206 – Muḥammad ibn Maʿmar al-ʿUjayfī narrated to us and said: ⦗101⦘ Someone who had heard Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah told me that he used to say:

“By Allah, Allah grants this worldly life to whomsoever He grants it only as a trial, and He withholds it from whomsoever He withholds it only as a trial. The proof of that is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went hungry while you have eaten your fill. Son of Adam, ready yourself for the disputation and for the unrolling of your record. Consider, from the very spot where you now stand, the One who will question you about the naqīr (the tiny speck on a date stone), the fatīl (the thread-like fiber inside it), the qiṭmīr (its thin skin), and what is smaller than that and larger. What benefit is there in a life that is followed by death?”

He said: It was asked of him, “Abū Muḥammad, who is saying this?” He replied, “And who can speak like this except al-Ḥasan, may Allah have mercy on him?”

Abū Jaʿfar al-Qurashī recited to me:
[metre: al-Baḥr al-Kāmil]
O lover of the world! In it are stupor and drunken delight;
Listen to the admonition of Time—your hearing is not too dull!
How many a king has gone, who once cast a withering glance at his courtiers,
And boasted of things in which no pride now remains.
Eras pass over us; one month goes by, then another;
Calamities come upon us, folding and unfolding our days.
The builder of lofty palaces will in the end be enclosed by a grave;
In the turns of Time are wonders—its dealings come in pairs and singles. ⦗102⦘
Death is ever intent on taking the souls of humankind and jinn;
The transitory affairs of the world pass over you, and you are but a bridge for them.
Many a state lies between its owner and death but the span of a grave;
When will the fetters of desire be loosed for the lover of the world?

One of the sage-poets said:
[metre: al-Baḥr al-Basīṭ]
I admonished—O you who court the world, sleeves rolled up—
slaughtering her noble, soaring offspring:
How many a victim beneath her night
was led to the slaughter amid flute and applause!

Abū Bakr said: Abū al-Ḥasan al-Bāhilī—or someone else—recited to me:
[metre: al-Baḥr al-Sarīʿ]
O wooer of the world for its own sake,
turn away from courting her and you shall be safe;
For she whom you court is a slayer—
her wedding is close to the funeral.

Abū Bakr also said: Abū Jaʿfar, the client of Banū Hāshim, recited to me:
[metre: al-Baḥr al-Mutaqārib]
How many a sleeper, lying in bliss,
was overtaken by death in his sleep;
And how many a man immersed in pleasure
was struck by calamities amid his delight;
Everything new upon her back
Time will one day wear away.