If one repents and is, for example, twenty-five years old, will he be among those whom Allah shades with His shade on the Day of Resurrection? And if he may have disobeyed Allah, does he fall under the description of a young man who grew up in the worship of Allah?

The questioner : Fine, a final question, O Shaykh, regarding the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about the seven whom Allah will shade with His shade: .

The Shaykh : .

The questioner : There are young men who return to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) at the age of twenty-five or twenty-four, meaning after reaching puberty, having been in a state of aimlessness, having possibly disobeyed Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and having possibly abandoned prayer. After this age, they return to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and become among the worshippers of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Do they fall within this hadith?

The Shaykh : One looks at the age; age has degrees: the age of youth, the age of maturity, the age of old age, and the age of extreme old age. So one refers to this. The one who is twenty-five is still in his youth. However, if it is assumed that he did not become upright until after thirty, then Allah the Exalted says in His Book: . So these are the ones who repented after they had grown old and done a righteous deed; Allah will replace their evil deeds with good ones and write for them, if Allah wills, what He writes for others. And if it is not the case that he was so, then he has missed one of the characteristics that necessitate, or by which he is, the shade of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So let him not miss the other characteristics. Yes.