and on that day they recognize their visitors and those who pass by them, greet them, and meet them more fully than they recognize them (1) on other days. It is thus a day when the living and the dead meet. If the Hour comes on that day, the first and the last will meet, as will the inhabitants of earth and heaven, the Lord and His servant, the doer and his deeds, the wronged and the one who wronged him, and the sun and the moon, which had never met before. It is the day of gathering and meeting. This is why people meet more often on this day in this world than on other days: it is the day of meeting.
Abū al-Tayyāh Lāhiq (2) ibn Humayd said: Mutarrif ibn Abdullah used to live in the desert (3) and come into town every Friday. On one occasion, he set out in the latter part of the night (4), and when he reached the graves, he dozed off (5). He said: “I saw every occupant of a grave (6) sitting on his grave. They said, ‘Here is Mutarrif coming for the Friday prayer.’ I asked them, ‘Do you know when it is Friday where you are?’ They replied, ‘Yes, and we know what the birds say on that day.’
(1) “Bihim” (them) is omitted from Sād and Mīm-bā’.
(2) This is the reading in all manuscripts and printed editions except the al-Risālah edition, which silently substitutes “Yazīd” in the text; this is correct. Someone suggested in the margin of ‘Ayn that the original might have read: “Abū al-Tayyāh and Lāhiq ibn Humayd.”
(3) All copies except Mīm-bā’ read “yabdur,” which al-Fiqī changed to “yubādir”; the al-Risālah edition does likewise. The correct reading is the one adopted here from the sources transmitting the report. It is also indicated in the margin of ‘Ayn. “Yabdū” means to live in the desert.
(4) Thus vocalized in Sād and Jīm, with a doubled dāl.
(5) That is, he dozed lightly. The manuscripts read “yawm” (day), vocalized “yawmun,” with the nominative indefinite ending, in Mīm, Jīm, and Kāf; Mīm-bā’ reads “hawm.” Both are scribal corruptions. The printed editions read “yawm al-jumu‘ah” (Friday). Perhaps a copyist found “yawm” puzzling and added “al-jumu‘ah” after it!
(6) The printed text reads “the occupant of every grave.” In Mīm, this is followed by “sitting on a grave, sitting on his grave”—a repetition.