Is the intended meaning of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) hadith: "I seek refuge in You from old age and cowardice," the old age that is followed by death?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : What would you like to say?
The questioner: Her statement:Sahih al-Bukhari 6371.
The Shaykh : And weakness and laziness, yes.
The questioner: Does that mean they start having a lot of dementia?
The Shaykh : Yes, one type of old age differs from another, of course. If a person grows old and ages and becomes elderly, but his awareness remains with him and his ambition remains with him, whereas there are other people who are not like that, then we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) not to return us in the end of our lives to the lowest of the low, which is[An-Nahl 16:70].
The questioner: Her statement:
Narrated Anas bin Malik: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) used to seek refuge with Allah saying, "O Allah! I seek refuge with You from laziness, and seek refuge with You from cowardice, and seek refuge with You from geriatric old age, and seek refuge with You from miserliness."
أعوذ بك من الهرم والجبن ...The Shaykh : And weakness and laziness, yes.
The questioner: Does that mean they start having a lot of dementia?
The Shaykh : Yes, one type of old age differs from another, of course. If a person grows old and ages and becomes elderly, but his awareness remains with him and his ambition remains with him, whereas there are other people who are not like that, then we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) not to return us in the end of our lives to the lowest of the low, which is
the most decrepit [old] age so that he will not know, after [having had] knowledge, a thing
أَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ لِكَيْ لَا يَعْلَمَ بَعْدَ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.