the Record laid open, and the prophets and the martyrs summoned—you would long to be granted a station amid that throng. After this world, is there any arena left for striving, or any journey save to the Hereafter? Far indeed! Yet ears have gone deaf to reminders and hearts have grown heedless of what would profit them; the preacher gains no benefit, and the listener gains none.

He also said: “Imagine that the whole world were in your two hands and its like were added to it; imagine East and West alike came to present themselves before you—when death arrives, what will remain in your hands?

“Whoever saddles patience becomes strong in worship; whoever gathers the people’s hearts finds himself independent of them; whoever is truly concerned about his own soul will not entrust its mending (1) to anyone else; whoever loves good is granted success in it; and whoever hates evil is kept far from it. Is there not one who will prepare for what lies ahead? Is there not one who will provide for the day of his destitution? Is there not one who will race against the fading of his term?

“What is the grey-haired man waiting for—his locks now white after once being black, his face sagging after once being smooth, his back bent after once standing straight, his eyesight dimmed, his strength weakened, his sleep diminished, his body wearing away piece by piece while he yet lives? May Allah have mercy on the servant who grasps the reality, looks well to it, and makes the most of his days.”

From him also: “All of this world is but a little; what remains of it is little; the portion of that remainder that is yours is little; and of your small portion only a little is left. You have awoken in the abode of trial, and tomorrow you will be in the abode of recompense. So ransom yourself—perhaps you will be saved.”

Ibn al-Sammāk died in 183 AH, having reached old age.

85 – Marḥūm ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Mihrān al-Umawī * (ʿ)
The Imām, the hadith scholar, reliable, Abū Muḥammad—others said: