236 – Abu Kurayb related to us; he said: Ibn Abi Zaydah narrated to us, from Mujalid ibn Saʿid, from al-Shaʿbi, who said:

Shurayḥ remarked, “Reproaching this world means little to the world itself; the one who censures it is, in truth, the keenest to seize it.” Abu Ishaq al-Qurashi al-Taymi then recited to me:

You vie for the world while we decry its lure, yet, by my life, its trials have plainly been laid before us.
We never imagine that the days are shrinking our span, though their creeping through our ranks is swift indeed.
I seem to behold a band bearing my bier, heading for a pit whose mound of earth will soon be heaped upon me.
How many a mourner will there be, pained and saying, “To Allah we return,” and a wailing woman whose lament will rise above me;
A weeper weeping for me, while I, oblivious to her voice, shall give her no reply.
O destroyer of delights, from you there is no escape; my soul dreads the blow you are destined to strike.

Someone other than Abu Ishaq added:

I am of those who loathe death and decay, yet relish life’s sweet breeze and its fragrance.
So how long—how long, and until when— will the sun keep on rising and setting for me?
I have seen death’s decrees distributed among souls, and soon my own soul will receive its allotted share.