Delaying religious practice until age 40 or later
7-12-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
As you must be aware, there are many people in the world say that they will start practicing when they are old, e.g. in their 40's and they will have fun and 'chill' in their young age, I have already explained to them that they could die before they were 40 and they could die now, or at any moment, is there anything else that I could say to these people to make them start thinking about Islaam?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
First, you have to know that it is more appropriate for a woman to call other women to Allaah because when a woman calls men other than her Mahaarim (non-marriageable relatives), this entails some prohibitions and temptations. The same thing applies to a man who calls women to Allaah. Nevertheless, in general Satan has lured these young people and trapped them into his tricks. Indeed one of the means of Satan in misleading the people is to delay doing good and become arrogant and conceited. Allaah says (which means): {He [i.e. Satan] promises them and arouses desire in them. But Satan does not promise them except delusion.}[4:120]. So it is a duty to remind these young people of Allaah and to use the best method with them in doing so, like being kind and speaking to them in a good and gentle manner. There in no better methodology and remedy other than the Qur'aan. Indeed the Qur'aan arouses the interest of people to aspire for the Mercy of Allaah and for 
said: "Let the Jews know that in our religion there is entertainment." [Ahmad] In addition to this one has to remind them of death, as you have stated, and remind them that nobody knows when death would attack him. Even if a person lives more than 40 years and then repents, he has still missed much good in his life.