'Whom the gods love dies young,' as told in a proverb by the Greek historian Herodotus in his story 'History' in 445 B.C. It is the first record of this saying. It is a very true saying for in the Quran God tells us that He gives us until the age of forty years before we have to grow up and make a certain life choice.

Chapter 46, verse 15
We enjoined the human being to honour his parents. His mother bore him arduously, gave birth to him arduously, and took intimate care of him for thirty months. When he reaches maturity, and reaches the age of forty, he should say, "My Lord, direct me to appreciate the blessings which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Let my children be righteous as well. I have repented to You; I am a submitter."

Unlike the human being who does not always wish good for his fellow human beings, God does not say by the time we reach the age of fourteen, sixteen, eighteen or twenty one, that we are grown up and responsible people. No, God knows that it takes a human being forty years to establish its identity, to form its personality and to know its own mind. God gives us plenty of time to make up our minds as to whether we are going to follow Him or follow Satan.

But once we reach the age of forty, we must decide for this determines our final destination after this illusionary life on Earth. Will we go to Heaven or will we go to Hell?

So what happens if we die before we reach the age of forty, before we reach the age of maturity? If we die young God sends us to Paradise where Adam and his wife first started out before they listened to Satan and were turned out of the garden and sent down to Earth. Our sins are forgiven and we wait with Him until the Day of Judgement when every soul is given its final destination; Heaven or Hell.

If we do not die before the age of forty, then we are given the chance to nourish our souls by asking God to direct us along His path. By doing this we achieve forgiveness and the chance to return to Heaven, and not end up in Hell with the followers of Satan. Nourishing the soul leads to Higher Heaven. Those who die before forty and cannot fully nourish their souls go to Lower Heaven.

There will be those human beings who disagree and say that some young people do not deserve to return to Paradise. It is not for any one of us to judge who will or who will not return to Heaven. Only God knows the state of our souls. We may think we are righteous people, but most human beings follow conjecture.

The good die young, we should not cry at the death of young people and say things like, ‘they had a bright future before them’, because they did not. Not in this dimension anyway. Their time of death was set to before the age of forty. God knows who is good and who is bad. God knows who will return to Him and who will follow Satan to Hell.

Only those who submit to God and nourish their souls after the age of forty will return to Paradise to be with those who died before they reached forty years of age.

Chapter 46, verse 16
It is from these that we accept the righteous works, and overlook their sins. They have deserved Paradise. This is the truthful promise that is promised to them.