52 – Suraij ibn Yunus narrated to me; he said: al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us; he said: al-Awzaʿi, from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, that Abu Bakr al-Siddiq—may Allah be pleased with him—used to say in his sermon:

“Where are the radiant, fair-faced youths who took such pride in their vigor? Where are the kings who built great cities and girded them with walls? Where are the champions who once triumphed in the fields of battle? Time has cast them down, and they now dwell in the darkness of the graves. Hasten, hasten! Deliverance, deliverance!”