The dignity of youth

In the well-known hadith “about the boy and the king”, according to Suhayb, may Allah be pleased with him, it is transmitted that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“ There was one king among those who lived before you, who had (in the service of) a sorcerer. Having grown old, he said to the king: “Truly, I am already old, send a young man to me so that I can teach him witchcraft .” (This hadeeth was narrated by Muslim 3005)

Sheikh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) commented on this hadeeth :

“ For training, it was a young man that was required, since in youth it is easier for a person to learn. What a person learns in his youth remains forever and is not forgotten. The young man has many advantages .

▪️ Firstly, as a rule, a young man remembers faster than an elderly person. The young man has no everyday problems that would distract him from his studies.

▪️ Secondly, the knowledge memorized in youth remains forever. Therefore, folk wisdom says: “What is learned in youth is like engraved on a stone.”

▪️ Thirdly, if a person accustoms himself to knowledge in his youth, then this will become a habit for him throughout his subsequent life.

See “Sharh riad as-salihin”, hadith No. 30