119 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; he said: Muhammad related to us; Dawud ibn al-Muhabbar narrated to us; Shabib ibn Shaybah narrated to us; he said:

A sage once spoke in the presence of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan describing the God-fearing. Thereupon a man said:

“He preferred Allah to all created beings and preferred the Hereafter to this world; therefore the myriad demands of life do not concern him, nor do its tempting prospects enrich him. With the sight of his heart he gazed at the lofty summit of his aspiration and then soared toward it, seeking to attain it. His times are draped in sorrow: when people sleep, he lies awake weighed down with cares, and he greets the dawn heavy-hearted, a prisoner in this world. Rest has been severed from his ambition until the moment of death. The Qur’an has cured him, and his medicine is a word of wisdom and wholesome exhortation. For that he sees no worldly substitute, and in no other delight does he find ease.”

ʿAbd al-Malik remarked, “Such a one enjoys the calmest mind and the most pleasant life.”