RECENTLY, it was announced that the age of retirement for public servants had been raised to 56. With this increase, it is hoped that experienced public servants would continue to give their services to the public.
Looking at Malaysia’s demographic data, we see that Malaysians now live longer than they did a few decades before. This can be attributed to the better quality of life that Malaysians are enjoying today.At a recent seminar in Penang attended by, among others, imams of mosques in the state, I could not help but notice that virtually all the imams were way over the age of retirement.
I had the chance to perform a Maghrib prayer led by an elderly imam in one of the mosques.
The number of the jamaah (congregation of worshippers) was only a handful despite the day being a weekend. Several days later, I had the opportunity to give a talk at a mosque in Kuantan, Pahang.In contrast to the scenario in Penang, both the imam and his assistant were very young, barely touching the age of 25. Interestingly enough, the number of jamaah was near a hundred, and it was a weekday to boot.This paradoxical situation got me thinking. Does the age of an imam play a significant role in attracting people to mosques? Is age an element in determining a person’s leadership qualities, in this instance, the leadership of a mosque?
Does the jamaah look upon the age factor as a prerequisite for a person to be deemed qualified as an imam?
It is not difficult to answer these questions from an academic point of view. Basically, age does not play a determining role in whether or not a person is qualified to be an imam.
What matters is his experience and knowledge. A young man, for instance, has the energy and capacity to accumulate knowledge faster than an elderly person. However, an elderly person has the benefit of experience on his side. People have said that knowledge through reading cannot be replaced by knowledge from experience.
In other words, an academic argument would go on to say that physical age is immaterial. Rather, the mental age of a person should be the determining factor.
This, in many ways, has a ring of truth to it. Nonetheless, the reality of society is often difficult to be given an academic justification. Many factors need to be looked at. And perhaps, the age factor does play a role in this matter.There is an old Malay adage that the elderly should be respected and the young should be loved. To understand this adage, one must understand the different, yet complementary roles, the elderly and the young play.
Granted, the older generation has greater experience. Again, to use another Malay saying, the elderly “has eaten
more salt” than the young generation.This invaluable experience amassed throughout their lives makes old people important assets in the society. They are the ones who remember history, something that young people tend to ignore or have no knowledge of.
They are also the ones who know how difficult it was to get to the way things are now. As such, their knowledge of
the scheme of things in the society is no doubt priceless.
As such, the role in which the older generation plays is that of giving advice and reminders of the mistakes and misjudgments that may be made by the young generation. In contrast, what the younger generation lacks in experience, they make up for in enthusiasm and fervour.
They are generally willing to learn and daring enough to take up new things. In other words, young people have the energy and dynamism to carry out things and see things get done.
Hence, the role of youths in society is to provide the strength much needed to implement things.Looking from this perspective, we see the young and the old could indeed complement each other for mutual benefit. The combination of the young and old would pave the way for the formation of a strong and resilient society. After all, the young need the old, and vice versa.
Nevertheless, a friend noted that in mosques, the elderly imams would usually hold the position for life. When this happens, efforts towards making mosques as a Muslim community’s hub of activity is dampened somewhat.
In this situation, it is usually difficult to bring out new ideas and views, as the elderly imams prefer the tried-and-tested formula that they may be comfortable and familiar with.
Activities in these mosques may also be affected as there are no innovations and new activities to attract more jamaah to the mosques. The young people would tend to associate the mosques with “retirement clubs” where old people gather to perform their ibadah (acts of worship) to gather rewards for the hereafter.Bitter as it may be to swallow, this image of mosques as a place where the elderly gathers is not unreasonable.
I observe that in certain areas, young people who return to their hometowns or kampungs with qualifications in many areas of Islamic knowledge, such as fiqh, usuluddin and tahfiz, do not get places in mosques.
Rather, they utilise their knowledge in smaller places of worship such as musollas and surau.
My friend noted this actually happens in his kampung. As a result, he said the mosque, which once was a centre for various activities, was now almost quiet, save for Friday prayers.
On the contrary, the surau in his place, which is helmed by a young imam, is buzzing with activities such as religious classes, Quran recital classes and community programmes. To my mind, there is a solution to the situation. It is important that mosques bring in new blood.Young imams have the potential to bring in new ideas and they are often innovative in their way of thinking. Indirectly, this would attract young people to the mosques to take part in activities.
If this happens, the image of mosques as “retirement clubs” could be shed with ease.This was very much evident in the mosque I went to during my short stay in Kuantan.
The profile of the jamaah varied from young children to teenagers to youths and the elderly. The number of young and old was almost equal and this was definitely a healthy sign for the mosque and would be for any mosque for that matter.What is more interesting is that, though the mosque is led by two very young imams, its committee members are composed mainly of the elderly. The committee members act as advisers and guides.
This is perhaps an ideal and practical solution to the situation. Let the imam or leader be from the young generation, while the older generation act as people who give advice, reminders and guidance.
After all, as mentioned earlier, the older generation has the benefit of experience while the young generation has the advantage of youthful energy.
The two, if combined, make up a powerful force to be reckoned with. In this respect, the generation gap between the old and the young could be bridged through understanding and co-operation.The elderly should remember that, sooner or later, the baton of leadership needs to be passed to the next generation. If the young generation is not allowed or given a chance to have hands-on experience, how could they be expected to lead when the elders are no longer there?
The young generation must also not look at positions such as imam, bilal or any leadership post for that matter, as something that must be fought for. If an elderly person holds the position, he must be respected for it. There is no point in going against him or trying to take over his position, as this more often than not would lead to disunity and petty squabbles.
In a mosque, there is nothing wrong with having an old imam but the youths must help the imam in making the mosque a centre of activities for the Muslim community. The society would be strong if old and young work hand in hand.
It is not just in the mosque that this needs to be done. It is in every facet of our societal structure that requires the young and old generations to co-operate for the betterment of society at large.
My observation that mosques tend to be dominated by the old generation may be general but the situation does indeed exist, and it exists not only in mosques but also most institutions or organisations since leadership is always a centre of attraction.
