Does accountability differ based on a person's age, and is age taken into consideration alongside the type of deeds?

The texts of the Sharia indicate that a long life affects reckoning and retribution on the Day of Resurrection, as the servant will be questioned about his lifespan and how he spent it, as stated in the Hadith of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

The Hadith of Abu Hurairah clarifies that Allah has "excused" someone who reaches sixty, meaning he no longer has an excuse, as if to say, "If only I had been granted more time." And the Almighty’s saying: (Have We not granted you a life long enough for whoever would remember therein to remember, and did the warner not come to you?), indicates that a long life is an opportunity for remembrance and righteous deeds. So, whoever does not benefit from it has no excuse. It has been said that the age referred to, wherein one who remembers is excused, is sixty years.

Also, Allah Almighty grants respite to the disbeliever and prolongs his life so that he may increase in sin, and this becomes a reason for increasing his punishment, in fulfillment of His saying, the Most High: (We only grant them respite so that they may increase in sin).

Therefore, the effect of a long life on a servant's reckoning is from two considerations:

1. A proof from Allah's proofs: A long life represents a proof against the servant, because he was given the opportunity to reflect and return to his Lord, but he wasted it. 2. A vessel for deeds: Life is the vessel that the servant fills with good deeds or with shortcomings and waste, and he will be questioned about it on the Day of Resurrection.

The reckoning is not merely based on time, but on what is done within it. Every human being is moving either forward or backward; there is no stopping station. So, whoever does not advance with good deeds is falling behind with bad deeds. This is the Day of Mutual Loss and regret for those who wasted their lives.