363 – Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Basri narrated to us; he said: My father related to me, from al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Hadrami, who said:

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz once delivered a sermon in which he declared:

“O people, you were created for a momentous purpose. If you claim to believe in it yet still neglect it, you are senseless; and if you deny it, you are doomed. You were created for eternity, but you are merely being moved from one dwelling to another.

Servants of Allah, you now live in a realm where your food can cause you to choke and your drink can make you cough. No blessing brings you unmixed joy except that it is coupled with another whose loss you hate. So work for that destiny to which you will inevitably be taken and in which you will abide forever.”

Then tears overcame him, and he stepped down from the pulpit.