485 – Al-Hārith ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAmmī related to us; he said: Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir narrated to us; he said: Hishām, the companion of al-Dastuwāʾī, related to us; he said: I read in a book—and I was informed that it contains words of Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him:

“You toil for this world even though your provision in it comes without toil, yet you do not toil for the Hereafter, where no provision will reach you except through toil. Woe to you, evil scholars! You take the wages but neglect the work; the Lord of the work is soon to demand His work from you. You are about to leave this spacious world for the darkness and constriction of the grave. God has forbidden you sins just as He has commanded you to fast and to pray.

How can one be counted among the people of knowledge who is displeased with his provision and belittles his station, knowing that both proceed from God’s knowledge and power? How can a person of knowledge suspect God’s judgment regarding what He has decreed for him, so that he is never content with anything that befalls him? How can a person of knowledge prefer this world to his Hereafter, pursuing his worldly share with greater eagerness? How can a person of knowledge be headed toward the Hereafter while his heart turns to this world, loving what harms him ⦗207⦘ more than what benefits him? How can a person of knowledge seek discourse merely to relate it to people and not seek it in order to act upon it?”

A shaykh of ours recited for me:
[al-wāfir metre]

Ask the graves about those forms now decayed,
And those fair frames that thrived, then turned to clay;
Ask of the king who trusted idle dreams,
Convinced that he would live another day.
He gave his soul away when death approached,
Though ever he had guarded it with care;
Now on his right he lies, awaiting the call,
Unable to be turned from here to there.
The tombs refuse to loose a gentle friend
Who comes to them; no ransom can he pay.
This world will scatter every gathered band,
Though comrades long together wish to stay.