Every bearer of power has bowed before the splendor of His Face; how many a once-mighty man now stands abased before the All-Dominant. Kings—monarchs and tyrants alike—have submitted, surrendered, and shrunk away, laid low by the majesty of the Lord of the Throne. So hurry, hurry—and beware, yes, beware—of this world, its tricks and ambushes: the snares it has set for you, the finery with which it has adorned itself, the brilliance it has displayed to you, [the cravings it has paraded before you while hiding from you the deaths and ruin it contains]. (1) Even far less than the horrors you have already seen of it would suffice to call you to repel it and bid you to renounce it. Strive, be not heedless, stay alert— before long the bustling house will be left deserted. (2) Press on and do not grow heedless, for your span of life— (3) is fleeting; you are inevitably bound for the Abode of Permanence. (4) Seek not the world, for its pleasure deceives; even if you drink of it, its aftertaste will harm you. Would a man of sound mind covet it, or a discerning person rejoice in it, while he is sure of its extinction and entertains no hope for its endurance? How could the eye of one who fears a sudden night attack close in sleep, or the soul of one who expects death in all his affairs find repose? Alas! We merely delude ourselves, and pleasures distract us from what we dread. How can life taste sweet to one who will stand before the Just Court on the Day when secrets are laid bare? We act as though no resurrection awaits us, as though, after death, no destinies lie ahead. What, then, can the worldly man truly obtain of its delight or enjoy of its splendor, amid its strange happenings and crushing calamities, the endless toil of pursuing it, and the sickness, pain, and suffering he must endure for its sake? Do we not see, every day and night, how its turns of fate visit us morning and evening? Its afflictions and anxieties assault us in succession, and how many who are assailed remain for yet another blow! Thus he is neither enviably secure in the world he possesses, nor is his soul able to refrain from chasing after it. How often has the world deceived one who trusted it, and toppled one who clung to it! It did not raise him from his stumble, nor rescue him from his fall; it did not heal his pain, nor cure his illness, [nor cleanse him of his stain]. Rather, after honor and might, it led him to evil haunts from which there is no return. Then, when he saw that there was no escape— that it was death, and caution could not save him— he was seized by remorse, but remorse could not avail him; his grave sins brought him to tears.