Quran Universe
16:70

وَٱللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمۡ ثُمَّ يَتَوَفَّىٰكُمۡۚ وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰٓ أَرۡذَلِ ٱلۡعُمُرِ لِكَيۡ لَا يَعۡلَمَ بَعۡدَ عِلۡمٖ شَيۡـًٔاۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٞ قَدِيرٞ

WaAllahu khalaqakum thumma yatawaffakum waminkum man yuraddu ila arthali alAAumuri likay la yaAAlama baAAda AAilmin shayan inna Allaha AAaleemun qadeerun

And Allah created you; then He will take you in death. And among you is he who is reversed to the most decrepit [old] age so that he will not know, after [having had] knowledge, a thing. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Competent.

Word by word
  1. وَٱللَّهُAnd Allah
  2. خَلَقَكُمۡcreated you
  3. ثُمَّthen
  4. يَتَوَفَّىٰكُمۡۚwill cause you to die
  5. وَمِنكُمAnd among you
  6. مَّن(is one) who
  7. يُرَدُّis sent back
  8. إِلَىٰٓto
  9. أَرۡذَلِthe worst
  10. ٱلۡعُمُرِ(of) the age
  11. لِكَيۡso that
  12. لَاnot
  13. يَعۡلَمَhe will know
  14. بَعۡدَafter
  15. عِلۡمٖknowledge
  16. شَيۡـًٔاۚa thing
  17. إِنَّIndeed
  18. ٱللَّهَAllah
  19. عَلِيمٞ(is) All-Knowing
  20. قَدِيرٞAll-Powerful
An-Nahl · 16:70Makkah

You learned everything. One day you may know nothing.

Strength is on loan, and so is memory

The arc of a life
createdfrom nothing
grows
knowingskills, names, plans
for some
the weakest ageknows nothing after knowing
Who holds it
my mind is mineI will always have it
Allah, Knowing, Ablegives and takes back

Allah created people and will take them back. Some He lets grow very old, until they know nothing after having known. Ibn Kathir reports that the Prophet ﷺ used to seek refuge in Allah from laziness, old age and senility.

Your grandmother asks your name for the third time this visit. She once ran a whole household from memory. Her knowledge was a gift with an end date. So is yours. The years you can still think clearly are the years to use.

I have plenty of time to learn and do good later.

My clear mind is on loan. Its best years are the ones I have now.

Try this

Call or visit an elderly relative today and be patient with them, as you would want someone to be with you.

Related30:54
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And Allah created you and then He will cause you to die; and among you there are some who are sent back to senility, so that they know nothing after having known (much). Truly, Allah is Knowing, capable of all things (70)

In Man there is a Lesson

Allah tells us that He is controlling the affairs of His servants. He is the One Who created them out of nothing, then He will cause them to die. But there are some of them that He allows to grow old, which is a physical weakness, as Allah says:

اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةً

(Allah is He Who created you in (a state of) weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then after strength gave (you) weakness)(30:54)

لِكَيْ لَا يَعْلَمَ بَعْدَ عِلْمٍ شَيْئًا

(so that they know nothing after having known.) meaning, after he knew things, he will reach a stage where he knows nothing because of weakness of mind due to old age and senility. Thus Al-Bukhari, when commenting on this Ayah, reported a narration from Anas bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to pray:

أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْبُخْلِ وَالْكَسَلِ وَالْهَرَمِ، وَأَرْذَلِ الْعُمُرِ وَعَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ، وَفِتْنَةِ الدَّجَّالِ وَفِتْنَةِ الْمَحْيَا وَالْمَمَاتِ

(I seek refuge with You from miserliness, laziness, old age, senility, the punishment of the grave, the Fitnah of the Dajjal and the trials of life and death.)

Zuhayr bin Abi Sulma said, in his famous Mu'allaqah: "I became exhausted from the responsibilities of life. Whoever lives for eighty years, no wonder he is tired. I saw death hitting people like a crazed camel, and whoever it hit dies, but whoever is not hit lives until he grows old."