The proportion of the elderly in South Africa and worldwide is growing rapidly as medicine becomes more advanced. The incidence of neglect and abuse amongst the elderly in South Africa is high. Abuse as perceived by the elderly include physical, psychological, financial, social neglect but also includes and is not limited to neglect, abandonment, marginalization and disrespect. Perceptions by the elderly of what constitutes abuse varies across cultures and socioeconomic status. There are many cases that are reported yet a great many of them go unreported. The elderly is a vulnerable group of people and therefore reporting cases of abuse and neglect, would be difficult considering their challenges, be it physical, psychological or financial. Many of them are dependent on others and this would also make it difficult to report abuse by the very people that they depend on. Because many of the symptoms of elder abuse can be identified as the symptoms of old age, elder abuse is often not identified. In most cases there is a direct co-relation between old age and vulnerability. Elderly people automatically become vulnerable, some of it explicit but much of it latent and in many cases, it becomes so fundamental that in fact it is an existential reality for them. It is this vulnerability that opens the door to the many facets of abuse. It is imperative to address these challenges by speaking about them and bringing them out in the open. Within the Muslim Community these issues remain masked and empirical data is also sparse. Yet we have to have the conversations in an ever-evolving community and confront the current realities. Using the guidelines of the Quranic texts in relation to the elderly and those set out by the South African constitution on the one hand and facing the challenges within our communities on the other, we can begin the task of understanding the experiences of the elderly and come up with ways of improving every aspect of their lives.