold or not.