scientists discovered Greenland sharks have a life expectancy of at least 272 years and could reach 392, give or take about 120 years. What’s more, these slow-growing creatures don’t reach reproductive age until around 150 years old.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) told Amir-al-Mumineen Ali (PBUH): O Ali! Allah has cursed the parents who would cause their child to be disobedient of them by cursing them.

Many shark species can be aged by counting growth bands on their vertebrae, like rings on a tree. The Greenland shark’s soft vertebrae do not have these bands, however. Instead, its age is determined by removing the layers of the lens of its eye—which continues growing throughout its lifetime—and radiocarbon dating the tissue in the center.

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: Once a person came to the Prophet (S) and asked him about good treatment to parents. Then, he (S) said: Treat kindly your mother, treat kindly your mother, and treat kindly your mother; be kind to your father, be kind to your father, and be kind to your father but begin (that kindness) with your mother before your father.

Despite its name, the Greenland shark is not only found in Greenland; it has been spotted as far away as the western Caribbean. Also known as the gray, ground, gurry, or sleeper shark, this animal lives in incredibly cold, deep waters, so it is much less studied than many of the more than 500 other shark species. It is one of the slowest sharks, too: Its scientific name, Somniosus microcephalus, roughly translates to “sleepy small-head.” Yet these rare animals may be a top predator.

The Greenland shark is the world’s longest living vertebrate. It can live for 400 years—twice the age of the longest-living land animal, the giant tortoise. There could be an individual in the ocean today that was alive during the 1665 Great Plague of London and George Washington’s presidential inauguration in 1789.

Like other deer (family Cervidae), moose have cloven hooves, and are therefore in the mammalian order Artiodactyla. Moose are the largest animals in the deer family, weighing as much as 1,750 lb (800 kg) and standing as tall as about 6.6 ft (2 m). The largest moose occur in Alaska (Alces alces gigas ).

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: Do treat kindly your parents so that your children do the same to you; and be pious unto the wives of people so that your wives remain pious.

The moose (Alces alces), also known as elk in Europe , is a horse-sized, northern species of deer that occurs in the boreal and north-temperate forests of both North America and Eurasia. At one time, the Eurasian and American moose were considered to be separate species, but these animals are fully interfertile and are now thought to be the same species. However, there are many geographically distinct subspecies of these animals.

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: He who glares at his parents with wrathful eyes, although they have been unjust to him, Allah will not accept his prayers (unless he repents).

If moose also occur in places where white-tailed deer are abundant, they may suffer from a debilitating nematode parasite known as brainworm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis ). The deer population is resistant to this parasite, but the brainworm is abundant where the deer are common, and the moose population consequently suffers.

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: He who wishes Allah, Almighty and Glorious, to lighten the agonies of death, he should have regard for his kinship, and treat his parents with goodness. Then, when a person does so, Allah will make the agonies of death easy for him and he will not be stricken by poverty in his life at all.