Kalam al-Layali wa-l-Ayyam - Ibn Abi al-Dunya - (23)

19 – Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Yaḥyā al-Tamīmī related to me, from his father, who said: I heard ʿAbdullāh ibn Marwān ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥakam—and I have never met his equal in eloquence and discernment—say:

“Not a single day comes to you except as a loan from the day that will follow it. The new day therefore demands the repayment of its loan: if the earlier day was good, it repays it with good, and if it was bad, it repays it with bad. So, if you are able to make the loans of all your days beautiful, then do so.”

Mahmūd ibn al-Ḥasan recited to me:

Yesterday has passed on—an upright witness—
And a brand-new day has now replaced it for you.
If yesterday you committed some offense,
Redress it with a good deed, and you will earn praise.
Set right your present day, and its benefit will return to you,
For the day that is gone will never come back.
Do not defer a righteous act from today until tomorrow;
Tomorrow may arrive—and you may already be absent.

١٩ - حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ صَالِحِ بْنِ يَحْيَى التَّمِيمِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ مَرْوَانَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ، - وَلَمْ أَرَ مِثْلَهُ بَيَانًا وَفَهْمًا - يَقُولُ: «لَيْسَ مِنْ يَوْمٍ يَقْدَمُ إِلَّا وَهُوَ عَارِيَةٌ لِلْيَوْمِ الَّذِي بَعْدَهُ فَالْيَوْمُ الْجَدِيدُ يَقْتَضِي عَارِيَتُهُ، فَإِنْ كَانَ حَسَنًا أَدَّى إِلَيْهِ حَسَنًا، وَإِنْ كَانَ قَبِيحًا أَدَّى إِلَيْهِ قَبِيحًا، فَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ تَكُونَ عَوَارِي أَيَّامِكَ حِسَانًا فَافْعَلْ» أَنْشَدَنِي مَحْمُودُ بْنُ الْحَسَنَ: [البحر الطويل] مَضَى أَمْسُكَ الْمَاضِي شَهِيدًا مُعَدَّلًا ... وَأَعْقَبَهُ يَوْمٌ عَلَيْكَ جَدِيدُ فَإِنْ كُنْتَ بِالْأَمْسِ اقْتَرَفْتَ إِسَاءَةً ... فَثَنِّ بِإِحْسَانٍ وَأَنْتَ حَمِيدُ فَيَوْمُكَ إِنْ أَعْتَبْتَهُ عَادَ نَفَعُهُ ... عَلَيْكَ وَمَاضِي الْأَمْسِ لَيْسَ يَعُودُ وَلَا تُرْجِ فِعْلَ الْخَيْرِ يَوْمًا إِلَى غَدٍ ... لَعَلَّ غَدًا يَأْتِي وَأَنْتَ فَقِيدُ "